Roki - Group Project
Meet The Team
Introduction
For this project we were given the task of creating our own scene based off of the game Röki, we have been placed into groups. My group is a group of five with three environmental artists and two character artists. This blog will be from the perspective of one of the environmental artists. Our task specifically requires us to focus on the artstyle of the game and implement factors into our own scene.
Week 1 - Starting Up
This week our group got together to discuss the ideas we had for our piece. To start off this task we started to research the game Röki and where the original artists got their inspiration for the game. During our research we discovered that Röki was inspired by Scandinavian folklore, for our scene we decided to keep this in mind and as a group we decided to have our scene set in an abandoned Scandinavian church. To do this we created a shared Miro board and we all branched out our ideas.
The first thing I did was research what Scandinavian churches looked like and added these images to the miro board for reference. I started with the interior as we have decided to create the inside of the church for the scene.
I chose to include images of the exterior in different weather conditions to get a feel for how it would look from the outside, also providing the shape of the room and the space it creates. It also allows the environmental designers to implement the weather into the build and as the church we are aiming to create is an abandoned church this gives us the opportunity to implement broken windows or trees falling through the roof allowing potential snow to enter the build. Jess and I also agreed to work off of each others Images to ensure our props for the scene corresponded well with each other.
I also chose to research Scandinavian church sketches and add them to the Miro board so my group and I could reference back to them when I was creating our own sketches, this will also give the environment artists an idea of the space and the props used within the building, this is also to allow the environment artists to use these sketches as inspiration for the scene itself.
To further educate myself on Scandinavian churches and their culture by researching other things associated with it, I did some research and I discovered that they are typically invested in the Yggdrasil Tree and the Pagan Temple, these are things that I will be taking into consideration when designing our scene.
The next thing we did was look at some materials used to build Scandinavian churches, we decided to implement both materials from older builds and the newer builds as this represents the old and new representations of Scandinavia. The next thing I did was research how we can implement these factors into the game Röki. To do this we chose to look at screen grabs from the game and also while playing the game ourselves to get a closer look at the details used.
I then started on some starter sketches for the concept art for church, as we are only creating the inside I choose to illustrate the outside as well to give myself an Idea of the shape and size of the room.
Week 2 - Concept Art
I started off week 2 by beginning to sketch out the interior of the church, I started off with a rough sketch of the shape I thought the build would make and started to scope what would be best to add into the space. As there are two environment artists, myself and Jessica, we choose to split everything up and assign ourselves with different assets for each of us to create. I started to draw sketches of everything that was assigned to me to create, this made things easier for me when I started to create the 3D assets for the scene. This was also beneficial so that I would have something to base my 3D models off of. This made things a lot easier in terms of shape and design.
We were also advised to add the characters from Roki Into the Workspace to ensure all our items were to scale and don’t look out of proportion when we attempt to put them all together to make our scene, this was also advised for there character artists to build off of as their scale for the height and build of the characters they are making.
​I started to research what items would be beneficial to have within the scene, we focused on what made the scene look and feel like a church and then also to create the illusion of someone living within the scene.
​I started to create sketches of items I thought would be beneficial to the scene.
Week 3 - Starting to create / Concept Art
​To Start off week 3 I started with creating some props for our scene, I didn’t want to start myself off too difficult so I therefore chose to create a pillar and a chest as my two props for this week.
​The first prop I created was this pillar. I chose to do this as I thought this would be a good introduction to Maya and creating this pillar showed me the basics of Maya, like how to use shapes to create larger items. To be sure this was to scale I added a Henrick and Tove from the game Röki next to it as reference.
It also allowed me to experiment with bevelling, as I have previously used ‘Blender’ to create 3D models, Maya was a big change for me however it broadened my knowledge with 3D animation.
The crate was a good way for me to learn how to manipulate shapes to create the look of an item, as a group we decided the crate would be beneficial for the scene as it corresponds with the storyline of someone living within the temple and also is related to the fact that the temple is abandoned adding to the storyline. Suggesting that the person living within the church stored items such and food and other personal belongings in them, also adding to the feel of the abandoned church.
Week 4 - Modeling & Concept Art
This week I chose to challenge myself a bit more, I chose to create candles and also to create a chalice as these both used shapes I wasn’t very familiar with, I thought that the chalice especially would challenge me as a designer as I had never worked with a dip in items before. Jess and I decided to each make different types of candles for the scene as we both had an idea of what we wanted and felt both our ideas worked for the scene.
​I started off the week by creating the chalice, I first of all researched what type of chalice would have been used in the Scandinavian church. As Röki is minimalistic in terms of colours and details I chose the most minimalistic one that I could create to use within the scene to correspond with the Röki art style and the minimalist tendencies.
​The next prop I made was the candle sticks myself and Jessica made two different types of candles each to allow us to both experiment with both our ideas of the Scandinavian church temple. This is how mine turned out.
For next week I have chosen to add books and papers to the scene, however I want this to be a bit messy to clutter up the space to enhance the story of the person who was living in the church, also to add to the effect of abandonment as the church is abandoned.
​I also chose to create an open crate to act as storage for the character who lives within the church.
Week 5 - Modeling
This week I decided to create books to have laying around the scene along with an open crate, by this point I am getting better at managing myself within maya and as I had already made a crate this made this task easier for me to complete.
Open crate was the easier of the two items to make, as I had already made a crate before this so I just remade the crate and I added an open door, this adds to the storyline of the character living in the scene.
​I wanted to add books and papers to the scene as I thought this would be a good way to clutter up the scene to really make it look lived in.
Week 6 - Creating
This week I decided to focus more on the architecture of the scene, I worked on making the floorboards and the windows. This was definitely a benefit to the scene as these will make the scene look fuller and more complete.
​For the windows I decided to make them as if they are two doors, as during the time in which our temple is set these were the types of windows to be found in the pagan temples.
For the floorboards I decided to create 8 different boards and make up the floor using those, I felt that this would be beneficial as I could use them to make the floor seem even though it was worn down.
Week 7 - UV Task
This week we were given the task of completing a UV task, as I am an environment artist I had to do three things, these were the dice, the barrel and the cylinder.
The first task I completed was the Dice UV task. This was an introduction to UV Mapping, it taught us the basics of how to UV items. This task was a good introduction to using the faces of an object, in this case they were represented by the dice faces.
​The cylinder challenge was to teach us how to not accidentally stretch textures when applying them to objects while applying UV. This task also taught us about the modify tool and about unfolding objects to help with UV.
The barrel challenge in my opinion was the most difficult as it was a lot more detailed and complicated to create. For this we started to use the planar tool to help with texturing and perspective.
This task was very helpful for me though as I knew that some of my props would need this and as it expanded my knowledge I knew I could do it.
​As I had a bit of extra time this week I also decided I would texture the pillar I had made a few weeks prior.
Week 8 - Texturing
This Week I chose to texture the crates I had made for the scene. I wanted to do both the open crate and the closed crate as they used the same colours and this would be easier for me. For this I used Lambert colours to texture the items as well as for shading.
Week 9 - Holly Arkil Feedback / Presentations
Holly Arkil is one of the founding members of PolyFox studios and we were privileged enough to have her give us feedback on our scene so far.
In terms of the props I made, Holly informed me that the flooring within the scene was a bit too much like a pattern than worn down as I had previously attempted to create.
When creating the windows I used cylinders to create the window panels. Holly suggested that the cylinders were “unnecessary geometry” as from the back you couldn’t see them, she suggested that I should remove the faces at the back. She also informed me that the cylinders I used for the handles were a bit of a weird colour as well as the frame of the windows, the handles were “too yellow” which made them look too new to be in an old temple, this also applied to the chalice I created using the same colour. She also mentioned that the wooden frame was a bit too bright compared to the rest of the build, this was something I only noticed when adding it to the scene alongside the other props so it wasn’t too difficult to change.
Week 10 - Props / Improvements
I chose to colour the books and papers as my first task since feedback as this was something that Holly Arkil liked about my props, I found this task to be easy enough as I was starting to get more used to lambert colouring and shading. I chose to also add a different type of book to the scene.
​The other prop I chose to work on was the chalice as I was told in my feedback that they were too bright, I chose to make them to be a more orange tone to them to make them look older and more rusted.
The next task I did was updates to the window, I chose to add the same effect to the handles as I did to the chalice, to make it look more rusted and worn down. I was also informed that the Window frame was too bright compared to the rest of the scene however this week I did not have time to change it so I will wait until next week when I plan to UV all my props.
The next thing I chose to do was improvements to the candle, I was advised to add a dip in the candles as they looked although they were brand new, they were also too bright in terms of colour and looked like new so I choose to do the same to the candle base as I did to the chalice and the window handles.
Week 11 - UV All Props
​This week as it was getting closer and closer to our deadline I chose to UV all my props, I had a total of 16 props to UV individually, as the floorboards had to all be done separate.
This was a relatively easy task as the environment artists all got together and we made a UV Map so we could all be sure to have the correct colours for all our props.
Week 12 - Implementing into Unreal Engine 5
As this week is our last to be working on things we chose to all start to make sure all our UVs were working within Unreal Engine 5.
There were some issues within the group about colours and lighting but other than that this task went smoothly.
