Over the course of this module, I aim to create a detailed environment based on Monster Hunter: World. in particular, I want to draw inspiration from the player housing within Monster Hunter: World and it's expansion Icebrone to develop a mostly interior environment that could believably be a new player housing option, possibly as part of a second expansion. I will detail the progress of my work on this project here regularly until hand-in at the start of May.
With my goal in mind, the starting point for my research was Monster Hunter and similar environments within other games. I didn't want to limit my research to just game environments so I also researched into real-world decor and environments that I felt were potential influences for Monster Hunter or which could act as new influences for me to help this project stand out from the interiors already in the game. As part of this research, I collected reference images to assemble into mood boards. I ran these mood boards through the mosaic filter in Photoshop to help get an indication of the colour pallets I should be looking at.
With my goal in mind, the starting point for my research was Monster Hunter and similar environments within other games. I didn't want to limit my research to just game environments so I also researched into real-world decor and environments that I felt were potential influences for Monster Hunter or which could act as new influences for me to help this project stand out from the interiors already in the game. As part of this research, I collected reference images to assemble into mood boards. I ran these mood boards through the mosaic filter in Photoshop to help get an indication of the colour pallets I should be looking at.
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| Mood boards compiled from research. |
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| Mosaic of mood boards to help identify colour palettes. |
I also used the mood boards to begin sketching out early concepts for the environment. I made this choice as producing these sketches is faster than a full block-out within Maya or Unreal 4 allowing me to brainstorm a wider variety of ideas at this early stage. In particular, I wanted to consider the room layout and how the structure integrated into the environment. After this, I will start blocking out in Unreal 4 where I can finalize scale and settle on a more definitive asset list for the project.
Time management on this project will be crucial due to the ambitious nature of it, I primarily use spreadsheets to track work that needs completion and Gantt charts to visualize the time frame for this work and help identify if it is feasible. I also plan to use the MoSCoW method of prioritization to divided up and schedule the work so that I'm not rushing to complete vital work in the final weeks. This approach has proven successful for me in both individual and group projects previously so I'm confident in it for this project. Currently, my plans are both broad and subject to change as I haven't settled on much of the project's content at this stage. These plans will be refined in the near future and I hope to have a firm idea of my most important assets early next week. However, regardless they will be iterated on throughout the project as I adapt to feedback and roadblocks I may encounter.
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| Project Gantt chart |
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| Speculative Asset list |