Modular Science Fiction Environment

The Project

The goal of this project was to help me learn and experience real world game industry practices to produce a game ready environment.

The outcome of the project brief asked that I create a science fiction environment using weighted normals, medium polygon modelling, modular assets and a single trim sheet that will texture all of the assets in the scene. I decided that I would aim to output the scene onto the Oculus Quest.

The Oculus Quest is a fantastic piece of hardware that I truly believe is the start of what VR headsets should aspire to be. As technology improves, I think that all consumer VR headsets will be mobile. With all that being said, currently, the Oculus Quest is still hardware limited. Trim sheets seem like a perfect match for the Oculus Quest as they reduce draw calls while keeping the textures high quality.

Trim Sheet

This was the first time I had done a trim sheet so it's limitations were explored through experimentation.

Mapping the trim sheet onto the assets

The modular pieces were difficult to get right, especially the floor and ceiling as they needed to be perfect, otherwise the seams would show. While most of the inspiration for the assets came from Alien Isolation, the rest came from various other science fiction movies.

Building the scene

Lighting was a huge issue when putting the environment together and I have a new found respect for all lighting artists.

In-Engine tests

I didn't have enough time to build the environment to the Oculus Quest and any attempt to came up with its own set of problems. Other than the time constraint, I absolutely loved building this environment and trim sheets will become an important addition to my tool-set moving forward.