Action Adventure Side Project

Wayfray

(Original post:)
Hello Polycount, here are the beginnings of a side project I'm currently working on in my spare time.

This is an action adventure game in which you play as a sentient walking shark named Finlay, who is on the hunt for escaped aquarium animals. The setting is a decrepit castle.

Ideally, I would like to create a playable game demo, but for now the focus is just on developing the visual components of the game in Unreal 4. This way I hope to give purpose to what I'm doing, which is practicing my skills at environment and character art.

Wayfray

Update on the villain character, textured in Substance Painter. Next up will be the main character model, or some environment props.

JamieMc

Cool lookin Robot.

Wayfray

@JamieMc Thank you! I enjoyed going through your portfolio, great stuff.

Here is the player character, in Substance Painter and in Unreal with dynamic lighting:

Edit: lowered glossiness of materials in Unreal

Wayfray

Starting to create a modular set for the castle exterior in Unreal. Haven't figured out how to get proper reflections. The box capture reflection actor seems to behave differently after baking lights, it looks like this before baking: (Edit: I fixed the reflections by switching from box reflection capture to sphere reflection capture)

Wayfray

Here are some concepts I did to help visualize the main setting of the project. Also made a run animation for the player character and integrated it into Unreal (still need to make an idle animation, etc). Next I'll work on some textures, and block out the castle interior and see how it feels to explore.

JRAnimation

BWAHAHHAHAHA! I love the concept here. I think you can simplify the style a little (semi cartoony direction) to add more to what you can do with the animation. The cyborg character That animated GIF above with the shark dude jogging in town is great. Keep it up! I'm curious where this goes.

Wayfray

I've recently started to work on this game again. I am trying to build a setting that is somewhat fanciful, or cartoony, to match the aesthetic of the shark character. I am also experimenting with top-down perspective, since the gameplay will rely on being able to approach enemies tactically.

I've been experimenting with ways to allow the player to see through walls when inside interiors. Initially I used material opacity to cut away at walls as the player moves around, but this method didn't allow the walls to receive shadows. I've switched to using fully opaque walls segments that are hidden as needed.

Wayfray

Exploring color grading for the castle exterior and working on gameplay.

Wayfray

I've worked on UI functionality, created some interior environments, and modeled a snail:

Wayfray

Working on art assets and game mechanics for the first level. I've changed the game to be a 3d sidescroller.

Carabiner

I really love your art direction and feel here. FWIW, my favorite look is actually your shots in this post: http://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2618996/#Comment_2618996

I find the screenshots in this post to be very bloom-y and blown out, and they don't have the range of value that the original shots had. Even your most recent shot from the 14th feels bloom-y to me (especially bright/metal things - the candles, frame in the background, etc).

Kaine123

i really dog this! the general vibe reminds me a lot of ps2 titles like jak and daxter, beyond good and evil, etc. 

Ged

very nice! the bloom looks overdone though

Wayfray

Thanks for the feedback! I will show more environment work once it's further along. Here is another textured character:

Wayfray

Been a long time, but I've still been working on this.

The game is a semi-linear adventure game featuring stealth gameplay. Swim through pipes, evade robots, and clean up the polluted castle that you, a shark, live in.

Here are a variety of images from the first section of the game, to show an overall view of it. Because the player will mostly see things from this distant, sideways perspective, most of the props aren't especially detailed. I also tried to reuse structural pieces where possible.












In later portions of the game (not pictured), you go on to meet your neighbour, who puts you to work cleaning up and tending to her garden. Once you complete her quests, you are able to move on to the industrial foundry next door. There, you will confront the robots who are responsible for the pollution.

Wayfray

Possible image to use for the main menu, marketing, etc.