Through The Gate 3 - Decals Everywhere!

This was my last proper week on the project for the uni deadline and I had a mountain to do. Even though it seems like I have accomplished a lot in the last couple of weeks the scene could do with a lot of tweaking. I have decided to spend my time focusing on the super important aspects of the environment, with anything else that might take up too much time or otherwise not changing the scene much saved until after the deadline when I will continue pushing for a portfolio piece.

One area that needed to get pushed more in the last week was the signage. The platform needs more guides as to where people go and I actually needed to place in the advertisements. So I got to work on creating a decal sheet for pasting across the environment, I used a special material that allowed me to crop the decal to the part where I need it, allowing me to place more than one decal onto one texture sheet.

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The following are final screens for hand-in although there will be newer screens next week of the updated environment for polish week. As you can see underneath I have added in arrows, service numbers, grafiti and included the signs which scroll sideways. I have also used decals to break up the ground in some places and create some darker patches.

I have worked on the background scenery a bit more, I replaced the flipped landscape which was acting as the ceiling of the cave with more giant rocks as it was lighting differently to everything else. Some other little touches include adding movement to the ring stabilizers and adding more depth using the fog sheets.

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I also textured all of the objects in substance painter including the bins, fences and turnstiles. More detailed work can be done on these later but for now I needed them basically textured just for the hand-in.

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Project conclusion (Of sorts)

 

This project has been a unique challenge for me as I have never created something on my own this large but strangely at the same time I think it could be much larger and much more interesting just because of how I have setup the assets in a modular fashion. I see a lot of potential for pushing this environment even more during polish week and beyond.

First criticism first: The scene needs more assets to break up the modularity, as currently it is very apparent that everything is lining up to a grid. Clutter is something that will instantly make this scene feel 'lived in' which is very important in grounding it in reality. This could include more signs, safety equipment, trash, leaflet/magazine rack and maps.

For further stretch goals I have got a lot of suggestions plus I have a few ideas of my own for what I would like to do. My first thing which I didn't have enough time for is adding a little bit of greenery to the scene; it could be hanging greenery that clings to the bottom of the platform and the ceiling of the cave. I feel this would help liven up the scene a bit more and it will help take the edge off some of the architecture.

Another thing that could help is more movement in the scene. This could mean the door animating, more movement in the light beam or adding animated sprites in the background of flapping birds. This is more for selling this world and making it more believable, it will be extremely beneficial for a flythrough of the level and this could even include adding some ambient sound.

Next week my plan is to complete tiny fixes and quick alterations for hand-in and then after I will compile a list of the the things I want to change or add to the portfolio version. There is so much I want to do with this project that I can't decide where to go, so hopefully limiting down the options will work in my favour.