Pre-production
Purpose
Why Pre-Production?
Pre-Production is as the name suggests, the lead up to the creation of your product. Setting down a clear Pre-Production is vital to the success of a product and without it there is the greater possibility of an underachieving outcome. This section will identify core components to my product before I begin phase into truly making it.
Gantt Chart
What is a Gantt Chart and how can I use it?
According to Gantt.com a Gantt Chart is one of the most popular ways of project management, because it displays the task and the deadline in an easy to read way, a bar representing the start and due by date for what is required in the project. I can use a Gantt Chart to create a workflow for my project and ensure I deliver on time.
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This was created using the website "Monday.com", a free, easy online tool for planning out projects. It comes with the potential to work collectively with others as you all sign into one Chart. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to make a quick and good looking Gantt chart.
Narrative
What is going on?
The year is 1980 and Detective Cooper has been called out to find clues to the whereabouts of research personnel after the entire facility falls quiet with no signs of life. He must look for any clues that could lead to where the workers could be, the entire situation is supernatural. Through his discoveries and clues from workers logs he pieces together that the facility were performing unauthorized experiments into "temporary spaces", which as it sounds a space which should not exist which doesn't follow the laws of physics. What makes it temporary is the universe corrects these spaces simply because they should not exist, leaving whoever goes in - stuck inside forever. Detective Cooper tries to leave but it quickly becomes apparent that the entire facility is a wormhole into a "temporary space", and he must find a way to leave before he is trapped there forever.
I wanted to go for a simple narrative not action packed conform to the Walking Simulator tag. A short game with a cliff hanger for a business point, if the product achieves and there is the demand for a sequel commonly done in other marketing products.
Character
Detective Protagonist
In my game, the name and design of Detective Cooper is just a throw away, I want the players to fill the role of the Detective and not watch as one character figures out a mystery with player input. I want this to resemble that of Half Life's protagonist 'Gordon Freeman' who through the entire course of the game, does not say a word. The silent protagonist trope along with the consistent First-Person perspective really drilled into the players mind that they were the one being hunted down, not 'Gordon Freeman.' However a mystery game where the main protagonist doesn't utter a word would likely confuse if not irritate the players as it isn't believable that there wouldn't be the inner monologue especially of a Detective.
After some back and forth communication with a peer of mine whose talented at art, some concept art for Detective Cooper was created.
More often than not, Detective's took on a formal look especially in the late 90s. We wanted to capture the look of a distinguished gentleman and I am very satisfied with the results. I won't be creating a 3D model of the protagonist due to two reasons of; time constraints and the player will not see Detective Cooper as it is a First-Person perspective. It is still useful to understand the character I am trying to capture and with concept art it could do me great service - thank you Gabriella!
Location
Where and Why?
We've discussed in the narrative that this will take place in a research facility. This facility is situated underground somewhere in America, though I won't be showcasing this in my level. There were plans in the beginning of the protagonist walking from a train tunnel into the facility however these ideas were scrapped due to idea being far too ambitious. I drew a lot of inspiration from a game Portal: Stories Mel which uses the concept of underground facility.
Though I can't express this in my level, I can still do an interior for a research facility. So the player shall only be traversing a lifeless research facility.
Inspiration I have taken
I took 400+ screenshots from the games: (Apologies if any screenshot failures)
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Portal
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Portal 2
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Portal: Stories Mel
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Black Mesa
These 'Mood Board' slideshow was very useful especially when going into these games myself and taking the screenshots. It was a huge boost in inspiration and motivated me to create the level I want to make
Blockout
The Level Idea
Utilising Dungeon Scrawl's capabilities for building a 2D and Isometric maps, I created a map of the product. "Dungeon Scrawl", is a free website which, once understanding how to use, is a powerful tool that can help you accomplish 2D and Isometric maps very easily.
After creating this, I made use of Unreal Engine's brush tools to make a 3D block-out of the level.
Environment concept art
The Main Hub Area
Using Adobe Photoshop this is a concept sketch for the hub area of the level. The place in the middle is the reception desk and behind it shall just be things you would expect in a reception area such as file cabinets, maybe a backroom etc. The platform above shall be the overlook of the entire hub area for what employees would look through. It serves no purpose other than to look nice.
Games Design Document
G.D.D.
A GDD is the foundation from which a game is established. The GDD highlights all relevant information and covers everything there is to discuss on the game. Some companies use a GDD for each level. I used a GDD template from the website here to create my own copy for my level.
Evaluation
After some thought...
Upon further revaluation figured the level I wanted to make was too ambitious in the time I have and level of detail I would want to make it in. I figured I should minimize it down to just the hub area and possibly reception however this loses sight on the whole concept of the idea being in an office space. So because of this I have taken the decision to complete just a single part of my level to the detail I would want my entire game to be in. This is the office room which was going to be out of bounds to the player, simply there for scenery.
Asset LIST
What is in this scene?
Using PureRef I created a quick mood-board of office environments in a 90s setting. The reason I did this is to help me think of what I will need in a space like this, I want my environment to be believable and to do this I need to study what would go in this scene.
From this I created an asset list using the various things I saw within these, mixed in with some of my own ideas:
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This list was made using Mindmeister, I gave myself a lot of assets to create because if I am to do a small room showcasing how I want my walking simulator to look, I need to make sure it's packed to full of all kinds of props. I believe with the time that I have, this isn't too ambitious and is completely do-able.
PRODUCTION
Props
Asset #1: Blinds
I created a Moodboard using PureRef to give me a rough idea of how to make my own blinds.
In addition to looking at reference material, I went onto SketchFab, a website catered towards looking and purchasing 3D models. After a quick search I found myself 1950 styled blinds made by the talented NickDimitrijevic and I could look using SketchFab's wireframe mode at the way he made it.
To begin, I created a 300x300 plane, set all divisions to 1 and placed in the Unreal Engine character for size reference. I then used the edge-loop tool to create a rectangle within my plane and extracted face. I then drag it out of the plane and I am left with the perfectly fit rectangle and hole, I export my 300x300 plane as FBX and delete it. From there I then extrude the extracted plane and place two edge loops to divide it perfectly into thirds. I select both edges and bevel by one fraction so I now have it even and divided into thirds with a proper frame.
I then clicked on all the middle faces and deleted them, and then proceeded to bridge the frame edges together. I needed to create my windows and to do that I needed to follow a similar process as what I had done so far. I added two edge lines in the middle each frame before extruding them inwards being left with this result.
Next up was the blinds. I created a rectangle averaging roughly the same size as the entire window length to and added two edge loops around it, selecting all the faces and extruding it outwards to act as my blind holder. I them created a small plane extruded two of the edges and dragged them up, these were to act as the blind straps. I then selected the edges of these and beveled them for some curvature before finally extruding the entire thing.
From here I duplicated the strap three times and positioned them in a way I saw fit. I then created a rectangle to act as the blind itself, placing one on the bottom of the strap before using CTRL + D to duplicate it and moved it up once. I then did Shift + D which duplicates it however moves it for me as it was the last action I did.
I then used UV editor and used UV automatic. I made sure to go onto edge mode and cut the edges of my frame that were taking too much space before selecting layout and finally saving my prop, exporting as an FBX file.
Up next was to texture my blinds, I began by taking my FBX file and importing it into Adobe Substance Painter
These were the settings I had for my file, once everything was in check I placed my file in and began. I immediately went to Texture Set Settings -> Bake Mesh Maps. With these settings I baked my model in and I was ready to texture.
I began with the texturing process, I created a folder and applied wood walnut texture. I then duplicated this folder and rotated the texture 90 degrees. This was so I could have wood going both horizontally and vertically as any frame works, the wood isn't made up of a single plank so the lines going across match the rotation of the plank.
I used the polygon fill tool to select the places I want textured, it was a tedious process but one which had to be done. After I had wood to my blinds I needed to add texture to my blinds as well, I used the plastic stripes texture which I found very suitable for it all.
I switched the polygon fill to Mesh fill, this let me click on each blind and not have to worry about getting every side as it does it for me.
I followed this sequence on the rest of the model parts. Finally I had to add some sign of dirt and age. I created a folder and added the concrete dusty texture, then I went into the folder and made sure to select the texture, clicked on the small wand and added a generator, then went to the generator properties and went to mask editor
From here I was given a to edit the dusty concrete texture in the properties - generator. This let me edit how visible the dust was on the blinds.
This is an area I am not very knowledgeable on and would like to research more into what these do and how to properly utilize them, I mainly moved the sliders until I liked what I saw but obviously using something and knowing what it does is two different things. In the future I would definitely like to look into this more and gain insight into why every function does what it does. However after messing with the sliders enough I managed to find a nice in-between of the dust being not too visible but not invisible either. It went along side the blinds perfectly and was just what I needed to make it look not so much in mint condition as it did before.
This was the final result which I am very proud of:
Without dust: With dust:
Once I was finished, I exported the textures under these settings and the blinds were complete.
What would you change?
I would delete every other curtain in the blinds so that the Texel density isn't so low, other than that I am happy with the model and proud of myself.
Asset #2: Desktop
As before, I collected reference material before the creation of my prop.
Then began the creation of the model, I began with the monitor which was very easy. selected the front face and extruded it, offsetting it inwards. Then I extruded the face in the middle inwards and off set it ever so slightly. The main challenge was getting the curvature of the screen, to do this I created a plane and I then went to Deform -> Nonlinear -> Bend. From there I got to bend the screen and then deleted history, froze transformations. I did the bending again and rotated the bend so I it would properly wrap instead of only being curved one side. It left me with the perfect screen curve I was happy with. The monitor and keyboard were very simple of simply messing with vertices and rectangle tool until it looked good. I have no recollection of how the mouse came into being though I am happy it did.
UVing was all the same, relying on the UV automatic before exporting each FBX file under export selection instead of all, that way I can export each model as an FBX file individually.
Substance Painter was all the same as the blinds, each model was textured in quick succession.
What would you change?
I would add letters to my keys as any keyboard would have, additionally maybe make the dirt a little less dark.
Asset #3: Office Chair
Taking what I knew already about curvature from the screen, and the basic geometry from the rest I made my attempt at an office chair I liked.
I am very proud of how this turned out, it was definitely ambitious but I am very proud with the results. I believe the arm wrests were made using booleans which I would change now knowing a far easier method than what I did. Either way I am pleased with the model and the texturing was no different.
What would you change?
I would create a rectangle and bevel all the edges, then delete all the faces except the outer face and extrude inwards before pressing reverse. That is a far easier method than the one I used of messing with vertices and booleans.
Unreal
Putting it all together
It was time to arrange it all together, I opened up Unreal and began with the lighting straight away. I made a new level and chose night/day.
The purpose of setting these was so that the player didn't have any auto exposure, and all the lighting is done in Lumens instead of what it does originally. Once this process is complete I began work on the level by placing in the 300x300 planes I had exported when making the blinds. I arranged a small space out of them.
I had to edit the material so that they were two sided, to do this I went into the material editor and under details I checked on the box which said two sided.
Once I had done this I needed to organize my scene, I placed in all FBX files from every model I made and organized them into files.
Once I had done this I needed to organize my scene, I placed in all FBX files from every model I made and organized them into files. Next up was getting the textures in, I imported every texture to their designated files. I created a material which in this case is a door and assigned the textures to their designated connectives.
And then I created an instance from the material which plays an important role in speeding up the process:
Just by check marking the three textures, I could drag and drop new ones into this instance and then apply the instance to the prop. After following this procedure many times I was finished and had myself a full room of textured props, I added some lights to the ceiling lights and desk lamp to make the computer desk the main focus point. I used free megascans from Quixel.com to texture my floor and walls.
After a bit of tinkering with the settings of lights, I managed to finish the scene. All of the models were made and textured, all the lights were as they should be and I was happy with the final results.