Our second milestone required game testing along with concept feedback during one of our sessions. After finishing the paper prototype (for our last milestone) of our 'walking simulator' game, I was able to start work on the first map.
There were various alterations to the players path and what could and couldn't be explored on the island overall. This was mainly due to things such as time constraints and modelling hours working in a small team. Above is the first draft I made, of which we could use in game as a map guide (with a refined update) and to also refer to for later plans and gameplay designing.
For several of the monuments that are scattered across the game, I planned on creating model sheets or 'turnarounds' to help Prem (our Game Designer & Environment/Modeller Artist) with construction. One of the largest monuments from throughout time, that is going into the game, is the Colossus of Rhodes statue. This statue of the Greek titan god Helios, was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
The first and foremost issue with having this statue in the game, is there is no reference images of it as it was destroyed during an earthquake in 226 BC. Many artists have depicted different poses over the centuries and the painting above is one of the most plausible postures that could have been made of the time. In the image above, I have tried to match a basic male model in Mudbox that I quickly posed using the joint and weight tools.
After posing the basic human form, I could then go into an orthographic view and grab shots from the front, sides and back to easily create a model sheet for our Environment/Modeller Artist. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this piece as it accumulated to a historical and innovative challenge. Furthermore, one of the central points of using this statue was to generate originality over say a stereotypical monument; like that of the Statue of Liberty (of which was believed to be inspired by the Colossus of Rhodes)!
Here is the final Colossus of Rhodes model sheet. I kept to using fine lines (like that of a blueprint) to aid with distinguishing form and size. I also added the statues base plinth on.
As we could implement dozens and dozens of unique landmarks of interest into the game, we decided on capping the amount to sixteen or so. Having too little is better than having to many in this sense, as there is also a style to composing and merging cultural spectacles. If the Colossus of Rhodes statue was placed next to a Moai Head Statue from Easter Island, would that look aesthetically pleasing? Or would there be a visual conflict? These are some of the questions we had to consider and was really quite fun to evaluate.
Previous is the model sheet I made for the Arc De Triomphe monument (from Paris) and above is one of the smaller misc relics of time in the game, a Chevrolet Camaro (aka Bumblebee)! Like that of the Colossus of Rhodes but no where near as grand, I struggled to find references in an orthographic perspective for the 1970's car. After some of scouring online, I eventually had to combine earlier model blueprints as well as a modified one from the Transformers (2007) film; minus the racing stripes.
Here is another large landmark we plan on including in the game, the El Castillo from Chichen Itza (in Mexico).
The distinct and strange features of the Moai monolith statues give a great sense of mystery and that was another factor we wished to include in the game. I created just two models on one sheet so that Prem (our Environment/Modeller Artist) could make the two and then simply multiply and alter rock textures on the models for variants.
One of the first signs of civilisation in the game is a small village. We decided on setting the game a few hundred years on from when the world ended and time went into disarray. The idea of putting that event/backstory in was so that we could show how the remaining humans have resettled and constructed society again; using a mixture of technology but regressed slightly to the medieval era. Here is one of the peasant huts I put together. One of the plans we developed as a team, was to be able to make assets that we could reuse and place again over other structures. This would save time modelling and give a sense of familiarity across the environment.
This is the second peasant hut model sheet. Again using elements we could reuse and that gave off a mixture of time periods. Another aspect I wanted to exhibit was that of architecture built from the environment around it. The features such as the wood could have been carved from the forest nearby and the roof, made of corrugated metal, from a destroyed garage that came out a void.
To further expand this idea of building around monuments and objects from the voids, I made this peasant hut. The house has been built directly next to a huge mine truck wheel. Incorporating in these elements to make a structure that doesn't look too irregular was a great challenge and also pushed my concept problem solving.
This is one of the upper class houses that has again been brought in by a void. I followed designs that our Game Designer was after and included influences from 18th Century European architecture. Again with features that could be reused and interchanged.
This was the first render I did in a basic sun and sky pass. I was quite surprised and satisfied with the result of the mirror effect. However I felt that some particle effects were needed to bring it more to life.
I thought that this one had better form with just the right amount of chaotic shards spaced out. The next step would be to add some particle effects.
To help with the work load of modelling, which is to be mostly all made by the Game Designer and Environment/Modelling artist alone, I began to model the Golden Gate Bridge. This bridge is a very iconic piece of engineering and the art deco design and international orange colour is quite unique. As the structure will be at the start of the game and feature heavily in the concept/promotional art, I wanted to do a decent job on the build. Above is the beginning document stage of blue prints, measurements and project save managing.
Instead of working in mirror mode the whole time, I decide to create half of one of the towers first; so that I could then mirror and merge later on. In the documenting stage I had to change some of the camera settings so that I could see the model from afar as the object is to scale, at two hundred and twenty seven meters high!
As the player has a third person perspective but is grounded to the floor, I could work from a high detailed base to a very low basic form at the top. This would also help with the games overall operating when it comes to the final game build.
To create the suspension cables, I used a curve line with a bezier setting. This allowed me to create the curve line and also go back in and edit the angles etc.
Here I have used the extrude face along path function. I find this to be the best time saver when it comes to curved cable like objects. I placed the before and after next to each other to show the great result. In addition to this, I tried to use the least amount of edge loops on the curved line to once again help with the games operating.
One of the smaller challenges was modelling the finer details. Although I have been fortunate enough to walk on the bridge itself when I was younger and have a good sense of spacial construction for it, some of the higher tower struts are inaccessible but an obvious overall detail. A website called Turbosquid with a tonne of 3D models on and several of that of the bridge, was great help for referencing things like this. Here are the two pages I used with a bundle of great renders:
Once the modelling of one side was finished, came the big mirroring job. I double checked the merge with parent option before I applied the mirror!
Some of the separate items had to be mirrored individually, like the strut walkways and fences etc to be aligned more accurately.
As I went along and saved each time I went into Maya to model the bridge, I made sure to keep a clean hierarchy and label things neatly so I that I knew what objects were what.
Something I discussed with a lecturer at Uni (about all the structures in the games world) was decay and deterioration. He suggested the term to think about called 'Entropy' meaning a gradual decline from an ordered state into a disordered state. There were many ways I could apply/display this in the monuments in the environment. Some examples of this are nature reclaiming a statue like ivory growing or the corrosion of metal on a building etc. One of the ways I did this destroyed atmosphere with the Golden Gate Bridge, was by drooping the suspension cables.
I played around with the sun and sky setting in my mental ray renders of the complete model. This was the best way to show off the height and shear size of the bridge tower. On the other hand, another way I could do this was low camera angles like above.
This render shot shows the hanging cables and the first strut on the tower.
I was thoroughly pleased once this render above was complete. The low sunlight and cast shadows worked fantastically.
I decided to see what the model looked like with just a primitive colour and the above render came out quite nicely. Now completed, I gave the mid/high poly model to our modeller who will then make a low version, bake the two and then texture using Quixel; before being ready to go into the game.
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