October 22nd - Midterm

For this update, I was tasked with creating a three-room bunker level. This time around, emphasis was placed on creating a polished environment over everything else. I utilized free assets from Quixel Bridge to make my bunker feel more alive. I also used lighting to give areas of the bunker a certain feel. The main area is tinted green, to give an off-putting or sickly feel. One section of the bunker is a "hidden" room where there are signs that someone has been hiding out. I gave this area warmer lights, as well as a small fire, which gives the area a more "lived-in" feel. The third room has a darker orange tint to it, which feels more dangerous rather than warm or inviting. Ultimately, from this assignment I learned that environmental feel is very hard. It's easy to imagine an environment in your mind, but putting it together in Unreal is a much more challenging task. I had fun with the environmental storytelling aspects of it, where I used graffiti and other decals to show that someone had been living in the bunker. However, I think putting gameplay mechanics into practice feels more rewarding to me as a designer than putting environments together.