Freelance Year Week 2 Space Station and Ludum Dare

To continue on from last week I completed the over all construction of the Space Station thanks to the help from the members of the game design Discord. I first modelled the thrusters that would be placed onto the bottom of the Station in order to show some functionality in my design, I created it by using the boolean tool to cut into a cube using a sphere creating a more complex shape that perfectly fits the components. Then I modeled the nozzle of the thruster by extruding and beveling a cylinder then combining the shape with two rings to act

as fuel lines.

Next I created the cranes that would be located above the cargo bay doors to show how the

cargo is taken from the space craft that arrive at the station, to create these I mainly used simple shapes like cubes and pyramids that I beveled and extruded then used Booleans to create more complex shapes to add more detail. In order to use the Boolean tool correctly I followed a tutorial on YouTube that explained how to use the tool without breaking the model.

I then created a door model based off different art pieces I found on Artstation and Pinterest, I gave the model some spots that I extruded inwards so that I could add text to differentiate the different doors depending on where they where located i.e Escape door or Cargo door. Next I cut a ring shape in half and lowered the subdivisions to create a clamp for the corridors that shows where they connect to the outer rings, I also added some manipulated cylinders onto the clamp to create wires for some extra detail. Lastly I UVed then duplicated the top ring to create the bottom ring which completed the modelling of the station.

As I was making the Station a modular model I gave each individual parts a different lambert material so that it would be easier the layout in the UV editor and easier to texture in substance painter. After all this I could finally bring the model into 3d substance painter and start texturing, my main goal was to create a dark yet inviting space station that would feature lots of smaller details that would make the station feel like it could exist in the future. Emissives were the part of the texturing I wanted to focus on the most as the skybox of the render would be space so the emissives would make the model pop off the background much more. I also focused on the use of text and alphas to add more realism and detail to the model such as the different doors being labeled with different text and having different symbols/colour schemes or the use of different languages to show that the station was some type of multinational project.

Overall I believe that I have successfully created the model I was aiming for, I believe that I effectively took the lessons learned from others, from tutorials and from my own practise and applied them to both the modelling and texturing sides of the process leading to a model that I am quite proud of.

After finishing this model I was contacted by another student Josh Devlin asking if I would like to join his team to take part in the 54th Ludum Dare Game Jam as a 3D modeller and I accepted. When the theme for the Gam Jam was revealed 'limited space' I initialled suggested a few Ideas, first I suggested a game like Iron lung which was based in a tiny sub and that we could make a horror game, a city builder that required the player to place the buildings in a certain way to fit in a small space and a survival horror game like Five nights at Freddy's.

However we went with the idea of a escape room game were the player would have to solve puzzles to escape a room before the lava rise to kill them.

We created a Discord, Trello, Miro board and a google drive for the modellers, I first volunteered to create the sword and shield that would hang onto the wall as it was decided that the setting was a medieval castle. I also discussed what the style was with the other modellers and we decided to create a low poly style. For the first two models I focused on using simple shapes and simple texturing to give the models a appealing style and colour scheme such as using clean bright metal for a smooth appearance and stylised wood materials to give the models some variety in colour and texture. I then went onto create a Mug, Carpet/Rug and Pillar models, the mug and pillar also used the stylised wood material and the shiny metal to keep a consistent style between each of the models. Lastly I mainly focused on the texturing of the rug as that was what would make the rug look appealing, I based the design off of the rugs that my grandparents had as the were very detailed with a multitude of different symbols and colourful threads to give contrast throughout the rug.

Next week we will submit the game and then I will be able to start on the level design jam.