Senior Thesis: Immune Response

This is my senior thesis at Ringling College of Art and Design: Immune Response. From a microscopic perspective, you (a white blood cell) will explore the inside of a lung, on a mission to manage an infection. Explore a bizzare stylized landscape rendered in real time by UE4.

Screenshots from environment in chronological order of progression. The beginning starts out in a strange transporting elevator in a sea of blood and plasma as the player is taken through a blood vessel and into the right lung. They then step out into a vibrant landscape full of the cells which line the lungs: cilium. After more exploration, the player uncovers a necrotic infection caused by bacterium, and follows the trail of web-like platelet strands towards the infection's next destination: lung alveoli. 

Below is how two of the screenshots evolved over time throughout the semester. It was a real challenge to manage the vibrant colors of the world and try to capture an essence of ethereal beauty in the beginning acts of the game before transitioning to a sodden and menacing mood when the infection is discovered.

Because the idea was very abstract, I had to do a fair amount of visual development to stylize things that could only be seen with an electron microscope...

Such a strange environment involves even stranger materials. Three tileable ones shown here are blood cells, clotted blood, and lung tissue. 

Overall ,this was a very fun and experimental project not only  to concept, but to produce as well.  This was an opportunity to test out what Unreal can do for creating stylized environments, and this project helped me learn to think outside the box.