Semester 3 Week 12

One of the asset's I've been working on lately is the electric generator. Despite the bland subject, I've learned a thing or two from this lap down the pipeline. For one, I've learned how to use ID maps in Painter, as I've discussed before. For another, I've begun to pay more attention to an asset's in-universe function. Which is to say, I'm starting to think through exactly what every object does in the fiction of the game, how it does it, and why. In the case of the generator, I tried to understand how generators work on what components are necessary. It's not likely that a player will think this through; no one will notice if it doesn't have an exhaust hose. But, being continues of such things brings an underlying sense of believability to the work - at least in my experience.

Despite my effort to be aware of all my creative decisions, I've made a big mistake in this case, the severity of which is exacerbated by the fact that it's so fundamental to the asset. I made a very modern generator. I honestly think it looks pretty great, but it will look out of place with the mid-century tech present throughout the game. We don't have exact dates for the setting of the game, but it takes place roughly between the 80s-00s, with the bunker being built in the 50s-70s.

The other asset of the week is heavily interactive. It's a series of pipes connecting valves, gauges, and gas cannisters. The player's goal is to insert the cannisters and then balance the correct mixture of gasses as indicated by the gauges by opening valves. I only needed a few pieces (straight pipe, elbow, t-joint, valve, gauge, cannister, and cannister connection) duplicated several and arranged. The challenge is the interactivity. The valves, cannisters and gauge indicators need to move on their own origins, so they have to be their own objects. I've put them in place using static mesh sockets, but I don't know if that will work when the programmers get their hands on it.

I outsourced the texturing of the gauge faces to 2D artist/designer Sky. This is, I think, his first material job. It's missing some grunge, but it's ultimately serviceable.

It turns out I could've expedited this process a good bit and also maybe upped the quality by using photogrammetry from Quixel. When switching from UE5 to UE4, I thought we would be sacrificing Quixel Bridges direct integration, but after just a bit of digging, I found that we're a download and a checkbox away from the same functionality in 4. This will save a lot of time when we fill out the bunker with bits and bobs (also trinkets and assorted fiddly things). I'll get the other 3D artists up to speed with it soon.

As progress is coming along with the bunker's interior, we've begun to turn some attention to the exterior of the bunker, which will be featured in the final scene of the game. We hadn't had a plan for this before, so I was able to step in as sort of the environment lead. So far, I've only done concepting. Not concept art or anything, just creating a Pinterest board. I have a pretty solid vision for the tone, a sort of autumnal moodiness, as well a rough idea of the layout.

Next week will be another game jam! Exiting. This one will require the game to include multitouch. This will be a big change for designers and programmers, but not too much for us artists. Nonetheless, jams are always a challenge. I'll try to work with new people to shake things up, too.