FMP 001: Into the Woods

Today marks the end of the first week of my final major project.

For those of you that don’t know my final major project, or fmp is the last project I will ever do at uni. It’s worth quite a bit of my final overall grade, it’s a visual representation of my three years studying game art and it’s what I’m hoping gets me a job. With this being said there’s obviously a lot of pressure and expectation on me creating something that reflects my time at uni.

I’ll be working with a fellow student on this project; Calum bellis. Both being environment artists we share the same skills, we also each have skills the other does not. With this larger skill set, the hope is to create something better than what we could alone.

So, here’s a quick summery of our idea:

Cabin in the woods, spies in the basement.

Haha alright, here’s a slightly longer summery of our idea:

We’re going to create a highly detailed game level. The player will explore the environment through the eyes of a police detective that has been called to examine a suspicious house in the middle of the woods.

The environment will be made up of three distinctly different areas. The reason for this is not only to keep the player interested in exploring the level but to also showcase the wide range of skills we have.

The first area; North American woodlands. This area, potentially the largest of the three will showcase realistic foliage, outdoor lighting and particle effects.

The second area; a house interior. This area will be heavily detailed, it will showcase area population and indoor lighting.

Lastly, the third area of the fmp will take place in a secret underground basement. Again, this area will showcase area population but also a mood change from the house interior above.

What have I been doing this first week?

I’ve been on holiday… wait, let me explain. This past week I’ve been in San Francisco gathering ‘REFERENCE IMAGES’. Little did I know, but everything I want in my fmp can be found in California. I visited Muir Woods (where Return of the Jedi was filmed) and Yosemite National Park, both giving me great woodland ref. Typical North American Building/architecture ref for the house in the woods. And lastly, I visited Alcatraz prison which is what I’m imagining the basement looking like. Not to mention I drew up a few doodles of key areas and produced an asset list the will be refined at the start of next week. So technically my ‘holiday’ was actual research. Coincidently this first week was planned for pre-production, which has been completed. I do however feel like I’m behind and need to catch up…

The plan for next week is to begin the forest area; foliage. Making up the largest portion of the largest area, this will be a real test. Especially if I want to hit a high quality.

Foliage is already hard enough… not the start I wanted, but definitely the push I need.