The point of this project was to give me a scope of everything in a 3d environment artists role, ranging from small props, human buildings, terrain creation, foliage and trees, animals, animation, day and night cycles, reflective rivers and their materials, UDK Material editing and also particle effects. Its been well worth the ride and have produced something pretty good. There is always the argument of 'I could have done more' which I would be lieing in saying I dont feel that way now but I think that is always the case. The point is what I have has been on purpose and have spent a lot of time particularly in the placement of my assets to make it visually interesting. I like to think most areas in my level are interesting to look at as each have their own values and characteristics. I am also glad I have done a night/day cycle to be honest. For the majority of my project I have had it set as midday just for something to work against but also for the ferns.. while miscellaneous most Ferns grow under the shade of trees during midday and I wanted to keep that and it makes it look pretty realistic.
I added spots of colour with my flowers to keep the eye busy, broken up areas with ivy and brambles. Spread my decals around and have quite an interesting layout going out.
If im honest the end result is NOTHING to what I had in mind, I had this image in my head before I started on production but I found it to change and evolve as I was doing it. I also found it incredibly hard to concept what was in my head also, which I did the concepting quite early in the project, which helped, even they were not what I had in mind. Anyway to be honest what i had in my head at that time was a lot smaller and probably not as interesting. While my fmp is quite big in its area compared to my peers - any less than that and I dont think it would have worked. Its a trickey one as occasionally I felt that I had too much spread around rather then small and compact, though on the otherhand having things compacted is probably not the best way to go about it.
So yes Visually im really pleased with my work, even the chickens I worked on. When I first imported them into UDK I was simply amazed at how realistic they moved! While small, crit from other people have been that they have noticed them straight away and have appreciated them. I textured my chicken and animals weeks and weeks ago, it was one of the first things I did in fact, and the textures helps also. In many games the chickens seem to be the general brown colour but I wanted something a bit different. You dont see that many black chickens in games and I thought it was an interesting touch. To be fair I could have made instances for different colours but I just ran out of time for something pretty trivial. I was working right until the end basically and some things I had to cut out - the eels for instant.
So yes onto my personal crit of the level now, It was ambitious and I was constantly concerned if there was enough foliage placed around, particularly around the market area. For weeks it looked bare to me and after studying it for around 8 weeks I quickly got used to it and became less impressed the more I seen it. I asked around and decided to leave it at this point.. I COULD have added more but it would have made it a bit more crowded.. too crowded and I wanted to distinguish between what people had been walking on and what not. Im still in 2 minds about that area but.. Its done now and what I have is alright. The other thing.. my MAJOR thing.. was the frame rate which unfortunatly wasn't brilliant. according to my meter I was getting an average of 20fps and made some areas jerky to walk. Particulary the start where you turn to the left where it paused for a few miliseconds and everytime that position was looked upon it happened. As I mentioned I made LODS of all my foliage as they got into the distance and also edited the materials but nothing was happening.. I also looked on forums and I couldnt find anything I could do about it.. It was quite a lost cause and its my MAJOR concern.. In fact I handed my work in today but I felt so wound up about it I looked to see if I could do something about it. 1 theory was to make an auto executable file for my level which plays on its own.. At first yes I noticed a difference but not enough.. there were a few values I could play with but these were core UDK technical things which I dont fully understand. (and I think my role as an artist I cant really know) im still a novice at UDK and all things level design. I can only say I understand the fundamentals which I have practiced throughout this whole project but im still inexperienced in the technical field. Anyway apart from the frame rate issues Im pretty happy with what I have accomplished. I have some nice views all around. I did make an executable file (after I handed in however..) and after tinkering which I have done the rest of the day managed to get the frame rate a little higher which Ill defiantly use for the degree show. I have not changed my level at all but the actual UDK engine itself! Im.. pretty annoyed at myself for this but I got so stressed the last week being paranoid about 'does it look real, is this alright?' that I was concentrating on that. The visual elements were the key to this level and I did have frame rate in the back of my mind for quite a while.. but I have to remember my project was pretty big, the area was big and it needed filled. I cant say I would change anything.. as for 1 I physically cant due to deadlines. The Frame rate was my cause for concern but It wasnt really in my expertise. While I still feel frustrated by that there isnt really much I can do now. I will be presenting to the tutors later on today and discuss the issues I have had.. Anyway yes so in conclusion this project has been long and I have put a lot of work into it, I have learnt a lot of new skills in taking on this challenge, I feel more confident in what I can achieve now, I have produced something that im quite pleased with, but my main crit was the frame rate.. Its been a good project all in all though and im glad I did it, doing something else I think I would have gotten bored very very quickly. If I hadnt taken that trip to Norfolk Im sure it would be a very different project sitting here - likely one which I wouldnt have been so passionate about. So there you have it, my Riverside Settlement FMP.. Its been emotional..
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