Game Design 1 Week 2 Lighting, Materials, and Timelines

This week we focused more on the aesthetic possibilities within Unreal Engine. Specifically, I decided to focus on lighting, materials, and meshes. So, after importing lots of assets from Quixel Bridge and Polyhaven in, I decided to make a small scene that leads the player forward.

I know one of lighting's greatest strengths in game design is it's ability to lead, so I wanted to try and simply push the player forward with lights. I made sure that the area ahead was well lit, and the surrounding areas were dark and a touch ominous. I also constructed the scene so that the warm lighting would be comforting against the dark exteriors outside. I think there's something primal in the way we interact with warm, fire-like, lights that really draw us to them.

Working with Quixel Bridge assets was quite a bit of fun. However, I do think a designer should be cautious with them. It's important to be consistent in your work, and Quixel has a lot of assets. I enjoyed creating a little story of a temple to a cat god in the world itself.

Another thing I touched up on was using Timelines in Unreal. I've been impressed with the versatility of them! Beforehand, I'd used them to handle Wall Running logic on a project I had previously worked on. Getting the hang of them was a hassle, but definitely worth it! So, I was surprised to see that we could use them with versatility in aesthetic functions, too. Both the doorway and the lanterns operate on timelines, and they were super easy to implement, too.

Anyways... I'm really looking forward to working with gameplay again. Hopefully soon!