Luca A. Battiston - Modern Castle Ruins FMP

Luca_Bat

My ArtStation: https://www.artstation.com/luca23
Wordpress: lucaslabstudio.wordpress.com

The aim of this project is to recreate the Belforte Castle (Trentino, Italy) in a dark fantasy setting, using original environment assets and shaders. The concept behind the project is Inspired by successful and acclaimed games such as Demon’s Souls (BluePoint Games, 2020), Silent Hill 2 (Konami, 2001), and Alan Wake 2 (Remedy Entertainment, 2023). Similarly to these games, the environment will feature a horror immersive atmosphere with dense fog which can create engaging scenarios and enemy encounters. The project will feature third-person gameplay and will blend elements from the modern and medieval world with a realistic style. This should create an interesting contrast that keeps the player engaged and wanting to explore the environment. 

Project Story

Following rumours of a new animal species discovered in the mountains near the small fictional city of Amara, a storm hits the town, and a mysterious fog engulfs the mountain peak. A scientist manages to arrive in the area only to find that the town is now almost deserted…​

The real-world reference of the castle ruins location:



Some of the video game art references that I use to shape the environment:

Image 1 - Jonathon Gregory Bick (ArtStation)


Image 2 - Anthony O'Donnell (ArtStation)

Luca_Bat

During the first phase I wanted to create a block out of the level and create a basic level design to get the main areas I would need to focus on during the development. Initially, I thought that I would incorporate my level design into a landscape using satellite height data. However, after a few tests which were successful, I decided to limit the size of the level to focus on smaller details. Some of the research has been documented on my blog for anyone who is interested on creating massive landscapes with satellite data: https://lucaslabstudio.wordpress.com/2024/04/30/practice-2-research-dev-documentation/

Here below is my block out of the are, representing the main points of interest. These are preliminary and ay be subject to minor changes during development:

Image 1 - Level Design Block Out

Image 2 - Area 1 populated by forest

Image 3 - Area 2 large square area

Image 4 - Castle Ruins