Conclusion

This is likely to be my final entry for this blog so I decided to look back over the course of the project, summarise what I've done and how I achieved it, as well as explain things in more depth.

To start with I worked on my own with no assistance on any part.  it was incredibly tough, especially as I started late and only had a couple of days a week to work on it.  this meant I had to work very quickly, as 3D modelling and texturing can be very time consuming.

The design and concept evolved over the course of the project, from a game about chasing Dracula around Whitby, to a game where the player collects Jet artefacts whilst exploring Whitby Abbey, to a scene that tries to capture the style of a painting by Francis Jukes.

The concept art was produced to help me plan how I wanted to layout the level, as well as act as a very short storyboard for when things would happen.  I also worked on making the project logos that I needed for the submission.  With the changes in design I was worried that I would need to rename everything, which thankfully never happened.

When I knew what I was doing, I started making the whitebox assets.  The models were constructed in a way that allowed me to add detail at a later point if needed. these models remained for the most part, relatively unchanged and being used in the current build of the level.

I decided to use a few texture sheets as possible and I've managed to use only two textures.  The overall aesthetic I was aiming to achieve was inspired by Francis Jukes (provided by The British Library's asset pack) and popular videogames that use a painted style (such as World of Warcraft and Vagrant Story).  Components that make up the abbey are chunky and angular, and the textures were hand painted by myself.  The brick texture took the longest out of the texture pieces, as this would be the most visible part of the game.  The UV's for all of the models were mapped to a single texture as stated before, which probably took the most time.

It's been hard work but very rewarding.  I've learned a lot more than I thought I would during this project.  I will most likely take this project further and turn it into a more polished portfolio piece, as I quite enjoyed the visual style used.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Whitebox Stage

(Early whitebox stage with place-holder assets in CryEngine)

I finally started 3D modelling various place-holder assets to get a general feel for how the game is going to look.  It also means I can test the designed gameplay mechanics sooner, giving me more time to fix any potential problems.  I'm using 3D Studio Max to create the 3D objects for the world (both whitebox and finished versions of them).

I will be researching how to implement the game mechanics using the documentation provided by Crytek on their site, as well as any useful tutorial videos I find (I'll provide links to everything I use in subsequent posts).

Once all of this is done I can start replacing the place-holders with the actual game assets.  Texturing for the final versions will be done using Photoshop.  I will post images of finished assets as well from time to time.

Style Guide and Schedule

(Project Style Guide)

I've been working on a small style guide / mood boards in order to maintain graphical consistency across all my work, as well as give me something to refer back to if I start to struggle with any of the artwork.  Whilst working on this guide I produced the project logo which will become the header for this blog (it's also a requirement for submission).

(The first version of my project planner)

I've created a schedule / planner to help me keep on track, as well as ensure that I don't forget anything.  However, I have to say it is incredibly optimistic, with no room for anything to go wrong and for me to burn myself out.  There are a number of aspects I am willing to remove in order to achieve a completed project but they're listed in case I actually get a chance.  The deadline is marked as the 1st August rather than the actual competition deadline which is the 4th.  This is because I will not be able to work on the project after the 1st.