Embedded Files
Pitch
Pitch
Individual Presentation
Individual Presentation
Planning:
the player starts standing in a mystical forest
there are three arches around them (in 3D space)
each doorway leads to a different part of the forest
the objective is to find and photograph three magical/mystical animals e.g. stag, bear, hawk?
the animals need to have distinctive silhouettes and should stand out from the forest
each picture rewards the player with a trophy, and getting all three wins the game
Inspiration:
Shadow & Bone amplifiers
RDR2 wildlife photography
ACV fly agaric gateway challenges
This is a grey-box of the level starting point. I quickly put it together in Blender, having sourced the tree model (felixbdesign, 2018), the portal texture (Maslenkow, 2021) and the background image (Romano, 2021).
References:
felixbdesign. (2018, March 6). Maple Tree 3D Model. Free3D. Retrieved February 13, 2023 from https://free3d.com/3d-model/maple-tree-262328.html
Maslenkow, R. (2021, January 7). 50 Free Vibrant Swirl Textures. Unblast. https://unblast.com/50-free-vibrant-swirl-textures-jpg/
MittMac. (2012, February 27). Pine forest - study. DeviantArt. https://www.deviantart.com/mittmac/art/Pine-forest-study-287394627
PeakPx. (n.d.) deer, forest, light, art, wildlife, HD wallpaper. PeakPx. https://www.peakpx.com/en/hd-wallpaper-desktop-ovjho
Romano, A. (2021, August 21). 12 Beautiful Forests Around the World. Travel+Leisure. https://www.travelandleisure.com/trip-ideas/nature-travel/most-beautiful-forests-in-the-world
Group Presentation
Group Presentation
Our selected game for the rest of the trimester is James' Relic Rally. The objective is to collect a relic from each of the three levels (themed Ancient China, Ancient Greece and Nordic) and race your rival back to the Museum hub.
I volunteered to handle the Narrative role, as well as asset production for the Ancient Greek and Nordic levels.
Relic Rally Art Production.pptxThese are the slides for the art production section of the group presentation. My name is on each one I contributed to. When attempting to download the original Canva presentation as a Powerpoint, some of the formatting was unfortunately lost; it's best viewed in Microsoft PPT or Canva rather than Google Slides.
The slide covering the overall narrative.
These are screenshots of our Game Design Document website.
I contributed to the Level Design pages, as well as filling out the Narrative section. Briefly, I summarised how I'd collected references and what sort of design features I was looking for in them. I also gave some examples of assets that I'd created for each level.
Asset Folders
Research & Design
Research & Design
1. These are some general references that I will be using to guide my progress with the Ancient Greek assets. I learned that much of Ancient Greek architecture originally consisted of wood and baked-mud bricks, but was eventually replaced with stone. Later on, as marble became widespread, it took the place of the softer stone as it is stronger and erodes more slowly (Lawrence & Tomlinson, 1996).
I specifically wanted to make assets that look eroded and worn, as the temple that the players run through is thousands of years old. It would not make sense narratively if the stones were perfect and smooth, or the original paint was still intact.
One of the two main Orders of pillars was Ionic, which is the style I decided to emulate with the pillar assets. The primary reason why I chose to go with this one is because it's not full of detailed ornamentation, such as the Corinthian style, which would've been hard to model at my skill level or with my given time frame.
2. I also found some images for the Nordic level. Although the historic Borgund Stave Church pictured is Christian, I will leave out any explicit references to Christianity in our game.
It is hard to find references to the original Norse places of worship, as much of Scandinavia transitioned from the traditional beliefs to Christianity around 900AD (Solli, 1996). The surviving churches are typically made from wood, likely because it was the most readily available resource at the time. Additionally, the architecture was influenced by shipbuilding techniques, which could be seen in much of the interior design (Winters, 2017). However, this particular feature steadily began to disappear as the Churches became more Roman-Christian in design.
I would've really liked to incorporate more traditional Norse embellishments into my assets for this level, but it was just out of scope. As a result, the end product is more Romanesque that I had expected it to be. This in itself is not a bad thing, as it's still technically historically accurate. I did stick very strongly to the wooden construction, though, because of the commonness of it as a building resource even in our game narrative.
3. This is an example asset pack for Unreal Engine (Ivanov, 2022) that illustrates the modular way we intend to approach asset creation, as well as the overall style. It's low-poly and means I won't need to worry about hand-painting any textures.
4. Following our group presentation in Week 4, James and I realised we had very different ideas for how we wanted the Nordic level to look - he anticipated lots of ice and snow, while I had been thinking of wood and warm tones. This is a quick illustration I made in Blender showing a possible compromise we could have. The area of play is surrounded by a huge glacier, and there would be ice throughout the level in smaller quantities as well.
5. I found and downloaded this cypress tree model from SketchFab (ElectroNick, 2020). It will go into the Ancient Greek level. It is a little more realistic than I would like, but I checked with our creative lead and he approved it for use.
References:
ElectricNick. (2020, August 11). Cypress tree. SketchFab. Retrieved March 17, 2023 from https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/cypress-tree-249d8cb553a8469e9d645713f8e96ed1
Ivanov, A. (2022, July 19). Stylized Egypt. Unreal Engine Marketplace. Retrieved March 5, 2023 from https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/stylized-egypt?sessionInvalidated=true
Lawrence, A. W. & Tomlinson, R. A. (1996). Greek Architecture. Yale University Press. https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=REToBptZ1lkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=ancient+greek+architecture+influence&ots=K6XrZJMw_r&sig=2za53ckn_zNlnnneUwjWnIeYswo#v=snippet&q=ionic&f=false
Solli, B. (1996). Narratives of encountering religions: On the Christianization of the Norse around AD 900–1000. Norwegian Archaelogical Review, 29(2), 89-114. https://doi.org/10.1080/00293652.1996.9965601
Winters, R. (2017, July 23). Urnes Stave Church: A Final Vestige of Viking Innovation. Ancient Origins. https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-europe/urnes-stave-church-final-vestige-viking-innovation-008462
Process
Process
Ancient Greek
1. For the pillar, I began with the middle section to get a feel for how to 'sculpt' it. I started with a cylinder object in Blender and pushed some edges inwards to create the fluted look of Ancient Greek pillars.
2. Next, I bevelled those edges to make it smoother and look less like a cog.
3. To check how the segment might look in a full pillar, I stacked a few duplicates on top of one another. I'm pretty happy with the way the pillar looks intact but unstable, as if it's stood for a long time.
4. I added a UV grid material and unwrapped it pretty easily. A google search told me that it's best practice to fill the entire UV map, but I wasn't sure how to do so without distorting the texture on the top and bottom.
I discovered that it's very tricky to use roughness maps in Unity, so I haven't created one for this particular asset. Instead, the roughness is set with a slider as part of the material.
5. This is the texture I chose (Textures.com, n.d.) for the pillar assets.
6. In Unity, with the designated material applied, the pillar section looks like this. The Normal map is set to very low so that it doesn't overpower the Albedo or create strange shadows.
8. I created the top section for the pillar by first shaping a flat plane. Once the vertices were where I wanted them, I pushed the middle area backwards and bevelled the edges a bit. The entire pillar is modelled after the classical Ionic style.
9. The model is split into two objects that share a UV map, with the bottom section being the parent. I chose to do it this way so that it will be easier to align segments later when building the scene.
10. Using the same texture (Textures.com, n.d.), I unwrapped the model and applied the Albedo and Normal maps in Unity.
11. For the wall sections, I started off with a basic cube shape like this.
(I forgot to document this part as I went along, so steps 11-14 are replication of my process.)
12. Using the OCD: One Click Damage (vfxguide, 2022) addon for Blender, I was able to quickly generate some wear-and-tear around the edges.
13. The problem with using OCD is that it automatically generates a lot more vertices. However, this can be fixed by decimating the geometry using the specialised function and doing some cleaning by hand.
14. This is the model after I'd cleaned up the geometry. It took about 15 seconds to do, and better suits our low-poly style for this game.
15. This is the entire piece, including the decorative trim. Those are simple and constructed out of a cube.
16. Unwrapping the wall was a bit tricky and took some time, but I managed to get every single piece to fit into one map.
17. To create the sculpted iron wall, I started with a plane that matched the dimensions of the existing wall models. I then subdivided it multiple times to get small enough faces to be able to sculpt with.
18. Then, I used two .tif alphas that I had downloaded from Textures.com (https://www.textures.com/browse/3d-ornaments/114561) for various personal projects. These can be used as stencils for sculpting in Blender.
19. This is a good, simple tutorial by Deepak Graphics (2021) explaining how to use an alpha file.
20. This is how the wall will look. At this point the poly-count is still astronomical, which is why I will bake a normal map from of it instead.
21. To bake the high-poly mesh into a normal map to use on the low-poly mesh, I watched Jayanam's (2020) tutorial. This is a screenshot of the low-poly wall with the normal map applied.
22. This is the final product. I got the iron texture from AmbientCG (2022).
Nordic
1. For the Nordic logs, I began with a cylinder shape.
2. I added some edge loops, and randomly selected vertices all around the object. I then resized them to create an uneven surface, which will make the log look more stylized instead of a perfect cylinder.
3. There will be three variants of the log. Although I exported them as separate objects, they share a UV map so as to save texture space.
4. Although I exported them as separate objects, they share a UV map so as to save texture space.
5. I created an Albedo map in Photopea using a bark texture from Textures.com (n.d.) and some log cross-sections that I'd downloaded earlier for another project.
6. This is how the logs look in Unity. There was a problem importing two of them, where the first's normals were facing the wrong way and the second didn't unwrap properly before export. Luckily, it was an easy fix for both.
7. I created a section of wall for the Nordic level, using standard cube primitives. It was a lot simpler to model than I'd expected.
8. This is how the model is split up: the back wall, the cross-beams, and the floor/ceiling panel.
9. Here is the final product. Out of all the assets I've made so far, I think this one is my favourite.
10. To create the wall-mounted torch, I started with the 'cup', where the fire effect will originate.
11. I added the horizontal metal rings that the vertical bracket connect to. To shape the bracket, I started with a single vertex that I then extruded a few times.
12. I then extruded the bracket to create the 3D object.
13. Once the bracket looked good, I duplicated it onto each side of the torch. I also created a handle from a cylinder primitive.
14. The part that attaches the torch to the wall was fairly simple to model. I created another horizontal ring on the handle, then inset one face. To make the circular shape, all I had to do was create an edge loop around the whole thing and then delete it where I didn't need it.
15. This is the finished asset. I'm not thrilled with the way the metals rendered, but that may be because we are working in Unity rather than Unreal Engine.
References:
AmbientCG. (2021). Marble 026 [Image]. AmbientCG. https://ambientcg.com/view?id=Marble026
AmbientCG. (2022). Metal 041 A [Image]. AmbientCG. https://ambientcg.com/view?id=Metal041A
Deepak Graphics. (2021, March 4.) Blender 2.93 Sculpting with Alphas [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR_a-_W5ljM&t=316s&ab_channel=DeepakGraphics
Hoesly, P. (2010). Ancient Greek Vase - Seamless Pattern [Image]. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:797_-_Ancient_Greece_Vase_-_Seamless_Pattern.jpg
Jayanam. (2020, December 20). Blender Bake Normal Map Beginner Tutorial [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQPjIGncXcM&t=278s&ab_channel=Jayanam
Textures.com. (n.d.). 3D SCANNED OAK BARK - 1.57X1.57 METERS (4 VARIATIONS) [Image]. Textures.com. https://www.textures.com/download/3DScans0941/142003
Textures.com. (n.d.) BASALT STONE SLAB - PBR0013 [Image]. Textures.com. https://www.textures.com/download/PBR0092/133126
vfxguide. (2022). Ocd: One Click Damage (Version 1.7.2) [Computer software]. Blender Market. https://blendermarket.com/products/ocd
Vladislav. (n.d.) seamless texture of travertine stone wall blocks, masonry, texture or pattern [Image]. Adobe Stock. https://stock.adobe.com/au/search?k=marble+seamless+texture&asset_id=485396425
Playtesting
Playtesting
Unfortunately, we didn't get the opportunity to have external playtesting (i.e. other classes/disciplines) due to time constraints and difficulties meeting certain milestones. However, we held a few in-class tests among ourselves and these were semi-successful. It definitely would've been more beneficial to have others come in and play our game, but we were still able to identify some bugs that needed fixing. We held a few meetings during class time to discuss our progress and how to address the issues brought up in playtesting.
One of the most major, game-breaking problems was the player movement system not working as intended. It was a complicated system, so I was a bit concerned that our programmers wouldn't have time to fix it. As a result, we talked about some potential risk assessment and management. One of these strategies was to cut the custom movement altogether and resort back to Unity's default system. We also discussed some alternatives to the two-player mode we wanted, because it was proving very tricky to get right. However, that aspect seems to have been worked out fairly quickly.
I was interested to see how the game was coming together, and was able to give some feedback about the set-up of some of the traps. They had been extremely difficult to overcome, which was also partly due to the camera not working correctly, but I suggested that they be simplified as much as possible to avoid making the game too difficult.
This is a photo of the notes I took during a post-playtest meeting in Week 10. It highlights some of the biggest issues we were still encountering, such as the player movement and camera system not functioning properly. We also talked about some alternatives and backup plans just in case.
Analysis of UI
Analysis of UI
These are some in-engine screenshots of the UI as it currently exists (Tuesday, April 2). I like that Frazer chose a crumpled, discoloured paper as the background because it fits in with our archaeology-explorer theme. When I first saw this, I was concerned about how dim the buttons look. My worry was that the player might think the buttons are greyed-out and don't work. Fortunately, the colours are brighter in-game (I wasn't able to get proper screenshots of this at the time, as the UI canvas was still being worked on). I also helped Frazer to pick out some fonts. Eventually we decided to go with Requiem Regular (Hansen, n.d.) for headings, and Jorvik Informal (Fontgrube Media Design, n.d.) for body text.
The exit confirmation screen confused me at first, but Frazer explained that it is meant to look like a note left by an modern archaeologist to the player. I suggested he could make it look like a sticky note or scrap of paper, perhaps with a coffee stain. This was because I felt that the perfectly white, lined paper is more reminiscent of schoolbooks than an excited or harried explorer leaving a hasty note.
References:
Fontgrube Media Design. (n.d.). Jorvik Informal Regular [Font]. 1001Fonts. https://www.1001fonts.com/jorvik-informal-font.html
Hansen, C. (n.d.). Requiem Regular [Font]. 1001Fonts. https://www.1001fonts.com/requiem-font.html
Reflections
Reflections
Mid-Project Reflection
Mid-Project Reflection
Proficiency: How did you develop your technical skills and knowledge? Give examples of the skills and knowledge, techniques, and self-directed research that inform your project (min. 50 words).
At the very beginning, when we were dividing up the work, I volunteered to create art for the Ancient Greek and Nordic levels. For our group presentations, I did some research into what the temples from both cultures look like today. It was important that they not be pristine and perfect, because the game's narrative takes place in modern times. Additionally, I'm continually looking up specific reference images for different assets, e.g. Ancient Greek pillar styles. While searching through these images, I came across the main pillar styles (called Orders) in Ancient Greece. Interestingly, the Ionic style was one that didn't change much over the centuries so it still has the classical, ancient look that we want (Lawrence & Tomlinson, 1996).
My goal was to use Adobe Substance 3D Designer for at least one asset, but that hasn't been possible so far. I attempted to use Substance Designer to create a rocky soil texture for an Ancient Greek asset, but the software was very complicated and the tutorial I found was not geared toward total beginners like me. I did find another tutorial series (Adobe Substance 3D, 2019) by going to the official documentation, and it was very helpful and informative, but it goes for over four hours and I didn't have that kind of time in class. I live pretty far away, so coming all the way into the city, multiple times a week, when I don't have class or a specific event is not a very realistic solution. I'm looking into getting Substance at home to practice in my own time.
Process: How did you improve your workflows and processes, including changes and setbacks? Give specific examples of your research and how it influenced your creative process (min. 50 words).
As in previous projects, I used Photopea as an alternative to Photoshop to create my Albedo and Normal maps. For this project, I am using Unity to test two things: whether or not objects import correctly, and how the materials will look in-engine. I discovered that you can export materials as a unity package, which others can then download and import. However, I forgot that we were going to use the Universal Render Pipeline template to get a better-looking final product. As a result, the material packages I'd uploaded to the Google Drive didn't import correctly into others' projects for testing. It took three of us upwards of an hour to figure out what was wrong but in the end I managed to fix the issue.
Person: What communication and collaboration skills did this project require, and how did you develop these skills? How did you manage collaboration, receiving and giving feedback to others? (min. 50 words)
The feedback that I received from our pitch presentation in Week 4 was to include examples of the art style we are aiming for, as well as the reference images. The general feedback for the class at that point was to make sure to communicate clearly and often, which I feel I'm getting better at as the trimester progresses.
There was an issue towards the beginning where James (who is creative lead and a level designer) and I had differing visions for what the Nordic level would look like. He expected lots of ice and stone, whereas I had gone for wood and the interior of a Scandinavian church. We came to a good compromise, though, after being advised to communicate with each other more. It's sometimes been a bit difficult to know which decisions I must run by the creative lead and project manager, and what I have license to make on my own. I don't want to heap every little thing on their shoulders but I'm also worried about accidentally 'going rogue' and creating problems.
Adobe Substance 3D. (2019, January 16). Getting Started With Substance 3D Designer [Video series]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8q6-tgQjZc&t=1s
Lawrence, A. W. & Tomlinson, R. A. (1996). Greek Architecture. Yale University Press. https://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=REToBptZ1lkC&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=ancient+greek+architecture+influence&ots=K6XrZJMw_r&sig=2za53ckn_zNlnnneUwjWnIeYswo#v=snippet&q=ionic&f=false
This is the 'sketch' I did to illustrate to James how we might combine our ideas for the Nordic level. There are sections where the players run through the churches, and then emerge into an icy cavern.
Post-Mortem Reflection
Post-Mortem Reflection
Appraisal: Overall, how successful was your project? What worked or didn't work, and why? How did it match with your expectations? Give specific examples, screenshots or links (min. 50 words).
This project was a bit more challenging than I'd anticipated initially, primarily because of poor communication and how inexperienced we were. I found modelling assets to not be so difficult, although there were definitely a few that stretched what I could do at my skill level. Texturing them was the hardest part since they needed to be able to tile seamlessly. However, the workload was about what I had expected it to be. I was still very stressed and under pressure at times, but it was never completely unmanageable.
I was pretty disappointed that we ended up cutting the Ancient Chinese level, at it would've been a really nice, non-standard-European level to have. Luckily, though, I wasn't doing any assets for it so I didn't lose any work. For the most part, I'm very pleased with the work that I did on this project, especially because I put a lot of effort into making my documentation as good as possible. Some of the assets I made could've been better if I'd had more time, but overall I'm happy with how my art turned out.
Challenges: What obstacles did you overcome and how? What lessons did you learn? (min. 50 words)
It didn't occur to me, when I suggested we go with a modular approach to assets, that I would also need to consider how materials tile and work together. As a result, it became extremely tricky to get assets that were made at different times to match up. It was particularly difficult to get this right on assets that required wood texturing, due to the grain being a clear indicator of where UV seams were. A handful of assets were overlooked in the first half of the project, such as different traps and wall sections, so I had to scramble a bit to get the last of them done on time.
I also had a hard time working with the exterior roof sections for the Nordic level - typical Nordic church roofs are made up of lots of small wooden shingles, which proved challenging to navigate. I quickly figured out that I could reuse the shingles as a single object from a standard roof piece, instead of having to continuously remodel the look. However, every time I used this method, I had to re-unwrap the shingles which took lots of time and concentration.
In the last week before Showcase, I also stepped into the role of Project/Task Manager. It had been left vacant as the previous manager, Frazer, was overworked and needed some space to breathe. This meant I was now in charge of making sure that everyone was on track and on the same page. It was frustrating sometimes, because I wasn't sure how much I was allowed to chase people up on incomplete tasks before I started being overzealous, but I really wanted us to have the best game we possibly could for Showcase.
Future Goals: How will you improve your skills for future projects? What will you do differently in your next project? What will you repeat? (min. 50 words)
In future projects, I'll make a much greater effort at the beginning of a project to get as comprehensive an asset list as possible, to make it easier to plan production. This project was a challenge in that regard as the list of required assets was updated unexpectedly a few times throughout the trimester. I am planning to buy and learn proper industry-standard texturing software, such as Adobe 3D Substance Designer and/or Painter. Hopefully this will make the texturing process, if not easier, then at least more professional.
I also learned how to make asset prefabs in Unity, to help the Level Designers reduce their own workloads a little. This was not something I'd ever considered before, so it was a valuable lesson about proper asset production workflows. Overall, I enjoyed working on the art for Relic Rally. It was good practice for working in a studio environment as an artist, although I would've liked to have given Level Design a go.
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