3d-project

[3d-project]

Particle Effects~

Particle effects are normally used to enhance a games graphics, adding that extra little detail to something, like fire on a torch and the smock coming from the fire. What are some games that implement them though?

One game is Minecraft.

Minecraft uses loads of particles, the rain, explosions, smelting, pretty much everywhere and all of them work with the games environment, starting from the rain.

The reason why this rainfall here fits with the games environment is because it resembles the blockyness that the game already has, this is the same with the explosions, potion effects, just every effect in this game. I personally like the style because of this, when creating it I like how the developers thought about this even for the effects.

Infamous Second son~

I still don't know what this game is really about but after looking as some gameplay of it, the developers use a lot of particles in this game, pretty much for everything, For the fighting, for the movement, for getting anywhere.

This gif is a combination of the abilities that the main character can do, and as you can see there are a lot of effects for this. The effects in this gif work so well together, they blend him into particles and then back into him again, it is really interesting to see a game perfect this really well. I also can see why this fits in with the gameplay as all of there abilities are blended with mainly particles just in different ways depending on the abilities, this is also what I like about it.

Some other good examples of particles being used are:

Hogwarts legacy

Fable 3

Terraria

Noita

[3d-project]

Using decals in unreal engine~

When making a decal, I first made new material, and named it. I don't have anything to show as decals but I did I would import the the opacity mask and base color as textures.

I need to change a couple of the material details, Material Domain needs to be a Deferred Decal and the blend mode needs to be translucent.

After, drag the 2 textures in to the material, and put the one for base colour in base colour, and put the other texture in to opacity. For both I dragged RGB in the material node. Once this is done you can drag it in to the level and it should work like a decal.

[3d-project]

Cinematics and Sequencer~

A level sequence is pretty much a cutscene,

and in unreal engine 5 you can make them. To start I obviously need a level sequence which I found when I right clicked in the content draw.

Once I made the level sequence, I double clicked it and it should bring up a menu and the bottom of your screen after you put back down your content draw.

In this menu there is a lot of thing you can do here but I'm focusing on just sequences. Firstly I clicked on the camera to bring this up.

This is the cinematic camera, when the camera spawns, you will be in the cameras POV, meaning when you move, you also move the camera.

You can also grab the camera like an object if you press this button.

To make the camera work like a cinematic, I need to add keyframes, it is very similar Maya system where you have to move the cameras position first before adding another keyframe. Once all the keyframes are added you can play the cinematic with code

You can use an event play or a collision box node to get it to play, and as you can see above I created the level sequence and set it to play.

[3d-project]

Games that use Decals~

Decals are normally used for spray painting, maybe even blood, However are some really cool games that use Decals uniquely and one of my favourites is Splatoon 1, 2 and 3.

Splatoon 1, 2 and 3, all have the same main mechanic which is being able to paint ink on the floor, pretty much decals, to win or do some type of objective, which you are all called an inkling. One other main mechanic that you can do in this game is that the player is able to swim in the ink as if you were some type of fish. It definitely works with the games environment, they blend the mechanic with the games story on why they can do it.

I personally love this idea and considering that there was probably no type of competition for the idea I do think this was definitely effective for a mechanic. Before splatoon I didn’t really see any games that used decals in this way, it was only really used it for making spray paint cans or being able to draw on something. This is definitely something that would probably not fit in with my game but it is still a great idea.

Rocket League~

Rocket League was released in 2015, and they use decals for car stickers, definitely not as interesting as the splatoon series, however there are load of decals in this game.

The way rocket league uses decals is by using them on the cars, so the cars can be decorated and change to what you want it to look like. For me I feel like this is how I expected developers to use decals, making them seem like stickers and making it so you have to pay for them, I mean from the eyes of a team that want a lot of money this is sadly the way they would think.

Valorant~

Another game that used decals is Valorant.

Valorant uses them as sprays, so spray paints, unfortunately they make them somewhat paid for similar to rocket league. Valorant sprays can go on walls, the floor and even objects. The sprays don't really have a use in Valorant other than just being a decoration that the player has, however I don't know if it would fit in with the games environment as I just said, they are used as a decoration.

Some other games with decals are:

Fortnite

Epic Mickey (Both games (I also wish I talked about this game))

[3d-project]

My Toolbox

This is my finished Box for the K9 project "my toolbox".

All of the toolbox is complete, the final product didn't have as much detail as I wanted however I till looks perfectly fine.

[3d-project]

Adding My Model Too Quixel Mixer~

Adding you own model is really easier for quixel, all you do is pretty much drag it in a it should be there.

I just selected the fbx file that I got from maya and it worked, that is all I needed to do.

Displacement~

What is displacement? Well displacement allows the user to manipulate the models UV to make it look 3D on a certain part of the UV for example; On my toolbox I would use displacement to make it look like screws are there. Or making a dent in the item to make it look like it is dented.

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Cinematics

Fable,

This trailer does a really good job on how it present the game. It shows a person that is apparently a "Vegetable Enthusiast" saying how the ages of heroes are over, and complaining about it. And out of nowhere it turns out that he is a giant.

The trailer is presented in a way that works with the viewers. "Dave" breaks the 4th wall, taking to us, showing cuts of him taking about his opinion about the world while showing some of the gameplay.

It is definitely a nice way to produce a trailer and different compared to other trailers with just showing combat in a intense way.

No Man's Sky,

No man's sky is an interesting game, in the fact that it took a long time to release and for the time, no mans sky looked very unique. It having a huge space generation system with planets, solar systems and it having space combat. The trailer shows us the game slowly and speeds up through the trailer using cinematics to show the viewers.

One detail that is nice is that during the cinematic trailer there are no cuts, the trailer is just showing gameplay and what you are able to do in 3 minutes, go to a new planet, exploring and killing other space ships, that is a lot in 3 minutes and it was all done cinematically.

[3d-project]

One Last thing with the Toolbox~

I decided with the toolbox to combine the pick up for the flashlight and this animation to I didn't have to try and fit the flashlight pick up in the toolbox, it was easier. What this does, is it slowly plays the animation when the play gets close to it, and does the opposite when the player goes away.

One thing that works really well is when the player picks up the flashlight, because the player gets changed, it doesn't recognize the player in the toolbox collision box so it starts to close.

[3d-project]

Game Soundscapes and Player Experience~

The player experiences a lot when playing games, emotions, feeling an immersion and a game I know a lot about this is happens in, for me anyway is Genshin Impact (I know but I couldn't think of anything else easy).

Genshin Impact is an open world RPG game with a really good sound track. The sound track in this game combines the games ambient with the music it's self. For example, in one of locations called dragon spine, it is a cold mountain and the music that plays makes you feel cold, and when you combine that with the few ambient sounds the game uses, it makes the player feel a lot more immersed in to the game than with just the music or just ambient sounds.

You could also have a places in genshin that use soundscape to bring the play more immersed with the game, Like using ocean waves or having seagull noises near an ocean.

[3d-project]

Editing my Model in Quixel Mixer,

The first thing I did in Quixel was add a metal and a bit of roughness to the handle as why would it be metal.

And in the end that was all I added to it, I used the UV I previously made in photoshop and dragged it in to Unreal.

I was having a lot of issues with the UV mapping while using Quixel, as I overlapped most of the UV to make it easier to use in photoshop and color.

[3d-project]

WatchTowers

While making most of this for this project, I realised that I need something else in the game other than just the forest, I was think of ideas like maybe having an abandoned house that is really damaged or maybe having a cave of some kind.

However while scrolling in a modelling website I found a watchtower and it was perfect. Obviously I did look for some after to see if it would match my games environment.

And it does, the watchtower, to me, sticks out even if it's not safe (the watchtower). Personally I would think that it is somewhere that you would go if it was complete darkness, it's a building and it could have something useful in it. It's just somewhere to go.

One game that the tower could relate to this, is Firewatch. The main character in the game is going through a forest, looking for clews related to the forest and there are scattered watchtowers around with items in them. I don't know all the details about the game but I noticed that the game has similar aspects relating to how watchtowers are used.

The watchtowers are used for showing items, having recourses in them or having absolutely nothing in them. Mine will have pretty much nothing in it, I mean it is meant to be abandoned so it makes sense. So all I put in mine was a light with a random desk and a book.

The light turns off and on if you are in it's range, the book doesn't have anything important in it and that's it. It's kind off a decoration and I feel like that's all the watchtower need in it. I would have add more but I don't really have enough time to do so.

Having more time is something I need to work on.

[3d-project]

The Flashlight,

I decided to get a sound for the button press as it is also animated.

I was able to get my sound of off a friend who got a sound from their torch, who recorded there button press. This was very helpful. The coding works just like the animation, it plays in reverse if it has already been pressed and obviously it plays when you press 'F'.

[3d-project]

The plan in Action

Decoration, the start of adding all the plants, trees and the grass.

For the grass clumps, I got them from Quixel.

For the trees, I made them in a software called 'Tree it'. This software is very useful and saves a lot of time so I would recommend using it for place holder trees or anything similar.

I decided to go this these as the final four trees to mix them together. Unfortunately, I didn't end up using the last one as the leaves didn't work like they did in tree it, and still looked like a png even after making them translucent (The leaves). In the end, I did make the trees a foliage so it took me way to long to put them down, as I was considering adding wind physics on them however I probably won't because of time so something to take note of in the future.

The last thing I added was extra plants and bushes around near the trees as it didn't quite bring the full feeling of the forest without them.

This is the start of this, adding some flowers around the bench to indicate that it is a safer place then very where else. I do feel like I need something else around the forest but I don't think I have enough time to do so as I need to get something else down in the world.

[3d-project]

What is Quixel Mixer?

Quixel Mixer is a 3D texturing software used by artists for mainly making really good materials, with that you can also use Megascans that you have in this software.

With Quixel you can add, Metalness, roughness and even displacement which makes it look like its sticking out, even though it is now.

These two materials are just the few that you can get from the megascan list (if you have it) and with the materials you can paint it on to objects that you have made so if you have a path that needs 2 matarials, you can paint them both on the UV, even if its not the best.

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Materials in Quixel Mixer.

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Progress on the Toolbox,

All this post is about is the toolbox for the K9 Project, and what the requirements are for it.

Those requirements are;

All of the textures need to be in one UV, for the whole model.

The limit of the project is that was a problem for me, was the tris limit of 10000.

And using Quixel Mixer for the textures.

When making this I did have a tris issue as I said before, where I was using to many, on spheres, just making things look too sharp. To get around this in the end, I just didn't add as much detail and for the screws I will use Quixel Mixer. Now, this was the Hammer design I went for.

The only thing I change with this hammer was the color of the wood so it isn't a yellowy color, as it just looked really off. The reason why I made a hammer was to add something else to the toolbox, who in there right mind would leave a brand new looking flashlight in the middle of nowhere.

The next thing I had to make for this toolbox was the handle. I mean, I didn't really know how to make the handle curve to something similar, like a pipe, so I google how to. I can't lie, it was very easy to do, you just use a bridge with both object combined. I also put a handle grip on the handle.

The next step was making the UV for the toolbox as I need it for the requirements for the K9 Project. It wasn't to difficult as all of my toolbox is very basic with is materials and colors. All of this UV is more of a place holder as I haven't done any work in Quixel Mixer.

[3d-project]

Cross-Cultural Sound Design~

Cross-Cultural Sound Design in games. One game franchise that uses this is Pokemon.

With each game that they release, Pokemon theme them around different cultures and ways of life. For example, one of the latest games, Pokemon sword and shield.

As you can probably hear by the bagpipes, this games cultures is based/representing of the Scottish and British culture through the games music and mostly everything new. In my opinion, when I found out that this Pokémon game was based/representing this culture, I did buy it based on that, even if it wasn't as cultural aspect of it wasn't that good.

The other games that they have done based on they culture are;

Pokemon: Black and White - The US - New York City

Pokemon: XY - France

Pokemon: Sun and Moon - Hawaii

Out of these three Pokémon: Sun and Moon sticks out way more with there culture. With this game, the music and the sounds are used with the instruments that are normally used in that country like the ukulele. Most of the sounds are blended with this and an example is when you pick up an item in the game, it uses and ukulele instead of the the regular sound that they use in the older games. Comparing it to Pokémon sword/shield, as I said before, it uses bagpipes in some of the sound tracks.

This could also change the player experience, as it could make them more immersed with the game.