ECLIPSE | PART 1 - THE PROJECT
Back before I started the level design course, I wanted to do a concept piece about a temple.
I was kinda studying what type of art I could do for my portfolio and I was feeling a bit lost in all the possibilities of things I could do, not exactly knowing where to put my efforts.
I analysed a bit what type of subject seemed to be used a lot in successful portfolios and what I did not have in mine and a theme that came back often was the theme of a temple. Any temple. Old new, clean, abandoned, you name it. During my Level Design course, I explored this concept at least twice, and I admit, it is a fun one! It's especially effective when making more linear levels I feel (with some side track possibilities of course).
So I decided I could revisit this idea again for a new project, but this time, I did not want to do a mindless piece of art. I love story and meaning, and I love to geek out really hard about the context of a piece. Also, having done the level design course, I just want to make games really! So my idea is to do a little fake game project where I could push my artistic skills, but also my design skills.
1. THE OLD IDEA
Let's see what I was starting with!
When I first started to work on this idea, I did really had much. I knew I wanted to use Unreal Engine to push my skills, and I wanted to do a temple. After starting to listen to the course "Concept Art In Unreal Engine" by Ellie Cooper on Learn Squared, I remembered something that Cooper said. She said she often likes to write one sentence stories to help her idea flow. So I started with that and made a little moodboard.
"As the eclipse rise, the priestess is ready for the offering at the temple of the sun"
My first Moodboard when I started this project
After having a rough idea of where I wanted to go, I started sketching some ideas and then I went right into Unreal to try to make something out of my head. At the time, I didn't have a lot of skills in Unreal, so the space ended up being pretty basic.
Sketches I made for inspiration
A simple blockout I made in Unreal of what could be the space
And off I went, never touching that idea again for a couple of months...
2. THE NEW IDEA
Time to revisit that with all the new skills I got!
First, if I want to make a game out of this, I will need way more fuel! So I started like I've done in all of my CGMA assignments: by asking myself some important questions.
WHO | WHEN | WHERE | WHAT | WHY | HOW
New Moodboard!
By answering those questions, I give myself a clean purpose and it help me target what type of references can help me reaching my goal, but also what type of gameplay could be in that space. This will help me in the long run design better visuals, but also design better interactions that make sense with my story.
WHO: Nyx, a disciple of the night
WHEN: Fantasy Timeline inspired by the Antiquity (Ancient Greek and Roman times)
WHERE: On an island, The Island of Hemera (where disciples of the light are)
WHAT: Undercover as a sacrifice
WHY: To help a creature held captive there return to the night
HOW: Infiltrating the sun temple
3. DRAFTING A MISSION PITCH
Here's a first draft of what type of mission could take place in this level. It's still pretty drafty, lots of parts don't make total sense yet I feel, but it's a start to wrap my head around my idea.
Some things I want to add on a second pass:
- Clarify the objectives
- Determine what are the player tools
- What kind of world activities/interactions could I have so the player spend more time in my level
- What feelings do I want the player to feel and how will I achieve that
- Make a top view plan of my level and how I expect the navigation to be
4. GETTING ORGANISED
To help myself during this mini production, I decided I would use Trello so I can make a backlog for my ideas and set myself some deadline when possible. It's not perfect, but it should do the trick in helping me see where I am at in my goals.
An overview of my Trello board and what I want to accomplish with this project (Spoiler, It will change!)
WHAT'S NEXT?
One of the first thing I want to do with this project is challenge myself. I have identified this project as mostly a stealth game project, and this is something that I haven't explored yet! I also want to explore meta human as this is a tool I have never worked with both for concept but also in Unreal Engine.
My next steps
1. Nyx Concept
I want to know what this character looks like and what they can do.
2. Learn about how to make Stealth game levels
I've identified a couple of great readings, podcasts and YouTube videos that I think will help me!
3. Explore Unreal Market place and find cool things I could use
Like quest building tools for exemple.
That's pretty much it for PART 1 of this series! I hope you guys will enjoy following me on this project. I will try to share a lot about my creative process and what I discover and learn along the way! This will be fun! Also, I made a little video if you like the video format! Those will be some kind of Dev Log of my portfolio project.
See ya!
- Caro
