Before I start the introduction, I want to make it clear that I found a group of people who were interested in the first week of school in January, and because the project we’re working on is very interesting, I’m actually including three weeks of progress in this posting (two weeks to be exact, because in the first week we were working on defining the worldview as well as the theme’s concept, which is complicated because we need to take into account a lot of factors, and all four of us designers want to use this project as a cornerstone for the future, so we’re all very serious about getting it done).
We are going to make a third-person perspective fighting game based on the UNITY engine, the game is based on a variety of hardcore beat ’em up games, I’ve put up 3 videos of reference games below, each of which can be viewed for just a few of the core elements (movement, gameplay, and special effects) especially the first one which is the most informative (since it’s based on the same engine).
Our game is set in the ancient Central Asian region of Loulan, and the main focus of the game is to control the protagonist, an ancient prince of Loulan, to kill a boss in order to achieve victory.
We currently have a full backstory in place, and we’ll be embodying a part of the story (maybe a weapon?) in the game as well. Maybe an enemy? Maybe a scene?) Everything will be designed with elements of Central Asia and the Loulan region in mind.
Our team is now close to completing the design of the main character, and I’ll be introducing the main character in detail in the next post, here’s some of the brainstorming we’ve been doing in FIGMA, and some of the sources of the ideas (there’s a bit of Chinese in there that we haven’t translated at the moment, but we’ll be doing so later on).
Here are some games as sampleThis is the attack model we designed01also the attack way and the special combo way
The above is the progress that our group has been discussing together in our regular twice-weekly meetings, and some of the pictures in it are sketches that we have made.
Here is some of my progress during recent weeks.
Charecter designmonster maskdraw the eye’s detailsorry, this should place above! first is to make a BIG holeTrimming the contoursI didn’t have a suitable brush, so I made my own pair of ram’s hornsFinal is not bad i think
Before next week’s group presentation, I was tasked with completing the design of the accessories on the main character as well as the design of the weapons, and assisting another 3D designer with the design of the costumes and the binding of the bones.
The first BLOG of the new term was a super hard NUKE assignment, this week we learnt about the MATCHMOVE technique in 3D and completed two classroom assignments!
I was sick in the first week so I didn’t come to class, so I realised in the second week of class that the first week taught a lot of important things, so I studied the first week on my own in class and completed the first week’s assignments without any problems, and here’s the first week’s assignments on display
Here’s how the second week of study and homework went.
Here’s a couple of mechanical CG concept art referencesHere’s a diagram of the process of tracking the lens at the beginningJesus…finished
In the process of removing the markers, I took a direct screenshot of the ground and walls near the marker points and selected them as textures.
Successful one!The animation also disappears after adding a few nodes!On the ROTO for the walls, I went straight to MOCHA PRO to make it quicker!Done
The theme of my work is about the Qing Dynasty in China. As we all know, the Qing Dynasty of China fell into disrepute during the late Qing Dynasty for various reasons, but the truth is that if the Qing Dynasty had not been a monarchy, China would have been a superpower in the world that was more developed than the European countries. In my artwork, I want to show the scene that the Qing Dynasty did not fall.
On the technical side, I’m hoping to use a variety of software that I’ve been taught on the course to make them, but of course as it stands, I’ve used all sorts of 3D software now except for NUKE, which is so difficult that I really don’t think of how to use it.
How I have planned my project?
In the beginning, I would make a detailed plan for each week, including learning new content as well as making projects, but of course, I’m not someone who can always keep on learning hahahaha, so I would have a few weeks off or travelling, I really love travelling around, it allows me to get more energy as well as inspiration, I think for most people travelling can drain you a lot of energy, but I’ll always travel and have fun all the time.
When it comes to my work, the most I do is plan a week or two in advance, for example, I’ll be travelling for 20 days during my winter holiday month, so I’ll get the final finishing touches done in advance, and then when I’m back in the UK I’ll finish off the effects breakdown video and uploading the process to the BLOG.
What research I have done?
I’ve mainly done research into the armour of the Qing Dynasty and the history as well as the design of weapons during this period. The research will be shown in my video.
Most of the research comes from my life, because I am a very interested in history, so I might make a production on a certain period of history, a lot of the research comes from what I learnt in my daily life, and this project is also.
In terms of the history of the characters, I chose Lyu Bu from the Three Kingdoms period as the protagonist, and he is also the figure of the Qing dynasty emperor in my work.
Lyu Bu was born during the Three Kingdoms period of China, a time of warlordism and armed forces from all over the world striving for the centre of the country. He was married to Diao chan, the daughter of Wang Yun, the chancellor of the Han Dynasty. Diao chan was the first of the Four Great Beauties of ancient China, which is also very much in line with how I imagine the Qing Dynasty to have been in its heyday.
Lyu Bu, was one of the most forceful people in the Three Kingdoms period, and many of China’s current words or ancient phrases are related to him. Lyu Bu could have set up a local armament at that time just by force, and if he had more chancellors to assist him, he could have even set up a state in the pre-Three Kingdoms period (which is true, after the Yellow Turbans Uprising, Lyu Bu did capture Xu zhou(a state in China), which was owned by Liu Bei, and was then fame reached its peak) In the end, Lyu Bu’s death was due to his failure because he was too arrogant and never listened to his own chancellor. If Lyu Bu had listened to his subordinates, he could have taken over the Central Plains of China and unified the country in the early Three Kingdoms period.
Therefore, I used Lyu Bu, a representative of force, as the main character because if the Qing Dynasty could be strong, it would definitely need a general who is good at fighting to be the emperor.
What I have learned so far?
Everything taught in class！ (but don’t ask, asking means I might forget lol)
Video Presentation
Click on the link above to see a video of my project.
Special Effects Breakdown Video
Hardest Part
Part I: When using ZBrush to make weapons, I couldn’t use it at all because I hadn’t used it for so long, and I watched a lot of tutorials to learn how to do it.
This is what I want in my head!This is what I made at the beginning! (Like a tongue)
Part II: Just started using UE, originally felt that this software is very simple, and then found that I want to do what, what can not be done, and then only one by one to see the tutorials to learn, but I now find that the blueprints are really difficult, especially the blueprints of the characters, simply and other software is not a difficulty!
This post is about to present the final progress report for this project, which will focus on the model conversion of the weapons as well as the colouring process, the creation of more footage, and the process of creating the project title. Of course, the overall performance of the project can be seen in the thread at the top of this BLOG, which details all aspects.
First of all, I modified the model of the weapon, which was too complicated to paint or import, so I reduced the number of surfaces of each part of the weapon to 300,000 or less. (300,000 is an estimate, depending on computer）
The handle will have a little fewer facets because it’s so small.
I then imported the model into SUBSTANCE PAINTER and prepared to make the dragon part first
In the second step, I made a fine sculpture of the dragon’s head, dealing with the eyes as well as the teeth, and I also did some dust effects on the scales (the picture is not very clear)
Then I started making the rest of the different materials (not including the blade)
The final step was the colouring of the knife, my first idea was to create a more monolithic knife, but I realised that I had too little detail on the blade during the carving process, there was no layering so I couldn’t make the knife and the dragon feel like they were in the same series, I’ll look out for this in the future, so I went with my second idea from earlier, a gold blade
Next I modified the flaw that my teacher said in the critique that the female dancer in the scene was moving too fast, so I modified the speed in UE’s character editor
I had some problems exporting the model to UE5, I found that UE5 doesn’t recognise the obj file format and if you import the original fbx weapon model it doesn’t accurately import the texture into it as it will be expanded once when it’s coloured. So I exported the weapon model in OBJ format directly from SP, imported this file (with the correct textures) into C4D, and exported it as FBX, so that all the features of the weapon are displayed correctly in UE5.
Finally I used the lens guide in UE5 with film footage to create a close-up of the weapon
Finally, in the title section, I designed a title, and the Chinese font was designed by a designer I worked with at university
