Jason Bagi
GAMES AND PROJECTS
On this Page, I will give you an insight of the Larger Projects I have been a part of, starting with the Game Project from Deutsche Pop.
Game Project - Deutsche Pop
3rd Person Platformer- Jump ’n’ Run
Focus on : Mood, Story and Platforming
The game is not about fast action, fast decision-making or fighting through enemies. On the one hand it is a fairly difficult platformer, even without enemies the player has to move carefully and precisely. There is environmental damage in the game and always the risk of losing your progress, because you fall to the ground. (no falling damage).
On the other hand, the game is about atmosphere and enjoying the beautiful enchanted world, while also caring about the quest of the main hero and its people.
STORY
A great evil has destroyed and robbed the jewel-factory of the [Characters people/town].
Now after it finally has vanished from the site, after years of hiding, the [Character] is chosen by his people to enter the factory and turn the power back on, so his people can restore it and find their purpose again.
The goal of the character is to repair and turn on the central machine along with its “magical AI”. If it manages to achieve that, the restoration can begin.
The forest :
The enchanted forest is a part of a bigger forest, hidden far from the outside world. In this very part a magical power flows through every creature, plant and even through the ground. It is some kind of higher being without exact form. It is a good hearted being, spreading peace, life and tranquility. It is capable of feeling and showing emotions. It lives symbiotically with the woodland creatures, who are just as ancient as the power itself. The creatures keep the forest hidden and care about the plants and animals. In return teh being gives the creature's power and energy, which they inherent themselves but also power their machines with.The protection is vital because the being itself is not capable of inducing any harm and if corrupted by any kind of evil, falls into a deep slumber dreaming nightmares. These nightmares will become reality in the enchanted forest.
The woodland creatures :
They transport a portion of the mined and manufactured gems and jewels via underground railways to the outside world for trading. As a security measure they don’t trade them themselves, but have a befriended tribe of dwarfs who are active in the region's market. But even the dwarfs don’t know where exactly the enchanted forest lies.
The jewel factory:
All the technology of the woodland creatures is a hybrid between the magical power from the forest and their mechanical machines. Thus also the factory is powered by the forest itself. Inside the woodland creatures have managed to create a machine, which can inherit the essence of the greater being. Thus making it possible to directly communicate with it.
Also the being can distribute its power from this main control system into all the other machinery of the factory, making it the heart of the system and of the forest at the same time.
No one knows how, but after a long time of peace, the location of the factory has been compromised to a great evil. It befell the mother-AI and the greater being fell into a deep slumber. After the factory was pillaged and destroyed the evil left, leaving nothing but ruins behind. Due to its nightmares, thick thorns and poisonous ivy started to grow from the heart of the forest outwards (from the factory).
Through the help of some birds the woodland creatures realized the evil was gone quickly but the greater being wasn’t waking up on its own. So they decided on trying to wake it up with a burst of energy, stored as a reserve in the factory. Because that could only be done locally, they chose a hero to complete that task. The forest around the factory was already so overgrown, that the creatures chose [player character] for he was the most skilled athlete and bravest of them all.
They were expecting heavy damage to the building but also damage to the machines and technology inside, which the [player character] may have to fix before he could initiate the power burst. The only help they could give him was a sketched map of the factory, marking the main control panel and an energy amulett, serving as a key to the emergency door.
WORKFLOW
We started by creating mood boards, sketches and concept art which we shared via Trello. In order to have a guideline through the project, we tried filling out the GDD to our best capacity, right at the start. (We also tried to fill out the GDD as best as we could, right at the start, in order to have a guideline through the project.)
Throughout the working process, we made changes and interactions.
(Of course, many iterations and changes were made during the work time.)
In Unreal, we started by creating the necessary groundwork for the movement and core mechanics in the game. Since we did not have our own Character at that point, we used the Unreal built-in Mannequin to implement all our features.
The next step was to block out the Layouts of the two Levels. Therefore, we used the inbuilt geometry features in Unreal, as well as a lot of Prototype-Models we created in other 3D-Softwares (Blender).
Then it was time to set up a system in which we could all work on the same project, at the same time, and without destroying the work of the others. In order to help us with that, we made use of GitHub. It was quite demanding to learn the ins and outs of GitHub, and we had tremendous amounts of problems from start to finish. Through that it was possible to work together, have different save files that could be merged after certain work steps were done and have a working system for versioning the several steps in a production.
From there on, we split up our tasks, working at the same time on different parts of the world. Exchanging Assets, working with Effects and Foliage and upgrading the game to an alpha-status.
We tried to keep tasks rather small and merged our versions quite often to ensure everything was working properly, and we would not have to change a lot, if something would not function as it was supposed to.
The implementation of our own Character and its retargeted animations, was one of the last things we did, but since the groundwork was already there and working properly, it was not as big of a challenge as expected. Still the retargeting and the fur as groom asset demanded several tries.
MY TASKS
LVL01: Layout + Blockout•Background, Environmental Restriction
VFX: Water, Movement Effects (+ extra camera Shot for VFX-submission)
Assets : Environmental Assets, Damage-Assets
Dash/Teleport - VFX
Program: Unreal Engine
With help of the magical power flowing through them, the woodland creatures can thunnel it to perform a quick short dash. Although it looks like they are teleporting, because the DASH is so fast, they are not.
While Dashing they move so quick, that they get invisible for just a moment. Because that action consumve to touch any solid ground/platform with their feet, or their power won't be able to recharge.
Layout Environment
Based on discussions with my colleagues, I initially created a sketch once we had a rough idea of how the level should look. Paul, one of my colleagues, then uploaded some low-poly tree models as placeholders which i placed on the level.I proceeded to add hills in Unreal Engine and created a large tree along with some other variations. To achieve more variety and due to time constraints, I also used models sourced online, resulting in a mix of custom-made and external assets. After watching several tutorials, I added water, which was an interesting process.
Modeling & Texturing Environment
After Paul showed us how he created the stones, I followed the same method to ensure the style matched. I textured my models (trees, stones, etc.) in Substance Painter, using the high-poly to low-poly technique. Once I finished the textures, I imported them into Blender and also saved them for use in Unreal Engine. Thanks to so many amazing YouTube tutorials, it was a lot of fun to try out- and use this software, and I could have done it all day. I sculpted the trees and experimented with different techniques. I love sculpting and then applying textures or drawings on the models.
GAMES & PROJECTS
Project EXILE
Project Exile happens to be a Substory from Wyldheart Chronicles Fantasy Novels Wyldheart, that introduces the Kingdom "Kilton". I helped him Capture the Essential Place of the Story, modelling and Texturing it out.
Story
The story is set in the Kingdom of Kilton and follows Eldwyn, daughter of Rathas, who has been chosen for a sacred ceremony that will lead her into exile. This ceremony is a great honor, where only the most magically gifted individuals are allowed to pass through a portal into a more powerful kingdom. This kingdom, known as Ananthara, guards the source of magic, the Wyldheart.
THE PORTAL
Workflow
I had many ideas for my project work, and in the end, I decided to pursue an idea that would be useful for Joshi, who is working on his novels and often combines 3D models with photography. I asked him if he had any sketches of how he envisioned it so I could better recreate it, and he provided me with a storyboard that I used as a reference. I created some sketches for myself as additional references and added fire bowls and fountains because it felt like something was missing.
For the portal's "magic" effect, I used some MP4 files because I thought my PC might have struggled with rendering everything, as it was already being pushed to its limits with all the models and textures I had. With the figure from Daz 3D, which Joshi had edited and then imported into the Blender file, it was a challenge, but somehow we managed to get it done.
I sourced some textures for free from various websites. The fire bowl textures were created in Substance Painter, and I also made some for the fountains in Substance, but importing them into Blender didn’t work out as well as I hoped. However, I also did the portal textures in Substance Painter. Then I experimented with different lighting colors to see what would best set the mood. Joshi was very pleased with the result.
Insights
GAMES & PROJECTS
UI DESIGN - Void Keepers
SHORT INTRO
