Video for Underground Level!

Game Design Level Jason Kendrick Underground Level from Jason Kendrick on Vimeo.

Summary for Game Design Level

Overview.

This assignment was definitely a learning experience. It gave me much more of a hands on approach to modelling and Unity, mainly because I had to figure out most of the information and learn how to apply it in the most efficient way. I felt like I could be much more creative in this assessment then any other, really.
Of course there were some problems that I had and it just frustrated me to the point where I didn't want to look at it for a few days, but I always came back and eventually got it down.

The thing that I found most challenging was getting my theme down. I had it when I started, but then learned we had to incorporate natural elements. So I had to change the story based on the theme I then needed to convey. Finding a way to make it seem like an old phantom underground village that had been taken over by an industrial corporation was a big challenge, especially with gathering assets.

I was quite happy with how most of the assets turned out, especially the work office buildings, they weren't really an issue to build and (in my opinion)are the best asset to look at. The one asset I had the most issues with was definitely the large vines from the hole in the roof, mainly because the circle on the top didn't look three dimensional to look at, it just felt like a shell. So I added a sort of rim to it to make a good transition between the vines and the hole.

Overall, I spent a lot of time on this assignment and I think it was one of the best in terms of learning for next semester. It made me understand how 3DS Max and Unity go pretty much hand and hand together.

Final mapping and Asset list.

The level is just about done. Here's a Unity map for the objectives and the new asset list!

Asset	Priority
Stone Moss Floor	High
Buildings	High
Gate	High
Tents	Low
Mining Drill	High
Moss Walls	High
Steel Barrels	Low
Table with Computer	High
Torches	High
Campfire	High
Wooden Poles	High
Generator	Low
Mushrooms	Low
Vines	High
Pillars	High
Mining site office	High

Final video coming soon!

Revising the walls.

So the walls in my levels were a great starting point to give me perspective. But now, I'd like to revise these walls and add a normal bump map to them. I'm sure it will make them look better.

 Taking them back to 3DS max and using UV Unwrap to project the image by 2 poly's each, it's obvious these are already looking better...

the Left column is the original texture just slapped onto the model, the rest to the right is the new edited version, much better.


Now I'll make the bump map for the texture.

And applied in Unity:

Much better.

Designing the Office

The workplace office was something I wanted to include in my level mainly because I needed an enclosed area for the enemies to spawn in. It also feels like it's required if I'm having a giant drill in my level.

To achieve an office space, I need the inside and outside modeled. This office will be accessible to the player.

I've seen a few of these Mining Site Office buildings around. Found a few pics as well:

 So I'll start with a mid poly box roughly the same shape as the picture above, and the polys cut from the top so I can see what I'm doing on the interior, I'll then add in the floor which will be a separate plane (to make texturing easier).

I'll start with the interior first. It needs to be simplistic yet effective. Usually these portable buildings have stretched out tables against one of the walls, I'll start with that.

Looks weird now, but give me a few minutes.

Alright, now if we just put it in the building...

Cool! Seems to be coming along nicely. Now we need a few more thing to put in here.

Just did a quick model, honestly I have no idea what this thing is called. I actually have one in my house. I guess it's a shelf? I'm sure there's a specific name for them. Feels like it's perfect for this building.

I think we'll push the interior aside for now and work on the outside of the model.

Alright, so adding a little more edges made the windows fit a little easier. The door will be opened toward the inside of the building.

Now the ramp for access to the door.

And now for texturing!

Now let's take it into Unity and see how it is.

Designing the Mining Drill.

The Mining Drill is one of the most interesting parts of my level. Mainly because it's constantly animated to drill into the ground. It's also the last objective (which is to shut it down) in the map. I'm about half done with it however I'd still like to give a run down of what the process was like.

So far this is looking okay. But it needs more dirt around the top. In order to do this, I'll take the steel texture and run it through photoshop with a dirt texture.

This:

 And this:

So it will come out to something like this.

This looks better for a Drill, however with a little help from our friends at cgTextures, I can add some Oil stains to the top (the top being the bottom of this picture).

It's a little hard to tell but if you see at the bottom there are now dirt streaks going upward. Just that little more detail makes it look much more rugged.


And here it is textured:

Little touch ups like this make everything better.

Underground Environment: Mid-build thoughts and updated assets

The level is coming about nicely if I do say so myself. Some of the assets I've put in the game have turned out better then I'd thought when put under the lighting underground. There's still much more I need to put in, such as the enemies base. I need to put in something more at the beginning of the level as well. But so far so good.

This is my 3 objectives so far.

Objective 1: Save the two villagers and untie them from the poles.
Objective 2: Grab the key from the lockbox on the table
Objective 3: Unlock the tower door and shoot the core to shut the operation down.



I made these objectives almost completely different to the original, but I think they suit better for what I'm now implementing.

 Story:

The two villagers that you rescue are a few of the last survivors of an underground tribe, they are incredibly intelligent. You are saving the small desolate village from an illegal excavation and mining corporation that want to mine the land for a rare mineral. The Bookers find it as a good starting mission for The Kid.


Updated Asset list:

Asset	Priority
Stone Moss Floor	High
Buildings	High
Gate	High
Tents	Low
Tower (objective 3)	High
Ramp	Low
Fallen Rocks	Low
Stone Walls	High
Steel Barrels	High
Table with computer and lockbox (objective 2)	High
Torches	High
Campfire	High
Poles (Objective 1)	High
Generator	Low

Technical Difficulties: Living environment

So I may have gotten carried away with my underground environment. Taking a closer look at the task sheet I realized that we need to have living assets as well (plants, nature etc), which had nothing to do with my environment. I began working some magic and found some very interesting underground environments as reference.

I haven't drawn it down, but it's all working in my head. I will make a less clean rocky walls type environment. The big issue was incorporating some solar for the environment so I could incorporate plant life besides fungi and moss, so I'll be putting a massive circular hole on top of the environment.
I will be providing an updated assets list after I figure out a few more things.

The map will still consist of buildings, but they will be abandoned. The gate will be rusty and old, and will be knocked down upon a trigger enter (We learned how to animate breaking objects in class).

More updates soon!

Game Design Level

So the overall blueprint and design for the underground level is going well. It's quite a confined space however the players perspective will see it larger during the game. Here's the blueprint.

This is put through 3ds max to give a better insight into the level. The yellow block on the left is where the player starts. The player comes down in an elevator and opens the doors to find a torched up underground city. The underground city was originally less cluttered, but to get that real village feel (the people have spent there life there) I extended the amount of buildings.

The purple block in between the map is a gate. This will be part of one of the three objectives in the game. I haven't really decided on what the player will do with the gate (the gate was built by the people who are attacking the village).

The green block is the last destination in the level, after beating down enemies past the gate you will need to go in the tower and shut the operations down. The player will be required to shoot at a power source to shut down the tower which is giving power to the enemies operations.

Asset List

Asset	Priority
Elevator	High
Buildings	High
Gate	High
Tents	Low
Tower	High
Ramp	Low
Fallen Rocks	Low
Walls	High