[UNITY3D] WIP Game - The Tower

richicon

Hi all

I was hoping for a little feedback on the look of a game I am currently developing, called 'The Tower'. It is a survival horror game set in a British tower block in the 1970s. Part story exploration, Part first person shooter.

I am developing it in Unity3D. I have created the environment layout (building geometry, etc.) and level design - I have also used assets from the Unity asset store for certain elements such as some of the furniture. Currently it is just me on the project on the art/design side, with a little coding help from our coder. My studio is called Super Icon, we're small - currently 2-people, but we have developed quite a few games over the years.

I designed the tower architecture in a 70s Brutalist style; lots of bare concrete and an opressive look.

I also created a TUMBLR blog yesterday for the game: http://thetower.site/

PLOT

You play a British policeman, called out to investigate a disturbance - reports of screaming, sounds of violence. When you arrive, there are no immediate signs of life, just an ominous letter at reception, addressed to you, from the mysterious Architect…

Inside The Tower you will discover the story of what happened to the residents, as they became twisted by the Architect’s Hellish secret. Murder, Demonic Possession, Abuse, Satanism. You must fight to survive.

To escape, you must journey through Hell.

INFLUENCES:

• Italian Giallo Horror – Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci

• Horror Fiction – particularly the work of Bentley Little, Graham Masterton, James Herbert, William Peter Blatty, F. Paul Wilson

• Horror Movies – Hellraiser, Dawn of the Dead, Suspiria, Halloween, The Evil Dead, The Beyond, Insidious, REC

• Games – Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Outlast, Condemned, Alien Isolation, Doom 3

• Brutalist Architecture and 70s Interior Design!

So - here are some environment shots from some of the floors:

richicon

And a few action shots:

Eric Chadwick

Hey this looks like it would be fun to play!

I think the environment modeling, texturing, and lighting could use some love.

The walls are just flat meshes with no embellishments, which is unrealistic to the eye, looks a bit like classic 2.5D Doom in this respect. There are no transitions where surfaces meet each other, which makes everything look hard and cold and uninteresting to the eye. Walls almost always have some trim where they meet the floor, and often where they meet the ceiling, and certainly around doorways. No light switches, power outlets, ceiling items, etc. 

I get that the lighting is supposed to be gloomy and scary. But it's all very flat with few or missing shadows. Where the shadows do appear they're all hard. Light baking with GI would help a lot with this, and would be more performant since you wouldn't have a bunch of shadows to calculate each frame.

SSAO would also help a lot, to darken the corners and edges. Take a look at the new post processing stack, I used this recently in an architectural viz project. It works great and performs pretty
well. You could also add a vignette to darken the edges of the screen, for that filmic look.
https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/new-post-processing-stack-pre-release.435581/

richicon

Thanks Eric - really appreciate the detailed reply. I have been busy refining some stuff the last day.

Eric Chadwick said:

The walls are just flat meshes with no embellishments, which is unrealistic to the eye, looks a bit like classic 2.5D Doom in this respect. There are no transitions where surfaces meet each other, which makes everything look hard and cold and uninteresting to the eye. Walls almost always have some trim where they meet the floor, and often where they meet the ceiling, and certainly around doorways. No light switches, power outlets, ceiling items, etc. 

There are skirting boards in most areas, and all doorways have proper trim - although the apartments are semi-open plan in that several rooms don't have doors, as I was going for a specific sort of semi sci-fi 70s style. I have gone through and refined many of the textures and added extra detail maps. Also things like light switches are there - and I've included and example below which highlights it better. I was going for a very clean, minimalistic style, but you are right - the shots were not doing it justice.

I get that the lighting is supposed to be gloomy and scary. But it's all very flat with few or missing shadows. Where the shadows do appear they're all hard. Light baking with GI would help a lot with this, and would be more performant since you wouldn't have a bunch of shadows to calculate each frame.

I had to abandon baked GI in Unity as it was messing up and tinting some light maps blue - so I switched to pre-compiled RT GI. I have softened the shadows a little now, but I am hoping the new light-mapping solution coming to Unity will fix my problems.

SSAO would also help a lot, to darken the corners and edges. Take a look at the new post processing stack, I used this recently in an architectural viz project. It works great and performs pretty
well. You could also add a vignette to darken the edges of the screen, for that filmic look.
https://forum.unity3d.com/threads/new-post-processing-stack-pre-release.435581/

Wow! That stack is wonderful. I spent a few hours integrating it and I think the results are so much better. I LOVE the SS reflections!

I've also added a subtle vignette, along with better depth of field, some colour mapping and the SSAO and bloom.

Definitely a step in the right direction - and thanks again for the reply, it helped a LOT!

Eric Chadwick

I think the chromatic aberration is too high, looking at the edges of the view makes my eyes hurt. It should be a subtle effect most of the time, though you could ramp it up for "pain" along with a red vignette.

The baseboard is missing under the window here, next to the piano in the next shot, and a few other places. Always makes the wall look incomplete to my eyes.
https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/r1/lzmavjuk7eoy.jpg

This is coming along nicely.