Introduction
In 2017, I have started games design with little to no knowledge of how games were made. During my first and second units in my first year, I learned the basics of 3D modeling, texturing and level design, but, it wasn’t until my year one FMP where I made a working game complete with level design and game mechanic that I wanted to push myself to make something more visually breathtaking and that is the goal I set for myself for my second year. We started off the second year with Game Jam and although I didn’t use many new skills in this unit, I did learn new ways to generate ideas during our induction task. After Game Jam we were introduced to substance painter and Mudbox where I learned how to make easy realistic textures and how to bake high poly models into low poly models.
After learning the basics in year one and setting a goal for myself for year two, I have been motivated to make something visually impressive and now that I know how to use substance painter and Mudbox I feel more motivated to set myself something more challenging. All of this is also influenced by my long-term goal of becoming an environment artist in games.
In this blog, I will be explaining my plans for my final major project, how I will achieve this and why.
Mind map
This is the first mind map I did. I made this because at first I didn’t know whether I should make a game or focus completely on the game art. You can clearly see that I have more options with by going for game art so I decided to go for that instead. Also by doing game art I could work on my own without needing to focus on blueprints.
This second mind map was made to give me an idea on what type of models I should make. I thought about visual style, theme, architecture type even the types of assets. This really helped narrow down what I want to do for this project.
Project Proposal
In my free time, I have thought of three different Ideas for an environment. How I come up with these ideas is I would first think of a genre, a general location, and a story, then from there, the ideas start to get more detailed. Here are the three I came up with:
Idea 1 – SS Magnus
This idea is inspired by the story of Subnautica and the genre will be science fiction.
The story behind this idea is that in a distant future humans have figured out a way to travel to different planets. A mining company discovered a planet that is completely covered in ocean. Believing that they could find some rare minerals beneath the ocean’s surface they set out to make it possible to live on this planet for several years. To do this, they made a giant cargo ship that houses people in its steel crates, stores submarines, farms and other necessities that would allow life in a barren planet. What the mining company didn’t realize is that the planet is actually one giant living organism that was in hibernation for a thousand years.
If I decide to go for this project, I will model assets to build the giant ship environment. My inspirations for the SS Magnus are shanty towns, cargo ships and the aesthetics of the ship from an anime known as Gargantia. These will be the things I will research and they will primarily be secondary research found on the internet.
Shanty towns
This is what I want the layout of the houses to be like in my ship. I like how they’re all small and bunched up together. I will make the houses look more modern and livable but I want to give off a very simplistic living condition in the SS Magnus.
Cargo Ships
The SS Magnus is heavily inspired by real-life cargo ships.
The ship will be bigger and the steel crates will be stacked on top of one another. Each row of crates has spaces between them for alleyways and platforms for people to walk on. The steel crates will also look something like this:
This is the Shark Hotel located in Thorpe Park and much like how I described my idea, people live in these steel crates that are very minimalistic in design. Containing one double bed, a bunk bed, a drawer for clothes, and a small bathroom.
I personally stayed in this hotel before so I know from experience how it feels to stay in these rooms giving me an idea of how I want this room to look.
The visual style I have for this environment would be exaggerated realism since I want to make the ship look colorful and lively similar to Overwatch. To achieve this I will make sure to not add too much detail when modeling the assets in Maya. I will also use substance painter to texture and Zbrush to sculpt assets I make in Maya in case I need to add things like dents or metal damage. I am aware that I can add ware using substance but I can only go so far with that.
Advantages
- I enjoy the sci-fi genres
- A lot of the assets are hard surface models and linear
- Will challenge my skills as an aspiring environment artist
Disadvantages
- Laying out the map may be difficult
- Not a lot of organic models to work on
Idea 2: Fantasy/Adventure game
I don’t have a name for this game just yet, however, the initial idea was to make an RPG style fantasy game that is inspired by World of Warcraft. Since I’ll be working on my own, however, I won’t be able to make an RPG game but I can make an exploration game which would allow me to focus on making the levels and environments.
The story of this game starts off with the player being reincarnated into a race of his/her choosing. There are five races to choose from.
The first race is the Human race. Humans are a race that is the most technologically advanced compared to all the other races since they are also the most intelligent. They live in a large city that is filled to the brim with moving mechanisms that make traversing and city defense a lot easier.
The second race is the elven race. They have the utmost respect for nature, living within giant forests amongst the wildlife. They are skilled in ambush tactics since they are used to blending in with the environment, also they are skilled in ranged combat not just in the way of the bow and arrow but also through the use of nature magic that could summon plants and animals.
The third race is a dwarven race. Though not as intelligent as humans they are on another level when it comes weapons crafting. Their finely crafted dwarven weapons made them masters of warfare. They primarily live underground near an active volcano, using its heat to craft their weapons.
The fourth race is a demonic race that lives in a separate dimension that bends the laws reality. They are completely isolated from society but can use magic to disguise themselves. They specialize in combat magic and illusions making them very dangerous.
The fifth and final race is an angelic race that lived in the sky. They lived on a floating island that has been left in ruin. Their race has long been extinct and not much is known about them.
(all the images I used were random images I found in google that accurately represents how I envision some of the locations. These images do not represent the final product and will only be used as reference images.)
The reason why I said all this is because I wanted to establish the personalities and the characteristics of the races living in the environment I am going to make helping me visualize the look and feel for the place as well as the type of reference images I need to look up.
For the art style for this game, I want it to look realistic. The use of substance painter will help me achieve this realistic look by going through a PBR workflow. Using Zbrush will also help me make a more believable organic environment. Lastly, all base models will be made in Autodesk Maya and the final product will be rendered in Unreal Engine.
In order to achieve a realistic look, I will have to do some secondary research on lighting and particle effects for Unreal Engine as well as some primary research on forms of fictional architecture and non-fictional architecture which can be achieved by traveling and playing games with a similar genre such as Skyrim or Witcher 3.
Advantages
- Fantasy is my favorite genre
- A balance between hard surface and organic models
- Will challenge my skills as an aspiring environment artist
- Shows five different environments
Disadvantages
- Very time intensive
- Realism and attention to detail will require a lot of my time
Idea 3: Office tornado
Office tornado is an idea I have for a game in which two players spin on an office chair in ‘T’ pose and they collide with each other until the other falls off. The more you play the more you earn and you can use the in-game currency to purchase office appliances for weapons and uniforms for armor.
The inspirations for this game came from another game known as hand simulator. It is a game with very difficult controls and it is split in various game modes in which you have to eliminate the other players. What makes this game really funny in my opinion is its ragdoll feature. Whenever you eliminate the player, that player would shoot up into the sky and ragdoll. That feature would work well for the game I have in mind since it is not supposed to be taken seriously.
Vanossgaming. (2017). Hand Simulator Funny Moments – Floating Standoffs and Beatboxing!. [Online Video]. 10 December 2017. Available from: https://youtu.be/lGFV4Y3fGyI. [Accessed: 27 February 2019].
The level will be set in a generic looking office with an octagonal space which will be the fighting ring.
The visual style for this game would be low poly similarly to the game by the name of ‘Totally Accurate Battlegrounds’
Landfall. (2019). Totally Accurate Battlegrounds Trailer. [Online Video]. 5 June 2018. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=behpA361zFs. [Accessed: 27 February 2019]
I will use the art style of Totally Accurate Battlegrounds as an inspiration for the actual art style for this game. I don’t see myself needing to use a lot of sculpting software for this idea so I will primarily be using Maya and Substance Painter.
Most of the research I’ll be doing is primary research for the environment by playing the previously mentioned games and also secondary research on how to make a multiplayer game.
Advantages
- 3D models are easy to make
- Simple environment and level design
- Funny concept
Disadvantages
- More focused on the game design and mechanics
My choice
Out of the three ideas I’ve presented, I prefer the second idea because it is a genre I wish to specialize in and also, I have been planning this particular idea in my head for a long time now and I would like to push myself to go through with this for my FMP. I think since I am working on environments themed around fantasy, I can see myself having fun with this project regardless of how hard it may be to pull off. This will require a lot of my time and attention since I am making five different environments by myself but I think I can still manage.
To help me visualize these environments, I went and made five moodboards for each level.
Human City
For the human city, I wanted to go for a modern take on medieval fantasy. The cities in this moodboard looks as though they are reliant on machinery which is the look I am going for.
Elven City
The elven city I wish to make would be a city hidden amongst the trees. Elven decor takes inspiration from spiraling branches and vines, so I’ll be sure to take that in mind. I can make these patterns in Zbrush or by hand drawing alphas in photoshop to then take into substance painter.
Dwarven City
After making this moodboard, I’ve noticed that dwarven architecture takes inspiration from Nordic designs and also in mythology, the dwarves were masters at crafting meaning you’ll see a lot of fine metalwork in their homeland. You may also notice the hexagonal rocks. I put that there because, in the lore that I made, I said they lived near an active volcano. These rocks are formed when lava cools to make basalt and it cracks to make its hexagonal shape.
Demonic City
I didn’t want to go for a stereotypical hell like environment for this city since the dwarven city would look kind of similar. For this city, I want to make it seems very out of the ordinary which is why I included the upside down cities from the movie Inception and Dr. Strange. I also want to keep the city dark as if it were underground.
Angelic City
Since not much is known about this race, I want to make them seem ancient therefore their homeland would be left in ruins like Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. The city is also magical which explains why it is floating.
Tutor feedback
I pitched the idea to Gareth and he gave me tips on how I should go about making this project.
Firstly, Gareth explained that I should only focus on making one environment not only because of time but because it is better to make one high-quality environment than five rushed environments.
Secondly, I should try and add some interactive elements to the environment. This is to mainly to get people to visit my project and give them something to do aside from just walking around. Gareth stated that this is not really a priority but, it’s nice to have.
Lastly, Gareth recognized the fact that lighting is an important part of environment art so, he suggested I try and add dramatic lighting not only for aesthetic purposes but also to highlight points of interest in my level.
These are all great suggestions. I can see why only making one environment is what’s best for this project so, out of the five levels I will choose what I feel is challenging but achievable with my current skills. Lighting is also something I’ll definitely implement into my project since it is a key part in environment art. Gareth’s second point about interactive elements, however, is something I am not sure about due to the amount of time I’ll have to make this project. I would really like to just focus on the visual side of things but if I have time near the end I see what interactive elements I can add into the level.
Aims & Objectives
Aims
- To create at least one realistic level out of the 5 mentioned levels.
- Create an environment that shows off my skill as an environment artist.
- Create a realistic environment using high-quality textures made in substance painter.
Objectives
- Create environments that fit the lore of each race.
- Create a simple block out of each environment to help scale each asset correctly.
- Create a timesheet that prioritizes the development of each environment.
- Utilize any unused space within the explorable zones.
- Use lighting to highlight points of interests.
- Produce a high-quality render of each level and assets.
- Get more familiar with Zbrush
- Use sculpting software such as Zbrush or Mudbox to produce high poly maps.
- Take high-quality pictures for alphas and foliage.
I don’t think I will have enough time to create five different environments so I aim to create at least two or three levels prioritizing the sky island level since it’s an idea I have been developing in my head the longest. Making all five levels isn’t really that important, what’s important is to make a detailed environment for my portfolio and I can achieve this now that substance painter has been introduced to me which makes the texturing process a lot easier. This isn’t to say that I won’t be prioritizing player/client experience, in fact as an aspiring environment artist, leaving an impression on the player is probably the most important thing I can do right now to put myself out there if I ever want to work in the game industry. Whilst doing research on what it takes to work in the games industry as an environment artist, I found this article on Artstation telling me exactly what I need to do.
Sierra Mon. 2017. Everything You Need to Know to Become a Game Environment Artist. [ONLINE] Available at: https://magazine.artstation.com/2017/03/game-environment-artist/. [Accessed 27 February 2019].
In this article, Robert Hodri who is a senior game artist in the industry states that the skills I would need to show off in my portfolio will be “modeling, texturing, composition, level beautification colors, lighting“. I will make sure to keep that in mind for this project.
Visuals, Interactivity and Audio
As I’ve stated before, I a making a realistic fantasy environment. To create this I will look up different styles of architecture and model each asset in Maya only using Substance Painter and Zbrush/Mudbox for texturing and detailing. This project will be prioritizing visuals over interactivity and audio because it is what I want to specialize in.
For interactivity, I plan on having opening and closing doors and portals and perhaps just a basic HUD or the main menu. Since I want the player to explore every map, I wish to make each of them easily accessible by making a fast travel system similar to Skyrim where you have a world map and you can just select icons on the map to fast travel to.
Audio is important for adding immersion, especially for exploration. Since I am doing this project on my own, it would be difficult to create audio by myself whilst making the levels. I do wish to have audio in the game but, they will probably be downloaded from royalty-free websites such as:
http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk/
I plan on having background sound effects that you’d hear in real life environments such as wind, birds, water etc.
Feedback
Throughout my project, I will be screen recording the making of each level from pre-production to production. I will not be screen recording the creation of every asset I make in the game since some assets such as columns and archways have already been done in previous projects and workshop but any new assets and techniques will be recorded.
I will keep a small notebook with me the whole time should I ever get new ideas or if I ever change existing ideas and I will document it in my blog during the pre-production stage of the project. To ensure that I don’t waste too much time thinking of new ideas during pre-production, I will create a timesheet for myself so that I know when to start the final production stage.
Nick Amalin 