Level Video

Game Level (James Dyer) from Mr.Cow on Vimeo.


Walk-through of my level.

Final Comments:  My design didn't reach my expectations but I am happy with the final product. It ended up feeling the way I had planed it to, I wouldn't mind a bit more foreshadowing in the level though. I'd like to add blood splatters to some of the textures in the Medbay and restricting the lighting in the Cryostasis Room. I never got around to adding sparks on the broken Cryostasis door and wanted the elevator shaft to be almost black inside, having the player rely on throbbing lights in the darkness in order to progress to the Medbay.

I removed the directional light in the level to try and accomplish this but it was still bright and I was not able to get it as dark as I would have like. There was also some issues with the texturing, it stretches in places (on the pipe in the Cryostasis corridor and floor).

When I designed the corridors that connect the rooms on the spacecraft I wanted them to look different as a visual key to the player, to let them know they where in a new area of the game. To accomplish this I looked at different textures online and picked ones that set the mood and setting the game was based in. I wasn't able to add enemies but they would be different from other areas on the spacecraft ( the monsters in medbay would be more biological but the monsters in the generator would have wires and metallic bars extruding from their bodies).

I had planed this level to be creepy and have ominous overtones. The tumor in the hallway to the science bay is visual proof that there an unknown life form/forms on board and as a way to show the horrors that are yet to come.

 

Medbay to SciBay, end of the first level.

 Final Touch Ups:

I finally added the finishing part of the cryostasis room. You can see earlier on that I planed my design with tubes, I wanted this to be connected to a central structure that would purify and replenish the cryotubes.

Elevator shaft inside perspective, After a few adjustments the shaft is now scale able. there where a few blocks that needed adjusting.

The tables where a success :D!

I added x-rays to help set the environment and used biological readouts for the surgery tables. 

Textures:

I wanted to use futuristic read outs but keep them relevant to medical sciences..

X-Ray 1

screen1

X-ray 2, fan art for alien.

X-ray 3, from the alien movie.

screen 3

Screen 2, The Thing, John Carpinter 1982.

After placing the first 2 surgery tables I realized that the room was looking to clean so I tilted one on the side to make it look broken, the lights flicker on the levitation orbs to show it is broken.

End Level Corridors (Medbay to SciBay)

 

End of the first level.

Completed Level layout.

Corridor layout.

Tumor Corridor 1

Tumor Corridor 2, I like this it foreshadows the events to come and lets the player know that they are not alone, they weren't attacked by a human vessel. There is something else on bored, Something not human.

Burning Corridor, I wanted this to be here to keep the damage to the ship constant.

Science bay door, the end of my level.

When the player reaches this door they will be prompted to go to the next level.

Medbay Design

 Corridor and door:

I wanted the Medbay to have a totally different design to the stasis platform below. I used different textures and a different door design. I'm really sleepy now, cant concentrate. going to bed.

Modeled the Medbay door from this texture,

Medbay roof textue

Medbay door development

Medbay Door UVW

MedbayDoor Texture

Corridor texture for medbay

Corridor in game ( this was taken from the elevator shaft)

Medbay Door in game

Will add Medbay soon

The table of awesome (hopefully)

 This hasn't been added to the game yet, I'll post what it looks like in game soon though. I started off with a rectangle (ground breaking I know) then beveled it and moved the center down to create an edge.  (more of the design process in comments below)

Beveled rectangle.

Table UVWS (middle rectangle = table top, outer rectangle = table top edge, rectangles to the right are the faces and under part) I didn't worry about the outer faces and bottom as much. They aren't the center piece or the object and dont attract as much attention as the top.

After I created this in Photoshop I realised that it was too clean. Especially for a horror/survival game) so I decided to make afew more versions to apply in game. 

This version still has a clean table top.

Unlike the first this one has dried fluid on the table top (believe me it really does look like an off brown, working in pathology I see some gross shit). 

Perse view (clean table)

S. Orbs on the bottom.

S. Orb placement

Holographic display: 

I had an idea for a holographic display on the end of the table, kind of like a patients chart but more futuristic. I'm not sure if this is going to work, but I placed two planes back to back on the end of the table. I think if I put a texture on it it'll look invisible when I walk around the other side. so fingers crossed for crunch time :P

If this works I'll use it else where in the level.

What would a surgical table look like in the future?

It's a weird question I thought I'd never have to ask myself but after some thought I decided the table would levitate (it would make for easy storage and sterilization of the table after cleaning). I went with an orb design  , it would be able to apply force in more directions to maintain the tables stability.  I wanted there to be a metal part ( the business end) where most of the fictional propulsion could be calculated and an output where the force could be applied. 

Simple design below.

Levitation Device (Surgical Orb)

S. Orb. Small circle = top, big circle = bottom.

My aim is to have the objects material have self- illumination. I am  hoping this will look good in game. 

Textured S.Orb

Elevator Shaft, Med bay, falling doors!

Elevator Shaft (completed)

I wanted to add a challenge that could continue throughout the game/level. For the player to access the medbay they need to go up the scaffolding of the elevator shaft.

Top Entrance (medbay corridor)

If the player falls to the bottom, they will see a piece of door that fell from the upper level.

MedBay Location

Walls and Doors :O!

 Door:

Door (I modeled this door off of the texture below)

I liked this door for 2 reasons: I looks industrial and It looks like the door of the manga entertainment opening on VHS.  It would also fit the player controller through and would be east to show broken.

UVW MAPS: Door

This is applied to both of the faces on the Left rectangle

This is applied to both of the faces on the rectangle on the Right.

Finished Product. I designed this like the characters in class. I placed a plane behind two rectangles with a bitmap of the file I was modeling.   

Corridors:

After creating the corridor I added the door, The ship is meant to be dilapidated and broken. To help get this point across I wanted the door from cryostasis to be broken. To achieve this I made the left part of the door slanted and plan on adding sparks later.

Here is the wall I designed with with lighting.

This corridor is blocked, there is a fire on the other side with a plane that has an image of a room on it. I added this to help reinforce the damage that has occurred while the player has been in Cryostasis. The main character doesn't know the full extent of the damage yet, is the ship about to explode? is the air lock working in the next room? what has h append here and how bad can it really be? These are questions I want the player to ask, when they play the level.

I wanted to tilt the corridors to stop the player from moving on a straight plane. I really don't like a flat design. To the right of the picture (Above) the corridor is slanted up. I want to add an elevator shaft for the player to navigate with the medbay being at the end.

Elevator Shaft goes here ^