the dead keep it
Overview
Cathedral environment created using assets from the Unreal Marketplace.
Role
Level Designer
Tools
Unreal Engine 4, Adobe After Effects
Skills
Level Design, Set Dressing, Lighting, Composition
After spending some time learning level design using mainly stylized assets from the Unreal Marketplace, I wanted to try my hand at something a bit more detailed and realistic. Inspired by scenes from the Diablo series, I found this asset pack on the Unreal Marketplace which I used to design and dress the set for a cathedral of the dead. I have always loved the dark religious aesthetic of the Diablo series, and I was super inspired when I found this asset pack to work with.
Shown below are some of the detailed shots of the scene. I really enjoyed getting to take some time to create a very moody and dark scene. I think playing with lighting and architecture in your environment is a great way to highlight points of interest and specific details of the level that you find most interesting or which are important to the player's objectives.
As an example, in the first image you can see how the use of converging lines within architecture can create sight lines towards a players objective or the intended direction. This is supplemented by lighting both functionally and visually.
In addition, I also wanted to focus more on visual elements in this environment, than playable elements. This space is quite filled and compact, and while it could host a playable character, I wanted to focus on it as if it were a part of a cinematic or trailer package. However, areas such as these could quickly be modified from use in a cinematic or trailer, to be more playable by simply creating more definitive pathways for character movement. Check out the video linked above for an example of my thoughts!
