Week 8 - Forefront Friday: Horizon Zero Dawn (2015)

I am at the end of week eight of my major project development. This leaves me with just three weeks remaining to finish my environment. I believe I will be able to complete this project on schedule and as such I am going to be sticking very closely to the final weeks of my project plan.

 Entering the final four weeks of my project development.

Before I start next week I have been researching games that I feel have particularly strong environment design. Horizon Zero Dawn (2017) is game that features a post-apocalyptic world that is slowly being enveloped by nature. I love the juxtaposition of nature and technology and I think this has given the game incredibly strong visuals.

Horizon Zero Dawn trailer.

I place this game at the forefront of the industry because it offers a fully open world similar to the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017). Unlike Zelda however, this game has a far more realistic graphical style which makes the fact that it can display all those assets on screen at once very impressive.

I have been drawing inspiration from the Game's foliage and vegetation that is growing everywhere in the world and ensnaring old structures. I want my environment to have a similar feel, in that nature is beginning to take its course and overtake the mansion.

Over the next few weeks I am going to be experimenting with creating my own foliage and using it within Unreal Engine. I feel this is perhaps one of the most important elements that will be within my environment, as realistic feeling vegetation will make my project far more believable. I am making references of how Horizon Zero Dawn has used particular types of vegetation that I think will be effective in my scene. So far I am interested in creating ivy because I like how it conforms to the shape of buildings and isn't placed randomly.

GUERRILLA GAMES (2017) Horizon Zero Dawn. [DISC, DOWNLOAD] Playstation 4. San Mateo: Sony Interactive Entertainment. 

PLAYSTATION (2015) Horizon Zero Dawn - E3 2015 Trailer | PS4. [Online Video]. June 15th. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkg5UVTsKCE [Accessed: 13/07/2018].