Starting a Sci-fi Stylized Environment

Getting Started

Starting a new project can be a daunting task it's easy to get overwhelmed with at the size and scope involved in planning and executing your vision, but it can also bring with a lot of excitement about being able to create and see your vision come to life. The biggest thing I've learned that helps quell some of the anxiety and maintain organization within a project is breaking it down into smaller, more manageable parts. I'll be using this blog format to help me accomplish this, keep record of my progress and stay organized and explain my process!

I wanted to work on a Stylized Sci-fi environment in particular for a few reasons, one being I had already made some of the models I'll need for it, as well as wanting to practice my skills at making a larger scale environment that could be used for either a game level or short film set. With this project I also hope to be able to show off my wide rage of skills within 3D development!

Grey boxing

Any good environment starts out with something called grey boxing, a process in which you layout the overall placement of key assets typically with... grey boxes! For this particular project I had already developed some of my modular assets a bit beyond the stages they'd need to be for this stage of development, but will still be adjusting some of them to further add visual variation in the buildings.

Layout

In thinking about how I wanted to layout this scene, I wanted to focus on visual depth, so layering different height buildings even behind where the alley appears to be a dead end creates that depth and adds to the idea that the setting is a larger city. This spot also if used in a game level could be a great opportunity for player exploration and place to hide secret loot. The intention currently is to include visual hints within the environment such as the fire escape ladder or I may add some type of platforming opportunity that signifies that it is an area that could be explored but not part of the main path of the action.

The main planned path through the environment is pretty simple starting at the crashed cars and leading to an open doorway in a deeper area of the alley way. The design and intended path is kept simpler as my focus in the project is more about visual storytelling with the environment and the intention of this area being more of an establishing area for the setting and environment of potentially the rest of the game level or short film.

Story through design

Going into designing an environment, it's good to have an idea of the intended story you are trying to tell with it. in the case of this environment, the current relevant story elements I am trying to portray are that the city is currently in chaos, and actively being attacked or destroyed, by what is still unknown to the viewer and especially in this phase still unclear but as details become refined there will be elements that can give hints.

The other important story elements I am trying to portray is that the player/ character is entering this area from their crashed car after potentially being in some kind of car chase. There would be a sense of urgency expected in this area and being in the grey box stage, my main focus at the moment is getting in the larger details that communicate these story beats. the pile up of cars and collapsed building give reason to why the character needs to now continue running on foot.

Next Steps

The next steps for this project involve, model refinement and, texture and material development, which I'm excited to continue to share as I develop it!