Austin Jones - The Rookie Awards 2023

The Lost Canyon - Fall 2022 Junior Biome Project

-This is the environment I worked on for my Junior year Biome assignment at Ringling College of Art and Design, based on a collection of referenced environments including Zion Canyon, The Grand Canyon, Blacktail Canyon, and Arches National Park. The majority of assets were blocked out in Maya, sculpted in ZBrush, then UV'd and tweaked back in Maya. Textures were created in both Substance Painter and Substance Designer. Finally, all assets were organized in Unreal Engine 4.

Opening shot, as well as the player's starting area.

Low shot of a narrow passageway.

Passing through Juniper trees with a view of the distant structure.

Closer view of the structure beyond layers of rock formations.

Kyra - Protagonist of The Lost Canyon

-After the construction of the environment, the last step of the Biome project was to create and implement a playable character. This character was blocked out in Maya, then sent to ZBrush for the development of the high poly model. Retopology and UVs were done back in Maya and materials were created in Substance Painter, with hair cards created in Substance Designer. The final model is 92, 442 triangles. 

Battle the Bandits! - Spring 2022 Adventure Game

-This is the game I worked on during the spring semester of my sophomore year at Ringling College of Art and Design, inspired visually by the Diablo series, specifically the Cathedral in Act 1 of Diablo 3. This project was my first practical opportunity to utilize modular assets in the creation of a large environment, which was challenging and very exciting. My workflow consisted of modeling assets in Maya, occasionally sculpting more organic details in Zbrush, creating textures in Substance Painter, and organizing and lighting the environment in Unreal Engine 4. There were also opportunities for VFX, which were created directly within UE4 through the Niagara system, and implemented via blueprint.

Close up on a firepit, which functions in game as a checkpoint.

A statue sculpted for this game, and used later in my Biome Project as well.

This doorway functions as an in-game gating mechanic. 

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