BaSS Adaptation Environment - Advice Needed [UDK]

Yakko

Hey folks!

I'm currenlty working on a little project. The aim is to recreate some of the environments from Beneath a Steel Sky within the UDK (in 3D), focusing on capturing the visual style.

I've already done one little test where I attempted to use Hannes Appell's technique (see this video: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPaH8oIJd7g&feature=related"]here[/ame], interview here) though it wasn't really successful. One of the problems is that Appell used the high quality remastered backgrounds of the Monkey Island Special Edition. Unfortunately, the only backgrounds I can find are the original low-res artwork. In addition, the hand-painted backgrounds by Dave Gibbons are locked away somewhere. Add to that some of the perspective techniques in the BaSS artwork and, well, it gets a little complicated.

So I've decided to approach the scene in a more familiar manner. Here's the scene in question:



And here's my initial blockout:



Note, I just put the fog and skybox in to gauge the potential effect, the colour is off there. I also did a little playing around with the Post Process chain for the same reason.

I've attempted to make as many modular assets as possible (fans, vents, skyscrapers etc). The skyscrapers are actually split into four parts so I can fill out the skybox a little more. Bare in mind I'd also like to create areas of the environment you can't see in the original artwork.

I feel like I'm nearly ready to continue, but before I do anything else I'd like to hear any thoughts or critiques you may have. The more faithful I can get it the better. The thing thats really killing me is the perspective, though I can't really see any ways to avoid it without deforming the meshes or warping the entire scene.

Thanks for reading!

Yakko

Just a quick bump as the thread was validated. Here's a little WiP




Previous post still applies, especially if you have any pointers regarding the perspective, or should I just ignore it and continue?

felipefrango

Can't see the last picture cause Dropbox is blocked here at work but I'm following this for sure, BaSS is one of my favorite games.

Yakko

Quick update. I've updated the skybox and realigned the scene composition to better emulate the original artwork. I think it's as close as I'm going to get what with the funny perspective in the original.




I've still got a lot of work to do. I'm thinking about remaking the foreground assets as they're a little too low-detail for my liking. In addition, I'm testing some of the shadow and AO options as I'd like to tint it to match the shadows in the artwork. I should hopefully have some previews of that in the next update.

Thanks for reading, suggestions and criticisms are always welcome!

Cheers!

Envart

Very cool, I love BaSS. I think your environment looks cleaner than the original. I think you could go to town with details like lights, smaller vents, cables, pipes, smaller broken platforms, busted panels etc.

I thought about rebooting BaSS more than once

gsokol

Looks cool... compositionally your looking pretty good for matching the image.

Whats with the film grain? I'm not really digging that.

Yakko

I hadn't really considered altering the environment from the original artwork, but it would be a great way of utilizing the modern tech, not to mention make it a little more interesting. Right now I'm planning on removing some of the tiles and panels, revealing some underlaying pipes, wires and so on. I'd like to strike a balance between old and new as I don't want to completely alienate what I'm making from the original style.

Oh and yeah, sorry about the grain. I'm a sucker for playing around with features , though when the grain is animated it's not as noticeable. Still, I'll turn it off in future.

Yakko

Back again! I'm currently trying to flesh out the scene a little bit. Some of the modular assets are looking a bit repetitive so I'll be adding a greater degree of variation. In addition, the greebles and little details are looking rather messy, but it's nothing a clean-up session won't fix.

Other things still left to do include tidying up the skybox, properly finishing the foreground assets and sorting out the rooftop.

Anyway, enough chatter, here's some work-in-progress shots:







Feedback is always welcome, no matter how harsh!

Samfisher84

the idea is great

felipefrango

Hah, meant to comment on this earlier but Dropbox is blocked at work for some stupid reason. It looks great, I'm no environment artist so I don't think I don't have anything useful to add but, as a fan of the game, I'm hyped to see where this goes.