Hi!
For this project, I am creating an abandoned village once inhabited by fishermen and hunters. My goal is to capture an air of mystery, leaving the viewer to wonder what happened to the inhabitants, while showcasing their history through environmental storytelling, like the abandoned fishing nets and stranded boats left behind.
Here is the moodboard and the initial blocking in Unreal Engine. I hope you enjoy the concept, and stay tuned for more updates on the progress!
Hi!
This week, I’ve been working on blocking out the modular assets and organizing the numbering for each piece. I also completed a first pass on the lighting.
Hi!
I have been working on a modular kit for broken wood assets. I decided to create a set of modular broken wooden ends that can be combined later. I found this approach much faster than manually modeling individual break patterns for every single wall.
I still need to add more roof variations and build the house bases. Once those are ready, the modular kit will be complete.
Hi!
This week I completely changed the composition of the scene. I’d been so focused on the modular system that I hadn’t really thought about the overall layout. I ended up adding more houses, bridges, and platforms. Speaking of modular assets, I made more variations for the roofs and platforms, and I managed to reuse those four broken wood pieces from last week so they fit nicely into the new bridges and platforms too.
I also spent some time on the PCG side: I added foliage and set up a spline to create paths where the grass won’t show up.
And last but not least, I kept tweaking the lighting.
Hi!
This week, I’ve been working more on the PCG foliage, adding different types of plants and a spline to create a path. I also decided to texture the modular assets using tiling materials and texture masks in Unreal. Because of this, a lot of my time was spent learning the mask texture and layered material pipeline (huge thanks to my classmate Nima for the help!), as well as unwrapping the UVs for all the house walls and bases to apply the base material. I still need to finish the UVs for the remaining modular assets and work on the masked textures.
On the other hand, I started planning the set dressing and set up a rough blocking. Next week will be all about finishing the textures for the modular assets while simultaneously working on the set dressing.
Hello @Dxae !
This is coming together nicely! I think the early changes to the layout helped to give the village a more cohesive feel. It feels easily traversable, and I can see how people could have easily lived in the village layout. Additionally, I want to applaud you on the atmosphere and its eerie vibe. This is shaping up to look like someplace that once had a lot of life.
Can’t wait to see the next update!
Hi!
This week, I finished the UVs and texturing for the roofs and bridges. I also started working on the set dressing, modeling the barrels and wooden boxes.
On the other hand, I started working on the boat; I did a first and second version, the latter of which will be the main focus, as it will be more broken and have more storytelling.
I also did a more serious pass on the lighting. I changed the color grading of the post-process a lot to obtain this atmosphere, but I feel like it still needs more work.
the mood of the environment looks really good
Hi!
This week, I finished modeling and texturing the logs that support the bridges and the bases of the houses. I also finished texturing the barrels and started working on the wooden boxes, I’m still running different tests on those.
On the other hand, I’ve been looking for an approach on how to make the fishing nets. I will have two types: the first one is just a plane that I simulated with nCloth in Maya and applied a texture with opacity. For the second one, I modeled the net geometry because the holes are bigger, so a texture wouldn’t work. Now I just have to create different variations and start placing them around the environment.
I’ve also been working more on the lighting, but it’s still a work in progress. Lastly, I did a first pass on the cinematic.
Hi!
This week I’ve been focusing on the broken boat hero asset. I finished the high poly, low poly, UVs, and the texturing using layered materials. Once that was done, I made a second version of the boat with less damage and detail to use for the surrounding boats in the scene. I also modeled and did the UVs of the chair, so now I just need to texture it.
On the environment side, I polished the layered materials for the rest of the assets, especially the modular pieces where I added some moss. I’ve also been doing some set dressing, I added more nets and ropes, modeled a few extra props, and integrated some downloaded skulls to give the scene a more mystical, cult-like atmosphere.
I’ve also been working on a blueprint to animate the hanging talismans so they look like they’re swaying in the wind, but it’s still a work in progress because it needs some refinement.
