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World Design #10: Ancient Architecture

Xia Dynasty (2070 - 1600 BC)

The Xia Dynasty is an early bronze age dynasty in China, established by Yu the Great. It was later succeeded by the Shang Dynasty. It has the reputation of being the ‘first’ dynasty in traditional Chinese history.

Due to how long ago the Xia Dynasty was, reliable information of this period of history can only come from archaeological evidence, as China’s first establish written system on a durable medium, the oracle bone script, did not exist until then. The first records of Xia dates back to the Zhou Dynasty, which was established in 1046 BC.

It is known mostly for its ornate and sophisticated bronze pottery, goldsmithing, and other metal and jewellery work, dated between 2000 to 1500 BC.

Architecturally, it is known for creating the first ‘palaces’ in China.

In the Erlitou Bronze Age site in Henan Province, named after the Erlitou culture that formed the early Xia and Shang dynasties, a 3,600 year old palace complex was uncovered. It “had its heyday during the Xia dynasty from the 21st to 17th century BC.”

As mentioned before, Xia was known for its metalwork. These metalworks allowed the creation of large palace complexes. They were built on rammed earth platforms where wooden frames were filled with earth and then rammed down with flat stones, to create a firm, compressed layer.

This process was repeated, layer upon layer, until it reached the desired height. The emergence of this form of construction during the Xia period was a significant change compared to earlier Neolithic methods of construction and marked the culture’s transition to the bronze age. This construction method, of creating a rammed base, became characteristic of urban places in Chinese culture.

The palace complexes used beam and post architecture, where upright posts were erected onto the rammed earth platforms. Beams were then placed atop the posts and a thatch roof was built over these structures. The walls of these structures were then filled with wattle and daub, woven organic fibers plastered with mud. The resulting walls were very light and therefore did not carry a lot of weight, allowing the use of the beam and post method, which would not have been possible if the walls were made of heavier material.

This kind of building used minimal amount of timber, which was a scare resource in North China. A post and beam system allowed the creation of large interior spaces, suitable for places of worship and politics. These grand palace complexes were mostly used by the ruling elite to legitimize their rule while ordinary peasants continued to reside in neolithic structures.

References:

Xia Dynasty Culture: Characteristics of Erlitou Arts and Archeological Discoveries

Xia Dynasty (c.2100 BC - c.1600 BC) - Chinese History Digest

China Through A Lens - Stunning Capital of Xia Dynasty Unearthed

China Finds 3,600-year-old palace

The World of Ancient Art - Bronze Age Erlitou Culture

#worlddesign #analysis #bronze age #china #xia #architecture

World Design #9: Prehistoric Scene

For our prehistoric scene, we built mammoth bone huts from preset mammoth bone assests provided by our tutor in Maya. The cloth drapped upon the bones are actually created by the in-program nCloth feature, which turns planes into highly flexible cloth. We used piled nCloth to mimic fur.

The mammoth bone huts we built are based off the Mammoth bone camps of Mezherich, Ukraine. These huts were built of countless mammoth bones and skin. Prehistoric people made do with what they had for building resources, usually bones and fur and stone. Although, the sheer amount of bones the bone huts were constructed out of (as they far outstripped the dietary needs of the tribe), implied it was also to show the prowess of the tribe that resided in the bone huts.

They are presumed to be from the Paleolithic period, as they are found to be from the last ice age. They were uncovered in Mezherich. Initially they were discovered the form of seemingly random bone piles, made of a lot of slaughtered mammoths. As such, it was initially thought to be a slaughterhouse for mammoths. Upon excavating the site, archaeologists realized the random bone piles actually formed into structures.

Reference In Focus: Mammoth Bone Huts of Mezhirich by Archaeology Soup. Retrieved from here.

#WorldDesign #history #prehistoric #3d

World Design #8: Open Topic

Analysis of X COM 2's level design. (Firaxis Games, 2016)

XCOM 2 is a strategy game where players take the role of a Commander to win the Earth back from aliens that have taken over. It has a strategy and tactical layer. It’s tactical layer involves a turn-based squad battle

XCom 2 is a massive combination of different systems working (mostly) in sync to create a cohesive and gripping strategic and tactical experience. This post will be focused on its level design; specifically its use of modularity in its levels through the use of 'parcels and plots', as well as the use of feedback loops thanks to the world's reactiveness, to keep players from getting too complacent.

XCOM 2 Lead Level Designer, Brian Hess followed the philosophy of ‘Play Forever’ to keep the tactical game fresh. To attain this, the levels needed to be procedurall. To reach the level of procedurality that creates the effect of ‘Play Forever’, they needed modular assets that would mesh together in a procedural but sensible manner. This means they needed to control the procedurality.

To create this controlled modularity, they devised a system called PCP: Plot Cover Parcel to create procedural but sensible tactical battle maps. Plots were master layout maps. Parcels were streamed in buildings and details to create the map. Plot themselves were made up of road and terrain pieces, that when combined together would form a cohesive master map. Upon this master map, level designers would designate the parcels to be placed on it. The game would create variants from these master maps, possibly creating previously un-encountered maps for veteran players.

This also has the side effect of making it easier on modders to create new but still procedural maps from existing assets.

To allow this level of modularity and procedurality without burdening the art team too much, they used simple meshes but interchangable meshes. To maintain level variety, most of the work was done instead through texturing on the same meshes. This is especially evident on the terrain. This saves on time while keeping the feel of level variety in the game.

Pertaining to game’s Play Forever philosophy are the game level’s feedback loops. The feedback loops take the form of destructible cover and terrain, as well as projectile collision and explosions. For example, your initial rooftop vantage can be rendered moot by a lucky enemy shot or a grenade; vehicles and barrels are highly volatile explosives, requiring you to contemplate further on your positioning choices.

Tactical factors like these, on top of other game mechanics in place and the procedural level generation, keep things changing and keep players from being too complacent.

Firaxis Games. (2016). XCOM 2. [Microsoft Windows game]. Sparks, MD: 2K Games.

Images and slides sourced from GDC.

#worlddesign #analysis #xcom 2

World Design #7 - Level Design!

For level design analysis, I picked the starting floor of the Temple of Eothas as it is the first proper dungeon the player is likely to encounter in the game.

As it is a starting dungeon floor, the level design is kept simple. It follows a linear route to the bell puzzle door on paper. In practice, it’s very branching with many open arches to steer players off. The planned route is not immediately obvious, as upon leaving the starting area with the friendly quest giver, the player is immediately accosted by a crossroad to two different rooms.

The floor follows mystery principles of presenting the player with the locked door, then indirectly prompting the player to scour other undiscovered rooms to find clues on how to solve the puzzle and unlock the door.

As Pillars of Eternity is an isometric non-turn based CRPG (with the ability to pause) with origins in tabletop gaming, enemies often use props, such as columns and debris, as strategic cover and concealment to surprise players.

The stairs past the puzzle door leads to a basement dungeon, which is slightly more complex than the starting floor, and loops back to a initially sealed off shortcut door that open from the inside, creating a quick shortcut back to the entrance.

Obsidian Entertainment. (2015). Pillars of Eternity. [Microsoft Windows game] Irvine, CA: Paradox Interactive.

#analysis #WorldDesign #leveldesign #pillars of eternity #dungeon

Wallpaper done during the holidays as a favour.

#flower #rose #still life #painting #digital art

World Design #6 - Pacing

For pacing analysis, I chose Persona 5 as during my time with it, I felt it paced things very well.

The game does pacing through its year-long day-by-day calendar system. It uses an arc based system where it mostly introduces a villain of the month per arc. Each arc introduces a new character and contacts. Each arc has a deadline that the player must complete the heist and defeat the boss by, lest the face a non-default game over. It breaks up the repetitive structure to keeps things from getting stale, such as the summer vacation episode before the fifth arc, using it to foreshadow the sixth arc. Once the player catches up with the in media res episode, the pacing structure starts fluctuating wildly.

My criticism of this pacing is that it felt very predictable and could use a bit of breaking up, as noted by how uniform the first one-third the chart is. In practice, this wasn’t really a problem as the day-by-day system and the dynamism of the world kept the game’s pacing up.

P-Studio. (2017.) Persona 5. [Playstation 4 game]. Tokyo, Japan: Atlus.

#leveldesign #worlddesign #analysis #pacing #persona 5

World Design #5 - Lighting Analysis

For this class, we study the use of lighting in the original Bioshock.

Lighting, especially dynamic real time lighting, is a big thing to Bioshock. Even the introductory title animation uses rotating spotlights to cast a dramatic shadow all about itself, a precursor to how much lighting and shadow plays a role in the game.

The first thing the player encounters, upon surfacing from the water, is a ring of fire while they are in the water. The ring of fire is active and moving.The elements of fire and water (and oil) are at work. The fire acts as an active source of danger as well as a corral. As the player swims towards the blue lit plane part that isn't on fire. The fire follows, moving to cordon the player into a trail.

From this example, we see the lighting at work here in a myriad of ways.

One, the contrast of colour between the bright yellow emissive and dangerous fire helps to drive the player away from it and to draw the player’s attention to piece of airplane debris in the distance, to lead them to the next part of the area.

Two, the materials of this game, mainly the gloopy water, the raging fire, and the reflective airplane, serve to facilitate and bounce off the light, mostly to show what the item is and working in tandem to lead the player. It’s also a chance for artists to show off their ability with materials and elements.

Here, the material that is reflected as the water is safe, the area where the fire is on is not. The reflective airplane is the next spot of safety, being the only item that’s out of place in this scene of nothing but fire and water. The specularity, normal, and roughness as well as the animation and reflectiveness of the material all serve to tell the player which part is safe and where to go next. Material-wise, the only source of illumination is the fire, which is likely provided by an emissive material in-engine, making it the player’s only guide through the water.

Three, in the darkness of the night and the sea, the fire is the only source of illumination in the game and it is a dangerous source of fire. Thematically, it tells the player that the plane they were on has crashed and the oil leaked out of the fuselage has been set on fire. If they do not go now, they will either drown or burn. The fire and water acts as an immediate and urgent source of danger. Everything is on fire! They must go now! This serves as foreshadowing to future mechanics of the game such as the glowing EVE hypodermics, flickering lights to indicate a high probability of an ambush, the spotlights of the security camera where red indicates detected and hostile, white is neutral, and green is safe, and much more.

This intro scene of fire and water serves a precursor to how Bioshock will use lighting in much more practical ways later in the game.

2K Boston. (2008). Bioshock. [Microsoft Windows game]. Westwood, MA: 2K Games.

#WorldDesign #LevelDesign #Unity #Lighting #Analysis

Some animation work I did for a game prototype.

#2d #animation #GameArt #spriter

Some animation work I did for a game prototype.

#2d #GameArt #animation #spriter

Some animation work I did for a game prototype.

#2d #animation #gameart #spriter

World Design #4 - Non-Verbal Communication

For this class, we watched a game of Jonathan Blow's The Witness and were tasked with analysing how the game non-verbally guided us on where to go and how to progress. For those who do not know what the Witness is, it is a puzzle game wrapped in a beautiful scenic package where the player goes from one line puzzle to the next, heading to the next area and set of puzzles. As the player progresses, the puzzles get increasingly devilishly difficult, introducing new rules and features, putting a spin on the classic line puzzle it starts you off with.

In the opening sequence, you start out in a literal tunnel and you are funneled into a bright glowing yellow screen. It is the only item you can interact with in this small claustrophobic tunnel. The screen leads to a very simple line where you draw the line from beginning to end. This unlocks the door, leading you to a lush beautiful area...which directly points you at another yellow screen, which is a slightly more complex puzzle.

Now. How do we know it's leading us directly to the yellow screen?

The one thing that comes to mind in this scene is framing. The game frames that path to the bright yellow screen on the stone pedestal with all its lush foliage and stone walls. Going off the path will reveal the next area is locked, blocked by some sort of contraption depowered by black wires, and that you are in some sort of lush but enclosed area. It shall remain locked until you solve the given puzzle. The next thing leading our eye is the colour, specifically the contrast of colour, between the grey dirt path leading to the terminal. The pedestal itself is frame with lavender flowers. The stone path to the pedestal is framed by the grass and the pillars. The whole scene itself is framed by the lit walls and trees. All of it instinctively leads you eye straight to the terminal.

After solving the puzzle, where does the player go next?

Recall the aforementioned black wires. The puzzle that we just solved? It was connected to those black wires. Upon solving the puzzle, the black wires goes yellow. It is powered. The yellow wire serves as a path to the next puzzle over the stone wall in the area.

And this leads you to the next puzzle. The game leads players around through the wired trail, solving puzzle after puzzle until the door that keeps this path enclosed is unlocked.

After solving this puzzle, you unlock the next area, a garden path leading to the zone of this game.

The yellow dirt path is beautiful framed with foliage to guide you onto the next path. This beautiful foliage serves a secondary purpose however. It compels you to explore and go off the beaten path, to check the cracks between the walls, the walls in this case being the areas between the rocks and trees.

Going off the beaten path unveils a route through the stone castle walls, which eventually circle you back to your starting area.

On the roof of this starting area is a pair of cushions. The pair of cushions, upon the player’s investigation, reveals an audio log, unlocking more contents of the game. The game got the player’s attention with the cushions as it seemed oddly out of place compared to everything else. This exploration eventually rewards the player.

From this analysis, I gathered that the game primarily use: framing and colour to pull you to the next puzzle, contrast of colour such as the black and yellow wires to indicate progress and path, and open paths off the beaten ones to lure the explorer within players to lead them to interesting areas, all to non-verbally convey information and progress to you.

Thekla, Inc. (2016). The Witness. [Microsoft Windows game]. Berkeley, CA: Thekla, Inc.

#WorldDesign #Analysis #TheWitness #NonVerbalCommunication

World Design #3 - Escaping the Greybox

For this class, we were tasked with creating a greyboxed level with a theme in mind, I chose the City, then using the Replace script given by our instructor to switch out the blocks with assets sourced from the Unity store. For my assets, I used the 'Stylized and Modular City' from Valentine Kurakin as the assets.

Using those assets, I switched the greybox blocks out with a city scene. For layout reference, I used suburban scenes from Singapore. They often had wide spaces of parks and trees split by apartment blocks and buildings. These buildings were also contrasted with smaller store buildings.

#WorldDesign #Greybox #Unity #3d #GameArt #City

World Design #2 - Terrain Tool

For this class, we learnt to properly use Unity's Terrain Tool to its full potential. We used terrain.party to grab height maps from real world locations to create geographically plausible areas in the Terrain tool. Terrain.party was originally used in Cities: Skyline to create topology for cities to be built on. To actually import it into Unity for use, we had to turn it from a PNG to RAW in Photoshop so Unity could actually use it as a height map. I personally found it quite convoluted as PNG is a more popular format in my experience but I am sure there was a technical reasoning.

For this exercise, I sourced the area from the Rio Rico area in Arizona, USA. It had a nice valley path area with two mountainous regions flanking it. The height map was exported out as quite jaggedy so I used Unity's Terrain tool to smooth out the pointy parts into smooth mountains.

To clean it up, I brought in a customized sand texture from Textures.com to turn the area into sand, then brought in desert assets from the Store's Desert Kits 64 to populate the area with props to recreate a blockout of an Egyptian civilisation along the Nile, buried by sand. For the final touch, I used the flanking path to create a river through the in-built Water Tool.

#WorldDesign #Terrain #TerrainTool #Unity #3d #GameArt #HeightMap #Egyptian

World Design #1 - ProBuilder

First Worldbuilding class, we were taught how to use ProCore's ProBuilder and ProGrid in Unity for fast paced level creation and prototyping. We also had our Unity knowledge refreshed to create dramatic lighting and testplaying. We also learnt to reverse the faces of the blocks to create interior scenes and rooms.

Having played DOOM recently and being fond of Uncharted, I tried to combine the two games to create a miniature level emphasizing verticality. To create this vertical level, I first created a ruined hallway leading to a temple area with tall obelisks. Then I stuck platforms into the side of the pillars to create platforms to get up to the top of the obelisk. I wanted the player to try and reach the top of the obelisk with the platforms, just like how characters in DOOM and Uncharted had to leap from platform to platform to reach a spot above. To keep the area from being too bland, I put blocks on the ground to create a feeling the place had a sense of religious purpose.

In the distance, is a group of blocks united together to form an internal building, mostly to put the knowledge of reverse faces to create interior scenes that were viewable from inside out.