Friday 7 February 2014

FMP: Presentation Feedback.

According to my initial plan at Week 4 I should be refining modular battlements and other parts of the castle, however as we've seen from the gatehouse and the bridges I started this phase prematurely. At this current time I'm still putting my modular parts into CryEngine. Unlike previous occasions everything is almost to scale with no re sizing required. 

Earlier this week we gave our work in progress presentations and as I anticipated  the first piece of criticism I received was that I was focusing too much on fine details. So I need to finalize the whitebox ASAP. Also they shared my concerns over the large areas of the courtyards that needed to be filled. 


I really want to avoid recreating the London project within castle walls, however in certain cases this is indeed what the lower districts would be full of. However I think I may be able to avoid this and instead include alternative primary structures such as:

- Barracks
- Chapel
- Stables
- Other large blocky building which could serve as housing 

In addition I had a one to one chat with one of the tutors who suggested that I plan my fly through  and intended course through the level as this would allow me to bypass certain areas and minimize the amount of work required. For example this would mean that certain towers and buildings would not include interiors, which was something that I've planned from the start; but this would mean I could 'seal off' certain parts of the ramparts.

Furthermore setting the time of day would be critical in the mood for the level. We mutually agreed that having it set at dawn would be the most moving; The morning after etc with the shafts f light piercing through the remnants of the battlements. So I need to find some sunrise reference that will help with giving me an idea of how to structure it later on.

I was also recommended The Epic Citadel which proved to be very insightful as well. From the outside I got a good sense of varying height and saw how I could apply this to my level. http://www.unrealengine.com/html5/

Another piece of suggested reference was looking at the TV series Merlin, which as it so happens was one of my favorite shows. On the wiki page for it there are significant screenshots of various locations within the castle. 




This is currently how I've altered the terrain a bit; so far I have got three different 'levels' of height that I'm using for each region. I have also brought the castle more inland as many people remarked how having right on the cliff-face didn't seem ideal. I'm also still trying to tweak the ground below the western ramparts, trying to utilize the natural defenses and loopholes to allow the siege towers to get right up to the wall.


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