Hello again! So the past couple of weeks have been rather chaotic with various things going on taking trips out for reference photos, family visiting and advancing another year closer to old age, hence the lack of an update last week. However this means I now have a lot more progress to show off this time around!
Since my last update I have been focusing on getting three things done; firstly creating and applying basic textures for the terrain e.g. rock, sand grass etc, and lastly, painting and sculpting the terrain. In this pass my goal was to create the most convincing landscape possible without the use of any models or additional assets. This was mainly to push myself to make use of the crazy amount of displacements in the map and also to ensure the textures I was producing were of a good enough quality to stand on their own, the results of which can be seen below:
After a slow start, mainly just finding a style and palette which I was comfortable with, I’ve found progress has been pretty smooth and I’m almost complete with the terrain on the first level, I think another couple of days and it should be all up to the same standard as you see here. Most of the lighting and sky is placeholder and I plan on spending more time on this a bit further down the road.
One other thing I think worth mentioning is that I’m experimenting with using a sky dome instead of a skybox. Two reasons for this are that 1.) It’s a hell of a lot easier to make a hemispherical texture and 2.) It’s super easy to update it (no having to edit and re-save 6 individual textures and hope for the best) Only downside to this is that for some reason models in the skybox don’t get rendered in cube maps or water so for now I’ve had to hack in a basic colour skybox behind the sky dome so that reflections look relatively ok. If anyone knows a way around this please let me know!
Finally Ben Andrews has been plugging away as always on the concept art, this time refining the lighthouse painting so that it is more consistant with the more recent style of paintings he has done lately.
… and also helping me brainstorm some extra eyecandy for the Valley on the first level
His lighthouse piece will also be on display at IndieCade where Dan Pinchbeck will be entering Dear Esther in the independant games competition – Good luck guys!
All of them are incredibly nice.
How do you create such nice detail props if I may ask?
That last picture reminds me of Tintern Abbey
What an amazing transformation! The new terrain not only looks far more natural, but also far more desolate and fitting. Keep up the excellent work
Hi Robert,
You’re doing an exceptional job of somelthing i had the great pleasure of being a part of the first time around. You’ve definately turned the landscape into the most stunning environment i’ve seen in a long time. Keep up the great work, i’ve enjoyed watching and learnig from you as you work
Adam G
[...] Dear Ester Redux – Painting and Sculpting [...]
this is the correct link: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/$ssbump
Hello:)!
I think you did an excellent job modeling and texture! I use hammer editor myself and I know how difficult it is to create displacements / texture credible.
I would advise you to use the ssbump valve for your texture of rock. The ssbump plays the same role as bumpmapping but without the effect of plastic wet. This adds a very realistic!
SSbump – Valve Developer Wiki: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/% 24ssbump
SSbump Generator (free):
http://ssbump-generator.yolasite.com/
SSbump Generator tutorial:
http://ssbump-generator.yolasite.com/tutorial_gui.php
I hope I have help! I look forward to other new
PS: forgive my bad English (I’m french)
Okay, I did it. I registered. Been following your work for a while, and been a fan of Dear Esther for much longer.
Anyway, just wanted to say: wow! The landscapes look so natural and, no offence to Dan Pinchbeck, much more easily navigable. Can’t wait to see how it plays.
Also, I’ve been watching Ben Andrews’ site and deviantART and hadn’t seen that last picture before (and least, I don’t think I have). Again, believable. Certainly intriguing and would provide some much needed points of interest between the cave and the beach if I understand its location correctly.