Overhead road creation

My storyboard sketch called for a long initial overhead section where a bike is driving for a long period.

In practice, creating a large level like this is impractical and time consuming, so I came up with a solution.

I used an 'infinite runner' game tutorial to allow me to create an infinite 'rolling road' that the camera could follow the bike along for as long as required without creating a large unwieldy level.

A section of the road used is shown below. It contains all the environment details required such as the road, buildings and lighting.

This road section will continue to spawn in front of the moving bike for as long as required due to how it is set up.

A trigger box at the end of each section detects when the bike reaches this point and spawns a new road section ahead of the bike off-screen. The blueprint for this is below.

To avoid the road sections looking too similar and to add some dynamic and interesting elements to the scene, the buildings will always be different sizes, so that it's not just a flat wall of buildings along the edges.

This is achieved with construction script within the road blueprint. This code executes whenever a new road section is spawned in, ensuring new and interesting results every time.

And here is a shot of the final overhead view with added post process outline for a futuristic neon wireframe effect.

Arcade Creation

Using the environment sketches I created earlier as a guide, I put together the arcade exterior building using unreal blockout pieces, then applied appropriate materials to get across the look and feel I was going for.



For the interior, I again worked from the sketches, but extended the width of the layout adding more avenues. I downloaded an arcade machine model as a placeholder to enhance the feel of the blockout.





As you can see below I added extra characters into the scene to make it feel more alive. Instead of creating new animations for these characters, I used the blueprint system to control the joints in a randomised manner. The code used can be seen below.





To add some interaction and player choice, I created the direction decision at the entrance.

The blueprint logic is shown below.



A different scene plays out depending on which choice the player makes. The fuzzy transparent material is custom made and is made to represent the possible choices the player has.

City Streets Creation

 When creating the city exterior shots, I started with the outside area by the arcade, which is what I depicted in my original sketches.

I used unreal primitives to block out the area, then added skyscraper materials that I had created, to enhance the look and feel I was going for, so that it wasn't just all grey blocks.

After this, I decided that I would like to extend the driving sections of the cutscene, so I created extra city streets for the bike to move around.

I added in street lamps and a wet road material which I had created to add more dynamic lighting and reflections to the scene.

And finally I used a post process outliner to give the whole thing a futuristic neon wireframed look, the material function for this can be seen below.

Storyboard and environment sketches

In the games industry, pre-production such as concept sketches and storyboards are an important step which sets the project in the right direction.

As this unit is a cutscene, I have created a storyboard sketch to guide the flow of the scenes and to direct the shots and camera angles.

This can be seen below.

I feel this sketch, while basic, is clear enough to communicate the direction of the cutscene.

I will compare my final shots with this sketch near the end of the project.

As there is an environmental area central to the scene, the arcade, I have created some concept sketches to help with the look, design and layout of the interior and some of the exterior elements.

This top-down view gives an idea of what I am aiming for with the environment and the layout of the arcade, though these are obviously just guides and the final versions are subject to change as the project evolves.

Here is a sketch of the top-down bike section depicted in the first panel of the storyboard.

Mind Maps and Mood Boards

Very early pre-production in the games industry involves hashing out ideas very quickly to get a sense of what the project is about.

One of these methods is to create mind maps, with the central point being the project and ideas for what might be desirable or required coming off the central point.

I have created a mind map for the cutscene project here.

Another major element of pre-production in the industry is to use mood boards.

These are selections of images which help to define the direction for the look and feel of a project.

I have used Pinterest to create some mood boards to help with defining the look and feel of the cutscene.

Introduction and Unit Brief

In this unit, we have been tasked with creating an environmental level design and Storyboard using industry standard software and practices.

I plan to use Unreal Engine 4 as the game engine, as I have the most experience with it.

I will be using Maya for any models I may need to create as well as Photoshop to create any textures for the scene.

I will be sketching the storyboard by hand.

This unit runs from 21/09/2017 through to 02/02/2018 and I have created a weekly timetable to help with time management.