In need of deletion

EminentSun

Hi, before I get into my vision and work on the challenge I feel its important to talk a bit about why I'm entering. In our spare time my friends and I develop video games, I generally serve as the level designer/ assistant artist making basic geometry so our main artist can work his 3D magic. Unity was my main tool for a very long time, but I have been using a hammer/UE4 combo for a little over a year now, so getting back to what I know will be very helpful. I haven't had the chance to really use unity 5 and will be effectively learning the tool for the first time (again). As snobby as it might sound, I really want the graphics card over any other prize (I have no use for a gaming laptop). As a level designer I need to be able to quickly move through and create large detailed scenes without performance issues or lowered settings, and while my R9 380 functions passably it is becoming more and more outpaced by more complex graphics and lighting, not to mention new games (Tomb Raider, Doom, Fallout 4).

My plan for The Courtyard is to dress it in that ultra-modern style that is very popular:

Some of the main issues I expect to face are; that this style is generally very square and clean and I am working in a circle, finding (likely) /making (a few basic) models to fit the theme, and creating a stylized look with the lighting and not just the models. Hope to get a big head start tonight as I am going on vacation in a few days.

EminentSun

Almost forgot, any suggestions or criticisms are very welcome.

EminentSun

Update 1:

• Started by removing excavation equipment pro

• Changed wall lighting to a whiter hue

• Began experimenting with materials

• Started a wood/metal theme on the ground with stone/concrete above

EminentSun

Oh, and added a block path through the water

EminentSun

Next up is to clean up the center, do some work on those pillars (going to be a apartment looking area), and do the outer rim. Oh boy.

EminentSun

If anyone sees this what does the white material look like, I want to know if I am communicating the correct idea.

Also added grass (temporary texture to be replaced by model soon) to the low part of the inner ring, added more metal trim, fixed the wood flooring, and as you can see in the distance made windows in the towers and filed the gaps with some wood to make it feel more room like on the inside ( instead of two separate structures) I'm calling this a night.

Post script: also the glowing balls that flew around didn't fit with my theme, so I used them as inspiration for modern accent lights. Too tired to edit this in.

EminentSun

Alright its crunch time for the next few hours before I leave for vacation. Today I:

• Added metal railings to add to the modern theme and make the plain metal things underneath more interesting.

• Placed accent lights.

• Started testing some level overview shots.

Next up is to do the outer ring(Grass over lighting strip and find textures for the beams/branches) I also want to play with the ambient lighting and make it more orange creating some contrast with the blue accents.

EminentSun

Well fuck me, I accidentally deleted a texture pack and have messed up the entire level. So now it appears that I will be beginning from scratch. This time, I will skip the block paths in the water instead using the assets for a accent in the grassy ring, I also realized that I need to focus more on lighting and less on models and will be making a dark storm, with orange wall lights instead of the ball accents I was using.

EminentSun

At least it's supposed to go faster the second time through.

EminentSun

Don't have any screenshots, but my plan now is to create a bland light-grey feeling like in the inspiration images up top (maybe a bit darker than those). And accent it with orange lighting from a canister light

and a few fire pits.
I also want to replace the water in the middle with sand or grass like in the inspiration images.