[CRYENGINE] KJ's Island - Open World Environment

Radishface

Hello, people at Polycount!

I would like to proudly present KJ's Island - one square kilometer open world environment, which took me one year to complete. All assets, apart from some natural assets, were custom-made for this environment. Also, all 3D models are relatively low-poly, in order to keep a smooth performance on my aging laptop.

Prior to starting this project, I had no 3D modelling, texturing, nor CRYENGINE experience. Thanks to this project, I became really interested in all things 3D and I am really looking forward to improving my skills with various 3D programs - just on a much smaller scale this time.

There are plenty of talented and hard-working people on this forum. Your thoughts and feedback would mean a world to me. Please also visit my dedicated portfolio page for more images, and check out a fly-through video I made. Thank you.

Portfolio (for more info) - http://jalnionis.net/portfolio/kjs-island/
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOo8_5I5Om8[/ame]

Radishface

Shameless bump. I would really like to read your opinions

kvttypow

Hi! Were you going for a really clean look in regards to the street? I think your city part of the scene would benefit from some scattered objects, maybe some parked cars? Bike racks?Sidewalk stalls, something that shows that people inhabit the area, at the moment it feels a bit deserted
I really like where you're going with this though. Good job. Reminds me a lot from the Destroy all Humans level, Santa Modesta. Pew pew.

Lt_Commander

Nice work for a first project!

What your city lacks are details. You need to consider the level of detail you want for this project - many of your assets seem to be targeted so something in the first person/vehicle sim level, but the amount of detail in the environment as a whole suggests this is more targeted to top-down RTS, where you don't linger on specifics.

Like kvttypow said, the main thing you need to work on is curbside appeal. Your houses lack things like mail boxes and trash cans, front porches and visually grabbing points of interest. Your downtown areas need the small props that make an environment come to life - newsstands, parking meters, drainage systems (on both the buildings and roads), dumpsters, fire escapes, food vendors, billboards, the list of innocuous props goes on. These are the kind of things you don't explicitly think about, but make an environment come to life.

All that said, it's still impressive work so far. You have the skeleton done, work on fleshing it out.

theblueturtle_

This is a great start for someone with no prior 3d experience! Nicely done.

I'm wondering about how you constructed you buildings. Is each building a single mesh? It seems to me that you could benefit from some modular construction. If you plan out a few really nice pieces then you could get much more detail and variety with a lot less work. The same idea could go a long way toward adding more detail to the roads as well.

Radishface

kvttypow wrote: »

Hi! Were you going for a really clean look in regards to the street? I think your city part of the scene would benefit from some scattered objects, maybe some parked cars? Bike racks?Sidewalk stalls, something that shows that people inhabit the area, at the moment it feels a bit deserted
I really like where you're going with this though. Good job. Reminds me a lot from the Destroy all Humans level, Santa Modesta. Pew pew.

Thank you for the kind feedback! I didn't even think of Destroy All Humans until you mentioned it - I used to love that game on the original Xbox!
When I first started this project, I wanted the entire city environment to somewhat closely resemble one of those miniature model cities, which hobbyists build. This to some extent should explain the lack of fine details and small props. But it is a valid point you brought out, and I will definitely consider it when I will begin working on my next environment!

Radishface

Lt_Commander wrote: »

Nice work for a first project!

What your city lacks are details. You need to consider the level of detail you want for this project - many of your assets seem to be targeted so something in the first person/vehicle sim level, but the amount of detail in the environment as a whole suggests this is more targeted to top-down RTS, where you don't linger on specifics.

Like kvttypow said, the main thing you need to work on is curbside appeal. Your houses lack things like mail boxes and trash cans, front porches and visually grabbing points of interest. Your downtown areas need the small props that make an environment come to life - newsstands, parking meters, drainage systems (on both the buildings and roads), dumpsters, fire escapes, food vendors, billboards, the list of innocuous props goes on. These are the kind of things you don't explicitly think about, but make an environment come to life.

All that said, it's still impressive work so far. You have the skeleton done, work on fleshing it out.

Thanks for the comprehensive feedback - I really appreciate it!

I am currently in the planning stage for my next environment, which is going to be much smaller in scale, but much more dense in details and prop placement. This project was more of a "test" of my software skills, determination and discipline. Hopefully, soon enough I will have something else to show

Radishface

theblueturtle_ wrote: »

This is a great start for someone with no prior 3d experience! Nicely done.

I'm wondering about how you constructed you buildings. Is each building a single mesh? It seems to me that you could benefit from some modular construction. If you plan out a few really nice pieces then you could get much more detail and variety with a lot less work. The same idea could go a long way toward adding more detail to the roads as well.

Thank you, I am really glad you appreciated my work!

In the early stages of the project, I began modeling my buildings as one single mesh, since I thought it would be less taxing on performance and less complicated in terms of collision creation. However, after few weeks I noticed that such approach is going to be very slow and tedious. Therefore, I switched to modular building modelling soon after.
The only difference in my workflow was that I would model the modular building pieces in 3ds Max and then would assemble the buildings in 3ds Max as well, as opposed to exporting separate pieces to the game engine and assembling them there. Next time though, I will try to export modular pieces directly to the engine and assemble the buildings there, since that approach, as you noted, would give me much more flexibility in terms of visuals and variety.