Project Files Download

Here is a link where you can download the project, it is in a zip folder, you will just need to install the "Prerequisites.exe" by double clicking on it, then launch the level using the shortcut "Victoria Adaptation Project"

Victoria Adaptation Project Download

Good Luck Ben with your 3rd year project and dissertation too.

Thanks to the guys from Bizarre for coming to see our work.

Presentation

well I think the presentation went really well today!

I really appreciated the feedback that we got from the guys at Bizarre and I feel like we have both learnt so much from participating in this project and will take on so much more into the 3rd year...

Hopefully we can upload some files for Bizarre to get a hold of but other than that we'll sit back and have a well deserved rest I think!

Good luck with your 3rd year group work tomorrow James!



Ben

Sunset Continued

Some new images, I changed the main light to directional lighting and that seems to have sorted out some of the issues I was having with shadows. I added tracks, something I've been meaning to do for a while. With the help of Ben we got some soft lighting coming from the station lamps. The telephone booths now cast directional lights; the ticket machines do too. I also added lamps to the tables in the "Relaxation Area" and I added a couple of contemporary cube fountains which I thought were ideal for cover if they need arose.

The pillars running through the first floor glass partition will be swapped out, I promise. ;)

Ben and I discussed the texture situation, that is, making them monochrome etc. We have a couple of ideas but I'm going to have to put a bit of research in first.

From this point on I'm going to be focusing on the 2nd and 3rd floors, which entails adding furniture and lighting. We have some nice ideas for the 3rd floor in particular, more posts will follow their progress.

Sunset

Some screenshots of what I have been up to recently, some of the shadows casts strange shadows but I am determined to figure this out.
Originally I was using a lightmass volume and had a point light illuminating the entire scene. This time I removed the mass and allowed the emissive glows to light areas. I added some lights to boost this.
I chose to try the sunset theme because when I was looking through the sky domes for something a little less cloudy, I found the sunset and it seemed like the perfect opportunity to play with lights. As you can see the level looks very dark, I have a few ideas on how to realistically illuminate some areas. More screenshots coming soon.

Group Members: We are meeting tomorrow, I would like to discuss lighting in depth.

ScreenShots

I finally got around to producing some screenshots, there are still quite a few problems with it (specifically shadows), the various lighting effects have not really been implemented in full yet but there will be more changes by friday, at the moment the player can run through the level, everything you see has collision and I added a couple of basic textures that have glows to indicate lights. I'm still learning the ropes with unreal's lighting but I should have something soon. Some more basic objects have been made in 3DS Max and I'll have them in soon, then I'll upload some more screenshots on thursday.

3D Progress Update

I've been working on modelling the level in 3D Studio Max and exporting everything into the UDK. Yesterday I realised just how bad the alignment of some of the objects were, this was due to the method I used to create the models in Max; so last night, using the old level I created as a basic guide, I began creating a new level with much better grid alignments and so forth.

Sorry for not uploading any screenshots as of yet, I'm working to make it look better before I upload anything.

Please post reference images for the shops, bar and lounge, I know we have rough ideas but they are still to be outlined. Any sketches would be appreciated, I'll try to find some time to get some done myself as well.

Note to group: A meeting will be held on Monday.

Project Update

I thought I might just add a post saying where we are currently up to, Ben is working on getting some sketchup models he has been working on into 3ds max including stairs and so on.
Today Ben and I discussed walling off the interior and having the light come in from the roof. This will provide some direction for the lighting at the same time providing a limitation; an edge of level scenario that is realistic. We have yet to decide specifically what the roof will look like but we think that it will eventually take the form of our concept images.
I have been working on blocking out the level in unreal, getting to grips with it and making sure that things look as they should when running around inside the station.
We have ideas for interior objects, they have not yet been added to the greyboxing stage but should be over the next couple of days. More screenshots and renders will soon be up.

Renders and Screenshots

I've been working hard with max and unreal attempting to get our basic structure working, I feel we can do a little more with the area, like boxing off the wide open gap where the carpark lies so it all becomes enclosed with light flooding in through the blue roof and the train/tram entrances and exits. With the new wall we could add a couple of small curved floors which provide extra relaxation / shopping zones. Leaving it open to the world seems strange, but I'll let you judge for yourself with the renders :)

As I said, I have been working hard to import this thing into unreal and it is obvious that I am yet to figure a few things out like why the roof looks the way it does; but i'm confident I can figure it out. The light from above comes through the blue mesh and distributes the colour through the station and, in my opinion, looks great (at least it will do when I sort out the problems i'm having). By the way, that roof is temporary and does not reflect the final choice ;)



I'd like it if we could meet on monday, discuss any references and ideas (especially lighting because it looks a bit grim at the moment) and look at how we could best implement them.

Post Visit to Bizarre

Hey guys, meeting went very well and I thoroughly enjoyed presenting our ideas to the guys at Bizarre and they gave us some great feedback on them as well as the overall project as a whole!

I can see that Stewart has made himself a follower of our blog so I look forward to any input that he can put across for us!

Just thought I'd upload the printouts I took to the studios, so they're here for all you guys to review!

A meeting tomorrow would be great to get to grips with where we will be heading and what we need to do over the next few weeks :)

indesign

A few Images of Stations and esaclators

As i said to Ste, the theme for contemporary stations seems to be spectacular roof with the interior design quite simple to allow the roof to stand out. We can still use to feature escalators and mezzanine floors to enhance this leading to a cafe, shops ect and add some nice features to aid in game play.

My drawing skills suck

Ok, so I've been doodling quite a bit over the weekend. Went back to the station and tried to look at the building from more of an interior mindset, looking at it's qualities as well as it's flaws.

I think, given the freedom of the gaming environment, what would benefit the building whilst not necessarily feasible in the real world would be adding multiple floors to make use of the massive Z space that the building has.

Looking at suggestions adam made over the weekend as well as referencing from a few books i have lying around I've came up with some simple sketches of exploring this...

I haven't got access to a scanner now but I'll show you guys the sketches tomorrow morning.

I have however been working on a simple model because I find that I can (hopefully) quickly illustrate my ideas easier.

sketchup

Essentially, I love the old sand coloured brick that faces out over the station, and the arches so I tried to keep this intact. To my knowledge, the offices that make up most of the first and second floors of this section are derelict. I've explored the idea of extending out these floors to create extra walkable space within the void of the building. Not relevant at this stage, but an idea is that these derelict offices, now broken up more defintively could become shops/cafes/bars etc, or perhaps even reused as their original specs.

The idea is that ideally, the pitched roofs would be more or less completely glazed over to create an abundance of light, which will be needed through the addition of these extra floors. Provisional escalators have been added to show possible routes up to and down the floors but can be subject to change. The addition of "tunnels" to make travelling through the 2nd floor feasible is again a temporary idea but one I kept revisiting in my doodles.

The long pitched roof I can imagine being a long restaurant/bar complete with tables, chairs and whatnot that look over the station as well as the city. With two walkways that lead over the train tracks to the larger sections. Perhaps a chance to rappel down to a moving/static train?

the first floor also joins up with the platform that leads to the MEN, and hopefully this can serve as an additionaly function.


Lastly, I would like to iterate that I am far from precious of this idea, and it is still in its infancy so more aesthetic qualities that you guys would like to see would be greatly appreciated and needed! I would love for you guys to pick it apart completely, tell me about certain aspects you like or dislike, from both a design standpoint and a gaming one. Rework it or use it as a stepping stone. For example, do the roofs HAVE to be pitched or can we come up with something more Zaha Hadid-like? And would more interesting walkways be possible? using interesting staircases instead of simple escalators...

Cheers!

Ben

Concept Images

I've been working on some ideas and so I sketched up a couple of them, I also took them into photoshop and added a bit of colour so you can see what i'm thinking of in terms of lighting, space and general colour; i'd like to hear comments on these as to what you all prefer for a colour palette; what objects should be placed inside the space and preferences on lighting.

At the moment I'm still thinking that this could work nicely as a hotel or shopping centre; again, let me know what your opinions are.

Lighting

While Lisa and Ben are working hard on retrieving floor plans and creating a sketchup model and with Ste off looking to create concepts; I started further researching into lighting and came across a few images that interested me; I think that some of the lighting effects here could work very well for us, leave your opinions and I'll begin sketching up some thoughts. Also if anyone has some good suggestions and images of what we should turn this space into that would help; at the moment I am thinking shopping centre or hotel, something like that.



I particularly like this image which is actually a concept for the interior of an airplane but the I think we could put that blue light to use in under the walkways and mezzanines to preserve the stylish contemporary theme even in the poorly lit areas of the interior space.

Some images are not particularly interestingly lit like the one featuring the curved wall, I simply wanted to show you this building for that wall; very stylish.

The last interior is a screenshot from the game Mass Effect; Noveria, Port Hanshan Plaza. Ste recalled this space after seeing a similar interior in on of the interior design books in the library; an interesting find, I particularly like the various lighting effects of this scene such as the lit staircase and soft light falling from the ceiling.

Changing the Theme

So we decided to go down an alternative route today, we are now going for a new, clean, renovated look, in this way we will be able to more efficiently use the are presented by the station; also it allows us to experiment a bit more and attempt to be more creative with our chosen setting.



I found a few images of slick contemporary interiors, I especially like how the light is balanced even though spotlights are mostly used and how the water is illuminated to add a nice glow to the surrounding area; then again i'm not studying interior and this might be something commonly done; it just caught my eye :)







N.B. There are just a couple of images in there that show new contrasting with old; John Ryland's and a building with a large, new, glass section built right on top of it. Just something I wanted you all to see.

First rough plan uploaded

No annotations or images attached yet since we're in the progress of refining them. This is a our first rough idea of where we want to go and we're just trying to get a general idea of the route to take without being to delicate in recreating the station brick for brick.

We'll refine these layouts in illustrator, photoshop and possibly simple sketchup models as well as adding photos to help illustrate our routes and points of conflict/interest.

Hopefully this will help us progress with more purpose.

Interior Plans and Simple External Elevations

Found some interior plans and elevations of the part of the building that faces the victoria approach street.

Going to try and chase up the council to try and acquire some more plans of the station, however I'll have to do this on my lunch break tomorrow as I'm working.

Found these numbers on the manchester.gov.uk website so hopefully if I'm unsuccessful perhaps Lisa you could attempt to acquire them as I know you have had previous experience with this?

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/500207/planning_and_buildings

had some good information on how to go about requesting plans.

Failing that, I'm working on a simple model to try and work out the layouts of the building to help build up a simple greybox model in the unreal engine. However I could probably do with visiting the station yet again for more sketches and photos...

Some Gameplay Videos

Just thinking about the cover mechanics, there's a few games that I like and that I think you should take a quick look at, they all feature cover mechanics but are all different in some way especially Time Crisis which is completely unique, but it was not the mechanic itself I was looking to but how the environment is utilised for cover like tables, chairs, walls etc. GTA works nicely in that it uses blind spots so you can't see what's around the corner waiting for you. Uncharted has a lot of z-axis fighting, the video shows how the environment is overgrown with plant life, it is overall a very good looking game.

Sorry about the quality of some of the videos but it was the best I could do with youtube.


Grand Theft Auto IV
Play from 1:03

Interior space used in a convincing manner for cover points.

Time Crisis 2




Uncharted
Nice environments overgrowing with foliage too!

Decay in Buildings

Changed the blog theme, the previous one seemed a little obtrusive.

Anyway, I gathered some images from the internet that might be of use if we are to make Victoria Station look old, derelict and decaying with overgrowing plant life.

plant feature walls:

http://www.greenfortune.com/

Very interesting read guys:

http://www.mark-magazine.com/magazine/25# Page 110

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2848/an_architects_perspective_on_.php

Pictures of Victoria Station

Hey guys, I figured out how to upload all the images I took to Google Picasa,

I've sent you all emails so you can view them but let me know if there's a problem somewhere.

I'll try and print them off tomorrow also so we can stick them up on the wall..

Victoria Station

Hey guys, iv just got back from Victoria Train station to get a feel of the scale and detail of the space and building. Sorry to throw a spanner in the works but I'm worried that the building is very large with an awful lot of detail and very little to give a wow factor or features to look authentically placed within game play.

As Mick pointed out that they wanted quality rather than quantity, I'm worried that the space is too big to get all of the detail in within such a short space of time.

What are your thoughts on this?

Ill do some research of Manchester buildings now to see if there are any that would look great even with the decay elements added from a visual point of view but also with interesting features that could be Incorporated into the game play to get an idea of whats available.

Trains, Trams and Tracks

I came across the specific default measurements of tram / train tracks today, 4' 8.5" it's a good starting point for creating the models of trams and possibly platforms since we could perform calculations by analysing photography, I double checked the measurement I found against google earth and maps with the measure tool to be sure and while no two measurements are ever identical I believe that 4' 8.5" will be sufficient. By the way, 4 ft 8.5 inches = 1.4351 metres. I have sent a request to metrolink to see if they can provide some information regarding measurements of their trams so we have something precise to work to but their response may take up to a fortnight, if anyone knows of any online resources where trains / tram measurements are stored that would be great. Note: I already checked The-Blueprints.com, nothing there on trams really.

The website Lisa provided referencing decay: http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index02.html

Nice find by the way! Some interesting imagery there.

Well anyway, that's where I'm up to, i'll continue my search, possibly take a quick walk around the station because I would like to make some sketches which I will do after making a new mood board to work from.

mine works lol

First Blog

Just testing this out to see if it works.