Time has been more scarce this week, but I’ve been able to get the ball rolling modeling artifacts that the player will collect and see in-detail. I have also scouted royalty-free 3D assets that I can adapt to develop the alleyway into a sort of security checkpoint (which will give me the opportunity to provide some exposition about the in-game timeline of societal collapse).

Modeling Artifacts

Due to travelling that I’ve had to do this week, my pared-down production plan was to model 3 artifacts that the player will discover in alleyway (the first area of the level).

These ended up being:

• a bottle of water purification tablets
• a small fan hooked up to a portable solar panel
• empty food ration cans

In line with my updated production strategy of utilizing readymade assets to expedite to augment my work and allow for a more complete final product, I combined my own modeling work with prefabricated meshes to create unique items that suit the game.

At the time of my writing this update, I have yet to paint the textures for the tablet bottle and ration cans (which will portray text labels providing some exposition about their purpose and the game’s backstory). If I don’t get to this later today, this will be my first action step for the coming week of production.

Bottle of Water-PUrification tablets

I modeled this bottle from scratch in Blender, with the tablets implemented as a particle system of a single tablet object within a volume contained inside the bottle.

This artifact will serve two narrative purposes:

• reinforcing the idea of rugged, post-apocalyptic survival amid a scarcity of drinking water
• providing a bit of information about the world (e.g. an expiration date, manufacturer, etc.)

Of course, the narrative ‘heavy lifting’ will be done throught texturing, particularly that of the bottle’s label. My current idea is to format the label as a barebones text label (using a typewriter-like font) including an expiration date. In addition to providing textual exposition, I think a worn, typewriter-like label will evoke times of war and famine. I also think there’s some interesting irony to be found in a item that looks like it could be from World War II being dated to around 2100.

Transparent rendering in Blender of water-purification tablet bottle, with tablets visible inside.

Blender viewport render of original model of water-purification tablet bottle.

Portable Fan and Solar Panel

I modeled these items from scratch as well based on existing products. The innovative but familiar design of these items seemed appropriate for a near future scenario where people need to stay cool and rely on alternative energy sources, but in a rugged environment where the power grid is failing/gone and portability is necessary as people flee to safety.

The solar panel kit is actually an inexact recreation of a portable solar panel charging kit I personally own and use; I think it’s a great example of real technology that the average person can use in their daily lives in a wide variety of settings.

Untextured viewport render of original models of a bladeless fan and portable solar panel kit in Blender.

Original models of a bladeless fan and portable solar panel kit with basic texturing, including a solar cell texture by zedvenom downloaded royalty-free from https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/textures/miscellaneous/solar-panel-5b063732-1233-4683-8f49-95c034fa76b8

Food Ration Cans

I downloaded prefabricated can models by Volfson from CGTrader. I then used proportional editing to add bulges and dents, open the lids, and clearly convey that these cans have been used and discarded. Again, labeling will be necessary to communicate what these containers were made to hold, and this will be another opportunity to throw in details like dates, manufacturers, or ruling factions.

Viewport render of food cans modified in Blender to be opened and deformed.

Prefabricated models of food cans by Volfson, downloaded royalty-free from https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/food/miscellaneous/canned-food-ef423606-6fc5-41f4-be76-3f628e1139f1

Other work

UV-Mapping the Airboat

Last week, I showed an original airboat model placed in the level inside Unreal Engine. As a quick solution, I had used Unreal’s built-in, automated unwrapping tools in order to be able to show the model with some sort of texturing.

This week, I manually unwrapped the model’s components in Blender by adding seams and tweaking UV mpas to keep the size and orientation of the placeholder grid pattern consistent.

Blender viewport render of original, UV-mapped model of an airboat.

Finding Prefab ‘Security Checkpoint’ assets

I’m thinking of placing the following assets in the alleyway outside the apartment building to create a sort of security checkpoint to house the above artifacts and provide some narration about the social unrest, military conflict, climate refugee crisis, and makeshift governance included in my backstory timeline.

Once again, the models will be adapted (especially the texturing) to provide some textual exposition. The checkpoint sign will be particularly useful for hinting at military conflict, regional governance, and mass-migration. The sandbags will also hint at the chronic flooding that characterizes New York around 2100.

‘Road closed’ by sostcgtech available for download, royalty-free, from https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/exterior/exterior-public/road-closed-sign-low-poly

Model of sandbags by DenisRutkovsky available for download, royalty-free, from https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/furniture/outdoor-furniture/sandbags-557a4161-294f-408a-9dde-c7e885f6a216

Collection of defense line objects by RetroStyleGames, available for royalty-free download from https://www.cgtrader.com/free-3d-models/military/other/defense-line-vol3-barrier-breaker

Looking Ahead

After finishing up this first batch of artifacts, next week will be about implementing a sound system.

In addition to footsteps (different sets for the alleyway, stairs, apartment, and rooftop) and nature sounds (insects, birds/amphibians/reptiles, wind), I am thinking of including some royalty-free music reminscent of the bayous of Louisiana. I think this will be a great way to lead the player on to think they’re exploring a swamp in the Deep South (possibly in the present or even the recent past). This could amplify the surprise of learning that the game takes place in a ‘futuristic’ New York metro area.