Due to the recent closure of the college due to the Coronavirus my work will be impacted. However, i still plan on creating my 3D assets, although now ill be building the room(s) inside Cinema4D in order to produce fully rendered images of my environment.
Luckily the computer i have access to at home should allow me to have access to Cinema4D so working from home should run smoothly.
Last week, 2nd-8th
At the start of last week I began brainstorming my initial 3 ideas to use in my presentation proposal for the following Monday. By Thursday I had the 3 ideas down and had began researching into them. I looked into a variety of areas, ranging from mythical undersea creatures to real life natural disasters and nuclear warfare.
Monday 9th
Yesterday I presented my project proposal, opting to choose my third idea. My third idea is to create a game environment based after nuclear warfare, I will be required to research into multiple key areas such as; Chernobyl, Nagasaki+Hiroshima, games which have explored similar themes to mine, and the aftermath effects a nuclear war would have – a nuclear winter for example.
Tuesday 10th – Monday 16th
I’ve started to conduct the research I need before I can begin creating my project.
Tuesday 17th
I created my first asset, i decided to make a shelving unit and a broken version to along with it.
Development process:
My next steps are to watch tutorials on substance painter and then begin texturing these two shelving units.
Sunday 23rd
Today i started building some of the assets ill require to create the kitchen for my environment. I used reference images/online tutorials to aid my development process.
For the majority of the this week ill be spending my time modelling my assets then ill began experimentation with different textures as i know its going to be something ill struggle getting the hang of.
Wednesday 25th
Once i was happy with how my models were looking, i played around with multiple different colors and textures until i was satisfied with the outcome.
Progression screenshots of asset creation
Before i began modelling i decided that i was aiming for a neat, mass produced sort of planter box, i wanted the asset to seem as though it had been handmade out of wooden scraps.
First, I collected some reference images:
After i collected these i had a clear understanding of the development process id have to undergo. All i had to do was build myself a box manually out of an arrangement of rectangles, as seen here.
This process was pretty straightforward just time-consuming.Then all i had to do with tweak a few minor things then texture it.
COMPUTER ISSUES AT HOME – and how i plan on working around them.
I initially had planned to create my assets inside of Cinema4D and then texture them using substance painter. Last week once i downloaded substance painter, i noticed that my computer at home was struggling heavily as i began learning how to texture my assets. My PC started to lag, to the point where my cursor was lagging when i moved it, this was due to my PC specs being insufficient (mainly RAM restrictions.) To overcome this issue, im now going to texture my assets inside of Cinema4D, using Quixel and textures.com to provide me with the textures.
My plan for this idea is to create a post nuclear war environment, for this ill need to research into various key areas.
Nagasaki + Hiroshima
Hiroshima
Hiroshima was the city which was the one of the sites to be hit by an atomic bomb on 6th August 1945. This was the first time a nuclear weapon had ever been used; the fireball created by the bomb destroyed 13 square kilometers of the city, and those dead as a result of the fireball numbered up to 180,000.
The impact of the bombing on Hiroshima
Hiroshima was nearby a flat river, with few hills or natural features to limit the blast. The atomic bomb was dropped on the city center, the city center was an area crowded with wooden residential structures and places of business. With these factors meant that the death toll and destruction in Hiroshima was particularly high.
The firestorm caused by the detonation completely destroyed almost 63% of the buildings in Hiroshima and many more were damaged. In total, 92% of the structures in the city were either destroyed or damaged by a blast of fire.
Generally, the estimated amount of deaths caused by the bomb range anywhere between 100,000 and 180,000, this is out of a population of 350,000. Tens of thousands of these deaths happened immediately and many more in the days and months that followed.
What is a nuclear fireball?
After a nuclear detonation, the bomb elites a blast of x-rays, which ionize and heat the surrounding air; that hot bubble of gas is known as a fireball. The hot air is buoyant, so it quickly rises and expands.
Nagasaki
Only three days after the first bombing on Hiroshima, a second atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki, killing between 50,000 and 100,000 people.
The impact of the bombing on Nagasaki
Due to the hilly geography of Nagasaki and the bombings focus being away from the city center, the damage from the bombings was limited to Urakami Valley and part of downtown Nagasaki. The center of Nagasaki, the harbor, and the historic district were shielded from the blast by the hills surrounding the river.
Nevertheless, the nuclear bombing did prove devastating, with approximately 22.7% of Nagasaki’s buildings being consumed by flames, but the death toll and over all destruction was a lot less than in Hiroshima. Estimates of casualties from Nagasaki range between 50,000 and 100,000, with many dying instantaneously and others dying afterwards due to burns and radiation.
Effects of a nuclear weapon
Both of these events still resonate to this day and serve as the greatest warning of the devastating effects nuclear weapons have.
As well as the high death toll, those that survived the initial detonated and firestorms quickly became ill with radiation poisoning with symptoms ranging from server burns, hair loss, nausea and bleeding.
When the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the cities were obliterated. By 1950, over 340,000 people had died as a result and generations were poisoned by radiation.
Effects of a nuclear fireball
The fireball after detonation causes significant destruction within seconds or minutes. The delayed effects, such as radioactive fallout and other environmental effects, inflict damage over an extended period ranging from hours to years.
One of the surviving buildings in Hiroshima today, the former Army Clothing Depot is one of the largest of 86 existing structures in the city that survived the atomic bomb, according to Hiroshima government.
As you can see the fireball burn the bricks and melted the door, the overgrowth is pale in color too.Proving the fact that most of the wooden houses in the city center at the time wouldn’t of stood a chance.
Research sourced from – Hiroshima And Nagasaki –. [online] Cnduk.org. Available at: <https://cnduk.org/resources/hiroshima-and-nagasaki/> [Accessed 10 March 2020]. https://cnduk.org/resources/hiroshima-and-nagasaki/
The effects of Nuclear weapons
Nuclear explosions produce both immediate and delayed destructive effects. Blast, thermal radiation and prompt ionizing radiation cause significant destruction within seconds. The delayed effects, such as radioactive fallout and other environmental effects, inflict damage over an extended period ranging from hours to years.
Nuclear Winter
A nuclear winter would occur when a giant dust/soot cloud caused by a nuclear bomb detonation would block out the sun, casting that area of the world into darkness and plummeting temperatures
The giant thick black soot clouds created by a nuclear bomb detonation would block out all but a fraction of the suns light for a period weeks, casting the world into darkness and plummeting surface temperatures between 11° to 22°.
Tsutomu Yamaguchi’s personal account
Tsutomu Yamaguchi was one of the few survivors of both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings during the second world war. Although many people are known to of survived the bombings, Tsutomu Yamaguchi is the only person recognized by the Japanese government to of done so.
Hiroshima Bombing
On the day of the Hiroshima Bombing, he was walking towards the docks when the American bomber dropped the Little Boy atomic bomb near the center of the city, just 3 km away from the harbor. Yamaguchi recalls seeing the aircraft and two small parachutes, before there was a “great flash in the sky, and i was blown over”.He claims that the explosion ruptured his eardrums, blinded him temporarily and left him with serious burns all over the left side of his body. He then crawled to a shelter and, rested, and then set out to find his colleagues.
Nagasaki Bombing
This time when the American bomber dropped the Fat Man over Nagasaki, Yamaguchi was describing the blast in Hiroshima to his supervisor, this time when the atomic bomb detonated, Yamaguchi was unhurt by the explosion.
Concept images for what a nuclear winter might look like
Official definition: “a period of abnormal cold and darkness predicted to follow a nuclear war, caused by a layer of smoke and dust in the atmosphere blocking the sun’s rays.”
Chernobyl Accident 1986
The accident happened to the result of a flawed reactor design that was being operated by inadequately trained personnel. The flawed design was a direct consequence of the isolation caused by the Cold War, resulting in a lack of any safety culture. The steam explosion and fires released at least 100 radioactive elements into the surrounding towns and cities.5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere. Two Chernobyl plant workers died on the night of the accident, and a further 28 people died within a few weeks as a result of intense radiation poisoning.
Research sourced from – World-nuclear.org. 2020. Chernobyl | Chernobyl Accident | Chernobyl Disaster – World Nuclear Association. [online] Available at: <https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/safety-and-security/safety-of-plants/chernobyl-accident.aspx> [Accessed 10 March 2020].
What is Chernobyl like today?
Pripyat, home to around 50,000 people and located only 1.8 miles away from Chernobyl, was evacuated. However, this evacuation didn’t occur until 36 hours after the explosion. Many didn’t understand the severity of the disaster and thought they’d only be gone for a few days. They were not allowed to bring many belongings with them, including family pets, due to fear of contamination. Their hasty exit left behind a town hat today seems frozen in time: a doll lying on rusted play equipment, supermarkets taken over my nature and a Ferris wheel halted for good.
In the weeks and months that followed the plant explosion, an estimated 120,000 to 200,000 people in total were evacuated over a region known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, which covers everything within an 18.5 mile radius.
Research sourced from – Stierwalt, S., 2020. What Is Chernobyl Like Today?. [online] Quick and Dirty Tips. Available at: <https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/science/chernobyl-today> [Accessed 10 March 2020].
Xiangshui chemical plant explosion
So far there hasn’t been a given explanation for what caused the accident to happen.Just over 4,000 workers and residents were forced to evacuate after the blast, officials said glass doors and windows have all been shaken out of the poorer houses. With most buildings in the area being deemed uninhabitable.
Gunkanjima, Japan’s ‘Battleship Island’
Hashima was abandoned in 1974 and left to the elements. Storms, time, and decay have resulted in collapsed buildings. The tiny island,became a miniature city, with schools and shops, two public pools and more. Once being inhabited by 5200+ people, it was abruptly abandoned due to coal mining operations declining, leaving the island to battle the elements for decades. The concrete apartment blocks have been left to decay for years. Typhoons took their toll and have caused windows to shatter and walls to crumble, waves have smashed buildings and barriers.
When first inhabited seawalls were built in order to provide protection, but more importantly, they granted more land to build on. They also gave the island a new shape, one of a massive battleship. Hence giving it the nickname, battleship island.
Research sourced from –These Decaying Island Buildings Feel Like Real-World Fallout Game. [online] CNET. Available at: <https://www.cnet.com/news/behold-the-haunting-decay-of-gunkanjima-japans-battleship-island/> [Accessed 10 March 2020].
Metro 2033
Set in the ruins of Moscow inside a winter desert waste land, the player is required to wear a gas mask at almost all times throughout the game as the air has become toxic due to humanity dooming itself via nuclear annihilation. Because of this the world is stuck inside a nuclear winter, hence why humanity is now attempting to survive in the underground metro systems of Russia.
Environment concept art for Metro 2033
Fallout 4
Fallout 4 takes place after the events of the Great War in 2077, a war between the United States and China over natural resources, which needed in a nuclear holocaust.
The reason why im using Fallout 4 as an example for this is due to how Bethesda managed to display the before and after destruction of an atomic bomb. The range of destruction makes the game feel more immersive and is something id like to bring across to my game environment when i built it.
Due to Fallout 4s setting, the architecture is heavily influenced by post-World War II 1950s. Because of this everything inside Fallout 4 feels dated yet futuristic as the game itself is set in 2077 so there has been multiple technical advancements such as the servant robots, met in the first mission of the game before the nuclear attacks were launched.
Post apocalyptic Architecture/Assets
Ill be using these images and many others similar to provide myself with inspiration and ideas for designing/building the rooms i need for house environment .
Post World War II 1950s America
The United States was worlds most advanced and strongest military power.Its economy was booming, and the new cars, suburban houses and other consumer goods were available to more people than ever before.
There was an overwhelming fear of a communist invasion and nuclear warfare with Russia throughout the cold war, this is similar to what Fallout 4 bases its game on.
There were a lot of US propaganda produced during this time, similar to when the US was at war during World War II. The posters were very anti communist and anti nuclear war, seeing as the US had just came out of a war, most of society was heavily against it, not to mention the damage the atomic bombs had caused on when dropped over Japan.
However, not everyone was against another war, in-fact Americans were in support of nuking the east. This was mainly out of fear of American being completely occupied by the Russians.
With my last game environment revolving around an abandoned room in a house, my plan for my FMP is to expand upon this single room and create other assets to develop a kitchen, bathroom or bedroom for example.
Abandoned building mood board
Using real life examples for design referencing.
Similarly to last time ill be using images such as these when it comes to planning how to set out of the assets in my environments in order to create the claustrophobic, gritty environment im aiming for.
For example, if i was going to be creating a bedroom environment id be using the image on the bottom left to base my asset design and model references from.
What happened after Chernobyl?
Within a few weeks after the initial steam explosion thirty-one people died, due to radiation and thermal burns. Because of this, homes,businesses and schools where left abandoned, creating ghost towns.
Pripyat city, the “ghost town” has been seen in games throughout the years, most noticeably in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare back in 2007. The mission featuring Pripyat city takes place in 1996, fifteen years before the events of the game and 10 years after the events on Chernobyl, this explains the overgrown and broken down exteriors of all the buildings the player has to creep around. The mission “All Ghillied Up” takes the player across the radiation filled wasteland that Pripyat has become.
Inspiration for creating All Ghilled Up
All Ghilled Up began development during the new wave of Call of Duty 4, the new wave being after they had cut half of the original levels, deciding to start again.They opened the floor for developers to pitch new level ideas. This is where All Ghilled Up came from, the inspiration behind the level started with the use of photographs taken by tourists when visiting Pripyat. When they saw the foliage and the overgrown buildings in the photos of Pripyat they knew they had the perfect opportunity to create a ghille suit stealth sniper mission. To make the mission work the Call of Duty for 4 timeline, the writing team decided to place the mission as a flash back from one of the main characters so that it didn’t require a lead in or lead out, it was just a stand alone mission.
To start off building my knowledge on temples i decided to look at real-life examples of trapped temples which had been discovered by explorers or archaeologists.
There are curses all over the world, yet none are more famous than the mummy’s curse. Inscribed on doorways and statues warning would-be grave-robbers of death by snakes, crocodiles and scorpions. However, the Pharaohs didn’t depend on supernatural protection alone: they also arranged for more mechanical means of defense. The tomb of Amenhotep III appeared to end in a relatively pleasant room, which had a moderate amount of treasure inside that was worth taking.In reality, the false wall on the back hid a passage leading to the remainder of the tomb. But before any of the explorers could even get to the false wall, they needed to deal with a much more deadly trap: a false floor hiding a deadly pit trap. The pit was a 6 meter drop down an empty shaft, making it basically a death sentence for anyone unfortunate enough to fall in.
The tomb of Qin Shi Huang,(the First Emperor of a unified China).Is labeled the greatest trapped tomb to be discovered to date.Because of his power,he had an incredible amount of resources put into his tombs construction, making it the worlds magnificent and most well guarded tomb. Inside wait the gigantic, Terracotta army,consisting of over 8,000 carved soldiers found in just one section of the necropolis surrounding his tomb. The tomb itself has not been excavated, primarily down to the fear of traps. The first discovered trap, and the one which was most intended to deter thieves is a set of automatic crossbow. Of course, the wood and sinew of crossbows would have long since rotted and deteriorated, some still suggest that they may have made from flexible metal, and that if they’re only pulled into position when they’re triggered, the mechanism just might of survived.
The Qin Emperor was said to have been buried with a two square kilometer map of China, complete with liquid mercury lakes and rivers. Despite the tomb not having been opened yet, explorers are confident that this rumored trap exists, because soil samples from near the tomb are full of massive amounts of mercury, and the concentration of it only grows stronger as you approach his grave.
Sourced from- Amidtheruins.com. (2017). Top 10 (Real Life!) Trapped Tombs, Temples, and Treasures | Amid the Ruins. [online] Available at: http://amidtheruins.com/top-10-real-life-trapped-tombs-temples-and-treasures/ [Accessed 7 Mar. 2020].
I decided to begin my research by looking into mythological creatures when getting inspiration for the creatures and bosses id be using for my games.
As you can see from the mood board i created above most the creatures ive been looking into come from the sea so they all share fish like features, such as scales, fins and teeth. However as you can see from the entities above most of them have tentacles and rows of teeth. Some of them also have other features such as Dragon wings, claws.Although the entities are all different they are all disturbing to look at with having very horrific features, such as multiple faces and holes. Many of the monsters have long,noticeable limbs making the images very unsettling to look at.
Overall im very happy with how the mood board turned out, it shows the diverse and unique features of the creatures and all of them are individually different in design which one of my favorite things about them.
One of the reasons why i choose to create a mood board on sea monsters and mythical creatures is largely due a selection of YouTube videos i watch a few months ago on things such as the Bermuda Triangle and giant sea monsters or extinct animals, so for my game design document i just compiled the two together.
Bermuda Triangle conspiracies -creating game lore.
Due to the multiple disappearances of aircraft and ships inside the zone known as “The Bermuda Triangle” it was a given that people would start creating conspiracy theories on what caused these disappearances. I’ve decided to research further into these theories so that i can get some ideas for when i create the lore/ story behind my game.
One of the more outrageous theories involves the fictional underwater city Atlantis. This theory suggests that the mythical city may lie at the bottom of the sea and maybe using its reputed “crystal energies” to sink ships and planes.
However, a more fanciful suggestions include time portals and extraterrestrials — including rumors of underwater alien bases.
Others believe that the reasoning behind the disappearances lies behind some sort of extremely rare, perfectly natural explanation. For example the planes and ships that go missing inside the triangle are actually being destroyed by pockets of flammable methane gas, which is known to exist in large quantities under the sea – there is a chance that a lightning strike ignited a huge bubble of methane that came to the surface right next to a ship or plane, causing them to sink without a trace.
Another suggestion is that rouge tidal waves. Or maybe there is some mysterious geomagnetic anomaly which creates navigational problems confusing pilots and somehow causing them to plunge into the ocean.
Theories sourced from – Radford, B. (2012). Bermuda Triangle: Where Facts Disappear. [online] livescience.com. Available at: https://www.livescience.com/23435-bermuda-triangle.html [Accessed 6 Mar. 2020].
Game/Product Identity/ Focus:
Create an unconventional island environment, taking inspiration from folklore and Greek mythology to create the monsters .
Design Pillars:
1 Disorientating
2 Immersive
3 Isolated
Genre/Story/Mechanics Summary:
Firs person action role-playing game. Set somewhere on an island deep inside the Bermuda triangle, the player is surrounded by washed up ships and aircraft proving that the conspiracies about the triangle are actually true, however there is a lot more in store for the player as the story unfolds.
Mechanics: Melee combat vs enemies and bosses, with the ability to unlock combos combining movement with melee attacks.
Features:
Features or unique elements that you want to include in your game:
Unique element: Adrenaline meter during boss fights – used mainly to reward skilled players for not being hit by a boss for a certain amount of time
How it works: In order for the meter to be fully filled up it requires the player to not get hit for a certain amount of time while fighting a boss, the time required for the meter to reach full will vary on boss difficulty. Once the meter has completely filled up, the player is able to active the buff. This buff increases the damage of critical hits inflicted onto a boss by a player.
Interface:
Player input method, the controls, and how the player interacts with your game:
Controls: Basic PC game keybindings, so WASD, shift, ctrl, spacebar. Then interact key(s).
Software: Unity + Cinema4D.
Development Roadmap / Launch Criteria:
Platform: MAC/PC
Audience: Mature 16+ fans of RPGs and action games.
Milestone 1 Finish the necessary research
Milestone 2 Have the game concept down+art style
Milestone 3 Have assets created
Milestone 4 Have the environment finished.
Product Design Document 2
Game/Product Identity/ Focus: Simple 2D side-scroller, players must overcome obstacles and beat the enemies in their way in order to escape the temple.
Design Pillars
1 Easy to pick up and play.
2 Replay-ability
3 Fast-paced
Genre/Story/Mechanics Summary:
Genre: 2D side scroller game
The player must work their way through the rooms (levels) in order to escape the temple. The different rooms found inside of the temple will contain different mobs and traps – each ranging in difficulty and reward.
Mechanics:Main game mechanic being able to jump. Being used to dodge incoming projectiles, traps and gaps.
Feature: Lives, set amount of lives available for each run through of the game until its completed.
Interface controls: Standard controls, WASD and space for jump.
Software: Cinema4D, Unity, Adobe After Effects
Platform: MAC/PC
Audience: Doesn’t have a set demographic, 12+ majority expected.
Milestone 1 Have the art style/color scheme down.
Milestone 2 Create main character and design the traps and enemies.
Milestone 3 Have the level designed with everything in place (traps and enemies)
Milestone 4 Fully test the level and have it completed.
Product Design Document 3
Game/Product Identity/ Focus:
Expand upon my last game environment, creating more rooms and assets but also going into more detail on my original models.
Design Pillars:
1.Photo-realistic
2.Gritty
3. Claustrophobic
+ Use real life examples for design referencing
Interface controls: Standard controls set by unity if i decide to port over the environment if i have time.
Software: Unity (maybe) Cinema4D mainly, although i might try out Photoshop or Substance painter for texturing.
Platform: MAC/PC
Milestone 1 Have the necessary research to begin the project completed.
Milestone 2 Use this research to put together a mood board of images to use for reference when planning out parts of the new environment + selecting the assets i want to create.
Milestone 3 Have the assets created and scene built.
Milestone 4 Finalize design and go over the finer details.
Planning & Preparing:
During my project im going to be setting myself three aims. These aims will give me an understanding of my progress during the project and will show evidence that ive managed to make improvements over the course of the project.
AIM 1
Become more comfortable with using Unity. With the previous game environment i created for units 6&7 i ideally wanted to transfer it over to unity however i never go around to doing so due to time limitations and my own lack of experience with unity.
AIM 2
Widen my 3D modelling abilities in Cinema4D
Aim 3
Create concept art for my game, on the different characters and locations
Finn's Blog 