3D Artist
3D Art Contributions
4715 JETSAM
Objective:
Game Production Final
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8 Weeks
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Unity
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Team of 7
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3 Levels
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3rd Person
Main Roles:
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Concept Artist
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Character Artist
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Environment Artist
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Illustrator
Character Creation Process
Concept Art (Procreate)
For this game, I designed a characted that expresses how "the seemingly final version of a scientist's attempts at pirating a world of its treasure" so it needed to be such that it could survive extraterrestrial environments.
I wanted to get into the mind of the character, as well as that of the player, and so a character that looked like "a good guy, despite it being controlled by an evil guy," so I chose a color palette for the good robots and another for the bad robots to distinguish them.
This character, Unit 4715, first was designed to "hear" by picking up sound from the feather(s) on the side of its head, have webbings that allowed easier retrieval of things submerged under water, a chest socket in which to hold the energy core mcguffin and a combination of uber resistant materials to absorb impacts more easily.
4715 Jetsam allowed the player to switch between a 3rd person action adventure and an FPS, so an arm-cannon with an energy meter felt the most appropriate.
Unit 4715 Concept
3D Modeling (Maya)
I loved the entire development of this character because of the amount of things I learned about the character creation pipeline. Firstly, I learned that the mesh of the character doesn't have to be welded everywhere I get the chance, and that building a character off of different objects isn't taboo.
Also, after animation had come into play, I learned to make sure I allow some breathing room for the edgeflow around joints, since depending on the weight-painting, geometry would get pulled from odd places. And due to time constraints and scope limitations, we had to opt for a hovering robot instead of a walking one.
For the main character we wanted to move towards a more pirate-like look with a bandana-like head configuration, and a feather on the side to hint at it's creator's pirating obsession and we repurposed the original design for the enemy's model instead since it looked more alien.
Texturing (Substance Painter)
For Unit 4715, I wanted to create a look that seemed like the robot is new, and then over time would pickup on dirt or wear and tear through battle hardening, but due to scope reduction decisions, I opted for a mid-point where it expressed that Dr. Nauzik had already tested this unit out, but didn't get a chance to refine and polish it before deployment. The cracks, wear and tear seen on the Corrupted Units come from the long years spent deteriorating on the planet.
After repurposing the original design of Unit 4715 for the Corrupted Units, I realized that this decision was the more sound one. The visual language created by the lines and shapes of their designs fit better in this way, as seen on their heads. Unit 4715 had rounder shapes and lines that, at a glance, go from curved to straightened, which suggest control and obedience. The Corrupted Units maintained curves complemented by spiky shapes so as to show the juxtaposition between the familiar design to their successor, as well as a vilifying, menacing gaze.
The green and blue colors are meant to give off a "good guy" aura, while the Corrupted Units were violet and fuschia to give off "bad guy" aura. This palette also carried out throughout the rest of the game's environments, as the planet was green and blue while undisturbed and then purple and pink when the player steals the mcguffin. I used a mixture of metallic, plastic and emissive material for the textures, which were color filled, hand-painted or stroked using particle brushes. Setting materials within Maya also expedited my texturing process in Substance.
I was also responsible for texturing all assets for the game.
...and more!
Other Contributions for 4715 Jetsam
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Conceptualized energy core mcguffin, modeled it and textured it
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Modeled some extra environment assets
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Speed Painting for general environment
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Designed Cover Art for all Marketing Materials
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Documentation Collaborations
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GDD
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Game Progression
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Characters
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Environments
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Story/Lore
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Game Mechanics
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ASG
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Linework & Shapes
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Palettes
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Concepts
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Characters
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Environments
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Main Takeaways From This Project
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Sometimes, if not most times, having a chain of command or authority hierarchy helps
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Scope management is imperative for the game's completion, especially when comparing team skills to the game's needs
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Impostor Syndrome attacks everyone, and you can deliver something special if you let a teammate help.
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The software you use to develop game assets don't necessarily always have to be "these", especially if you can deliver exactly what's expected from you.
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There are no rules for how a game should be made, but general guidelines that help you efficiently navigate outside the box should be welcome.