Unit 3 Evaluation 17.1.18

Unit 3 Evaluation

This unit let me experiment more with the story of a game and how it can affect the gameplay in general. Through this unit I learned about storyboard actions and what they mean. For example the black arrows always represent character action and the white arrows is the camera movement. All of this came in very handy when I developed my levels in the game. I already had some knowledge of storyboards in the past, but it is always handy to look back at them. I may learn something I did not know before.

The creation of the levels was an easy task and one that I have done before. Although there is that common mistake of putting all of the lighting in different levels. A mistake that can be easily fixed. I decided to go for an manually landscape creation rather then a pre-made one because I wanted to use the assets to help build up the terrain. The second scene however did have a height map imported because it would take too long to manually create a landscape in that scale. The hard part for this landscape development will be the scene three, which will mainly use the assets to build the environment. My plans for that will be to use a procedural created assets to help with the walls. Although for an experiment I could use Zbrush. This will require some research.

Of course every good environment needs to have some lighting. I feel more confident using the post-process tools in this Engine. I learned more about the tone-mapping and how it helps to improve the saturation and colour tone. Lighting will play a bug role in this project because some parts of the game will take the player underground. It is here that I will use the underwater moodboards, to create some new lighting. As part of my future development I will look into some particle effects, to see if I can get that underwater feel.

At this point I have got everything that I need to make my three scenes in the game.  Even though they are finished, they are only in a pro-type stage and there is plenty more work to go in order to get a cinematic quality experience. All of this will be blogged in the FMP.

Task 4 - Actions Taken from Peer Feedback 16.1.18

Actions Taken from Peer Feedback

Most of the actions that I need to take are mainly coming from the drawings and lighting side, but of this feedback will help me develop the storyboards and level design even further. Because this is in a prototype stage anything is subject to change. So even if I like this idea now, I may change it later.

Storyboard Changes

A alternative scene of my storyboard

I change that I have done and still needs a bit of work is the addition of alternative scenes. At the current moment I am planning on adding three pf then and they will all be triggered via a  use of a QTE. I used the storyboard to captured the motion of the character, using the black arrows ti show his movement and the white ones for the camera. Getting these to work will be a bit tricky, but I know I will get them done. I also used the storyboard to practice a bit on my drawing skills. The perspective were done via the use of Lazi Nuzumi Pro. It does a really great job at capturing the perspective points.

Lighting Changes

Lighting change for Scene 1

Another change that I am currently doing is the addition of lighting in my scenes. By adjusting the fog density, temperature and bloom and I create a environment that feels cold and isolated. The style that I am look for for this game project. The lighting is in need of a few more adjustments, but the process is coming along well. Further adjustments on the tonemapper will also help with the global lighting, but all of this will be tested.

Task 4 - Lighting Composition 16.1.18

Lighting Composition

The lighting in this scene is intended to be dark and cold. The addition of the fog density, allows the player to feel this way. I also added some lights in the crystals to show the reflections of the models. To help further improve them, I applied a screen reflection captures to help bring out their details more.

As for the assets, I applied the blinn materials to them, to help bring out the lighting details on the assets. This materiel was not applied to all of the assets; I only used it on the ones will be exposed to light the most. All three scenes lights will be done in the preview phase, so that I can adjust any of the global lighting without having to wait for a long bake. Once I am happy with them I can then apply the production lighting, so you can clearly see the quality of the assets. 

Task 4 - Colour Theory 15.1.18

Colour Theory

For my environment I wanted to use some cold colours (such as blues and cyan) to help bring out the sense of isolation in my game. In addition to this I also want to use different colour palette for the cave, to help break up the composition of my scene.

I used some references from Monster Hunter World and Mass Effect to help identify some examples the uses of colour. Each area that you go to, always use a different colour scheme and blends them together to help bring the best out of the landscape. The lights in these game also helped me to plan out the settings for the game.

Taking the light map into considerations, I made sure that both my assets and the modular assets use the correct texture size. I will be using 256 texture maps for the light map, but they don't have to be too high for this game. The UV layout will also be important, to avoid any light bleeds.

Even though I will be using the substance texture for this project, I will be doing some adjustments (such as the emissive) to allow to stand out more and to help them blend in with the scene. The assets will use the following materials

• Crystal Trees and Bush 
• Substance materials with emissive constant value set to 2
• Rocks
• Roughness: 1
• Caves
• Roughness: 1
• Drone
• Metallic: 1
• Roughness: 0.50

Task 4 - The Visuals and Sounds of the Game 14.1.18

The Visuals and Sounds of the Game

The main storyboard have been created and now my focus is on the visuals and sound for the scene. This will aid with the flow of the story and further explain to the player what is happening to the scene. Here I will be covering all of the lighting, shadows, particle effects and all the sounds I ahve used for the story.

Lighting and Shadows

The lighting in scene 1

The most important task for me to remember when I made the lighting is that any environmental lighting has to be done in the persistent level. That way they will work with the other levels I ahve made.

My main goal for this scene is to follow a cold and isolated theme. I made some adjustments to the post-processing to add more blue to the global lighting. Following my research from colour theory I used cold colours such as grey and blue to help create the illusion of a cold environment. This will also help to establish the mood for the game itself.

The post process settings

But I did more then just lights to adjust the mood. By adjusting the bloom of the game, I can add some fog in my viewport. I also made some adjust to the tonemapper and more importantly the colour LUT map to make the setting I am after. It is supring to see how much the post-process can dramatically change the scene for a game project.

Audio

The audio in my game

The audio that I have used have all been taken from the internet and altered in some form. In total I have used a button press, scanner, hover and walking sounds to all help with the actions of my game. Their purpose is to tell the player what is going on. I also added in some environment sounds to help further establish the mood for this game. In addition to this, it hove the cut-scene more immersion rather then having just an empty video.

Particles

A particle emitter in my game

To add more action to this game, I added in some particle effects. Just like the audio they are there to tel the play what is happening. For example the steam coming from Orion's back, tells the player that that drone is being removed. It is a great way to tell a story rather then just using the sound for all the reactions. I also used the particles effects for the crystals too, giving them a sense of life.

Art Direction

The scene in game (bottom-right) and the art reference (top-left)

The main flow of this story is the exploration. Each planet has its own theme and so the variety of styles I can choose is limitless. For this game, I went for a barren style. I decided to use my references to make this environment, but in a different perspective. While this image uses warm colours, I went for a cold ones to create an arctic-like scene. Having this kind of scene helps build the emptiness of the landscape, just like a dessert theme. I also wanted to make it a bit gloomy to further reinforce the environment. That element of reduce vision adds to the state the player will be in when he/she explore this world (confusion, loss). But more importantly I want the player to feel like this world is one that needs to be explored, so I made sure it has that awe-inspiring presences, such as the large crystal pillars. It that's sense of wonder that will drive the player to move forward into this landscape.    

Task 4 - Peer Feedback 14.1.18

Peer Feedback

I made sure that I got a good amount of feedback for my work. With the advice I can further improve my work and develop a storyboard I am happy with. I can also add more idea into the storyboard with the peer feedback I received. 

Some drawings feedback

One of the feedback I received from my storyboards is the posture and perspective of my drawings. My drawings skills are not up to par, but I tried my best to get them to the quality I want them. There are plenty of guides on YouTube on how to create a character following a one,two or three point perspective. Lighting and shadow also help because with those subtle details I can make a 3D image.

Feedback on story

Story also plays a important role in this feedback and with the in mind I explain my story to my peers. The feedback was good, but they wanted to see more arcs in the story. This meaning not following a linear path and this can be done via the use of QTE (quick time events). I do want to add these into my game, but I have to do it a way that makes sense. This is something that will require some research.

Task 3 - Powerpoint Presentation of Design Development

Powerpoint Presentation of Design Development

The Crystal Environment powerpoint

With all of the work complete, I can now present my work. In this presentation I will cover all of the pre-production of the levels design and the storyboard. I will go into more detail as to way I have done the choices I made and explain my inspiration to them. I will try to make it as short as possible, because there are some details that are best explained vocally.

The work itself has been quite a long one. For me, what made this task hard has the creation of the different levels.In my unit two blog I explained this, but I overcame the problem in the end. Perspective drawings also played a vital role because they allowed be to visualise my ideas. But also they were used as a guidelines for the Unreal scales.

I will indeed continue to develop my work as the project progress.

Feedback from Presentation

In the Powerpoint I have explained all of the keys point in my environmental scene and I received some good feedback. They were happy that I have explained about the environment and assets in my scene and what their purpose is in the game. The story was explained to them via the storyboards and the peers knew how it was structured the way it is and why. In addition to this, the drawings that I showed them clearly explained the vision I was planing and I am very pleased they liked the drawings.

As for the feedback, one advice they did gave me was sound. I have put sound in my environment, but I failed to mention this in my PowerPoint. My presentation skills could also use some touch-ups too. They are good, but they can also be a bit better. With the feedback that I have received, I can now work on adjusting the environmental scenes a bit further, such as adding in some more particle effects and lighting for the crystal environments. The cave walls also need some improvements due to the simple block models for them.

Task 2 - Creating the Modular Cave for Scene 3 5.1.18

Creating the Modular Cave for Scene 3

The cave walls that I added in scene 3 were just basic models and were due for a change. For this design I went for a modular approach, a technique that is popular in the gaming industry. 

The cave walls in maya

To begin I first need to layout the dimensions of the wall. The cave wall follows this stricture:

• Cave wall: 400x500
• Corner wall: 100x100

This is to ensure that the wall cover the whole landscape in my scene and to help with the lightmap. This task was just an simple duplication with some work done for the arc which will act as the entrance to the cave.

The cave wall UV

The cave textures will follow the same design. Because of this I place all of the UV' under the same layout. That way I can add more detail into the textures and apply of of their materials in one go. If I was going for some extra details (such as height) then I have to do some separately.

The cave wall lightmap

The light maps are a different story. The UV's here have to be separate to ensure that I do not get any light bleeds. Each one also had to be on an angle to prevent any artifacts. The placement of each UV is also vital because I do not want them to overlap with eachother. The lightmap texture size is 256x256 so I will not a lot of issues with the model.

Because I am still using the old cave file I organised my asset struct via the use of layers. That way I will know which is the newest version.

In the Engine

The cave wall in the Unreal Engine

As you can see from the image above, I have not encounter any lighting issues from the new procedural model. I still need to addressed the roof and the textures themselves, but they will be addressed another time. I point that I might do to these walls is take them into Zbrush and apply some high poly details to them. This will make them look like actual walls if I follow that method. The variation will also be address via the use of the Unreal Engine materials. I parameter will be used to help split up the textures styles.

Task 2 - Creating the assets for my Environment 4.1.18

Creating the assets for my Environment

The crystal bushes in Maya

Following the asethic of my crystal/underwater theme, I made some crystal pillars that resemble the tress in a real environment. Using my moodboard as a reference and the character scale, I made the assets to the right scale. In addition to this, I also made some small crystals that will resemble the bushes. Making these was easy, but what does concern me is the amount I need for the scene. Having all of these individual pillars will be a bit tricky to manage, but there is way around in the Unreal Engine.

The UV layout for them are very simple. Even though you wont see the top and bottom UV's, I still decided to add them because I want them to have some clear textures ion them. The same process has been also applied to the crystal bush.

Lightmaps were also applied to the crystal pillar. At the moment the crystal bush lightmap is missing, but it should not have a huge effect on the model when it is taken into the engine. It was the pillars that were the most concern for me since I have a lot of them in the scene.

The Crystal Pillar and Bushes in the Unreal Engine

With the crystal and bushes in the engine, my scene is now starting to match my main idea. There is still some more work to do however. I can add some additional effects to make these assets further stand out more. but at the moment I need to address the placement of these assets and how I can manage them.

The group function in Unreal

Although I could not get them as a full group in Maya, I did find a way to organise all of the indivual assets in Unreal. By selecting a group and press "CRTL + G" I can select all of them as just one group. It will save me some time and to further improve this, I put all the groups into a folder. That way I wont see a lot of the assets in the folders tab.

Rocks

A rock in Maya

I want the environment to have more then just crystals, so I decided to add in some rock designs for the scene. Still following with my aesthetic, these will have a colour scheme that will match with the main landscape. By using a guide from the internet, I made some layered rocks, to give it that alien look.

The rocks UV

Even though the textures are not in yet, I have done the UV's for them. The model had some tricky parts, so it was tough to get the UV's right for the asset. I have fill out the full space of the texture sheet and I fell like there are some parts that still need some clean ups. This will be looked into another time.

The rocks in Unreal

When I imported them in the Unreal Scene, I did not encounter any issues with them. They still need to have there textures added to them, but other than that I am happy with them. My idea for the textures would be to use the crystal ones and do some alterations with them. I will try that out, once I have gotten past the block-out phase.