I return!
I have been thinking about this project for a few years while I work on Dino Hoarders. With my programmers swept up by life and school and jobs, I decided that I need some revenue, or wind in my sails to keep that going. I actually can tackle more in the dev-kit now because of a VERY supportive community I've joined, full of people who understand blueprinting. With Ark 2 on the horizon though I decided why not get my environment art showcase going. I don't know if I will finish this - it will depend on support, following, funding etc... but I really do want to build environments in the metaverse. The art style of this map is very "me." The plot behind it might be Ark based but I'm doing this for the style and I think it's just a great convenience that it complements Ark well.
So I've taken this project back up from where it was left in 2017. I do plan to get the terrains into the dev kit with some big objects, put together a teaser and apply for sponsorship. It was finding out that Ark 2 is scheduled for release in 2023 that gave me the motivation to get this going. I actually would love to port this into Ark 2 if it will be possible but there's no harm in assembling the project in the kit now.
Above is a general overview of how I started to rethink the map, after years of having shelved this project to work on Dino Hoarders. I want a map where you can live in the sky, on the surface, or inside it. I wanted something open, spacious, with stunning vistas of mountains and other-worldly structures. Recently, in my desire to learn more of Unreal environments, I decided to tackle blocking the world out in ZBrush:
I spent like no time on this shell so I might even redo it, but we're getting into the idea. The containing edges may be too tall, blocking out light and sunsets... Granted I want this world to have a "sunset all day" kind of vibe, I'd still like far away objects that are massive to look very far away. I'm thinking of building the shell as a basic shape then tiling more detailed panels on the outside and having them render in only when players are on them... that way the huge structure's geometry isn't too boxy if players actually have a chance to explore the outside from space. This would be a twist on a "lunar" biome I suppose.
Below is the first video in a playlist of how I built this up in ZBrush. I'll be able to extract heightmaps out of here and then use Photoshop and other programs like World Machine to refine the heightmap for the kit.
This map has fractal shapes, "bones" and organic looking surfaces that aren't -quite- rock. I've been developing many structure themes in Substance Designer and ZBrush, using my own acrylic fluid art works, and AI to reshape them.
Below is a wall for the Underworld:
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The above object does have LODs and is not as high poly as it may seem. I worked on this a lot to get the beauty and tris to the right place. Yes, there is a rock drake in this image for size reference.
Below is my first work on The Stomach. I'm just playing in photoshop with the HD renders to test vibes and overall look before I commit to anything. But so far I am really digging this. I'll accompany this with some notes I wrote about the same time. Once I created those roots/veins/tentacles I was inspired about how nutrients and element moves around the map and thought about how The Stomach is still connected even to the floating parts of the land.
The link to this writing has a password - it's the same as the one for you typed to see the page you are on: https://1drv.ms/t/s!Aui_1lRLjwh6gYg8hZM5G9cibUQHxg?e=wI6y0m
Things got a lot more interesting once I moved on to the next step and now I really feel like I know exactly how I want to build the walls and cieling. I plan to use one of my favorite paint pours, without any AI tweaking, as a sort of emissive beating heart sky... I did use AI to generate the shapes of the "bones" that I wanted to be supporting this massive chamber.
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I've downloaded speed-tree, so, trees are one of the next steps. I've got a heap of pinterest boards for inspiration I might as well dump here. I plan to only show stuff that's my own concept art or progress from now on. Anything as inspiration will be linked and credited off of this site.
Inspo Boards
Tools I've Purchased so Far:
Old Stuff:
A little background:
"Podcreature" started out modding to create custom maps for the sims 3
This Map so Far:
Similar methods were employed to create our terrain and heightmap
Complete by: ???
Zone Borders we've concluded on:
Testing the look of our splat maps with possible look and feel of our zones. Maps used to create the splats from WM. Edited in Photoshop.
A topological tour before applying sub-materials.
There's already a list of mods that Xanjis has completed for the map, such as the fire-plant, bounce-plant, portals and more he's still working on! The plants and portals only need meshes now.
Skybox colors for various times of the day, based on fantasy themed artwork referenced and the real-world sky.
Inspiration boards for our various zones:
Almost all of these reference images are snipped from these Pinterest boards, where we hunt for inspiration. All of the images pasted from my Pinterest are copyright owned by their respective publishers, as listed there, not by me or any members of the Respawned team. These inspiration boards are not for public showcasing, and will only be reviewed by our artists and affiliates of the project. Only our own official concept art will be unvieled publicly after beta release of our mod.)
the "stars" are not actually likely to be those seen from space because we are inside the planet, not likely to be on the surface of the underside. Because of the lack of sunshine, however, there might be some light filtering in, resulting in a dim daytime. The Underworld may be darker than Aberration.