Part Three: Ninja Kebab, First Person Shooter (CGA Year Two)

I modeled an early, modular, floor panel concept given to me by Razvan Prajanu. This was part of the early experimentation I did to try and figure out ways to lower the number of tris in the scene. I also experimented with Quixel in order to gain a deeper understanding of PBR workflows. And to demonstrate to the rest of the team ways in which we could go about creating the environment.

This is the finished modular panel in 3DO, I used a colour ID map to assign the material. I stuck to Razvans concept best I could whilst creating this. But after a brief discussion with the team we decided not to use this panel in the environment.

Part Two: Ninja Kebab, First Person Shooter (CGA Year Two)

I carried on creating initial 3D work whilst I waited for the concept artists to finalize their concepts.

I created a modular set of pipes for the game using Maya. This will help to bulk out the environment and hopefully create an industrial atmosphere to immerse the player into the world. Pipes are great in games as they provide the illusion of purpose, the space immediately feels more important as it is given meaning.

Creating a modular set allows me or the game designer to quickly build up an area as and when We please without having to model/ texture a new asset every time. It also allows us to save on tri count and easily create or alter cover points by placing pipes where we need them.

All of the pipes in this scene were created using only the above segments. I repeated them around layering bigger pipes behind the smaller pipes.

This modular pipe set might not be used in the final game, however they demonstrate how I can use modular pieces to flesh out an environment quickly. Modular assets are important if we want to create a large environment, whilst keeping the project size down.

Part Two: Games Art Asset, Viper Mk II Variant (CGA Year Two)

 This is the initial grey box I created to aid Me in designing a a new Viper variant to fit into the Battlestar Galactica universe.

To create the grey box I used 4 images of the Viper in conjunction with each other, one from the top, the side, the back and the front. I then used these as My guide to ensure the shape and proportions were accurate.

Off of this greybox I built multiple different variants of the original Viper. However I was finding it difficult to create a design I was happy with using solely the Vipers body. I then began building away from the original design to create something similar in nature to the Viper, yet different enough to be able to call it My own. This helped Me to create this . . .

I really liked this design at first, however I feel as if its not futuristic enough to fit into the Battlestar universe. I decided to keep the body and change the wings, I then began to experiment with a more sleak wing design.

I took a single sleak wing design I created and began altering the shape of its wings. Experimenting with the shape really helped Me to get a grip on the type of space ship I want to create. I narrowed down My designs into ten I liked, then began sorting through them until I found two I thought were best. I chose to move forward with 7 and 8.

Now all I need to do is decide which of these two designs I like. Then I can begin modelling the ship in detail.

You can see here how much ive experimented so far with this design. Now I can narrow down and begin working on the final model.

Part One: Ninja Kebab, First Person Shooter (CGA Year Two)

This is the first post covering my role this term as an Environment Artist within a team.

The team i'm working with consists of . . .

• Game Designer/ Coder/ VFX: George Burchmore.
• Environment Artist: Ben Matthews (Me).
• Environment Artist: Reece Stansbury.
• Concept Artist: Razvan Prajanu.
• Concept Artist: Rastislav Smolen.
• Character Concept: Steve Welch.
• Character Artist: Jay Pickett.

Together we have formed a team called Ninja Kebab. your probably wondering why we called ourselves Ninja Kebab, it all comes down to our lack luster attempt to come up with a suitable name for our team. And somehow we fell upon Ninja Kebab. However We hope a lighthearted name will catch the attention of our audience.

Our team logo, created by Steve Welch.

We decided to create a first person shooter this term. Specifically an old school style fps such as Doom in a style similar to Grindhouse. A slightly over the top fps that is fun and addictive to play.
We hope that being ambitious and choosing to create something challenging will help us to learn more about game development and level design.

What is Grindhouse? - http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Grindhouse

My role as an environment artist will be to aid the game designer/ concept artist in creating a fun and interesting level design. Once we have settled upon a good design I will build the level and texture it.

In the first couple of weeks whilst the concept artists were creating initial designs I didn't have any environment work to do. So I set about creating concepts in 3D in an effort to aid the design process.

In the first few days of the project I created a concept/ design in 3D for a bridge that connects a heli pad to a base. It was just an initial idea I had for the player starting point. I also animated the bridge. I did this to help teach myself the basics of animation in Maya and to aid myself in relaying My idea to the rest of the team.

Heli pad concept.

I created the bridge along with its animation over a couple of days. Initial ideas and keywords we used for inspiration helped me to create a simple walkway system that is futuristic, yet believable.
The basic premise behind this design is simple. A platform (similar to a camera dolly) is fired out of a hole in the wall by compressed air. This platform is resting on a set of rails that stretch over to the landing pad. The platform holds 4 metal plates which are pulled up by levitating magnets as the platform travels along the rails towards the pad. The plates are then held in place by magnetism allowing people to walk between the pad and the connecting platform.

Here is a short video showing the animation I created. This animation helped to demonstrate to the team how we could use magnetism to solve problems in game, such as collecting objects, opening doors and extending bridges. Magnetism is also a believable concept, we already have strong electric magnets in the real world so its feasible that (in the future) humans could create magnets strong enough to hold walkways in place. It also gives us (as a team of designers) an excuse to create floating walkways, and doors. This helps to create a futuristic environment. Our aim is to create a level that conveys the time period to the player without us having to directly tell them. However this is a very early concept, and may not make it into the final game.

I carried on with this early concept work by creating an initial level layout in 3D. The game designer created a starting point but was struggling so I stepped in to help. I created this layout in a few hours.

My hope here was to get the ball rolling and allow the team to progress with concept work. I tried to keep game play in mind whilst creating this layout; what would be in each room? where would the player go? where will the cover points be? where will the enemy spawn? Ultimately these are all decisions that will be made by the game designer and not by me, however it is useful to keep in mind game play whilst designing an environment.

I am aware that this level layout is very large. And most likely way too ambitious, however it was useful; and stopped the team from hitting a roadblock early on. It also provided me with some useful world building experience. I had to create a base layout that made logical sense whilst keeping in mind the path the player would take.

Part One: Games Art Asset, Viper Mk II (CGA Year Two)

This term I will be designing a space ship that ties into the re imagined Battlestar Galactica universe.

What is Battlestar Galactica? - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series)

I will be basing my design off of the Viper Mk II.

Viper Mk II, from Battlestar Galactica.

The Viper is an old fighter used in the series by colonial forces. However, I will be re imagining the design and creating something original that could be used in conjunction with the Viper Mk II.

I've created a one sheet and a mood board below to inform and provide context to the model i'm going to create.

One Sheet.

Mood board.

I built a grey box in Maya of the Viper Mk II to get a feel for its aesthetic. I plan to use this grey box as a basis for my design, I will experiment with it in 3D adding and removing parts of the ship to create a different original design. Using the mood board above as inspiration I will take into consideration the role of my design, is it a bomber? fighter? or part of a recon team? These are all things I will address as I build concept grey boxes in Maya.

I've also begun re watching the 2004-2009 series of Battlestar Galactica to help get a feel for the universe and re immerse myself in its overall design aesthetic.

Z Brush: Working with Insert Multi Mesh (CGA Year Two)

In this lesson we learnt how to use Insert Multi Mesh (IMM). IMM is a custom set of tools that allow you to create shapes very quickly within Z Brush.