Back Alleys, UDK Project

[FRAG69]

I've wanted to create a small level for some time, Maybe as a portfolio piece, a few days ago I decided to start and thought it would be great to post my progression on here and get a bit more active.

My idea is to create a small Back Alley setting, in the current day in a major city, nothing too out of the ordinary (Which is what most of my projects follow) I started looking for reference images to get a better idea of what major city alleys look like.











Those are a few of the many hundred that now live on my HDD, after scanning each image and picking key features that were consistent in each of the images I drew up a level layout.

I'm terrible at these so apologies in advanced.



I'm using some Material and Static Mesh packages from udkresources.com as they contain some great looking wall and ground materials along with some beat up looking meshes that can be used for the trash littered about.

I will most likely look through Turbo Squid If I need anything but it will most likely be the free models as I'm a student and that's how we roll apparently

I have some in progress shots somewhere but have lost track of them again, so I'll post them up in a bit.

I guess that's it for now, thanks for ready and looking forward to chatting to you all!

UDK Resources
http://udkresources.com/

[White Paper Games]

Good idea to fill out a portfolio, especially if you are using pre-existing materials and meshes. Will definitely allow you to have a quicker production time. I was wondering, what is your portfolio based around? Because if you're a level designer, you wouldn't need that much details in materials and meshes, and instead I would have focused purely on level layout. Planning each room on paper. What makes the level exciting? How have you paced the level? Etc..

However if you're an environment artist then surely using your own models and handpainted textures would surely be the way to go? Then creating a small focused scene where you can use the props to the best of their ability. Kind of like the "3 beauty shots" in the WoLD challenges.

Although if its just to further your learning and to understand workflows etc then this scene would work really well. Just make sure you have your goals down that you want to achieve whether that be design, art of practice and it will help you hit them much better.

P.S How have I never heard of this UDK Resources site before! Thanks for the link! And good luck with the project!

[FRAG69]

Thanks for your input White Paper Games! I guess what I'm trying to do with this piece is really just further my learning and understanding of workflows, some of the projects I've been a part of have usually involved receiving concept art from an artist, mapping a workable level layout on paper then white boxing it in a level editor, from there I usually receive the models and textures from another artist and place them into the level, after which I confer with both artists on level direction and if all is well I then go onto another level or start programming.

With this level I wanted to take the same direction but improve my workflow, after recently buying the pre-production blueprint and reading it everyday while working, I wanted to use this new fond knowledge on a new piece of work thus I created this new idea.
The goals set out might be more of a "showoff" rather then a playable piece, There will be no HUD, It has to look as natural as possible ie using everyday objects in the level along with real building materials, Real world heights and so on.

I did a quick material and mesh test today on a small section of the level, it's all BSP so it's looking quite flat for now



I will most likely start initial white boxing of the level after the weekend once I have some more materials I'm happy with and iterated my level layout a few times.

[DavidC]

Nice texturing. Where did you obtain the concrete textures for the walls? Make them yourself?

[FRAG69]

No I think those were default UDK textures, I mostly source textures from cgtextures.com or make them myself If I can, Today I've mostly been looking into primary material placement and lighting just to make sure all textures look right, also made some decals for wall graffiti, I'll post some screen shots later once I get back home.

[FRAG69]

This week has been crazy, I have a deadline for Monday regarding my Pre-Production Document.

Anyway I'll do an image dump of my current progress on the level, I went a bit far ahead of myself and placed some static meshes into the scene but it helped me gain some understanding of look and height of the level.















I'll be carrying on with the level after Monday is done with, until then I'm stuck in Open Office Writer

[White Paper Games]

Levels coming together nicely Oliver. Try to watch out for those large areas of brick wall, break them up with something that adds a bit of interest. Other than that the scene has come together pretty quickly over the past week. I always find the pre-production doc a fun think to write so you're a lucky guy Be cool to see how you've gone about setting it up and presenting it when you're done!

[FRAG69]

Thank you very much!

Yeah with those brick walls, I was looking at reference image 1 at the top, although the majority of the wall is brick, it has intricate features that help break up the repetitiveness of all that brick, I'm hoping to experiment a little with what I can do on Tuesday and also look into different lighting settings, although I like these day shots, I want to see if a night time setting can breath some extra life into otherwise dull areas via the use of street lights or neon signs perhaps.

[The Tiwi]

Very nice taste and sense of realism!

[The Tiwi]

I love that tree btw!

[FRAG69]

Thanks Tiwi

Not a lot of progress has happened this past week due to a computer failure and recovering my Hard Drive (files are there just need to transfer)

I get my rig back today so I'm hoping I can start working on this piece again tonight.

[devmarc]

ah that always happens when your doing something productive, i had it happen when i was working in a mod team and it can be the most demotivational problem.

hope its all sorted

[FRAG69]

Yes and no, they have replaced my motherboard but decided I was not having my CPU so I just went back to the store today and managed to grab it back, spent the last few hours setting it up again and it's now sat in the corner installing windows.

Maybe today I'll get some work done

[Spazzme]

Hey
I rly like the layout of the level.
Looks like a verry fun tight corners map that i would like to play myself.
I think you should try mixing up the shapes a bit, try adding som pillars in the corners making the buildings more vibrant and less repetitive.

Keep up the good work!

[FRAG69]

O.k I manged to get a little more done today, I started breaking up the brick texture with some mesh's working as a trim around the buildings and I also started making graffiti decals although one missed up and came out 90% black.

Also started painting in some grass in light covered areas to match where the sun would fall during the day









Hopefully once I'm done with my dissertation I can really jump back into this, was really hard to limit myself today but I did have to keep writing