Final Project - Rifter
I decided to make a 3D game for my final project below is some development of the game, its title is "Rifter" including my 3D modelling workflow and my initial designs for what the game is going to look like. I worked on following a Steampunk theme with an industrial style to it.
Research
I looked into a few different games, one in particular a game called Dishonored. It was inspiring for me because of the architectural style in the game. Below are some images from the game and how I took inspiration and ideas from them. Mainly the architecture but also some more visual elements too.
This is a good example of how I took inspiration from Dishonored, on the right you can see advertisement painted on to the side of a factory wall. In Rifter one of the most prominent things you see is propaganda and advertisement. For example Foreman Cigars and Brimstone Transporters.
I also looked into edwardian and victorian architecture and the whole game is based around this. The visual style; being inspired by Dishonored for the buildings and theme is a key part of my final project and I feel it will be the most challenging part. I have got the groundwork for something good already however I will be tested when it comes to finalising details and major areas of the game. I think I should aim to make a smaller project otherwise I will end up not having much to play through.
I looked at both victorian and edwardian which are very similar in appearance however I prefer victorian because of its shape and style. It has more of a solid look to it and when it comes to doing the 3D modelling I think I will enjoy it a lot more. I can take a modular approach to modelling the buildings and this will make the process a lot faster and more efficient.
In the next section you will see some visual development for my ideas including 3D modelling and coming up with a modular way of building the buildings. I started a series of Developer logs which show all my development and design aspects.
I looked into the theme of Steampunk, which is essentially an industrial based style usually linked to clockwork and machinery in the victorian era. I wanted to take aspects of Steampunk and use them to create a more interesting environment. I have some good examples in the Developer Log section of how I used this to further my ideas.
Here are some examples of Steampunk concept art, including Architecture and Weaponry. I wanted to depict an industrial city with victorian architecture so I looked into some concept art.
Some of the research I have is used as a basis for me to developer the original ideas of Rifter, I used this image above to conceptualise how the atmosphere in Rifter was going to feel, I wanted to create a smog over the city that would make the player feel as if they were in an industrial polluted city.
I looked into some more 3D modelling techniques to enhance the quality of my final project as I would be doing a lot of it. With the content of the game in mind I decided to look at other peoples art work and 3D modelling/Sculpting. Above is a good example of how I was inspired by other peoples work. You will see in the development section for Rifter I have shown the process of creating weapons. In particular a gun I designed called the Bulldozer 58, which happens to be the gun that the protagonist - Lysander Reach uses in the beginning of the game.
During my research I also looked into Steampunk inspired characters as I wanted to test my self when it came to the 3D side of things. In the long term I didn't think too much about how the character was going to be used it was more of a creative process. I looked at some other concept art for inspiration and ideas.
I dont have much experience with 3D characters, So this was a challenge to do but I think I learnt a lot of skills with this particular part of my final project.
Research into Victorian + Gothic Influences
The Victorian Era was a period between 1837 -1901 it was a long period of time where Britain had peace and prosperity, I looked into this because of the contextual influences that it provided me with. In Rifter the architecture and theme are heavily influenced by Victorian times.
Culture
Victorian architecture is mainly composed of Gothic styled buildings, there is actually a movement called "Gothic Revival" and sometimes referred to as Neo-Gothic in modern times. This movement involved major architects deciding on the style of buildings in the given time "Charles Barry" who was one of the architects of the given time rebuilt the "Palace of Westminster" also known as the "Houses of Parliament" this was what the architecture was based on and their are clear influences and similarities to the Houses of Parliament and all other buildings in London.
In my opinion victorian architecture usually involved narrow streets which I think contributes to the atmosphere, so for me when it comes down to the city of Brimstone in my game Rifter this will help conceptualise my ideas.
Transportation
During the victorian era things changed quite drastically, the versatility of transportation was becoming highly advanced with the introduction of Steam power and Trains; trade and commerce became one of the most economically successful things to ever be conceptualised. Rail ways were the turn of the century they were initially built for transportation of trade goods but very soon it because quite apparent their use would be far more important. Even today railways are used massively and are seen as one of the most important methods of transportation - for materials, trade goods and of course people.
I feel that this has helped me change my perspective on Rifter and opened up some cool ideas for me to experiment with. I want to use this as a major part of my final project and am happy to put in the extra work to implement some of the Steam powered devices including trains into the game.
Technology and Engineering
Technology advanced with steam power and railways, but also notably telegraph, cars and aircraft had a large impact with World War 1 in mind the enhancement in technology would become a key part in the Wars to come. In Rifter the city of Brimstone is highly occupied with propaganda and industrial technology I wanted to emphasise on this and use it to my advantage when researching. I think this particular area - of technology will come in handy when I am advancing the look and style of the game.
Rifter has elements of Steampunk and Industrialism all throughout so for my final project I wanted to show as much as I could to outline that. I think that when it comes to the 3D modelling I can really work on something interesting when it comes to the technology and filling out the environment. Before hand I didn't have much of an idea of how I was going to approach the city but now looking into this area of research I think I have got a solid basis to work on.
Airships
Airships or sometimes known as dirigibles/zeppelins, are a use of transport and delivery. In Rifter Airships patrol the skies I think that this adds to the atmosphere of the game and over all feel. Airships have been used since the 1960's. Airships are also used as a form of advertisement and can be seen from the ground on a sunny day. This seems to be a good idea for Rifter and my final project; due to the fact that there is propaganda around the City of Brimstone. I am eager to add some more airships into the game and design some different concepts, I already have one Airship planned and that is used in the opening cutscene of the game.
Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin
Ferdinand von Zeppelin was the man behind the idea of the Zeppelin, he was a German General and later became an aircraft manufacturer. Airships were extremely efficient but due to one catastrophic incident the Hindenburg disaster - where one of the largest airships ever created crashed and burned airships are now unseen in the skies.
Industry
In Rifter the city is polluted by factories which adds for an interesting dynamic in the game, Most of the atmosphere is created by this and when walking around in Brimstone there is a thick smog and dreary feeling to the atmosphere.
I researched into factories and industry in the victorian era and found that most cities and urban areas were polluted. For me this was a good inspiration when creating Brimstone. Victorian architecture combined with all the different contextual influences such as technology and culture has given me a strong foundation to start on.
Poverty
During the 19th century in Britain the population rised, it rised so much that there was a large portion of the population in poverty. Homeless people were lining the streets, housing was scarce and very expensive. This resulted in severe poverty and with that came child labour which just added insult to injury. 19th century Britain was a mess. Children were employed as chimney sweeps and even placed into the mines for hard labour.
Developer Log 1 - The Airship
I started to make some developer logs which outlined and showed all my development, in the first one I modelled an airship to be placed into the game.
Developer Log 2 - Props
In my second developer log, I worked on some 3D props for the environment; including crates barrels and other miscellaneous objects.
Developer Log 3 - Modular Buildings
I moved on to some more practical environmental assets. Namely buildings the developer log below shows my development of the buildings in Rifter.
Developer Log 4 - Propaganda Billboards
The city in which the game takes place is full of propaganda and advertisement, this developer log shows me working on some of the designs for advertisement banners and posters.
Developer Log 5 - Unity Development
Developer Log 6 - Photoshop Work
Photoshop Design & Development
Here I have got some of my development in Photoshop, I wanted to create a more alive atmosphere in the main city/town (Brimstone) so I designed some propaganda posters and banners for Brimstone.
I had multiple layers for the text and background colours I used a text called Combustion which suits my game and fits in well with the Steampunk theme.
I also experimented with different colours for the Brimstone Guard billboard/banner, the reason I did this is to test the effect it created on the player. Red colours are usually associated with bad things and more light colours such as Blue or Purple are associated with good things, this seems to be the norm in most games and also in society Red is bad Green is good etc.
Using the previous billboard as a template I set out to create a basic banner without any text to hang from buildings or to be placed around the city for a territorial purpose.
Thinking about all the posters and banners that are going to be in the city I wanted to make a few wanted posters. I set to work and took a picture of someone I know who then got placed into a separate layer and photoshop.
Bulldozer 58 - Development
Because Rifter is a First Person Shooter, I decided to get a basic gun into the game and see if I could get it working with full functionality. I sketched out the concept for the gun, my drawing skills are not strong but for me it was a good way of showing my design and development for this particular model.
Starting with a basic cube I outlined the geometry for the gun meanwhile coming up with a name for it. Using basic tools such as the Extrusion tool and the scale/move tool I adjusted the hilt of the gun into place over the base sketch which turned out to look ok.
At this point I tried different methods of creating the handle of the gun, I extruded the face out and upwards, I also tried modelling a completely different section and attaching it to the other part of the gun.
Next I modeled the chamber and the barrels, notice how I say barrel's - plural, this gun is equipped with 4 barrels. Initials this was the case but you will see throughout my development that I switched it over to 1 barrel instead of 4. I started from a basic cylinder primitive shape and added some geometry using the extrude tool. I also scaled down the faces to pull them inwards and create a bevel of sorts.
Moving onward I added some minor detail such as the conector part that sections off the barrel from the chamber. I decided to extrude one of the bottom faces out and pull it across at the bottom of the gun; purely for aesthetic purposes.
After adding some detail and changing a few things here and there, I went on an modeled some pipes that would be attached to the side of the gun. I feel this added more of a Steampunk feel to the gun, along with a pressure gauge on the side of the gun this produced a well rounded look to the weapon.
I used the deformation tool to bend a cylinder to create the pipes, This produced a pretty cool effect for the gun.
I then attached the pipes to the side of the gun I think this improved it slightly but later on I removed them and resulted in remodelling some of the gun.
Character Concept - "Ganus"
Instead of extruding the faces I decided to extrude the edges and in turn created the head, the face was a similar ordeal only I moved the vertices around which in the end produced a pretty cool looking head for my character.
Adjusting the back of the neck I moved the edges and scaled them inwards to create a more realistic body shape for my character.
Goggles
I wanted to model some Goggles for my character, I started from a cylinder and continued to extrude the front face inward. I then extracted the faces from the top of the Goggles and extruded them outwards making them 3 dimensional and not just a single flat object.
I mirrored the geometry over to create the second lens to the Goggles. I added some basic detail such as rivets on the inside of the Goggles I then beveled the outer edges to create a more smoothed edge to them.
I used the CP Curve tool to create the band that connects to the Goggles, the part that holds it to the persons face. I then revolved the curve around its self and then extrude its self to make it thicker.
Final Evaluation
I feel that overall Rifter has been a good learning experience, the final outcome is good quality and has utilised my skills well. I also think that I have included plenty of research and development for Rifter, I looked into contextual influences early on and also looked into the victorian era as a whole. Rifter has some interesting aesthetics such as the victorian architecture within the city. My final project was more of a learning experience rather than a finalised concept because of all the different techniques I learnt along the way.
As a final piece of work there is no doubt in my mind it deserves a high grade, due to the graphical quality and professional edge that it has. If I was to change anything it would be there interactivity in Rifter. There is of course an interactive side to the game with the addition of a Gun that fires and reloads; however there is plenty more I could do with it if I was to change anything.
