Polycount Challenge: Side-scroller 'beat-em-up'

adam · Aug 2010

Are you a bad enough dude?

The Brief

For this challenge you will be creating an environment for a side-scroller beat-em-up!

This will be a 3D environment created for today’s console, PC or arcade market. Since this is a challenge, you will not be creating an environment from pre-existing ‘beat-em-up’ but rather you are responsible for designing and creating an original environment. That’s not to say, however, that your environment cannot be inspired by existing games.

Side-scrolling beat-em-up environments of the past were largely horizontal designs with little to no verticality in their design or layout. Because of this, your final images/presentation should be at least 3 times wider than it is taller. The longer your environment, the better!

The above image is to simply show an example of how you could present your environment. While you don't need to fill an entire monitor, the gist is that your environment should be at least 3 times as long as it is wide. Try and represent the essence of a beat-em-up environment in your presentation.

The Challenges

What separates a challenge from a contest here at Polycount is that these are designed to specifically create new challenges for you. Whether you’re a professional or an aspiring artist, we’re sure you’ll find a few things you can do to challenge yourself.

Horizontal design and presentation; reusing artwork to get the more real-estate possible
Using an engine/editor. No renders from your 3D tool for this Challenge.
Games like Final Fight & Double Dragon had their settings in typical grungy streets, sewers, and so on - many settings which are ‘tired’ by today’s standards. Try and come up with more original designs for your beat-em-up.
Creating art where the mid-ground is the primary focus, not the foreground or background.
Choosing when it is necessary for high-poly art, if at all.
Choosing a visual style that you haven't worked with before.
Full research in to construction, visual style and design.
Working and collaborating with one other artist, if you choose to do so.
Health & weapon pick-ups were crucial beat-em-ups and were generally collectedly in the environment itself. Turkey dinners found under garbage cans...

Inspiration/Game Examples

The Rules

This is a videogame art challenge, both 3D & 2D together (modeling, texturing, lighting, effects, post)
Your work must be created in a real-time environment/engine, such as the UDK, Sandbox, Source, and so on.
No renders from your 3D tool.
Create an environment for a 3D side-scroller ‘beat-em-up’ for todays console, PC and arcade market.
Do not create a side-scroller platform environment (like Mario 64, Mario Galaxy, Banjo Kazooie, Castlevania, etc.)
You may go under the limits of the specs listed below to fit the need of visual style or execution. The specs below are simply the maximum you are allowed.
No post-processing in Photoshop
- HUD/UI elements may be applied to your final presentation in Photoshop
You may team up with one other person for this contest.

The Specs

Maximum total triangle count: 175,000 triangles
Texture Space: 4096x2048 total for all material passes
- E.g.: 4096x2048 for all Diffuse maps combined, 4096x2048 for all Normal maps combined, and so on.
- Skybox Texture: Unlimited
- Lightmaps may be used, but are optional. There is no limit on these.
Post-processing is allowed so long as it is from within your engine of choice
- If it can be done in todays games it can be done for your environment. For example:
  - brightness/contrast, levels, hue/saturation
  - depth of field
  - bloom/HDR
  - motion blur
  - etc.
Using Photoshop for text/logos, borders and so on are fine. For this challenge, do not touch-up your renders in Photoshop. What you do to these images after the Challenge has ended and the voting is complete is entirely up to you.

How to enter this challenge

Here is what you will need to do in order to compete in this Polycount Challenge.

You must be a member of the Polycount Community
Create a thread in Contests & Challenges
1. Title your thread as BEAT-EM-UP! | [YOUR USERNAME(S)]
2. E.g. I would create mine as "BEAT-EM-UP! | adam"
In your original post, talk about the environment you wish to create and the challenges you would like to face.
1. The list of challenges up above are examples. We're sure you have your own environment challenges you'd love to face, try out, destroy.
Get to work and post updates along the way. If you don't post updates as you work, then you're likely not being challenged enough to want to get feedback!

‘Winning’ a Polycount Challenge

At the end of the Challenge duration there will be a community vote where you and the rest of the Polycount Community will have a chance to vote on your favourite entry. The winner of this challenge will receive a pin for their account that will show up on all posts they make within the community. This pin will let everyone know you came out on top of the latest Polycount Challenge until the next one is held, to where you will be given a 'previous winner' pin.

And that is it. Just a pin.

However, we'd like to think that you're coming out of this challenge with much more than just a pin. As this is not a contest and there are no material prizes, the idea is that over the duration of the challenge you grow as an artist in at least one area - no matter how small or trivial it may be. This alone is the reason you should be entering this Challenge... and not the pin!

THIS CHALLENGE BEGINS AUGUST 27th, 2010

THIS CHALLENGE ENDS OCTOBER 22ND, 2010 @ 01:00AM PST

NO EXTENSIONS OR DELAYS