Makeshift & Hard Surface Weapon Projects

Starting 2023, I had the goal of improving at high-quality asset creation, specifically in hard-surface art. For this I took on a couple weapon asset projects; with a target of reaching triple-A quality, using current triple-A techniques, and within a time constaint of about 50 work days per project. 

This includes the entire process: Modeling the game-ready mesh from scratch, creating a high-poly mesh for details and baking, creating optimized UVs for each piece and attachment, texturing PBR materials using Substance Painter; and finally lighting it and framing it for presentation in Marmoset / in Engine.

The first project was the recreation of an existing game asset, I chose to recreate the "Bastard Gun" from Metro Exodus. 

I've always admired the Metro series of games for their commitment to immersion, going as far as possible to remove all elements that are not in-world. This puts a great emphasis on design of the actual physical objects and the interactivity that comes from them, and the prime object of the game is naturally the weapon the player is holding.

The Bastard Gun's open magazine serves to show the player their remaining ammo and currently selected ammo type without a UI element - but it is also an oportunity, through art, to introduce the game world in the smaller details such as the headstamp markings; telling us something about where these bullets came from.

As other guns in Metro Exodus; the Bastard Gun is modular and customizable by the player. This leads to new and interesting silhouettes. For my recreation, I chose the suppressor, reflex sight and no stock form; I think the way all these attachments come together and change the weapon's appearance emphasizes its makeshift design and the apocalyptic setting of the world of Metro.

Different attachments, and even parts of the main body, having slightly different metal surfaces, treatment and wear was a key characteristic I had to ensure was captured when texturing this project.

The final game-ready product contains 47,768 Triangles / 24,149 Vertices and separate texture sets for each attachment; at 2K resolution each, and 4K for the Main Body. 

After the recreation project, I was looking to practice what was learned creating a new high quality weapon; this time one that hadn't been previously been created as a 3D asset for a game; but instead 2D concept artwork (as it would naturally be in game production).

This project is based on the concept art by Pavel Proskurin.

This suppressed sniper rifle combines features of soviet and british design. Based on Pavel Proskurin's concept; which borrows existing parts and pieces off multiple historical weapons to create a brand new, believable design; with an added air of creativity, putting form over function and taking advantage of the freedom of design for weapons in fictional worlds.

I took some liberties adding some minor features that were not part of the original concept; such as making the chamber and bolt area see-through - inspired on the modern Mk14 rifle, in which the picatinny rail is bridged over the mechanism. This modern-historic combination is seen throughout the rifle's design.

The final game-ready product contains 54,680 Triangles / 27,560 Faces. Texture sets follow weapon attachments as they can be removed as well - 3 sets Main Body & Magazine, 2 sets Scope, 1 set Barrel and Iron Sights, 2 sets Stock and Handle.