New project! Star Wars themed vehicles

Now that I'm finally finished with my room, I'm jumping straight to vehicle creation! I'm excited and looking forward to this that in one day I already have my final design!

Here are the references I used

This is what I spend half of my day in.

And viola! my final design. It is still rough and needs a bit of tidying up, but I'm happy with the result.

Room Scene Finished!

This news is weeks late, but I still want to find the time to post this. So, here it is!

My final design with colours 

 

and here is my 3D recreation of my design!

Lesson: Splines

This week, our tutor taught us how to use Splines. It is a very powerful tool that will really save me significant amount of time when creating 'holed assets', e.g., windows, and doors.

Room Concept Work! Update 2

Now that I had my concept nailed, I can now relax a bit and focus on the technical aspect of the concept. First, I am going to focus on the value and lighting.

After hours of work, I now have this:

Character Concept Update 1

Today I focused on having a final design for my character. Here are the designs I made:

My design evolution.

First of all, it's not a jedi! He is wearing a japanese samurai coat (don't know what it's called).

UV and Material Mapping

Today, I had a bit of a refresher on UV and Material Mapping. With some experience with Autodesk Maya, I did not find much problem in 3ds aside from the buttons not where they I expect them to be!

Anyways, here is my work:

My final render and my workarea in 3ds Max.

Here's the spaggetti tree as I would call it.

Room Concept Work! Update

Using my mood boards (which I showed in my first 'Room Concept Work' entry) I have created some designs that I continue to evolve to get the final design that I am going to be happy with.

Here are some of my rough sketches:

Then, After 5 hours of evolving my design I finally got what I had in mind. (I know, I am still to slow in the process, but I'll get there!)

This is exactly what I had in mind, and I am very pleased about it.

Character Concept

Now that I have a plan on how to create my room, I will start getting ideas for my character.

This is the references I have chosen:

Japanese and Korean full armour and some Mediveal knight helmets added to the mix.

And here is my modular models ready to be dressed.

Room Concept Work!

As we are given a task to create our 3D room, I started putting the hours on my room concept. I am thinking of going for a Sci-Fi Asian environment.




These are the mood boards I'm going to be referring to:

Traditional and modern Japanese architecture

My lighting mood board

Asian castles and a Sci-fi city

Kitchen/Dining moodboard

My Life Plans

Today, we discussed about our ideal future goals in 3 and half, 5, and 10 years time. I find this interesting because by writing down my perfect life in the future, I am simultaneously thinking, "Ok, so how do I achieve these things?" It makes me reflect and plan a rough idea of how I should act on my road to that future goal. This is a very good session on life, it is thought provoking and makes you act accordingly.


Just to share with you guys, this is what I wrote:


In 3 and half years time I am 22 years old. I had finished my degree with a first, and doing my part-time work while also looking for a job.


In 5 years time I am 24 years old. I am currently working on my first game project in an independent studio.


10 years into the future, I am 29 years old and working in Bethesda making a new game. I'm with my soon to be wife. I'm now a concept artist and a world Taekwon-do champion (I really hope so.)

Post Processing

Today our tutor taught us about post processing. This is an aesthetic flare that we can add to make our level more beautiful. This is something I will definitely add to my game as it gives that finishing touch to your level.

Peer Review Again!

We now come to the point where we need to analyze each other's work.

Question: Are the lighting (lens flares, panning lights) placement ok?

Peer Review:
- The lighting seems fine for the amount of small, closed-in corridors there are.

- Light placement is fine, but worried about the radius of each light as they look a bit small. Unless you're after a dark atmosphere.

- Lighting seems good for the corridors.

My Answer:

Thank you for the responses.With a lot of positive responses, I don't think there are any flaws in my lighting anymore aside from the light radius. Therefore, I think my lights are doing its job. Now that I am confident that the placement is correct its just a matter of improving its aesthetic and features.

Question: Is the map layouts (lights and ladders) OK for a death-match and capture-the-point game mode?

Peer Review:
- The mix of narrow corridors and open spaces will mix well for a Capture game mode, the amount of corridors may take away from a death-match though.

- The map layout is unique from any of the other maps I've seen, although the size could be a bit too big and might be hard to find other players.

-The map layout is quite big so it will hard to find the player, but the map is great for capture game mode.

My Answer: When it comes to my map layout I received a lot of negative and mixed reviews. I realized that building a little Victorian town for a big death-match and capture the flag map is hard work and will only lead to minimal acceptance. So, I am planning of cutting it down and minimizing my map into a manageable but still enjoyable level.


Question: Im going for a victorian themed game what do you think?

Peer Review:

- With the lighting being set as it is currently, a victorian theme would be good.

- I think the layout suits a victorian layout. Can't see any problems with it right now.

- The lighting layout looks good for your map level. i don't know you would improve it right now.

My Answer: Based on the reviews I got, I am confident of my way of placing aesthetics to mimic a Victorian level.

Lesson: Particle Effects

As I am making a Victorian themed map, street lights, wall lamps and torches are a must. Today, I am excited because we have discussed particle effects which covers the flame effects that I really need.

Light Effects: Lens Flares

Today, another amazing aesthetic technique is added to my arsenal: the lens flare. This is a very nice addition to my map as I can add more details to my current lighting. I can also use it to emphasize a main light source.

Flip book Technique

     Today we discussed a new technique that gives us the feature I really need for my map: the flip book technique.

     Initially, I was shocked that explosion effects are made from continuous still images rather than game engine features and its algorithms. Fortunately, it is done using still images; as using some kind of game engine feature will really affect performance considering a high-quality effect consist of a lot of particles.

     I really found the flipbook technique as a vital element to what I want in my map and that it is also convenient and easy to use.

Sky Cube and Dominant Lights

I used a night-time Sky Box, with the moon slightly on top of the map.

I have pictured Victorian Era as a foggy, innovative, dangerous, and with a hint of loneliness. It is this reason that I decided to have a night-time sky cube, because it makes me feel that there is danger in every corner and to add that loneliness feeling. But, to contrast this, I added bright lights to represent innovation; in the future, I will add high-tech steam-punk models. The moon is located a bit on the top of the map because I want the roofs to be highlighted more. So, it can aid players' navigation when travelling the map using the roofs.

Lighting Mood Board

After modeling my map I now turn to develop its lighting.

I'm really confident that my lighting placement reflects the Victorian Era; and I know it does because one of my peers said that he initially thought its a Victorian game even when I'm just blocking it out. So, I know I'm hitting the right spot in developing my theme.

I didn't only place my light points purely because of aesthetics but also to serve as a player guidance. Playing my map for so many times, I rearranged and tinkered their placement to be more effective, and I'm sure that it will work.

Item Pickups

I am going to add equipment pickups, e.g., medic packs and utility items. But, I will not add weapon pickups, on the other hand, you can pick dead player's weapons.The player needs to customize his/her weapon layout before spawning.

I think the reason for me not having available weapon pickups is entirely because of the map theme. I'm going for a civilian town so it is not relevant to have a weapon lying around in the streets. I want my work to be realistic as possible.

Map Objective

I designed my map to be played by a maximum of 20 players. It can be played as team death-match, free-for-all, destroy-the-objective, or as the game mode I have in mind: Domination.

Team Death-match layout

Team Death-Match. Orange X represent spawn points.

FFA layout

The orange X represent the possible spawn points for players.

Domination layout

Team death-match and free-for-all are self explanatory. In destroy-the-objective the 'Government Building' or the 'Civilian Overpass' will be the bomb sites. As for the Domination it is a little bit different than the usual. So, I will explain it further

Domination
Basically, there will be two teams: the home guards (because its Victorian I need a name that will reflect that time) and the rebels (I still don't have a name for their organization). They need to get the powerful weapon from a cargo in 'River Market', the one who weilds this weapon can destroy anyone easily. But, the shipment cargo is electronically switched off from the start in the police station. The two teams need to switch it back on to get it. But, they need to have a plan for this, as switching it on and not having a teammate to acquire the weapon will give the other team the chance to grab it.

I'm confident that these game modes will fit perfectly to my map and will give players different experiences depending on the game mode.

Locations and Landmarks

This is the layout of landmarks on my map. NOTE: The roofs of ALL building are accessible excluding the buildings on the map boarders.

I think my layout of buildings will flow easily; adding a lot of possible routes to get into a certain place each with their respective pros and cons which will make the player act tactically and therefore makes my map re-playable, as there will be a sense of randomness.

Map Flow: Game Play and Navigation

I redesigned my map because I have this idea to add more paths for the players.

The green path is for land navigation and the blue path is for water navigation. The red part is the inaccessible areas. NOTE: Excluding the red areas, all building roofs can be accessed by players.

I designed this map to be a medium paced one. That is why I added a lot of routes making it situational, as a result, players will be more cautious as engagements are always different.

I think that adding more paths will make my map more engaging as players will have more freedom in how they want to interact with the map, therefore, giving them more immersion.

Revamped My Map!

As I edit my old map I thought that it is too big; the gap between spaces are too wide, the buildings are too big, and a lot can be improved with the tons of peer suggestions I had.

After 3 days of redesigning my map, I had this to play with:

I still have the same victorian-steampunk idea.

Lighting 101

Today our tutor discussed the use of lighting and its color theory. He explained how this subtle technique is vital to make a successful game. Unfortunately, discussing the whole lighting techniques will take an entire year as it is so complex so our tutor will just focus on the basics for now.

I learned the different effects of lighting: player guidance, exit & path highlighting, enemy presentation, and hinting.

I really need this technique as it enhances the game-play of my map and because it is a great aesthetic to my assets; it will give my assets depth and life.