Graduation Project - Celestrail - VR puzzle game

Graduation Project: Celestrail

Here you can see my personal contribution to my graduation project, Celestrail, a VR 3D game developed on Unity.

Shoot your astral arrow to overcome the fascinating challenges of a mysterious celestial world. In a calm and timeless place, thinking and concentration will be the keys to victory. An experience available in virtual reality on Oculus Quest!

For our artistic direction, we have chosen 3D levels with minimalist architecture inspired by Brutalism. A dreamlike atmosphere with celestial aesthetics. Floating but highly comprehensible gameplay elements for virtual reality.

For this project, we were thirteen: 1 Producer, 3 Game Designers, 1 Composer & Sound Designer, 4 Gameplay Programmers and 4 Game Artist (one 2D concept artist and three 3D game artist).

First Blocking Test

Second Blocking Test

I was in charge of the integration of 3D element and FX of the HUB for level selection.

First design of the HUB based on Florent Boston's concept

Final HUB Design

I did the modelling, texturing, and skinning of the hands from the basic hand provided by Occulus and from Florent's concept. Then I took care of setting the hands posing on the bow of our game. 

After that, we divided up the work more specifically, and I was then in charge of creating all the materials for the game as well as creating the shaders and the majority of the VFX.

I then started by creating a bird VFX from a flipbook created by Florent. They were originally meant to fly in the background of the levels but were finally used for the energy balls that release birds at the end of each level and in the end cinematic.  

Spritsheet made by Florent

Then I was in charge of creating a VFX for a Gravity point feature that deviates the arrow's trajectory when it passed by. This feature was however cut but the visual could be reused for the end cinematic. 

I made a trail for the energy VFX from the destroyed targets to the energy ball and then between the energy balls of each level in the HUB. The orientation of the trails was done by code with curves, by a programmer I collaborated with.

I also made a shader to fill the constellation lines in an elegant way as you can see on the video. It was used in the HUB and in the credit.

In game / Alpha

Constellation shader graph

I did the target destruction animation, as well as the VFX that goes with it. I also took care of the shader to make the targets blink in order to attract the players' eye, and also the shader of the link between the connected targets.

Debris Shader / Alpha for debris shader / Explosion Alpha

Blink emissive Shader 

Link Shader / Link Alpha / Distortion Alpha

Here is the first concept for target explosion, which was modified according to the Artistic Direction. 

So that players can feel the power they are putting into their shot, I made a shader of a gauge that fills up as they string the bow. The FX that is triggered when the bow is at full power was not done by me but by a fellow game artist.

For the feature of the attachment designed by a colleague, I took care of the destruction animation and the VFX that goes with it, but also the shaders with the flow that goes inside the sticks. 

For the switch feature, I made a small shader that scrolls like a shard of light to make players want to push it to activate it. The basic impact VFX was done by a fellow programmer and then I tweaked it to make it look better and more consistent. 

Shader / Flow Alpha / Symbols Alpha

For the energy balls, you have already seen the VFX of when it is hit. So I made the orange halo with the little particles spinning around for the phase just before, waiting to be hit. I also reused the switch shader to put inside the numbers of energy balls.

Shader / Numbers Alpha / Aura Alpha

I made this trail to appear behind moving objects but it was cut because the trail did not render well on the windows while most moving objects are windows. 

Base Color / Different Alpha used for the shader

I tried to create a smoke VFX for the steles that come out and go into the ground of the tutorial level that is VR friendly since it is the biggest challenge of this project to constantly make beautiful VFX but not too heavy. So I made a shader with a texture that scrolls on the distorted UV of a rounded shape.

Smoke shader / Alpha / UV

For the small cinematic at the end of the game and the credits, I worked in cooperation with a programmer colleague. I took care of all the graphic integration and animations while he took care of the code integration. I reused a lot of existing elements and VFX, except the flash VFX that I did especially for this cinematic.

Flash Alpha

For the materials, I made a master shader allowing me to combine a base like stone or concrete and different shapes on top. This allows for greater diversity with fewer textures. So as I said before, I made the two main materials which are stone and concrete, but also a kind of marble or reflective stone and a gold material to highlight the shapes of the decor. 

Concrete: V1 to final material

Base Color / Normal / Roughness

Alpha / Normal / Roughness

Stone: V1 to final material

Base Color / Normal / Roughness

Alpha / Normal / Roughness

Stone Graph

Concrete graph

Graph: Rounded shapes / Square shapes / Geometric shapes / Horizontal lines 

Marble

Base Color / Normal / Roughness

Gold

Base Color / Metallic / Roughness