More Environment Studies
Left 4 Dead
I am actually finding it really fun playing through
games thinking about the assets and models which make up their environments. I was
playing these games and doing studies so I could understand how level designers
fill up their environments in games with assets that aren’t necessarily an
important part of gameplay or story; they are miscellaneous aesthetic assets :)
Warning, this post is
very image heavy :P
The blood stains and sleeping bag set the scene within
the environments suggesting that someone has died whilst camping out in the
woods. This adds belief to the story behind L4D but isn’t a tie in with the
main plot or story.
Here is an example of a basic wallpaper texture, basic
low poly ornaments and wooden cabinet display.
An example of how the floor can be cluttered up to have
an impact on the environment. Broken boxes and rubbish suggest the area is
abandoned or dangerous due to no population or inhabitants.
Another example of floor space being used to enhance the
atmosphere
of the environment.
Water bottles and a water tank drinking machine make
this safe house environment more believable suggesting that those who were held
up here were in need of water. Including these models helps make the player
believe this is a safe house.
More floor texture and isolated model assets help create
this dark abandoned looking office. Although the player may only just run
through this space quickly and not even notice half of these areas they are
there for a reason; they make the environments believable.
Basic stair model, low poly with extrusions would be my
guess?
The walls are textured with heavy graffiti and the floor
is dirty which
makes
the player feel unwelcome in the environment.
Here are multiple examples of basic low poly models with
basic textures that have been used to enhance the environments. The cardboard
boxes are just flat polygon cubes with a simple texture on the top. The wooden
post for the wire fence is just a slanted on-the-skew polygon cuboid made to
look like a fence post with a basic texture on top. The bridge wood and the
broken wood on the floor both use the same texture but are used separately
within the same area of environment but give off completely different uses. For
example, the wood has been used as a part of the environment scene to add
atmosphere and wreckage for the player to work around whereas the other section
of wood planks for the basic bridge structure the player can actually use to
progress.
More examples of how random assortments of assets can
help create the atmosphere within an environment.
I was making a close study of this filing cabinet model
because a filing cabinet is something I had thought about inducing within my
environment work. I noticed that the textures are what make it look more 3D
than it actually is. The mesh itself is a flat surfaced cuboid upon which
there has been a texture applied to give
the impression that there are groves between the cabinet and the filing draws.
The only 3D part of this mesh is the handle which do actually stick out as
these cant be faked with textures.
Here are examples I found of very low poly models used
to enhance the environment and ensure it is believable; these assets are
crucial but also missed by many players who aren't specifically looking for
them; they get glanced over so players don’t get the chance to pick apart the
quality. For example, the sauce pan and frying pan are low poly, you can
literally see the hard edges where a real saucepan or frying pan would be
smooth and circular. The circular pad around the light bulb is also low poly as
is the light itself; a basic light source mesh. Parts of the white chair are
also low poly, the leg stands for example. The chair is a basic shape bought to
life with textures. The textures on the sacks are very low res too as they
blurred and pixelated when I approached them for a good look in the light.
This image is so dark because the lamp in front of me
would block my torch light every time I pointed it at it which was strange. All
I wanted to do was see if the light shade had a bulb and areas for the shade to
connect to the lamp post, as you can see though, it doesn’t! I guess to save
power/work/poly’s/time/etc they purposefully left out the bulb and areas for
connection because you simply would never see it as a player. No one would do
what I am doing and stand inspecting a lampshade for a bulb unless they were
studying it like I am. This is a helpful design choice to consider when
building assets, will the player see it? No? Okay well then don’t add it in ;D
Dead Space 2
Dead Space really knows how to create an atmosphere
within the environments for the player. Here you can see blood trails along the
floor which were put there within the textures for me to find and affect my gameplay. This is something to consider
with textures.
Being more pro active and hands on with Maya I can now
understand and deconstruct basic models so that I can comprehend how they were
built. I think I could recreate this rounded desk with shelves now. Also,
looking at the floor you can see all the rubbish which I am guessing is created
as a texture on the floor; something that I will have to look into. It helps set the scene within the environment of
previous chaos and disorganised struggle.
Here are 4 examples I found of low poly ambient asset
models and low res textures. The white lamp is a very basic shape, something
that a player wouldn’t stand and stare at so it doesn’t necessarily matter! The
shelves also aren't perfectly rounded! Why? Because they don’t need to be. They
don’t need to be smoothed out and polished, they just need to appear as shelves
for the player to glance at and recognise as they pass through the environment.
When you take a close look at the cactus? I wanna say cactus but who knows with
that strange texture pattern on it? From a far it looks green and the players
eye will read it as a plant. They wont need to go close up and observe the
texture. Deep in the plant pot of the “cactus” is a very low res texture which
is supposed to resemble mud I guess? Still, another element the player wont
focus on so it doesn’t need to be immaculate!
Left 4 Dead 2
Here are 4 examples I found in L4D2 that demonstrate low
poly basic models that wouldn’t be too challenging to recreate being used
within an environment to make it more substantial, believable and authentic for
the player.
If you look closely, the books on this shelf are just
duplicated copies of the same small cluster of books only they are re sized or
have changed direction. This way the modeler doesn’t have to painstakingly
create an assortment of different books to fill up this shelf that the player
will look at for approximately 1 second, they can just model a few and re use
them.
Here is another example of how assets have been reused
within the environment to ensure authenticity; players must believe this is a
shelving unit full of clothes and it is! The shelving unit itself is also a
very basic model.
Something I
hadn’t considered before was rugs to decorate the floor. I'm not sure if
this was just a flat polygon plane with
a rug texture on top or just textured straight into the floor itself but I
would need to research it if I was to add it into an environment scene. I also
think this looks incredibly flat (because it is) not necessarily a bad thing if
you are just running through a room quickly but if there was focus for the
player to be within that area t hen I think there might need to be more detail;
a turned corner of the rug perhaps?
Here is an example of the same furniture I posted an
image of earlier only now it is being used to evoke emotion in the player, the
table being turned upside down suggests panic and struggle.
Here’s another example of a pesky lamp with no bulb and
floating shade :D
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