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Working in Unreal

  • MAPS

To start working on Unreal, I have created two maps on an empty level. One will serve me to recreate the entire stage and a final prototype sample, I named: Enviorement_fantasy.
The second map is a default map. I named: Testing Assets that already come with a lighting configuration, an environment configuration, a start player where I will do my foliage tests, and the materials I will create for the prototype.

To create the first environment, later I will decide whether to use it as a level or for cinematics, I have downloaded some nature assets from the Unreal marketplace. Then I have exported all the assets that I liked to the foliage and I have expanded the test assets map to place them.
I changed the brush size, density and scale of the tree to get a natural forest.

  • MATERIALS

I created some materials to apply to environmental assets. Green, dark green, brown and dark brown. 

 

Once the basic material is done, I prepare it to duplicate it and change the colours. 
To achieve this, the basic material is duplicated and, entering its characteristics, the values are changed to parameters.

Next, I have created an instance material that will serve as a base to make more of different colours.

Then I have created a master material to which I will apply some textures that I have downloaded.
First, I have created a base master material to which I have given a texture parameter, and I have named it diffuse. I then added a texture multiplier and an opacity parameter connecting it to the multiplier, and then I have connected it to the opacity mask of the master material and a tint parameter to color the texture.

  • LANDSCAPE

To create the game's landscape, I will start with an introductory scene, and later, I will design the terrain and add assets.
The first thing is to drag a basic cube in the Environment fantasy that I created before, and I will position it in the centre of the world by adding a scale to it. Next, I have added some trees and stones assets to help me have a basic idea about the immediate environment.
Later I have added sunlight and some fog to start creating a forest atmosphere and a skylight so that Unreal could calculate bounce points.
Finally, I have added a Lightmass importance volume to stay within those parameters and a sphere reflection capture so that the light is reflected in the scene.

Building the landscape is easy with the unreal tool, and the sculpting brush does just about everything. Ben Navis game is placed on the highlands, and specifically on the foothills of the Ben Navis mountains; I have tried to make a recreation of it. Later I have created a material to give colour and texture to the mountain and I have added some vegetation with some assets.

  • CINEMATIC

Cinematic

Following the aesthetic I had chosen for the game, I created a foggy environment with muted green colours for the game's opening cinematic. The first video begins at sunrise in the barley field, at the foot of the mountain, and then Ben Navis majestically appears. In this way, the player is positioned directly in the game's place.

Below I show the creation of the sequences. For the first one, I duplicated the barley to generate a field and created a camera that started from below and went through the barley field. Afterwards, I build another camera from the ground of the landscape. The following keyframes are generated by positioning the camera in height. Then I exported the png sequences to After Effects and added audio and text to develop a more realistic animatic.

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