With Some basic ideas in mind I wanted to sketch together some basic concepts so I could get a feel of what each of my 4 chosen themes might look like. I mainly focused on the 3D asset that I would create to go in my environment but I still created some generic scenes and some top down environment ideas as to how I could layout my scene
Generic Concepts:
In order to get some basic ideas as to how I could layout my environment for each theme as well as what asset I might create I sketched 4 basic concepts for the group themes I created Previously;
For the first I wanted to look at how I could possibly create a battlefield and what I could create as a centre piece asset. However I think if I were to chose to do a weapon here it might blend in or feel less impactful if there are more of them in the same area.
I then looked at Sci-fi and tried to capture a dystopian spaceship and how that might look, I will need to gather some references to get a better look at this idea and create something that can standout on the bridge on a spaceships controls.
For the last 2 I looked at High Fantasy (Fantasy and Utopia) and how I could create an impactful asset that stands out within an environment. For this concept I looked at combining the legend of the sword in the stone and placing it in a forest with light breaking through the trees to highlight the object.
I took some inspiration from the lord of the rings for my final basic concept, I thought it might be interesting to create a camp near a body of water with statues flanking either side of a mountain similar to the ones in Argonath in the Lord of The Rings
Top-Down Layouts:
I decided to go for a Fantasy and Decay/ Corruption theme as for my asset I wanted to create a fantasy style sword that had been left of abandoned for a long period of time. The Fantasy setting would allow me to incorporate elements of myths and legends into both my 3D asset and environment.
With that in mind I drew some top-down sketches to show how I could possible layout my environment.
With my asset being a sword I wanted to draw some inspiration from the legend of the sword in the stone and King Arthur, so for my first concepts I wanted to include as much reference to these legends as I could. So I looked at include the sword in the stone as a central point to the whole scene surrounded by a magical forest, with a lake on one side and a derelict Wizards tower on the other.
I went in a different direction for the second concept, I thought it might be different if the sword was left in some king of temple that had been left to a forest and had become covered in vines and branches.
I then wanted to try and have the lake as a central point of my scene, similar to some photos I have taken whilst in the lake district, the sword will still be the main focal point with a decaying castle on a mountainside in the background.
Finally I decided for my final concept I would focus more on having the ruins of a castle in the foreground, I found some asset packs on the unreal asset store that would allow me to build a ruined castle from some set building pre-sets, they could look quite affective if placed correctly.
References:
Galuzin, A. (2016) Preproduction Blueprint; How to plan game environments and level design. N/A: World Of Level Design LLC.