University Final Year Project

To gain a better understanding of the process of creating a consistent game and level design, I decided to make this the the topic of my Final Year Project at the University of Teesside. The project included the following tasks spead out over roughly 20 weeks:

• Creation of a consistent and appealing cyberpunk background universe. This included a timeline with all major political, social and technological events, world order and the current state of technological advancements, spread out over a number multi-page mind maps.
• An iterative level design process (initial thougts on paper, later rough drafts in Photoshop, then on to the actual 3d part) that fits into said universe and pays attention to technical capabilities of game engines as well as the creation of a sense of immersion and atmosphere.
• Creation of concept art for all the major assets.
• Getting aquainted with one of the state of the art games engines (in this case the UnrealEngine 3 that ships with Unreal Tournament 3) and the creation of as much content as possible.

Due to the number of tasks and the limited time frame, large parts of the environment work remained unfinished by the hand-in date. Whether this part of the project will be finished in the future or will stay this way as part of a learning process remains to be seen at this point. Only a small number of the concept art is featured here (and none of the underlying leg work); if you would like to get take a look at these documents, do not hesitate to contact me.

Concept Art

Throughout the process, a number of concepts were created and revised until they formed a consistent style for the level and the game in general.

Concept Art: The unfinished and long abandoned central bunker structure

Concept Art: Throughout the later stages of the planned level, heavy machinery would have been featured prominently.

Concept Art: A large number of smaller concept were created for props and structures in the distance.

Screenshots

The environment that was created is set during a covert op by a so-called 'MegaCorporation' in an unfinished and long abandoned bunker structure. The accessible area consists (at this point) of a makeshift 'server room' that doubles as a living space for the administrator during the time of the mission and a series of hallways and maintanance areas that lead to an adjacent aircraft hangar. Due to the time constraints mentioned before, parts of the environment are unfinished and would need to be worked on more to form a fully realised environment. The existing work should relay a fairly decent idea of where the environment is headed though.
All screengrabs were taken from Unreal Tournament 3. Polycounts, texture flat and closeups of selected assets can be found in the main gallery.

Unreal 3 screengrab: The office space is stacked with modular computer terminals, network diagrams and code listings.

Unreal 3 screengrab: The office is meant as the starting point of the level and allows the player to take a glimpse at the base he finds himself in as well as the hangar he is going to enter in a few moments.

Unreal 3 screengrab: A large number of cables is used to convey the feeling of an improvised setup, but at the same time two major cable strands are used to guide the player through the structure and give him visual clues as to where he wants to be.

Unreal 3 screengrab: The long abandoned hangar hall was meant to be used as a contrast to the crowded office space. The final version would have featured a number of storage crates as well as some rather sci-fi looking transport trucks and surveillance equipment.

Unreal 3 screengrab: Closeup of the roof structure. The final version would have contained a rusty old ceiling crane to further the idea of a abandoned structure.

Unreal 3 screengrab: The currently closed hangar doors would have been opened in the final version of the environment, guiding the player out of the structure by having bright sunlight shining through the gap.

Unreal 3 screengrab: The view from the bottom of the hangar.