Term Project Progress - Dragon-Age Style Blast Furnace Smithery [WIP]

Artsclever

Hey everyone,

I’m starting a WIP thread for a hero environment prop I’m building for my MA Game Art “Developing Skills” unit and my portfolio.

🔧 Project goal

I’m basing this on the “Blast Furnace and Blacksmithing Equipment” concept from Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Creative Uncut link):

https://www.creativeuncut.com/gallery-48/datv-blast-furnace-and-blacksmithing-equipment.html

My plan is to treat it as:

• One big hero machine – the blast furnace tower

• A small supporting kit – 3–5 smithery props (anvil area, smelter / pour spot, maybe an ore trolley or press)

• Final renders planned in Unreal Engine (could also grab some Blender shots on the way).

Deadline for the finished piece is 12th January, so I’m trying to keep the scope under control.

Here is some referencing i did - 

Blockout in Blender (modular pieces):

Blockout in Unreal (test camera):

Right now everything is very primitive; I just wanted to nail:

• Overall height and proportions

• Relationship between base mass and tower height

• A camera angle that sells the tower as the main hero

I blocked it out in Blender, then exported to UE to check the silhouette and camera.

❓What I’d love feedback on at this stage

Before I go deeper into mid-poly and detailing, I’d really appreciate thoughts on:

1. Proportions & silhouette

   • Does the tower feel tall/heavy enough?

   • Is the base too chunky / too thin compared to the tower?

2. Base design & supports

   • Do the radial supports and platforms feel believable/interesting, or too busy / too simple?

3. Modular plan sanity check

   • Any obvious problems you see with the way I’m breaking this into repeated bands / pillar modules?

4. Camera / focal point

   • From the Unreal shot, does your eye go to the entrance area first and then travel up, or should I tweak the composition?

Paintovers, draw-overs, and brutal crits are very welcome.
I’ll keep posting weekly updates as I push this from blockout → mid-poly → highpoly → bakes → materials → final lighting.

Thanks for taking a look! 🙏