Incubation is an Unreal mod that I created with five other artists. The mod is a standoff between soldiers and alien creatures in an abandoned near-future subway station. As the level designer, I was responsible for level layout, visual effects, shaders, lighting, camera work, and asset implemetation. I also created the subway platform environment. The mod took four weeks to make, and was built using the UDK. Overall, it was an awesome experience, and I got to work with a great team.
Credits
Producer: Ying Guo Art Director: Alejandro Mendoza Level Designer: Jeff Leung Artists: Alejandro Mendoza (boss creature, avalanche, light soldier), Steven Zhong (train, medium creature), Zhengrong Chen (roof, tunnel), Jeff Leung (subway platform), Ying Guo (heavy soldier, light soldier), Marko Rabasovic (floating boulders).
Screenshots
This is a full shot of the environment. An important element of the mod was to contrast cold and warm, and light and dark. This was achieved by lighting the soldiers and creatures differently, and by giving them unique color palettes.
A shot of the heavy soldier threatening the creatures' eggs. The train was a major focal point, so I concentrated on making the shaders as interesting as possible. The eggs have a pulsing emissive texture to give a feeling of life, and there is a heat haze that rises up from them. There is also a caustic light effect running across the train's interior.
For the human characters, there are three shaders: a weapon shader, a clothing shader, and a skin shader. A breath particle was attached to them to give the feeling of coldness.
The avalanche was an important set piece and consisted of a number of elements working together. The avalanche was an asset create by an artist, and I added a mesh on top of it that had the same contour shape of the avalanche. This mesh had a panning material that mimiced snow falling down a slope. Snow decals were added at the base to help with the blending, and the falling snow helped to give movement to the piece.
For the medium creatures, two shaders were used: one for the hard white shell, and one for the darker flesh material. The flesh also has a flickering emissive to show that there is something hot inside of them. Breath particles were given to the two front creatures to give the feeling that they are in a frenzy.
Some shots of the interior of the train. I designed one of the camera shots to travel through the train, so it was important to make sure that everything in the interior looked interesting up close.
This shot is the last frame of a pan that starts from the front of the station. It gives the audience a feeling of how large the station is, and also how much trouble the soldiers are in.
Another establishing shot of the situation. The shadow of the hole rim on the ground was very important, as it helped mark a "border" betwen the exterior and interior. The ironic element of the scene is also visible here (the soldiers surrounded by monsters, juxtaposed with the name of the station).
In this shot, the boss monster reveals herself. She is primarily back lit, and also has a shader that gives her a fresnel rim lighting. Both of these things help to give her an ominous feeling.
