Thuy-Anh's ongoing portfolio for review

Level Design

The Courtyard

Brief: The courtyard during the day is a place to gather information. It’s desaturated, and the harsh light bleeds the colours out of the landscape.

Mood Shot

Thumbnails

Process

Blockout and basic texturing done in blender, and finished off in photoshop.

Level Layout

Props

Keyframes

Process

Process

Matte Painting

Castles on mountains

I started off with going in and out of photoshop, and 3d programs such as Maya and Sketchup for the main castle, before moving into Nuke for the rest of the compositing.

Base & Final Plates

Level Design

Stealth based horror game: cafeteria level

The setting:  a stealth based horror game- set in circa 1960s America with the rise of psychology as a medical profession, unmetered by a lack of ethics board, and also by extension an uptick in asylums. This is also a period where Project MKUltra, what was broadly known as the ‘CIA mind control program’ was being carried out, oftentimes on mental health patients over a long period of years, where LSD was administered secretly and unconsensually without the knowledge of patients. 

Objective: The protagonist is being sent to what they believe is a boarding school that has been repurposed from an old asylum.  The new friends they make start mysteriously disappear for long periods of time and when they come back, they come back wrong. The objective is to find them and break them out before the worst can happen

Mechanics: The game operates in 2 phases, the day phase where information is gathered and tools used for the break out, and the night phase where you break them out- be careful however, as the protagonist’s tenuous grasp on reality means that whatever rumours you hear during the day will manifest at night as a reality.

Level Plan

The entire level was blocked out in Blender. I wanted to keep at least 3 paths open for traversal to each objective. 

Working with a tight schedule on a large level meant that I focussed the detail in areas that would be showing up on my two key frames, and left more simple texturing and geometry off camera.

Call out

The human spitroast started out as a posed 3D Daz model that was imported into my Blender scene. Since the game's premise meant that things didn't have to conform to closely to 'real life', I wanted to really push the spit roast's rib cage out for a more striking silhouette upon first read.

Key frames

This is where the concept of my mood shot meets the design of the cafeteria level.

Key frame 1

The hydrotherapy level: Current WIP

Brief: The protagonist is rescuing their friend with a deep fear of drowning, from hydrotherapy. The level should feature water/tubs/pipes heavily to emphasise the level theme.

Moodshot

Modelled and lit in blender, then brought into photoshop for the final painting.

Fledgling: Forest Ruins

A personal project. My focus was on a fast paced and forward moving level that emphasised sliding and jumping actions. It was really interesting problem solving how to approach designing a level that's fairly linear but with a lot of verticality and forward progression without biting off more than I could chew.

Initial moodshot for the level

I needed to establish the following things in my moodshot: that this was a momentum based game that relied on verticality, and that it was set in ruins that have long been engulfed by nature.

After establishing the look and feel, I could move into the more technical side of the level design process.

Level Plan

The level plan was initially blocked out in blender to give a good idea of how plausible in game movement would be, before moving into photoshop for further visual problem solving.

I designed the level like a waterslide to maintain both the length and height that would be appropriate for the game play, without getting sidetracked and either designing elements that aren't necessary for gameplay, or expanding my scope to unmanageable levels. I kept any path variation within the scope of this slide, in order to provide players variety in gameplay. 

Call outs

Here are some call outs of the mushrooms and pillars that are a key part of player traversal, and a line drawing with solid blocks of colour to clearly show how the obstacles would be composed in the level section leading up to the big leap.

All traversible areas are organic. Green moss on the architecture and vines are visual indicators that they can be slid or stood on, and the red mushrooms a jumping points, that also mark a more difficult and high paced traversal path.

Most of the ruins arechitecture is based heavily on the Old Summer Palace. I wanted the organic shapes of the structures to blend into the forest, but also from a story telling perspective, reflect how the lost civilisation lived alongside the forest.

Key frames

Following the technical planning for the level layout, I produced two key frames, aiming to combine the look and feel of my mood shot and put it in the context of the actual level.

Key Frame 1

The character jumps onto the giant cluster of mushrooms and is propelled towards a huge stained glass window.

Key Frame 2

The sight of the open world right after blasting through a stained glass window. There's a few seconds where the player can see the next few levels and end goal, before they start falling back to the next tunnel.

Miscellaneous Environments

A collection of painted environments focussing on colour, and using a variety of techniques including: 3d block outs, phototexturing, and straight up painting.

Treasure of San Roberto environment/key frames

This set of keyframes is part of a larger collaborative project aimed towards pitching for an Indiana Jones like 3D animation feature film for kids. My deliverables were environment paintings/key frames of Hamlin, the protagonist's office and university.

Miscellaneous Character Design

Valkyrie

The design brief was to create an adaption of Brunheilde. Since the parameters were broad, I wanted to stick to a classical take on a Valkyrie, and focus on my technical execution and polish.

Process

Planning

Maschinenmensch

The brief was to redesign the Maschinenmensch from the 1927 movie, 'Metropolis'. As the brief was broad, I approached this character as if I were designing it for an action RPG, and the Maschinenmensch were a final boss character, emphasising readability and graphical design in my planning phase.

Planning and process