Concept phase 3: story and first concept painting

Hey all!

This one took me a bit longer, had some really busy days, but now I'm back on track.

So I was quite pleased with the 3D mockup from previous post, composition wise. It lacked alot of the feeling and atmosphere I want to create though, so I decided to create a first concept painting.

I chose to do a painting that pictured the city in general, as seen from above. Later I'll create more sketches or paintings how I want the environment to look from a player's perspective, but I wanted to pin the general idea first.

I used a screenshot from the 3D mockup and decided to paint on top of that, so lighting and perspective would be right from the start.

Then I quickly painted some colors over it to cover up the initial screenshot.

Adding more defenition, lights and shadows.

Changing the hue so that it fits better with the atmosphere I'm trying to create.

And finally, adding details and some more defenition. I also used some photo's for textures.

So what is this place? I came up with a concept that I liked. I partially refined the concept while working on the mockup, since I get alot more ideas when creating things. I did had most of the concept in mind when creating this painting.

There are two nations, who where at war many decades ago. The war went on for many years, but tore both nations apart. A common enemy arose: the weather was even more dry then usual. Farmers had trouble watering their crops with the little water that still flowed through the rivers. The two nations decided that if they would keep on warring on oneanother, both their nations might collapse. Instead, they made peace, and through trade with eachother and lands far away they managed to feed all of their citizens enough to keep their nations running.

They decided that working together, they would achieve way greater things. In the center of both nations, on one of the few crossings that spans the canyon that seperates both nations, they decided to build a free, neutral city. This city had it's own government and housed the international courthouse. Here, if one of the two nations would commit a crime against the other, he or she could be judged on neutral ground.

However, the free city and it's citizens used their position at the center of both nations and on one of the few trade routes that spans the canyon to become an economical power to be reconed with. They had little to trade, but instead, asked road tax to anyone who wanted to cross the canyon. This allowed them to become incredibly rich over the years, and the city's buildings became taller and more prestigious over time.

The two nations are at the brink of war once again. Inbetween is the free city-state, now a highly wanted tactical position. The nation that controls the city, has free passing over the canyon and has an easily defensible position. Both nations try to gain more and more infuence over the city. Spies are trying to rig the elections and politicians are persuaded with money and false promises. The tension in the city is rising. The citizens fear that another war between the nations would mean a military attack on the city. Precautions are taken; the citizens are stacking food supplies and the city's leaders are hiring mercenaries. But will it be enough?

Concept phase 2: a first 3D mockup

Hey all!

So after making some more thumbnails and sketches, I started making a simple 3D mockup in Unity using only a few simple 3D models I made in Maya and some of Unity's standard 3D shapes. Whilst doing so, I also thought of a story that could go with the environment. In my opinion, having a story while you are making the environment is incredibly important. It will make your environment less shallow, you can create all sorts of things that relate to the story and the surrounding world and thus create a richer environment.

Here are some of the thumbnails and a very basic concept painting.

After making these I started making a basic mockup in Unity. Click on the images to enlarge.

Here you can see the idea coming together. I chose to do this because I like building an environment piece by piece, beginning with very basic models and updating them over time. You could make some concept pieces and start modeling detailed assets (3D objects, like a house or a pillar) and make the environment in one go. The problem here is that, if there is a major flaw in level design or you find out it just doesn't work, you already put many hours into making detailed assets. Instead, I like to start with very basic models, and basicly make a 3D 'composition'. Later, when I think the composition works, I start giving textures to the models and making more and more detailed models as we go along. This way we can spot mistakes sooner. A bit of a back and forth workflow; put a new model in, check if it works, change it, check it again, repeat.

Next post I'll share the story concept of the surrounding world and what kind of place this is, and what function it has in society. Till next time!

Concept phase (1): defining my idea

Hey guys!

So I went into this project only knowing I wanted to create a 3D environment. I didn't really have anything special I wanted to create or some ideas that where already in place.

So my first step was thinking of a concept. To gain inspiration, I decided to ask some friends over at a Skype group (a group of gamers who only play games I don't, but that's kind of my fault) what their favorite gaming environments are. They sent me some great examples of cool environments. I collected a bunch of images and threw them into a Photoshop file. Ofcourse I added pictures of gaming environments that appealed to me personally. It's not really a moodboard, so we'll just call it our ideaboard.

I'm not sure if this is the way to go, but I kind of like this approach. I just made another blank file and started sketching some things I thought where cool from the images. I also used the same file to randomly sketch out some stuff that came into mind. I kept the ideaboard on my second screen at all times, looking at it every now and then, hoping for a sudden burst of inspiration. That didn't quite happen. Instead, I decided to go downstairs and prepare a pasta salad with some leftovers I had laying around. Food makes me clear my mind and preparing food is strangely relaxing for me.

Having eaten the pasta salad, the sudden burst of inspiration still did not come. No worries. I'm quite used to that by now. When inspiration doesn't come there are other ways to create new and fresh ideas. I started to look more vaguely at the images, looking more at curves and general architecture, and just started sketching. I made this silly object, and from that object came two very basic thumnails.

Yet this is far from it. I do kind of like the general idea, but there's way too little defenition. I want to create my own architectural style. Right now, it's way too empty and looks boring. But hey, these are just the first couple of thumbnails! I just realised I spent all evening on this... Next post I need to create a quicker workflow, or this could become a very long project. Next to that, more interesting thumbnails, More ideas. A more solid concept for who the environment actually is or who or what creature actually lives in it. That should give me more cool ideas. So next post: more stuff.

A quick introduction

Hey reader,

First of all, let me get this straight.

This blog does not exist to showcase my work. I'm not a professional, I'm a student. This blog exists as an easy place to keep track of my own progress and review my own workflow so in case it's inefficient it can easily be spotted so I can improve myself in the future.

Secondly and more importantly, this blog exists so people can see it. Again, not to show off, but so people can give feedback. I'll be sharing some of these posts on my Facebook wall and specific Facebook groups. Peope can tell me they think it's ugly when they think so (please, do say that in the form of feedback so I can improve) or tell me what I'm doing wrong. The latter is more aimed against people who are 3D hobbyists, professionals, artists of any kind or students themselves. If you are none of those, your opinion and feedback is still of great value. I want to become a videogame artist and alot of gamers don't know how videogames are made.Yet it is their opinion that matters the most. I still got alot to learn, so all feedback and tips are welcome.

And finally, this blog exists so that people can learn from me. I might not be a professional, but if anyone comes across something new they haven't seen before or gain inspiration for their own projects even if unrelated to 3D that's a huge bonus for me. If this is the case, please, do let me know :)

This project I'll be making an environment in 3D, from concept phase to the final project. My goal is to create a visually appealing environment that is optimized and could be used in games. During my work process I'll post the blog on social media and ask for feedback from you guys. I'll do my best to implement ideas and feedback in my work. So in a way, we are desiging this together! Sort off.

The next post will be about the concept phase. I'm not yet sure wheter I want to build an interior or an outside environent. My main focus is NOT realism. Personally I prefer a stylized look (Journey, Ori, Dishonored or even the more recent zones in WoW).

Here's a quick list of the things I'm sure I'm going to use, but I might use other software when needed.

Software:
- Autodesk Maya
- Photoshop
- Unity 5 including Shader Forge

Hardware:
- A Wacom tablet (using a Bamboo right now but will have an Intuos M soon)
- A PC running Win 10

And yeah, English is not my native language. I'll be making mistakes. You can correct me if you want but the main focus of this blog is to learn how to be a better designer.

I hope we can learn from eachother, and if not, I hope you enjoy reading.