Splinter Cell Blacklist Spy-VS-Merc Art Dump
polycounter lvl 11
Hi guys,
last time I posted here was probably at least a year ago :P
So now when Splinter Cell Blacklist is done, finally I can post some of stuff which i worked on.
Since I am not alone from polycount who worked on this game, check out some other awesome posts by my peers, such as danjohncox and his art dump thread nearby (http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1917337#post1917337) and probably other ones which I haven't seen yet but hoping to
I worked on Multiplayer levels, where we had to face various related challenges, but in the end it was a huge fun and I enjoy playing the game after it's release
We had quite a harsh tech restrictions for everything you can think of (many materials don't even have Normal and/or Spec maps). On top of that the fast-paced competitive on-line gameplay posed serious layout and visual language requirements, so obviously sacrifices were made, but we tried to do our best.
As a Level Artist I had to work closely with Level Designer and Art Director in order to come up with solutions that both satisfied gameplay and visual aspect in my map, followed by required tech optimization and bug fixes in the end.
First, is a map called Silo which was my "main" assignment. Here I started working with my LD on a basic layout. Did most of architecture / structure modeling from blokout to final, mapping, all the art layout following LD restrictions, did some of the props and some of the textures. I've got a big help from a fellow Modeller and several Texture Artists as well as a Lighting Artist. I also recycled few of the props / textures from SinglePlayer assets to save some time.
last time I posted here was probably at least a year ago :P
So now when Splinter Cell Blacklist is done, finally I can post some of stuff which i worked on.
Since I am not alone from polycount who worked on this game, check out some other awesome posts by my peers, such as danjohncox and his art dump thread nearby (http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1917337#post1917337) and probably other ones which I haven't seen yet but hoping to
I worked on Multiplayer levels, where we had to face various related challenges, but in the end it was a huge fun and I enjoy playing the game after it's release
We had quite a harsh tech restrictions for everything you can think of (many materials don't even have Normal and/or Spec maps). On top of that the fast-paced competitive on-line gameplay posed serious layout and visual language requirements, so obviously sacrifices were made, but we tried to do our best.
As a Level Artist I had to work closely with Level Designer and Art Director in order to come up with solutions that both satisfied gameplay and visual aspect in my map, followed by required tech optimization and bug fixes in the end.
First, is a map called Silo which was my "main" assignment. Here I started working with my LD on a basic layout. Did most of architecture / structure modeling from blokout to final, mapping, all the art layout following LD restrictions, did some of the props and some of the textures. I've got a big help from a fellow Modeller and several Texture Artists as well as a Lighting Artist. I also recycled few of the props / textures from SinglePlayer assets to save some time.
Replies
I worked on it only partially though, mostly finishing up some of the areas or cleaning up some parts of it. Probably everyone in the art team has touched this map at some point due to quite difficult dev life of the level, filled with constant LD and Art changes. Well, all those changes eventually were for the best, and the map improved a lot with time.
Here I was finishing up some of the structure meshes as well as staging the "terrorist attack mess" in the lobby (props, layout etc.)
Here I passed over most of structure meshes by cleaning and optimizing existing ones and adding some new elements + did some prop layout and polish.
[ame="
How come you guys had such a tight budget for these?
You shoulda tossed these up on my post! Feel free to cross post too imo, my post was meant for others to dump into as well so don't feel like you're not welcome in it
I like this a lot!
sorry, wasn't replying here for a while -> vacation :P
Thanks a lot to all
@ leleuxart - I was surprised too, but generally its due to player customization (should load all the customizable parts in-game, so it reduces available memory for the level itself ), and ideally in every part of the level it should run not less than 30 fps in worst conditions, e.g. when all 8 players get together in one spot and start shooting and tossing nades:)- that poses performance limitations on the level again... Plus all lighting is realtime, so it kinda affects how much stuff we can place in a level as well:P
@ danjohncox - haha thanks man, I should have thought of that. Will do
@ Brygelsmack - I see what you mean. Well, the lighting was quite strictly game-play oriented to give enough stealth for the spies, so many areas are just dark. In Classic mode most of the map is actually pitch black
@ Lee3dee - I am not sure how detailed I can reply to your question (though I'd love to:) ), but I'd say it's quite old actually. At least in multiplayer case there were lots of work-arounds and "cheating" to do in order to get the result which, for example, in UDK is much more straight-forward and simple. The engine does have its cool aspects too to be fair though
@ spectre1130 - you totally should
Great lighting and mood in all the shots. Love your treatment of the hacking terminals and the environmental storytelling & detail scattered around them.
To be fair, i should also give credit to our concept artists, thanks to whom satging was made easier in some key areas and helped making it look believable. The "bomb in a train" terminal for example was 90% replication of a concept. Sometimes LAs approached terinal areas by themselves, but sometimes (where it looks better lol) it was based on a concept.
Congrats!
Haha
@chrisradsby - lol, then it should be LD to blame haha.
I guess you got me there - I have actually birghtened up (but just a bit) my screengrabs. Otherwise it would be hard to see half of stuff :P Still, its a Blacklist mode screens, I didn't even attempt to take Classic mode images because they would be 80% ptich black:P