Task 17: Documentation (part 1)

Overview – Space-themed Platforming Game

This brief details the creation of assets for a game with a ‘retrofuturistic’ theme. Retrofuturism is 20th century aesthetics applied to science fiction; it creates a style that looks both space-age and old-fashioned, and is instantly recognisable.

The game will be for PC, and be aimed as casual gamers and younger players. It will primarily be a platforming game with an emphasis on puzzle solving. The gameplay will involve interacting with the environment via various tools such as grappling hooks, magnetic boots and jet-packs.

The overall look of the game should be clean and bright, with emphasis on primary colours to emulate the ‘pop art’ feel of retrofuturism artwork.  It should aim for a simplified ‘cartoony’ look rather than gritty realism, but retain realistic character and environment proportions. To create and maintain a unified stylised appearance, all textures will be primarily digitally hand painted. The game will take place in a variety of different themed levels, so assets that will be present throughout the game - such as reoccurring characters, need to be versatile enough that they are suitable across several different colour palettes.

The game will be produced for the Unreal Engine, using the Unreal Development Kit. The models with be produced primarily in 3Ds Max, with Z-brush or similar software used to produce normal maps.  The textures will mainly be produced in Photoshop.

 

 Lead Character – Space Explorer

The lead character is a female space explorer. She will be wearing a space-suit with helmet that obscures the face. The space suit doesn’t have to look realistic by modern standards – in fact it is preferable that it is obviously influenced by science fantasy. The suit can show minor wear and tear, but should for the most part look clean and new.

The character model should value readability over detail, and be realistically proportioned - although some exaggeration is allowed to aid readability - with a primarily blue or grey colour theme and plus a highlighting colour such as orange if needed.

Since the character will be in the foreground of the screen consistently during gameplay, only one Level of Detail is needed.

The character mesh should be under 20k tris, and the mesh should prioritise the silhouette and use appropriate polygon density. Since the character will be very visible and will constantly be moving, the topology needs to be built so that it deforms smoothly when the model is rigged.

The mesh should be textured using the following maps:

2 1024x1024 diffuse map with alphas

2 1024x1024 colour specular map

2 1024 normal maps

The diffuse map should be hand painted in Photoshop, with photo references used sparingly to convey the different textures of the materials such as metal and plastic. Mirroring the textures should be avoided as should obvious symmetry, except in areas where it will not be noticed. 

NPC – Robot Helper

This character will be present in various levels, to be directed by the player. It will be mostly humanoid, although not necessarily with accurate proportions, and has to be visibly mechanical. Most importantly, the character needs to look like it could realistically move, with jointed segments where the limb bend.

The character mesh should be under 15k tris, and the mesh should prioritise the silhouette and use appropriate polygon density. Since the character is mainly made out of metal, the majority of the mesh will not deform when moving, so the topology should take into account where extra geometry will be needed for it to deform cleanly and where it will not.

The mesh should be textured using the following maps:

2 1024x1024 diffuse map with alphas

2 1024x1024 colour specular map

2 1024 normal maps

The diffuse map should be hand painted in Photoshop, and the normal and specular maps need to realistically display the different materials – metal, plastic, rubber, etc – that the character is made of.

  

Part Two