#fwxb2001

What went well and what did not?

I’m am very happy with how this assignment turned out.

From my initial first plan I wanted to create a small British village which seems isolated from the rest of the world. I first felt that the idea I wanted to achieve was just not feasible in the time frame, but after finding the village of Warnham the project moved along quite quickly. This did take me a while after numerous researching, eventually I found out about the area on a mother’s website. Someone had asked for a small village with transport direct to London, so this fitted the bill perfectly, especially since I always imagined the main character to originate from London.

The modular building took me a little bit of practice to get working right. I first created a kit in maya and then imported it in to Unreal. I found that it didn’t fit together quite right, and also the scale didn’t seem realistic.

I had already used the UE4 Guy for scale but I decided to do it again, this time creating a basic floor plan I made sure that he would have enough room to roam about the house. Once I settled on this I created a Plane 15 x 15 in Maya this comes out at 375 x 375 in unreal. I decided to build the house with this one piece to double check the proportions felt right for the height as well as the width and depth. The next Issue I came across was that the interior walls would need to be far too close to the outside wall to give the player adequate moving space which would have caused Z flickering. I resolved this by making a corner piece with height dimension of 15 matching the flat plane, but 1 x 1 in the x and y. This worked perfectly as it extended the house exterior enough to prevent overlapping geometry and also gave the feeling of depth to the walls. I probably could have gone for 0.5 to give a more realistic thickness, but I decided working with whole numbers as much as possible. Although later I did create a few panels with width half of the original. This allowed me the ability to bunch up doorways for the upstairs bedrooms, as would be found in a real house.

I think I made excellent use of modularity.

With the House kit I produced I was also able to create a post office exterior, train station and platform exterior and a Signal box interior and exterior. This allowed me to create the other buildings very quickly allowing me to focus on other aspects.

I also decided to make a modular piece for the road and train track. Although I did manipulate this in Maya to make bigger pieces rather than placing individual parts in unreal which can be tedious, particularly with how small my train piece is.

Road Piece with slight curve.

After making the first train piece I used the duplicate tool so several panels were connected I then merged them together and imported that as a whole into Unreal.

For the curved piece I once again used the duplicate tool but I also added a small rotation and set the copies to instances. This allowed me to snap the points of the new piece to the old and at the same time altering the bottom points of the original piece, meaning that every piece snapped together perfectly.

I used the same method for the road, but due to the variation in the shape I decided it was best to use the modular pieces in Maya to complete the whole road piece.

I also made variates of my Fence with 1 post, two post and no post. This is only small in size in comparison to the rest of the pieces I made but it is the most used piece in the scene so it needed to fit well together. I also produced a gate variation.

Modular Blueprints?

I’m not sure if that is a real thing or I've made it up!

For my blueprints I decided to try an use modularity.

Using the modular pieces I built a house exterior in Unreal.

I wanted to use this over again but this would have resulted in several issues. Only one house can be entered and if i duplicated the BP as difficult it means half the houses would allow the player to enter.

My solution was to create 3 Variables

2 Booleans Sams House, and Neighbours House

and a Integer

Simple if Sams House Boolean is ticked then the closed gate model will be replaced with an open gate model and the original front door will be hidden with collision disabled. 

Neighbours House will also change the closed gate model to the open gate, but nothing else will change.

And the Integer sets the House number

What would you do differently next time?

I can’t think of anything I would change next time. I am pleased with how it turned out, as the outcome was better than i had originally expected.

I did play through Everybody's Gone to the Rapture to get a feel for the kind of game i was making. I felt that helped, maybe if i had of had the time to play it before starting the project i may have looked at things differently its hard to say. I think i would have been more tempted to copy things I liked rather than make my own unique game. I feel like I’ve made a good starting point and I could use this as a starting point for future projects.

If i had to pick one thing it would be to consult the module book more often, i spent too much time trying to make it look pretty for myself and to proof i could rather than to just make a nice looking white box, which of course is the main aim.

Some assets used in my game were downloaded from the internet. here is a list

Cars https://grabcad.com/library/austin-mini-cooper-s-1965 http://animium.com/2017/08/lotus-cortina-3d-model Textures

http://www.wallpaperking.co.uk/fabric-style-leather-effect/5486-frequency-teal-blue-beige-wallpaper-2625-21851.html

Music Jorge Méndez - Cold

Sound effects

I will be reusing The bird, wind and footstep sounds that Adam Whitehead created for the group project. As these were recorded to such a good standard it seemed redundant to have new recordings made.

vegetation pack

https://forums.unrealengine.com/community/community-content-tools-and-tutorials/30694-free-foliage-starter-kit

Final Screenshots

01/11/2017 - Today I modelled a sci-fi themed sword, a crate, a heavy weapon and some doors, though I am happy with the visual representations below, these models are not properly unwrapped and details have been modelled into them which can be painted on instead, I plan on rectifying these issues.

Sword 

I am happy with this design though not so much with the addition of light at the bottom, I would rather the light be scattered across the sword, emanating from hieroglyphics and indentations within the blade.

Heavy Weapon 

Again I am happy with the below renders though darkness is hiding some imperfections such as dents in the blade, I plan on remaking this model, keeping the geometry as simple as possible before painting on details such as the hieroglyphics. 

Crate 

I am not overly fond of this crate model, I am planning on creating 2 or 3 new crate models.

Door (Single and Double)

I am not sure if the below model will make it into the prototype, I created it simply to see if I could model a door in correlation with a sci-fi theme, it would definitely need more surface modelling if it was to make it to the prototype, as it is very simple in its current state. 

10/11/2017

Altered Sword Model

 I decided to make alterations to the sword model, I added alphas to the grip with emissive values and painted on emission to the indents in the blade of the sword, each part of the model has been unwrapped separately and has it’s own 2048x2048 texture, resulting in a high-quality visual outcome. The emissive colours which are currently red can easily be set to any other colour if need be.

I will now go on to alter other models previously featured in this blog post.

New Crate

I decided to make a new sci-fi themed crate and abandon my last effort for the time being at least, I took advantage of Substance Painters hard surface stamps when texturing this model, I am happy with the result.

First crate revisited

I have created a crate similar to the first in shape, though with a more effective use of a polycount with most of the detail implemented in Substance Painter.

11/11/2017

Barrel Model 1/2

Below is a barrel prop I made, I plan on making another variation of this asset type. 

Barrel Model 2/2

Heavy Weapon

Below are renders of my heavy weapon model, an alternate weapon for the player to wield in our prototype, it is a hammer type heavy weapon with thrusters at its rear. 

19/11/2017

Today I researched into other possible props I could create for our prototype, I have decided to dedicate today to the creation of a sci-fi themed billboard, a teleporter, a computer system and I am also going to experiment with the creation of artificial trees using paint effects in Maya.

Below are some images of assets available to purchase at www.assetstore.unity3d.com that I will be using for inspiration.

Artificial Trees

I created the trees below using paint effects in Maya, I simply used a default tree brush which I used to create 2 different trees, before exporting them into Substance Painter where I altered the textures to appear artificial, my goal here was to create a textures that would make the trees look artificial and man-made, fitting with the sci-fi theme we are going for.

Teleport/Jump Pad - Inspired by my reference images, could be used if the player needs to be teleported.

Sidebar - After some discussion with my teammates, it has become apparent that I must divert from my current plan as there is a need for me to create a shield model for the player character to use, and market stalls to be featured within the game environment. I will prioritize the creation of these assets, starting with the shield.

Below are some images I will use for inspiration in the creation of this asset.

23/11/2017

Finished Shield Model 

Using the above reference images as inspiration, I decided to create a 1 handed shield, once again featuring emission as is a common theme with all of the assets I am creating for our prototype. The shield features a solid metal inner with painted on decals and some circular lighting on the outer edges as well as a sort of holographic shield extension with opacity. I am happy with this outcome.

Market Stalls 

I am fairly happy with the stalls below, though upon conversing with my team, we have decided it is best I add some form of lighting to these models. I would also like to work on creating street lights for our prototype once I am done with the stalls.

Below are some images my team and I have gathered which I will use for inspiration in the creation of the lighting for our scene.

24/11/2017

Lighting

Following yesterdays feedback, I have begun to create lighting for our prototype and the stall models.

Stall 1 w/ lighting

Stall 2 w/ lighting

Stall 3 w/ added lighting

Now that I am happy with the stall models, I will move on to creating street lighting for our prototype.

Streetlight 1

Streetlight 2 

25/11/2017 - Today I am going to make a fairly random assortment of assets to add variation to our prototype.

Pallets

Pallets - Second Variation

28/11/2017

After discussing my current progress with my tutor and my team, it has become apparent to me that they are more than satisfied with the number of models I have created and the detail which has gone into each in individual model. The next main step for me to take is to begin importing assets into our prototype, which I will be able to do as soon as Dom has finalized the creation of the environment to at least some extent.

Whilst waiting to move onto the next necessary stage I am going to create some smaller props, Alex has instructed me with the task of creating smaller prop assets that can be featured in the market area of our prototype, first I will create various batteries, inspired by the below Sketchfab upload.

Batteries by Grzegorz Kozłowski on Sketchfab

Finished Batteries - 3 variations, fairly simple, created for the purpose of being displayed on the surface of the stall models within open crates.

29/11/2017

When texturing the crate assets I came across a brick wall of sorts, there is a fair range of hard surfaces available within Substance Painter, though often I require a simple shape which I would assume would be included within the program and it is not. To overcome this obstacle I decided to learn how to create my own hard surface stamps, this was a fairly lengthy process as I went in with very limited knowledge, but I am now comfortable with saying I can now quite efficiently produce a vast array of hard surfaces which will be very useful in any future projects I undertake.

Below is a hard surface stamp I created, a simple bevelled rectangle which I have used in the texturing process of the open crate models.

Open Crates 

2 variations, created to contain small assets such as batteries and beverages.

Drinks Container

A simple model, created to contain beverages I have yet to model, will most likely be located on the bar stall which I will also be modelling a chair for. The texture below will appear more metallic in UE4.

01/12/2017

Beverages

2 variations, bottled and canned alcohol.The canned beverage design has been inspired by the below image sourced from the following article, entitled  “ A Brewery Founded By MIT Geeks Releases a New Sci-Fi Rock Album on Beer Cans”.

http://crushbrew.com/a-brewery-founded-by-mit-geeks-releases-a-new-sci-fi-rock-album-on-beer-cans 

I really like the aesthetic featured in both of these beverage variations.

03/12/2017

Barstool

Fairly simple model, I purposely avoided overly smoothing this model as it could have quite easily exceeded an efficient polycount. I feel I have applied an aesthetically pleasing texture to this model, that does not appear too dissimilar to my other assets. 

04/12/2017

The last thing I have been instructed to model is a semi-circular bar, keeping with the sci-fi theme. 

I will create something similar to the image below, which is an image taken from the game Mass Effect Andromeda. 

06/1/2017

Bar Model

Loosely based on the above image, effective use of emission and minor hard surface detail has resulted in an attractive looking asset.

Evaluation.  Overall for this assignment I focused on my aesthetic the most trying to get it to feel like a library. Although I am not a strong programmer I am happy with what I was able to produce. If I had more time I would of added in sound effects for more ambience and a polished product.  I do feel I have created what I set out to do. To make it feel more like  walking simulator I changed the speed of the character movement as I felt the pace of the level didn’t match the speed the first person character is set to.  I’m glad I was able to get player feedback with the bookmarks as I knew when collecting the bookmarks as the designer I know where they are and did not need that feedback but through play testing I was able to see that some people would ask if that was all of them and i thought having a physical element in front of you was better than a widget.

For my main challenge to the game of the open books I'm happy with how that turned out, one because it was interesting to work with destructible meshes and after evaluating the difficulty of having them re-spawn I think it became the best part of my level and I knew I wanted to reuse it again. Again it would of been good if I could of added in sound so that when it crumbles you hear it. Directional lighting to play key, I wanted to create an atmosphere of a late afternoon so playing about with the colour settings to give it an orange twinge and change the atmospheric fog around to make it seem like something not natural helped to cross that bridge of real life to a fantasy world. It was fun to experiment with the lighting effects as it did change the mood of the game. And as I had a very open glass roof and area’s that were darkened by shadows it free’d up a need for more point lights and spot lights. 

Turning on clouds and tweaking the colours of the sky box really helped to improve the overall look and feel of the level.

After i got the tree’s leaf textures working properly, it really made it look a lot nicer, and let a lot more of the sky box’s natural light through to under the canopy. The water also looks great in angles like this.

What I would do differently next time : 

To be honest, a lot. In the state that i handed in the assignment, I personally feel like i could have done a lot better, i just lacked an idea or topic that i really wanted to do. If i was to do it again, I would spend more time in the idea generation phase, to refine my ideas into something i actually want to do, and feel i could reasonably do to a level i would be happy to play myself. I would also try and go for something a bit more in my comfort zone, for instance, i don’t see myself as being very good at level design, i admit that, so i just went for something i thought would be easy, a walking simulator, but i don’t feel like i gave the genre enough justice. I also chose an idea, of which as a final game, i probably wouldn't play, which already wasn't a great start, but it was the only idea i could come up with at the time that fit the criteria we were given.

Work In Progress Shots - 

Basic Terrain Mesh + Tank

Terrain given default moss texture + animated water added (river and waterfall)

TREES!!! Textures didn't import correctly, so her it is using a temporary fix of the default grass texture. Caused it to be a bit too dark under the trees.

What Went Well : 

What i did manage to do, i reckon i didn't do too badly. The tree’s turned out fairly nice after an hour or so messing around with settings in Speed Tree i managed to get some fairly natural looking trees that fit the style i wanted to go for. However, when i first imported the trees, some of the textures didn't scale properly, so the leave where basically invisible as they were really small, and the opacity map hadn't exported properly. However after a bit of tweaking and resizing, the trees in the final version looked really nice, and much better than the makeshift fix in the work in progress shots, where i replaced the leaf textures with the standard unreal grass texture, which look okay, but a bit odd, and didn't let much light through, making the atmosphere a bit too dark under the canopy. 

Another part that I am really happy with how it turned out was the animated water texture. This was the first time I had tried creating custom materials, and even though I was following a tutorial, I am happy with the final effect that the texture gave of. The water texture truly shows its beauty when under the sunlight, I really like how it gives of the effect of diffracting the light and warping the view of the river bed. The Waterfall took this water texture a bit further, making the regular looking water texture look like it was actually a physical thing that was flowing over and down the cliff. I also like how once again it gives the effect of diffracting the light, as when you look at the waterfall, you can clearly see the cave entrance behind it, but when you actually go behind it, you find that it is a lot lower than it first appeared.

Probably the biggest part of this Level Design assignment was the dialogue system I implemented, although it may seem simple from the surface, this was the first time i had ever tried blueprinting something like this, and of course that came with many issues. The dialogue blue print went through many iterations, as every time i fixed one bug, two more appeared in its place. And then once i had got the basic system working, i wanted to lock off certain sections until you had met certain requirements, of course this caused a whole other pile of bugs to deal with, the most annoying to fix was when you pressed 'e' to respond to a voice line, and then met the criteria to progress through the dialogue, it didn't continue unless you hadn't pressed 'e' to respond yet. In the end, it turned out to be something super simple as adding an extra branch check, another option on each switch on it, and to skip on node off at the end until you had met the requirement, then you would progress onto another section.

Lighting really helped to give the level a really nice feel to bring everything together. I didn’t do much to the lighting, but what little i did do, had a massive impact on the over all feeling of the level, just from slightly tweaking some of the colours of the sky box, turning on clouds, as well as adding some exponential height fog, which really made it feel a bit more realistic, instead of just the basic lighting.

Finally, the foliage, albeit just simply two square planes intersecting each other with three different simple texture variants, i feel that it really brought the level to life and filled in a lot of the empty spaces that were left between the trees. These especially looked great after giving them some simple wind animations.

What Didn’t Go So Well :

At the beginning of this project I knew I wanted to do a walking simulator as my skills are more focused on the art side. I wanted to incorporate a few mechanics into the level. Although my skill set towards blueprint is not strong I wanted to keep my mechanics simple and not go to ambitious. For the assignment I went ahead and picked the theme of a Library for my level. One reason for picking this particular theme was based on a childhood movie called; The Page Master. The overall part I found myself inspired was how it changed from a live action to a cartoon as the main character finds himself in the library and suddenly is in this whole other world based around different book genres.   When I started to break down what I would like to incorporate I knew I had to think of big walls and space.  Although my level is purely a walking simulator I wanted to player to not only explore the level but also have other elements involved such as a small puzzle or collectibles to be found in the area. When I came up with the idea of an obstacle and how to I change from a realistic perspective to a fantasy one. I did not want to go complex with my mechanics as I was afraid of being too ambitious. But I also knew I did not want the player to be bored. I wanted to incorporate a key element that could be used again.  

What I found after my initial idea's was how important the player feedback is, for myself I know where to go I know how to get over the obstacle so many times but other players might not be able to or I've made it difficult to continue.  I needed to create ways outside of print strings to My iteration of my level became really important when it came to watching others play through it, the bugs I found and how I was not giving the player enough feedback to show they had achieved what they needed too to move on to the end of the level.