Month: February 2021

Proof of Concept

Applied random cool overlay which I liked.

The proof of concept is a great opportunity to figure out hoe to work the lighting I make in Maya into Unreal- how does that even work?

When making the proof of concept I had many problems concerning Unreal Engine since it was my first time using it. Many error messages came up about having to rebuild the lighting and even doing that didn’t solve the problem. Apparently, the UV’s were overlapping. I believe this problem is caused since in Maya I extruded the rope along a curve with the extruded faces too close together, causing the UV’s to overlap.

As you can see after I went back to try and make sure there were no overlapping models there were still error messages labelling models as either having “degenerate tangent bases” or “some nearly zero bi-normals.” I have gone back and edited the necessary UV’s and some of the error messages have gone. Not only this but now when I press “Play” the character model and camera acts strange. It automatically goes into first-person instead of the selected third and the character will not move at all. All I can do is move around the camera. I have tested if this is only the software, and if I open a new scene then the character moves fine. I noticed that the camera/character get messed up as soon as I import the scene from Maya. Maybe if I simplify the scene’s objects I won’t have any problems, if I model the absolute basic shapes since I only created these models as rough impressions of the finals. Therefore, since I may have not inputted as much care as I would to the final models, I may have left out important steps or made simple mistakes.

When trying to fix these problems, there were certain forums that resolved this issue, however these solutions did not work for me.

Check list in Maya- prep mesh for Unreal

  • No Uv’s are overlapping
  • Centre pivot all models
  • Delete by type history all models
  • Freeze transformation all models
  • Group all mesh that I will export into one and then export.
  • In Unreal import settings select ‘normal and tangents’. This is supposed to stop error messages coming up. Just to be safe I will do it, however, it hasn’t changed anything for me yet.
  • The models in Maya must be exported as FBX so that materials are exported also.
  • Once I have combined anything in Maya, delete history immediately (this may have caused a lot of problems in Unreal).

There seemed to be problems with my mesh so I restarted from scratch on the proof of concept. When I imported this new mesh into Unreal, the camera and character acted normally until I moved the character and camera onto the scene. When the environment is scaled up to size NEXT TO these then there is no problem. I will try to remove a couple of the walls to see if this makes a difference. The step after that is to remove the floor. My teacher recommended placing the models into Unreal separately, this may also work. Either way, I feel I am finally close to overcoming all of these problems and close to starting to record the video!

Finally solved these problems and began making the video and now the rendered video camera doesn’t follow the same movements as in play mode. The camera follows the character fine, but not the movements of the mouse, so I can’t show the character looking around throughout the video.

Proof of Concept and tests:

0:00- 0:35= Camera and character test
0:36- 1:49= Collision problem
1:50- end=Proof of Concept

I have tested/checked what the camera does in irst person and the recording and play mode perspective are the same. So, this is an option for the final video. I just have to get rid of the gun that is automatically equiped.

Relevant Research

Assassin’c Creed syndicate factory style building

Anatomy

Death stranding aura

Sci-fi style objects

TODO

  • Techniques for workflow (e.g. which texture maps should I focus on applying to all of the models. Like normal and displacement)
  • Techniques for UVing: mention the smooth tool I found in UVing. Also, should the persons UV be camera-based to help make the suits patterns easier to paint on? Will that even make a difference when I am using Substance Painter (My thoughts: probably not). May be best to go for the traditional style of making a UV, the one that looks like you have skinned a human.
  • Find the best format to export the video from Unreal Engine. My thought: Quicktime/ Appleprores.
  • Lighting. In Maya or in Unreal? Test in Proof of concept.

Character Design

Character Description

A boy about 16 years of age, caucasian of European Slavic origins. His body is thin and lean. His face narrow long but rounded. Personality themes: Self-conscious, doesn’t mind being by himself, used to only having to rely on himself.

Initial colour scheme moodboard

Here, I extracted colours that I like from images I found that inspired me. I intended to use these for the character, but instead, I used the colour scheme for the object design.
Finding the right style of body shape. Visuals in mind drew me to a lean/ skinny boy. I want there to be a sci-fi style to the body also, like a sci-fi futuristic suit (see image above this one).

Actual character colour scheme

Character test colour scheme.
Body shape refined drawings from sketches.
Colour scheme experiments.
Pattern designs.
Colour scheme experiments with the pattern.
Final colour scheme and pattern design.
Poses and other limb amounts.
Character turnaround ready for Maya.

The Game’s Title

Below are my gathered words to help me decide on a title for the game. Something to do with survival and the helplessness of a task, especially under the circumstances of having no limbs.

Single words: Suvival in terms of the individual.

‘Lapsed‘: No longer valid; expired.

‘Impotent‘: Unable to take effective action; helpless or powerless.

‘Weary‘: Feeling or showing extreme tiredness, especially as a result of excessive exertion.

‘Nonchalant‘: (of a person or manner) feeling or appearing casually calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety, interest, or enthusiasm.

‘Catatonic‘: of or in an immobile or unresponsive stupor.

‘Catatonia‘ #1: a syndrome characterized by muscular rigidity and mental stupor.

‘Catatonia‘ #2: Or appearing to be in a daze or stupor; unresponsive.

‘Vitality‘ #1: capacity for survival or for the continuation of a meaningful or purposeful existence.

‘Vitality‘ #2: exuberant physical strength or mental vigor.

‘Capacity‘: actual or potential ability to perform, yield, or withstand.

‘Endure‘: to hold out against; sustain without impairment or yielding; undergo.

‘Tolerance‘: the act or capacity of enduring; endurance.

‘Resistance‘: the act or power of resisting, opposing, or withstanding.

‘Resist‘: withstand the action or effect of.

‘Lasting‘: continuing or enduring a long time; permanent; durable.

‘Withstand‘: to stand or hold out against; resist or oppose, especially successfully.

‘Counter‘ #1: Boxing= To give a return blow while parrying.”he countered with a left hook”.

‘Counter‘ #2: in the opposite direction or in opposition to.”his writing ran counter to the dominant trends of the decade”.

‘Parry‘: ward off (a weapon or attack) with a countermove.

‘Repel‘: drive or force (an attack or attacker) back or away.

‘Elude‘: escape from or avoid (a danger, enemy, or pursuer), typically in a skilful or cunning way.

‘Avert‘: to see coming and ward off.

‘Dodge: avoid (someone or something) by a sudden quick movement.

‘Evade‘: escape or avoid (someone or something), especially by guile or trickery.

Single Words: In terms of the situation.

‘Calamity‘: an event causing great and often sudden damage or distress; a disaster.

‘Deflect‘: cause (something) to change direction; turn aside from a straight course.

‘Tragedy‘: an event causing great suffering, destruction, and distress, such as a serious accident, crime, or natural catastrophe.

‘Devastating‘: highly destructive or damaging.

‘Crisis‘: a time of intense difficulty or danger.

‘Cataclysm‘: a large-scale and violent event in the natural world.

‘Misfortune‘: bad luck.

‘Ruin‘: the physical destruction or disintegration of something or the state of disintegrating or being destroyed.

‘Convulsion‘: a sudden, violent, irregular movement of the body, caused by involuntary contraction of muscles and associated especially with brain disorders such as epilepsy, the presence of certain toxins or other agents in the blood, or fever in children.

‘Upheaval‘: a violent or sudden change or disruption to something.

‘Accident‘: an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.

‘Tribulation‘: a cause of great trouble or suffering.

‘Trouble‘: difficulty or problems.

‘Destructive‘: causing great and irreparable damage.

‘Pernicious‘: having a harmful effect, especially in a gradual or subtle way.

‘Detrimental‘: tending to cause harm.

‘Malevolent‘: having or showing a wish to do evil to others.

‘Malign‘: evil in nature or effect.

‘Malefic‘: causing harm or destruction, especially by supernatural means

‘Pestiferous‘: harbouring infection and disease.

Phrases

‘Keep at bay’

‘Hold Out Against’

‘Keep out’

‘Fend Off’

‘Ward Off’

Combinations – Name Ideas

Durable danger

Calamity Withstanding

Parry with Tragedy

Calamity Resistense

Deflect Tragedy

Lasting Nonchalance

Counter Catatonic

Beware of the Malign

Malign Resistance

Destructive Upheaval

Counter Upheaval

Catatonic Upheaval

Move! Lazy Bones

Move Out of the Way

Move! Lazy!

Move Lazy Limbs

Stuck in the Mud

Final Name (I think)

Calamity Withstanding

Sketches of Game Objects/ Plans

Within this page, I have disclosed my early, pre-sketched out ideas for the visuals of the project contents. Such as how items within my video game world will look etc. Here are all of my preproduction rough sketches. Designs that I can imagine after being refined towards the style that I choose best fits with the game.

The torso, I feel, wil be a focal point, one that helps define the rest of the character.
Practicing body proportions.
Practicing understanding the body movements with body proportions.
What kind of character do I want to portray. Do they even have a character or is it enough to have a basic plain looking model that doesn’d really have a charcter. Like with some mobile games where the character is just a silhouette. I think that this depends on the type of game I want to create. So with what I can imagine from the rest fo the game, the character should not be plain.
When deciding body types I imagine that young boy would be most interesting, the one I can imagine my character to be now.
Thinking about the types of objects I will have in my world before personalising them.
The post-it drawings are different hanging light sources. Bulbs from rope or cable, with and without metallic shades and maybe one that has been tied into the hang man’s rope. Within the rope task, there could be a few light bulbs within the collection of hanging rope, e.g. with these different variations.
What kind of styled designs wil fit best with the other obects?
More refined grenade designs.

Visual Inspiration

Here I have compiled all of the visual research that I will implement into the development of my preproduction work. These will help me plan and imagine how the 3D outcome will look. Overall, I would like quite an illustrated style, cartoony, fictional looking but somewhat realistic (like the benchmark below).

1.

This is the style of 3D model which will be my character benchmark, however, if I gain the time I would like to add a little textured detail, especially to the face. I will have to figure out what to do about the hair as I have not modelled hair before: helmet? Or just learn quickly https://www.artstation.com/artwork/DAL5A

2.

Benchmark environment:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lVdrge

Find more.

3.

These images are from the Art Station account Patrick Martens, the piece is called ‘Whiteout‘. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8zX1m

I like this style of this artwork. It has been made in low poly with a minimalist colour scheme and yet the composition of the visuals do not feel as though they are lacking. It is basic enough for you to be able to get a feel for the world and still focus on the character, and what she is doing.
This is from the same game concept page. I like the feel of the bright red character against the monochromatic background.

4.

The next source of inspirational is more focussed on the feel I intend the audience to get from the environment. I do not want to simply maintain a haunted house mood but a room in which it’s eeriness makes you want to leave it. This is what I originally had in mind, however, I feel that I do not want to create a horror game. The best way that I can describe what I have in mind may be to use Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding game (2020) as an example.

I love the sci-fi feel of the unknown within this game.

5.

The environment composition should look something like this:

The piece is called ‘Haunted Château‘ by the Art Station account Amber Marie Edwards. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/nQW8xe

This is particularly the mood that I had in mind: a low-key lit room with dark blue/ grey tones and light streams and other sources orange light. Here they used candles which I considered, but I think I will use hanging light bulbs as this will fit the warehouse-style better. And stray further away from the stereotypical/ cliche haunted house theme.
I am considering for the lighting to implement the ‘god ray/ light scattering’ add on within Maya which makes light rays visible as though it is dusty or foggy and brightly lit rather than only having the light make the object visible. I will experiment with the visuals of this at a later stage.
The outcome will look like the first image from the ‘Haunted Château’ model rather than the one above.

6.

While on the subject of making my audience want to leave the environment because of the eery feeling, there is no other game that I have found to give the audience this feeling that Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hills P.T. video game. My concept may be lacking considerably in comparison to Kojima’s game since I will not completely undergo the horror/ thriller theme with jump scares (amongst other things).

Low key lit, bland earthy colour scheme, limited light sources. Home environment- as though the sacred place the audience knows as ‘home’ has been tarnished/ infiltrated/ made impure/infested with things such as that foreboding figure.

Within this game, the player has a first person view (exaggerating the horror factor) and has to escape the building which consists literally of just a corridor and a few rooms. There are plenty of doors to move around between, one of which, most annoyingly, is the front door of the house (of course it is locked). At the end of the corridor is a door in which the player walks through and loops back to the door at the start of the corridor- the audience is literally trapped in this map. It’s a brilliant design! Most of the times you loop through the map it changed, objects are moved or smashed or there may be foreboding figures anywhere in there with you.

7.

I found this 3D model, by Dennis Wormgoor on Artstation ‘SHC Old Factory hall’, which best describes the environment I imagine. Mine, of course, will have low-key lighting and be more foreboding than this bright scene but the layout and style of architecture are very similar.

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lVQLlG