Given the nature of the project, and the subject matter, I know that the style of the game has to tend towards realism, or at least a more high fidelity style of environment. In my mind, this is primarily to fit the darker aesthetic of alchemy, and to convey the sombre tone of the game’s story. The downside of this style is that asset creation takes time, and high fidelity asset creation takes longer. This week I began the process of asset collection and asset creation for Project Legacy.
I began in Blender by modelling out the basic structure for the tutorial room: The Study. I knew that I wanted to go for an old school style of furnishing, and found a reference image that I liked to vaguely replicate.
I modelled out a basic structure for the room, to do the rest through texturing in Substance Painter. I wanted a dark walnut colour for the wood, and wallpaper for the upper walls, as well as some sort of patterned texture for the ceiling.
I set up a number of new Smart Materials to use across the texturing of the space’s assets, and prepared the shelf for the next few assets by creating a frosted glass and painted metal material.
I then created the remaining assets for the room: The windows, the door, and the sliding bookcase, continuing to vaguely follow the reference.
I’ll refrain from posting too many pictures for the remainder of the post, and focus on describing my process, limitations and reasoning. My next step was to collect assets from the unity asset store that fit my art style and needs. The packs that I downloaded/purchased contained:
- Old Books with some fine gems of insect and plant compendiums that fit the style perfectly
- Antique furniture with some nice cabinets, tables and props for the scene
- Alchemy apparatus with a collection of decanters, beakers and furnaces
I wanted to organise the study as the workspace of a meticulous but disorganised man: Assorted books in no particular order, but mostly shelved and put away, a clean floor with a well decorated room, and furnished for a purpose. I began by placing the book case in front of the large opening in the room, the desk near the window, and angling the directional light to leave the imprint of the window on the wall opposite.
I placed light blocking volumes outside the room to create the correct light levels in the room, and moved to planning how to place the furniture. I’ll display some pictures of the room’s final state before going backwards through my thought process of how I placed everything.
The order and purpose with which I placed the furniture:
- The desk near the windows to use the natural light during the day, and to see the moon rise at night, the chair slightly out, as your father wasn’t at his desk at his passing and it was left in that state, writing quill and paper still out.
- The coat rack and cupboard near the door are for placing possessions and grabbing them upon entering and exiting the room. It also serves to teach the player that they can interact with cabinet doors and drawers to open and close them.
- The table and chair in the South East corner could serve as a place to sit and drink or read in the evening. I placed a pipe in the desk drawer nearby and a copy of Lewis Carol’s; Alice in Wonderland on the desk, as a hint to the player about… something.
- I placed a grandfather clock in the North East corner to be seen from the entire room, and a small desk with a Gramophone on it nearby so that you could access it between the bookshelf and the desk.
- Finally I populated the bookcase with books and other props in a way quite similar to my own, given that I see that side of myself in the owner of the study, and I needed a reference that conveyed the same feeling to the player.
- I then placed some lights in the room at points that would be useful to someone occupying the room. I may in future also add the ability to pick up lights to better see parts of the room, but the current setup gives the best level of light for the room in my opinion to convey the dusky and occult nature of the game.
Next I’ll have to move on to the main gameplay space which will take a little more time. The first step is to create the set of identifiable potions that the game will use. It seems time is closing in towards the final deadline so I’ll likely be reducing my scope for the game for this prototype, and look to refine the identification process.