Modelling - Easter Island Town Houses

With my concepts drawn to scale, i could easily use these to model from within Maya. These made the modelling stage of this process a lot easier, i just had to keep looking at how it was turning out and making any changes i thought were necessary to improve them.

For both versions i created a high and low poly and created an AO map from them which had all the high poly detail. These were my outcomes of the two house designs i created.

Low Poly House version 1

 High Poly House version 1

House version 1 AO & UVs

House version 1 render updates

This is the second house design i created to add some variation to the towns design and look within the map.

Low Poly House version 2

 

High Poly House version 2

House version 2 AO & UVs

House version 2 render updates

After creating these two models, i showed the rest of my team and they were happy with the final outcomes. I also showed them to one of my lecturers on this module Rob and he said that as they're quite low poly and might be only seen from the top view sometimes in the game that i could maybe add a bit more detail to those areas to make it more interesting when playing our game.

I took this in to consideration and came up with the idea that there could be a satellite dish, water collector or an air con generator placed upon the roof of my version 2 house design. This is as it has a flat roof compared to version 1 which has a typical angled roof. 

I didn't have any problems in the modelling process of these assets and i'll get on with the feedback when i'm next working on this module.

Modelling - Game Boss Head

With the research i had gathered and other resources used such as certain documentaries based on Easter island, i felt comfortable to start modelling the boss. With the head being the key element which would link the boss idea to the Easter island level design i wanted to get this bit right first.

I started off making the simply shapes which would form the Easter island style head. Once that looked good, i started adding in some of the more noticeable damage which couldn't be portrayed correctly from an AO and normal map. I wanted to show that this head had been placed in this environment and been there for a couple thousand years.

After adding in the damage to the head i UV mapped the mesh and created an AO map to show show of the detail and where shadow will fall in a lit environment. This was the result.

Boss Head Version 1

I shared my results with the rest of my group and some of the feedback was that the edges could be a bit more rounded which i agreed with. With this is mind i knew it would up the poly count so to try and reduce the amount a bit to allow for the added detail on the edges, I got rid of the lower portion of modelled damage to the head. 

Boss Head with feedback adjustments:

Boss Head Version 2

When it comes to making the diffuse for the model, i'm going to add the smaller cracks and damage in with the textures. I presented to second version to the rest of my team and they were all happy with the outcome of the boss head.

Boss head UVs & AO map

Boss head rendered update

After modelling the head i then moved on to the arms of the boss. Originally they were just going to be solid rock formed from the volcano by the alien tech within the Easter island head which had been left there thousands of years ago by the aliens. The feedback from Andy G was that the boss looked too organic, so taking this is to consideration i started to add some bone structures and wires which would link the boss all together to form the rest of its body. 

Boss arm update

Looking at the side profile view and can now see that the modelled rock is too flat and i need to pull it out a bit and make it more rounded, rather than flat. I'm quite happy with how it's coming on so far and i'm looking forward to completing the full model to see what it'll look like within the game.

On the arm i still need to model the hand which i was having a bit of trouble with as it didn't look quite right. I took a step back from it and did a few quick sketches on paper with different styles and have come up with a design which i think will work well with the rest of it.

Chosen boss hand design idea sketch

This was one of the quick sketches i did which i liked the best. When it comes to modelling the design i think i'll make the palm of the hand a bit bigger or make the fingers a bit more stumpy to correct the proportion of the design.  

Further Design Ideas & Decisions

With my research in to the human form being implemented in to my rock formations for the boss i was ready to start designing the final product. I had a talk with my team mates to what they thought would be good to see on the bosses final design. We came up with the idea that with the heads being the alien technology the boss head could use the lava from the volcano to form a body. These were my two final designs with those ideas in mind.

Final Design Idea 1

Final Design Idea 2

After getting feedback from the rest of my team we decided to go with design idea 1. It really looks like it's been formed from the volcano. 

I was also tasked with researching and designing a few ideas for the houses which would be used within the level for the town. When researching it was really hard to find pictures of the actually town on Easter island. I noticed from the few images i found, the design od the houses were very similar to typical south american styles of architecture, so i development 2 different designs which we could model from within Maya.

Easter Island House designs

With these designs, i could easily adapt them if necessary. They are also quite simple shapes, so they shouldn't take to long to create within Maya.

Blockout & Presentation

With the level design complete in 2D our team leader Molly Freeman completed the blockout for our level based on easter island so that when we give a presentation in week 3. With all this concept work and a block out of our level we can give Andy who's game we are creating a level design for and our marking lecturer a good idea of what we plan to do and what it's going to look like at it's finished stage.

Blockout Of Level

For our presentation we went through our design brief and tried to include everything that is requested. We hope to present a good project idea to everyone and hopefully get some good feedback. Any suggestions will also be helpful as it will help us to improve and focus on areas which might not be as good as others. 

Boss Designs & Thought Process

After completing my mood board on the boss, i went away and started drawing designs for the boss enemy. I came up with an initial few designs and key elements that people within the group had suggested to me.

As you can see i quickly introduced the Easter island head to the concept. I also made a few different designs of what a rock monster might look like with this head design. The smaller sketches are different designs of rock and a couple with alien technology infused with the surrounding environment to form this boss.

I found it quite heard though to draw where rock fractures and where certain rocks would end and join up. This si where i got the idea of doing muscle study's of the human anatomy to see where they all begin and link in to one another. I then tried to implement this in to my rock designs. 

Arm Study

Chest Study

Leg Study

With these i was influenced to create a rock design for each part of the body i did a muscle study of. I showed these to my group and they liked the direction i was going in. I also showed them to my lecturer on the module and he mentioned to me about the heads being carved from one piece of rock to form the head where as my designs for the rest of the body were fractured. 

I took this on board and for one of the final designs to choose from i'm going to create a concept which has less rock fractures. I discussed my designs and ideas with my group to see what they thought and they mentions about the head being planted there by the aliens to keep the volcano dormant and then when they came back it awakens and its limbs/torso are created from the erupting magma. In which case there would be a lot of rock fractures from where the magma has formed the body of the boss character.

Lava cracks Example

http://2048x.org/wp-content/miniwallpaper/20121206/ccgsdjxdx3d16.jpg 

After creating these designs for the body and how that should all be design i did a few sketched of different designs for the heads and the ornaments which are sometimes featured on top of the heads.

Head Concept Designs

From these designs i personally like the far right one. It's quite simple in design and wouldn't require too many polys when modelling it. I think it also best represents the heads which is features of Easter island.

I'm now going to create 3 final designs from my research and concept ideas for people to judge and decide which one they think is better suited for our game level and if there should be any changes.

  

Job allocation & Boss Mood Board

As a team we got together and had a group meeting and discussed who would do certain tasks and how long might be required for certain elements. Our team leader Molly freeman tried to evenly distribute all the jobs to each team member. To help us all know what we're doing and how long we have to complete it she created this gant chart as a time scale reference.

 

All my tasks are highlighted in light blue. I'm in charge of designing, modelling, texturing and rigging the boss enemy for the level. I also have to research in to current rock monsters which could help me with my concept designs.

I'm quite interested in architectural design as well and making 3D models of pieces of architecture so i put myself forward for designing the buildings to represent the town which is situated on the island within our level.

Boss Moodboard

When i put some quick ideas to the rest of the group we thought it would be a good idea to have a head which Easter island is famous for as the main aspect of the boss. I then went about looking at other rock monsters and elements of lava as the boss location is situated within 1 of 3 volcanoes on Easter island.

Level Design Ideas

With our idea set and approved, we were all ready to get going. We quickly went through our asset list and assigned jobs to everyone so that people could be getting on with bits of the project. Robert Leach was tasked with the job of creating a few ideas for the map layout.

As we were doing it on Easter island we had a base layout of the landscape and could produce a suitable route from this.

Idea 1

Idea 2

Idea 3

With these three as the main couple of ideas as a team we gave feedback as to what we thought might work well and what we could improve on in the final plan. We all liked the idea of coming from the sea to attack the aliens base of operations. Another key point we liked the idea of was having the end boss based at one of the three volcanoes that are situated on the island. 

Also someone came up with the idea of going through a tunnel which leads to the boss. This would be a great area to switch from the top down view to behind the helicopter. Having to dodge rocks and shoot alien troops. 

A key improvement was to try and get a balance between the amount of turns and straight runs within the level to account for the occlusion.(Rendering of the level). 

With some of these key points and improvements taken in to consideration Robert Leach went away a created a final plan.

Final Plan

I really like this final idea and it has many different areas which bring great game play features to our level. The only thing we were worried about as a team is that it might be too long but if so we can eliminate maybe one or more areas of battle to decrease the level play time.