HELLMOUTH @hellmouthgame-blog - Tumblr Blog

Today I've made a lot of progress! (I think so, anyway.) First of all I worked on the sky box, I wasn't happy with what I'd gotten in previously. It was far too distracting and actually made the level look a little weird - like it was an alien planet or something, even though I'd use actual pictures of sky. Anyway, using a combination of Photoshop and images from the Internet I cobbled together a nice starry sky that isn't too distracting and actually fits in with the level. :D

One thing I would like to experiment with if I had time is animated textures, specifically if I can get the stars to twinkle faintly (not over the top).

The second advancement is I worked on the tree textures a lot more, this was actually tougher than I thought since these are the first textures I've actually created and I hadn't found a style I liked with the ones I had previously experimented with. They are still a work in progress and need a little TLC but I will work on them further.

And finally! Lighting. UDK lighting is actually pretty stimple. I added in my main light source (which mimics the moon - even though the moon isn't in the sky, but maybe I will add it in if I can get it to not look stupid.) I still have a small issue with baked shadows but I'm hoping I can fix that, however I will probably need to consult another tutor.

#3d #udk

Not for this project, but a little side thing I'm working on; a cute robot. :)

#reference

Progress has been made! Laid down some terrain in UDK and added some trees, basic so far but I wanted to get the main elements down before I started adding intricate decoration.

The above is an in-editor screenshot.

And that's an in-game screenshot! The tree is super black because the level has no lighting yet, or textures. I've added in a sky box too but I'll be changing the texture on that.

More trees! :)

#3d #udk

Right now I'm researching a little bit into the organic texturing side of my project - which I should clarify means the texturing that I'll mostly be hand painting. As I want a cel-shaded, comic art style to my level there obviously has to be some of those elements done in-engine which I will look into soon. (I'm excited about it though!)

As previously stated my two main influences in terms of texture style are Telltale's The Walking Dead (or The Wold Among Us, both have similar styles) and Gearbox's Borderlands.

The above picture is from The Walking Dead, as you can see it has a stylized cartoon feel to it rather than. The one thing to note is that this game doesn't actually use a 'toon-line' which is a black line generated around the silhouette of an object or asset. Looking at this image above makes me wonder if Telltale actually used cel-shading, I actually don't think they did for this game.

This image is from Telltale's The Wolf Among is, which uses both cel-shading and a toon-line, which you can see is the black line around the character in the image. Cel-shading creates flat shading, rather than a realistic gradient.

I added some more images from The Wolf Among us because I honestly think it's one of the most beautiful stylized games I've seen.

The above two pictures are from Borderlands 2, which uses a toon-line but I don't think uses cel-shading. Gearbox actually seen to do a lot of their shading and detail within their textures.

#reference #research

Progress has unfortunately been a little slow today, what with having an Advanced Game Development meeting and such, but I still managed to get a little bit of work done.

I worked on a couple of assets and sorted my work folders out some more, basically so that I can get a better workflow going and so that my folders are organised. I made the above stairs, however, not quite sure I will keep them, it depends how they look in the level.

My next task is check out the textures from The Walking Dead game, I'm currently looking at ways to extract the in-game files so that I can examine them further myself.

#3d

And just because I am super proud of it (and myself) here's my provisional project proposal grades! 91/100. :D

#feedback

One of my goals for today was to start importing assets into UDK ready for placing in the scene. I decided to test the import process with my two different tree models just to make sure everything would go smoothly!

In the top images the tree on the left was imported as an .ASE file, whereas the tree on the right was imported as a .FBX. For some reason when the FBX was loaded into UDK it lost all of its smoothing groups despite having smoothing groups ticked for keeping during the export process in Max. It’s not a problem, I don’t mind getting around it using .ASE files (not sure it makes a difference for me anyway since I am importing meshes and materials separately, plus I’m not including any animation as of now.)

Also I used a basic pre-set level with morning lighting just to experiment with the process!

The other problem I ran into was that for some reason the leaf planes on the tree on the left were only one-sided, however it’s probably a simple fix such as a tick box which I will definitely look into a little bit more tomorrow.

#udk

As I mentioned before I headed into the woods (Preston Woods) and grabbed some snaps of the area. This is super useful because a) British trees b) correct weather and season c) custom made reference of exactly what I need!

I only had a cheapish, low-quality digital camera to hand but actually that's fine for what I need to do. I'm not using photorealistic textures so I will use these photos for colour reference mostly. I took a decent amount of photos of trees and fences and the ground to get a good source of reference photos. I've uploaded ten here just so I don't clog up my blog with blurry pictures. :)

#reference

I mentioned in the previous post the issue with exporting Speed Tree meshes and as I am working on a second tree model I have decided to document this.

The mesh on the right hasn't been optimised at all and is purely the Speed Tree model whereas the one on the right has been optimised heavily by myself. You can see that the Speed Tree mesh has a lot of geometry, therefore is made up of my tris and will put a greated strain on the engine; especially since I intend on having multiple trees in my scene.

#speed tree

So I need some trees for the outside section of my level. I did initially try modelling my own from scratch in Max, however it is a difficult and time consuming process and the end result didn't look natural enough. Speed Tree is a software packaged with Unreal Development Kit that allows me to easily (really easily) create natural looking foliage with elements of randomness. I can also control the kind of foliage and trees I would like to create as it has a wide variety of options! It's pretty neat.

The above example is a Pine tree. My scene is set in Autumn/Winter, thus no need for leaves (thank God, because they're frustrating to unwrap.)

Another tree variant I created, this time with leaves! Though not an excessive amount. :) I discussed this 'species' of tree with my supervisor, Kath O' Connor, as I initially didn't have a specific type of tree in mind. However after looking around a little bit on the internet I have decided it shall be an Ash tree.

Unfortunately, the downside to Speed Tree is that the exported model isn't super ideal for integration into an engine. It needs a lot of optimising, which I did in Max.

As for textures... well, this weekend I'm hoping to visit a local woods and grab some snaps of REAL LIFE TREES to use a reference for my textures and such.

#speed tree

Here's some styles of houses that I am looking at to model my own house off. I'm going for a Victorian English house with brown or sand coloured bricks. I searched for Victorian houses at first, to get the style of the building and then English countryside houses to get the aesthetics.

I'll be putting these images together in a moodboard at some point.

#reference

This is going to be a blog where I post my progress this specific project, entitled Hellmouth. Primarily, this is going to include information that I need to include for the purposes of my university course. I'm a third year at Teesside University studying Games Art.

Hellmouth is a first person interactive environment with gameplay elements, set in a house that has been the scene of a gruesome murder with supernatural undertones.

Gameplay influences include Gone Home and The Walking Dead.

#text

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