[Path of Exile] Lioneye's Watch

Cypherical

Hey guys,

I am recreating Lioneye's Watch from Path of Exile, as a piece for my portfolio to apply for Grinding Gear Games.
Hopefully I can get some good critique from this and push my work as far as possible.
I will be presenting it in UE4 for the final

Here are some images from my blockout phase and what i want to achieve

Cypherical

Here are some HP Sculpts from Substance Painter

Generic Column

Fireplace

Arch

Trying to get a Stone/Moss feel to the scene

Cypherical

A Couple of update shots for this, It has been awhile since my last post. but I'm back on track, these shots are taken in UE4 just with all the final low poly's in place to make up the default scene, I still have props to make and also some small other parts like ropes etc to add to this scene.

Any critique is good, I am struggling to find a nice way to cap off the cliff face so that I don't just see endless sea like in the 2nd pic, since this limits my possible places for screenshots.

Thanks
Cypherical

Cypherical

Here are some Progress shots currently. I have recieved some feedback about the colour palate and lighting, saying it all sort of merges into one colour. So i was suggested to add some more moss to the stones and change up the roughness to make it look a little wetter. Also the back cliff face needs to have its colour checked to help it pop a little more.

if there is any other feedback anyone has it is genuinely appreciated, I am going back to a lookdev stage to work out the lighting and some of the roughness pass. I may go back to a whitebox stage with the all but the diffuse map applied.

shabba

Hey!
Take my feedback with a grain of salt, but definitely mull it over and sleep on it a little.

So from my understanding you are trying to recreate an area of Path of Exile that has already been created. And use it to apply to this studio.

When I look at your work, I definitely see the beginnings of a scene that could be cool, but looking at it I have no idea of location, time, theme, story, mood, nothing. Recreating something is cool as fan art, but if you are applying to a studio, and your body of work you are presenting doesnt pick up or elabourate on their own work in some way to make it better, what case do you have for being a good addition to their team?

Your goal should be to create a visually interesting, story driven 3/4 perspective space with cool structural elements, nice lighting, great materials, and a scene that players want to be a part of that can push their IP/World further. Adding something that maybe their genre, or IP hasnt really explored before, tie it into their story/timeline, and build something super fucking cool that gets the people in the room (interview) excited for the possibilities that you've brought to their attention.

I'm not saying you have to design something mind blowing, but definitely something that is interesting, that makes the viewer want to stop and explore it further. I don't know that a recreation of something they've done already would do that. Might just roll eyes.

Currently through the things you've created, as an outsider to the brand with no previous experience, I can't draw any parallels to the space. No points of reference that help me understand the environment/setting/etc. 

Just my 2cents. I hope you can re-purpose/add what you need to, to this scene to make it awesome.

But don't just remake the wheel. Add rocket fuel. 

Cypherical

Thanks for the feedback, I wanted to start smaller with something familiar to see if I can match their style/influence, and then from there push more into something that is a unique space in the game world or something new.

I see where you are coming from and it humbles me to have feedback like this, and gives me something strong to strive toward.
I will research some more and see what else pops out as landmark visuals. This game is a top down ARPG so most of the time you dont see the environment from many other perspectives, so i am also trying to show the scale of this. Would it be better to show the scene from how the game shows it?

Thanks again.

throttlekitty

Hey, I saw your thread elsewhere and made the critiques on materials and all that still stands. I agree with shabbas notion that as a folio piece to impresss GGG with it probably would help to add some personal flair. You could maybe add a bit of environmental storytelling, like some event from the game washing up on the shore here, maybe figuratively, maybe literally. Or go the desolation route and fill it with undead

Being that it is a top down game, I'd definitely throw in some shots from other angles since you don't normally get to see that.

Cypherical

Hey all, need some critique, Ive spent the last couple of nights trying to work some lookdev on the lighting. I am not sure which looks better.
or how i can manage to lift the darkness, but not as light as the detail lighting pass, Is it my materials?

LIT (Full Materials and lights

Detail Lighting only


Thanks

Benvox2

I am liking the lighting change a lot! I did not like how the shadow of the cliff was falling in the first one. The night time theme is much more interesting, good work! I would like to see some colour variation in you materials, don't let them become too monotone or brown/grey.

I think the scene as a whole is a bit too brown. Brown wood, and brown stones, brown tiles etc, try breaking it up a bit more, you can see in the original they have done a bit of this with purple/reddish rocks.

I think that some additional lighting colours could be interesting too. Like a pale blue moonlight to balance the warm torch light. maybe mixing in some slight greeny/yellows too.

Keep at it man, it is shaping up nicely!

Cypherical

@Benvox2 I have worked further on this, and changed the materials up a little to help break the colour issues, I also have added a slight blue height fog to give the cold moon feel to offset the warmth from the fire.

Here is a WIP shot, I have only done the front entrance wall in the new colour set just so I dont have to change everything if it is not upto scratch, It appears to be more interesting, I researched coastal rocks and decided the brown was a bit off, so i tried to make them more white/grey/green toned to offset this and changed the ropes to have a little more green in them

Cypherical

Hi Everyone,
I have reworked all the textures to help them read better, wood stone and rock now have distinct colour variations so that they all do not blend together and are easier to read. I have reworked the lighting further, after looking at my reference I noticed a lot more purple tones and reworked the blue moonlight to give it a nice contrast and mood. I also reworked the ocean shader to give it more greens from refraction.




I feel the lighting and mood is working much better now, and I think I can move on to finishing some more assets for the scene. and rework the lighting again later when I have built the tree and some foliage (which I have no idea how to do) lots more to do, very excited to keep going!

Thanks