This is a 3D environment that I created as part of an assignment for my Masters degree 'Computer Animation'. It was focused on introducing Unreal Engine 5 to students.
The requirements for this assignment was to:
Create an environment using any assets (self-made or third-party).
Include a quest for the player to complete.
Include moveable objects within the level.
Include an interior and exterior.
The programming aspect of this project can be viewed here.
Below is a short video showcasing the environment and gameplay.
Inspiration:
For this project, I wanted to base the environment off the village of White Orchard, from 'The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'. Knowing the time constraints of the assignment and the high level of detail and skill that went into that environment, I decided to focus on a low-poly aesthetic and follow my own layout to keep the development process streamlined.
The reference images were used to help create the level layout.
I tried to keep the buildings spaced far apart and have the industrial styled buildings away from the houses. The farm house was kept on the other side of the river within the farm's boundary.
Planning:
I created a rough level layout of the environment, showing the main points of interest.
This was updated with colour to make the elements more distinguishable and was annotated to help improve the readability of the layout.
I blocked out the level in UE5 using cubes. I only focused on the main elements that were included in the level layout drawing. I chose not to include the forest as part of the block level as I felt it wasn't necessary for this stage of development.
One thing that I feel could have made this block out better (retrospectively), would be adding colours like I did in previous projects and like I done with the level layout above.
At the time I felt it wasn't necessary as I was under pressure to complete the assignment during a very busy period of the Masters course.
Development:
The first part of the development process was creating the river using the water plugin. Once I had the river placed on the landscape I started sculpting the hills and mountains.
Once I was happy with the sculpting of the landscape I started implementing the sourced third-party asset pack for a fantasy village. The meshes from this asset pack were placed in the positions of the cubes from the block level.
Adding the smaller meshes like sign posts and fences took a bit of time as they were quite small and there was a high quantity of them, particularly the fences around the farm.
Creating the mine entrance took some time as I originally tried to model it myself and done a terrible job. I ended up using the plank mesh from the asset pack to create the mine entrance.
Once the village area was done I moved to create the house interior which was placed underneath the map as there was no need to use a separate level for it. It was the same with the mine interior.
A teleporter was made to bring the player one from location to another (exterior to interior and vice versa). The windmill blades was rotated in the level blueprint. The quest was a series of two blueprints.
These can be view on the programming page for this project here.
I added mountain meshes to the ends of the river to give the illusion that the village was nestled in a mountain valley.
Adding props to the house interior with food, cutlery and furniture was the penultimate step for this project.
The final task was to update the lighting which I used volumetric fog to help give a misty look to the scene, keeping with the valley setting.
Development:
Below is a small paragraph of the reflection I done on this project.
Positive:
This project helped me remember the core functions of Unreal Engine.
The aim of this project was to re-introduce students to Unreal Engine as it worked. I had been using Unity for my undergraduate so it was nearly four years since I had last used it, making this assignment very welcome.
The project was good to practice my level design abilities in a minimalist setting.
I was able to focus on the basic of level design with this project as the environment was quite small.
Although not a priority for level design, my visual scripting abilities improved.
I got to understand BPI's (Blueprint Interface), during this project.
Negative:
The environment feels a bit empty in places.
Some extra props and foliage spread throughout the environment would help to fill in 'emptiness' feeling that I get when walking around this environment.
The lighting in the interior of the house and the mine is far too bright and needs to be darker.
The poor lighting in these areas of the environment take away from the immersion.
There is a lack of direction for the player to follow when trying to complete the quest.
The quest is lacking with environmental direction and guidance for players to follow when trying to complete it.
To finish:
A good project to re-introduce me to Unreal Engine after so many years of using Unity.
I was able to practice my level design abilities throughout this project.
The environment could do with props filling the negative space.
Interior lighting needs improvement to better fit the locations.
Improve the quest's guidance to improve the player experience.