Circulation

[Ubuska]

Hi guys. My name is Peter. I would like to show you some WIP screenshots from game called Circulation.
Me and my brother Andrew working on this project in UDK.

I working on assets (modelling, texturing) while Andrew work in engine on environments, materials and lighting.

This game is about exploring and puzzle solving. Game genre is 2.5D metroidvania platformer with puzzle elements. Game setting is unrerground sci-fi facility.


Please note that there are mostly modular assets on these shots. Props will be added in the future.

[Ubuska]

This is view from far distance (just to show the scale)

[Ubuska]

Here I want to show you some color variations (shots taken from light mode view)




And finally unlit orthorgraphic view


Thanks for watching!
I would greatly appreciate some comments and feedback. Also I can take additional shots if needed.

You can see more on Circulation website.

[frankit]

Everyone has their own taste and style, so bearing that in mind this level is a little claustrophobic for me because its such a large enclosed space. But this is just going by the photos, and adding a window or two with a view would make the level more intriguing IMHO... Have a look here for comparison (its a fully downloadable level)...

https://forums.epicgames.com/threads...itae-UDK-Scene


On the flip side I like the color scheme and lighting. Its quite UE4 like (minus the new physical lighting model obviously)...

[Ubuska]

Yep seen that and deconstructed it. Awesome level. But please note that the facillity is underground. But yeah I will consider making windows nevertheless. Also we have one outdoor area at the top of the facillity.
Thanks, I like it too

[frankit]

You can skip the windows, and instead put a few 'TV's' made up of SceneCapture textures showing 'the planet surface' or 'space' etc, and still keep the underground theme intact...

The other thing you could do is make the rooms more clearly themed. Look at old sci-fi movies for ideas like Total Recall (Mars scenes) or Outland or Black Hole... i.e. Devote rooms to certain functions or departments i.e. foliage deep orchard (food), recreation (sports, TV), power generation, work-areas, personal cabins etc... I know you have some trees peppered about, but it would be stronger themed if you assigned roles to sections and go all out i.e. a forest instead of just a tree or two....

Another suggestion is make use of Matinee and create actively moving platforms or tube elevators or construction equipment or factories, and assign them to particular sections to help sell the effect. The assets look good overall, so if you just leverage them a little more it'll help boost the overall interest in the level...

Add a few more decals too or other signs. Are there other cultures in this base from Asian to Middle Eastern that you can theme around? Even add some sculptures.. However, its best to stay away with the cliched 'proceed with caution' signs because that's becoming old, and instead do your own custom warnings / custom skull crossbones / custom radiation warnings or info, or just 'color code' the base sections more i.e. green = food zone, red = power generation, yellow = something else etc.

Have a look at 'Helix' TV series and see how they vary rooms and sections, so its not overly samey. Overall its a good base 'as a base'... So good luck and keep iterating...

[Ubuska]

Thank you for your advices. I agree that rooms need do be themed. Actually they are themed but I need that themes to stand out little bit. As for devoting rooms I really will look at it .
I want to make animated objects like moving pistons and cylinders etc. Decals and all that stuff are planned in near future. I think I'll go for custom warnings, thats for sure
Also there are props to add in, so it will be more interesting environments I hope.

[Neongho]

How many point lights did you use? hehe

[Ubuska]

Today I made a few new rooms. I tried new way of build them. So now it not just single rooms, now it may be several layers of rooms. In this case we have one big room which you may see from different places. It reduce claustrophobic feeling when you have windows and big spaces and make environments a little more intresting.

Here you can see big room with pipes


This room is slightly left from previous, you can see big room from here.


This room is next to previous to the left. It has several floors and interesting form I think. You can still see big room from here.




This is another wip room unrelated to previos ones.

[Ubuska]

Hundreds of them

[frankit]

Looks good! What I like the most actually is the color palette selection, its interesting without turning the base into a 'nightclub' environment or making it too cartoony.... Think about adding some Matinee now if it will fit with the overall theme. It would work particularly well if you could integrate it functionally into the map i.e. it actually does something, from getting the player from one section to another like a conveyor belt or elevator etc, or if the base itself would move about in sections. Matinee may entail a performance hit when adjusting color / brightness (day / night cycles etc), but its pretty robust when it comes to just moving large numbers of interpactors / kactors...

[Craythefish]

Hello everyone, my name is Andrew and i am environment and sound artist @ Warp Games. For a start i just wanna explain general things about environment choices. If you fell interested, join our website's developer blog where i post stuff related to development with more details at http://www.thewarpgames.com/developer-blog/.
So, as an environment artist i never really liked Lightmass since it became available in UDK release back in the 2010 or something. The Lightmass lights feel just more washed out and blended together so much indoor. So i like doing lights more old-fashioned way. With hundreds of lights as a downside but i feel like i have more control of the result instead and ability to make things look how i want it to look.
With that said, please ask some questions, leave a feedback and i will gladly answer to you. Thanks!

[Craythefish]

Thanks for a feedback! About orchard zone, we actually already have it planned, it will be oxygen and food creating zone with wild plants, some wet environment and stuff. As for the rest of your advices we will keep that in mind.

[Ubuska]

This screenshot was taken in early prototyping stages. Here I test jump mechanics and tweaking jump variables such as height, length, speed, etc.

[majic12]

Great design and i applaud such dedication Happy to see that people are still doing great things with udk...too bad epic doesnt see it.