Everything here was pretty straightforward for the most part. The concrete got a little extra loving through the use of a node in its material called "World Position Offset". What it basically does is take the details (grunge, grime, etc) and changes them around based on where the object is in the world. It has a multitude of uses with other things. But in this case, it helped offset the dirt details on the concrete pillars so they didn't end up looking the same right next to each other. Adding piled up snow to the roof and gate pillars was a no-brainer. Not sure why I didn't catch it before. It doesn't look very believable when certain objects have a ton of snow and others don't, so fixing it was essential. The icicles were a last minute idea, as I wasn't sure how they would look. But the shader I threw together for them worked perfectly. I made three different types of icicle "cluster" meshes. One with barely any at all, and two others with icicles of varying lengths. It isn't in the original game, but I think it adds something that was missing after translating it to 3D.
The shop had its challenges. Getting the subtle grit on the bricks to look good was tricky. I was going to use vertex painting to achieve it, but for reasons I still can't understand, UDK wouldn't let me paint on the mesh. It does this crap sometimes. Just comes with using Unreal. :/ So I used a plane with translucency on it, and overlayed the dirt that way. The windows have reflections as well as parallax (the illusion that makes it look like there's shifting space behind the window frames.) Getting both to work well together is a but tricky and requires a lot of parameter tweaking. Also, I included a subtle reference to one of the game's characters for fun. I'll buy a drink for the first one to guess it. :P
Not a whole lot to talk about here. Just some tents. I added in a more subtle snow piling effect to them. As if they were just set up a day or so ago, and only have caught snow drifting in the air so far. The normal bake I did for them didn't get me the best results, so I had to do a lot of fixing to get it to not look weird. It's always good practice though, as manipulating normal maps takes a bit of skill.
EB fans will like this (I hope). Brick Road always seems to be a favorite among us, so I really worked hard on the entrance to make it look cool. The original sprite doesn't give you a lot to work with, so I had to make up the idea of using nailed together boards as a makeshift sign. That, combined with the sloppily painted letters sells the "hastily thrown together" look. It was especially tricky to make the wood pieces look different enough, but not too different as to look funny. The other sign to the right of it has the same feel, with it basically being a markered piece of paper that was taped on top of a pre-existing billboard. And of course, who can forget the pencil statue? Such a weird prop to make, but fairly easy enough. Just a metal base with reflection thrown in for good measure. Fun!
Stonehenge wasn't tough at all. Luckily, the ambient occlusion on the rocks from the high res sculpt and piled up snow does most of the work. I just added in some color variation on top of that and it looked quite nice. The ladder was another last minute ordeal that added a nice touch. I wasn't entirely sure what to do with the entrance to the underground base for awhile, originally thinking it would be this hole in the ground that glows the same shifting colors that the interior has. But the fact that the characters use a ladder to ascend down made more sense. You don't see it in the original level's exterior, but I'm thinking it was probably due to graphical limitations on the SNES or something.
And finally, we have Dr. Andonuts' lab. This ended up being harder than I anticipated. The main trouble was figuring out what to do with the main green metal. Having it be flat like in the original seemed too boring. So I ended up adding in a tiling sheet metal design to break it up a bit. Which makes sense in the real world, because that's how it would be built. Not that this project is about realism, but it helps to make sense of things when you need it. The roof needed something as well, as it is also just a flat green in the original EarthBound sprite. And so it got a proper corrugated metal design. The sign display above the door is essentially an effect, so it isn't in there yet. I added in some vents to the sides of the roof just to give more visual interest. They'll shoot out steam as well as the rest of the building having a more subtle rising steam effect. Which would explain why there isn't piled snow anywhere to be found. A creative choice I made to have it stick out from the dorm and shop, which are both plastered with it. The idea is that the lab is brimming with so much energy inside that it heats up the exterior as well. Lastly, the Skyrunner. I wanted it to have the same clean feel that the pencil statue had, so it was just a matter of using the same reflective metal.
So that's that. I'm really feeling like this project's end is within reach. Such a nice feeling. Hopefully, I'll have it done within a month. Updated progress list:
1) Do a night lighting pass
2) Effects (steam for lab building and lake, rain, lab sign display, skyrunner rocket flames and antenna signal, and leaves blowing in the wind)
3) Camera and kismet setup
4) Taking screenshots
5)Video editing and screenshot fixing up
Oh, what a life.
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