Major Project: Pre-Production 2

Changing Concept

I have decided to stop working on my recreation of the Brighton Pavilion and go in a new direction for my major project. I am still eager to create a large scale environment, however I would like to add more of my own creative flair to the project. I began to feel that by recreating the Brighton Pavilion I was locking my ideas down to an existing structure and location, which was making it difficult for me to get engaged creatively with the project. In essence I no longer want to merely replicate an existing place but instead create a project that is entirely unique and shows off my creative ability to the fullest. I believe by making this change I will be much more mentally stimulated as I create the environment, removing the limitations I was feeling when creating the Brighton Pavilion.

Abandoned Mansions

As I stated in my previous post, I am really excited by the concept of the game environment telling a story. When deciding what environment I could create that would best encapsulate this idea, my mind was drawn to abandoned structures. Abandoned buildings immediately start generating all sorts of interesting ideas. Why is this building abandoned? What happened to the people who lived there, and what were the events that led up to this? 

I have the idea of creating a large(ish) mansion that a player can then explore and piece together what happened just by studying the environment. I think this idea gives me a lot of room to get creative with environment assets and props.

I want to break down the environment into several distinct areas and would like to create the following as part of my major project:

• A large exterior environment.
• Several small interior environments.
• Unique assets that will populate the level.

The large exterior environment will serve as a "front cover" of sorts for the level. It will be the first thing the player sees away in the distance and entice their curiosity to enter and then explore the mansion. Each room of the mansion will tell a piece of the story. Simple elements like placement of objects and the dilapidation of the building can be used by the player to work out the events that led up to the mansion becoming abandoned.

The Theme

I have started looking at old mansions but the style and location of the building isn't determined yet. I would like to get this locked down soon, as this will inform the basis for the buildings design and story of the environment.