GAR106 ENVIRONMENT ART Dungeon Project

After reading the brief for this module, I can easily say i am looking forward to this project. Going into week 1, i am purely going to focus on gathering references and brainstorming some ideas for what i will be making for the duration of this module. Out of all of the choices given, I have decided to create a dungeon inspired by diablo. I have chosen diablo because out of war hammer, and Baldur's gate it is the one i know least about and i think that it will be a fun challenge. For the next few weeks i will aim to get more familiar with the world of diablo so i can try to recreate its environments and overall vibe to the best of my ability. My first stop to gather references was Pinterest. I think i managed to find some really useful references, and i am confident in starting a block out for next week. While searching for references i noticed that diablos environments and dungeons contain very vast structures and open areas that give more meaning to the story and its progression, This has allowed me to start thinking of some ideas of what i would like my final dungeon to look like but also some of the assets i will create for my modular kit. Below i have added some of the references i found on Pinterest along with a screenshot of the board i made. Reference List: Jamal, A. (2016). Diablo 4 Dungeon Concept. Pinterest. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EZN92?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=organic [Accessed 7 May 2026].Kim, M. (2018). Diablo 3 Fanart. Pinterest. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/2xxVwY?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=organic [Accessed 7 May 2026].Share Creators, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc and NetEase Games (2023). 【Share Creators 】Diablo Immortal|NetEase Games|Blizzard Entertainment,Fashion Interface Background. Pinterest. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/14A2eo?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=organic [Accessed 7 May 2026].Stadick, S. and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc (2023). Diablo IV - Keep/ Keep Variant Dungeon Kits. Pinterest. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ao1rJ0?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=organic.Villette, K. and Blizzard Entertainment, Inc (2024). Diablo 4 - VoH - UnderCity and Dungeons Concepts. Pinterest. Available at: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JrEkER?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=organic [Accessed 7 May 2026].

Starting the second week, i wanted to keep it relatively simple and use this time to experiment and learn how to start making a kit, and what i have to do to import my work into unreal, to later start working on the final project in the coming weeks. In this weeks work shop I began by making a very simple dungeon kit consisting of a wall, floor, simple pillar, and a set of stairs so i can start getting a hang of working with a kit, this was very new to me as the way i went around all of my over 3D projects in maya over the years is to make everything as i go without a block out. After making the simple kit out of basic primatives i can easily see how this method of creating a 3D scene is miles better than working as i go, Even thought it was a simple 4 asset kit, having everything laid out in front of me i was able to come up with ideas for a floor plan much easier, instead of staring at one asset and wondering where i could take it next and what else i can compliment it with in a scene. After I had finished making all the assets i made sure that everything was appropriately scaled by using the unreal scaleman which i imported into my scene, and with that i started blocking out a little room and began expanding it, again this was all for experimentation and to learn how to use unreal i do not think i will use or build on any of these assets as i start working on my final kit. With that, i opened up unreal and imported the scene i had just made using the game exporter. I also added in some basic lighting so i could run around the scene and see what would be possible for my final project. Once the workshop was over, I went back to my references from week 1 and started thinking of some assets i can make ahead of time before we start our actual modular kits. I settled on this concept art from Feng Zhu Design which i thought fit nicely into the world of diablo. I tried my best to adapt the concept art whilst making some changes to the design to not follow the original artist work too closely. I was quite proud of how it turned out and this has just made me more excited to continue with this module. Attached image below! Reference: Feng Zhu Design (n.d.). Concept Art. Pinterest. Available at: https://pin.it/3LPyrfhVC.

Going into week 3 i was really looking forward to start actually making proper assets for the final project. I already had an asset that i was quite proud of and i just wanted to start making everything now. I started off by making a brazier as i thought that would fit the scene quite nicely. I thought this asset turned out really well although i have to admit i took me a surprising amount of time to get it to look the way i wanted, After making the brazier i took a step back and looked back at my references and realised i still didnt know much about diablo or how things can be interacted with in the game. So i decided to do some research and download the game via xbox game pass and try it out for myself so i can get a better understanding of the setting and the world of diablo. During my playthrough, within the first hour or 2 i was completely hooked. I also managed to gather many references and finally gotten the inspiration i needed to start drafting my version of a diablo dungeon crawler. I particularly took inspiration from one of the first bigger dungeons of the game where the player has their first interaction with Lilith and one of the people that she had influenced. i was honestly really amazed with the vast environments and architecture of the game, and after this i instantly knew what i wanted to do for my dungeon. I particularly really Liked the transition from a regular mine to an ancient dungeon, i felt the like the colour contrast within the two environments was perfect and its something i wanted to try replicate in my own work. I also really liked this one part of the dungeon where you could look over a cliff and see the end goal of the dungeon where the player has to fight a boss. After completing this research I had began to work on some assets that i can use to create my ideas. Images attached below.

During reading week, I didn't spend too much time working on new assets as i wanted start refining, some of my already made assets by starting to sculpt and texture them. particularly my floor assets and the bricks on the side of them. I thought that the bricks would be a perfect place to start as i can sculpt them and give them more definition, maybe add some cracks and some over all wear and tear. I also thought that the bricks would make for a perfect tiling material as to get the depth i wanted for the bricks i wouldn't be able to just use a regular texture so the bricks are made of multiple beveled cubes placed at different heights to make them look more un-balanced. I thought this could add to the story telling of the scene as i want to make a pretty big contrast between the mines the player starts in and the ancient dungeon that it is connected to. I also began modelling some of the cave assets like a cliff. This again was inspired by one particular part of the dungeon from my in game screen grabs where the player is overlooking the end of the dungeon from the cliff at the start of the dungeon. I am also planning on working on some rocks which i would eventually use to build the walls of the cave, I also thought a tileable material would be a perfect use case for this as i would have multiple of the same asset placed around an area to create this effect, I'm quite happy with how the cliff turned out, I'm also happy with how the newer floor assets turned out, I feel like it will give me some more variation in the scene. I particularly really liked how the brick tileable material turned out, after making it i realised that i can use it for more than just the bricks and i can use it as a base texture for some future assets as a smart material to not only save time but to also make everything blend well together instead of trying to manually match the look of another texture with one i'm working on.

This week i prioritised working on making more assets, more specifically i wanted to work on the rock assets that will build up the walls of the cave and some props that i can place around the scene that i think would make it look more complete when i start working on the final scene. For the rock assets i used a cube and the multi-cut tool so that i can keep it relatively low poly. I wanted to focus most of the detail in the tileable texture as its going to be placed all over the scene. I then moved on to making some smaller props to scatter around once the initial block out is finished. I modelled a Lamp, braziers, some barrels, a pickaxe, a book, a table and a cup. During my playthrough of the first couple hours of gameplay these are some props that i noticed to be scattered around the dungeons most often. I also used my in game screen grabs as a reference for this so that i could capture the style of diablo to the best of my ability. I also started working on some texture for these props, for the barrel and the lamp i threw them into zbrush and sculpted some wood grain and some chipped pieces that i then baked into the texture. I am extremely proud of how these textures turned out especially the lamp i feel like the emission on the actual light is the cherry on top and really brings the prop to life.

For week 6 i think i managed to get quite a lot done. I started this week off by making some more essential assets for my dungeon kit, primarily some walls and an archway, and some scaffolding props for the cave portion of the scene i want to create. With these assets i scuplted them in zbrush, I did this to add some minor details like cracks, scuffs and wood grain so that i can bake it into the texture making the props come to life. WIth this since i now had pretty much all i needed to start making the scene i started my initial block out, I started with the cave surrounding the rock floor with the Rock assets i had made previously, while doing this i was referring back to the in game screenshots from week 3 to shape the cave, i took note of the way the original artists laid out their dungeons and noticed that in the areas inaccessible to the player they kept adding details and props. This really adds to the scene as a whole and i wanted to replicate this i made a little dip off to the side where the player wont be able to walk to but i near it they will see deeper into the cave. This is to add to the story telling of the scene as it shows how the mines which were once used by people are now over run by creatures in this dungeon. I then started working on the other part of the dungeon. I added the massive Archway as a way to seperate the caves from the ancient dungeon where the player is forced to explore to complete the dungeon. I wanted this section to be almost a direct contrast to the mines, just like in game. This was also a good time to think about lighting and how that can direct the player in a dungeon. The contrasting lighting chosen in game from a warmer tone to a cooler tone is something i wanted to capture perfectly. so i plan to make the cave full of warm tones with an almost ominous green glow coming from the archway. But that is all just a plan for now, During this week i also worked on texturing all the assets I wanted to get this out of the way so i can purely focus on building up my scene. I also began work on the shrine, for this i again went back to my gathered references and screenshots and looked for anything that the player was able to interact with and i studied how these assets might have been built. I ended up going for a sort of obelisk surrounded by candles, I also found some runes from the diablo world which i turned into alphas in photoshop. I also sculpted some basic wear and tear like cracks and scratches onto it to show how it may be used as an offering for something evil. This week i really wanted to get the story telling of the scene across as i felt that was important especially when i looked at it like , "what if this scene was actually in a game, what would i want to see".

Since I worked loads on mesh detailing last week, I thought i would start working on some proper lighting in my scene, I also imported my tileable textures just so i more easily differentiate between the props and the and the areas that the player can access. Just like i planned before i added a warmer lighting to the actual cave, and a contrasting cooler colour in the actual dungeon as it reveals a vast cavern. To compliment this i made these massive pillars inspired by the ones in the original dungeon this is based on and placed them far away from the actual scene giving the illusion of a massive area which again contrasts the smaller more compact cave that the player originally starts in. For this i also experimented with adding in a water simulation by the background pillars which i thought further added to the illusion of this being a vast open space that is unknown to the player. I also started working on my trim sheet as i have been putting it off for a little while now, this is because i slightly went astray from the original learning space plan, but this was purely because there were specific things i wanted to work on before i started others. At first I didn't really understand how to make a trim sheet but with the help of some friends i managed to figure it out really quickly. This may be because i didn't follow the weekly plan however that is my own mistake and i have learnt from it. I wanted to make a trim sheet for the floors and the fences in the actual dungeon. For now i added the brick tile texture over them as a place holder until i finshed making the trim sheet. I split it up into 3 sections, - The first some floor tiles for the actual floor, i didnt want it to just be a flat rocky texture like i had made for the cave as again i wanted that contrast between the two zones in my dungeon. So i chose to make some flooring tiles which i will eventually begin to sculpt and make the area look more man made in contrast to the cave. - The second I used some curves to make a sort of symbol which i am going to place on each one of the fence posts. For this one i didnt exactly use any reference i just went off on my own and made something that i thought felt right for the scene for these i dont think i will sculpt it at all and i will focus more on the texturing side of things for this trim. - and finally the last part of the trim sheet is going to be for the the borders around each of the fences as i thought they looked quite flat so i used this as an opportunity to add some more gold accents like i saw in the original in game dungeon Just like i planned before i added a warmer lighting to the actual cave, and a contrasting cooler colour in the actual dungeon as it reveals a vast cavern. To compliment this i made these massive pillars inspired by the ones in the original dungeon this is based on and placed them far away from the actual scene giving the illusion of a massive area which again contrasts the smaller more compact cave that the player originally starts in. For this i also experimented with adding in a water simulation by the background pillars which i thought further added to the illusion of this being a vast open space that is unknown to the player.

Week 8 overall was really slow, i had been quite behind on other modules and had to spend some time working on that. However during this week i began importing all the other textures for all the props that i had made, This was actually really fun to do as the idea that i had is finally starting to see the light of day, the pieces of the puzzle was coming together and the scene started to look like an actual in game dungeon (at least i hope it did). ------- Note -------- i stupidly waited to add the feature to add images to this website all screenshots from here have gone missing due to my hard drive dying on my near the end of the project :p Will add images that i was able to recover from the drive and renders from final submission when relevant

For this week i purely focused on finishing the trim sheet as it was the one thing i had missing now. I first took the basic layout that i had made in maya and imorted it into zbrush. This is where i was going to add all the little details. I started by giving the flooring tiles i had made a more slate like texture and some cracks. I really liked how it turned out but if i were to do something differently i would've added more detail onto the original layout in maya first, but i didn't not have the time as it was almost easter and since i was going home i wouldn't have been able to work on this so i wanted to get everything out of the way for when i come back. I then repeated the process for the borders and the fence trims adding different kinds of wear and tear for each part as looking at it from an architectural point of view different parts of a structure would wear down differently from others. I also used some alphas around the little sigil i had made in maya to give it some more height and to make it look more distinct from the rest of the material. Then i moved it to substance, and for this i actually used both the rock tile and the brick tile materials as a base for this. I tweaked the colours and the masks a little so it wouldnt be exactly the same, I also used some extra masks to emphasise the damage on the edges. Finally i added some gold accents on both the sigil and the borders for it to blend in better with the walls and other assets in the scene. the next step was to bring everything back to maya. I made a blinn and imported the textures and alligned the UVs of the assets according to where they needed to be. Once this was done i finally imported everything into unreal and i now had all my materials. I feel like i could've done better but after looking at all my assets these were the only ones that could've fully benefitted from using a trim sheet however for it being the first trim sheet i have made im not to displeased with it. -------NOTE------- screenshot is one of the only files i managed to salvage from the drive, everything else are the renders of the final trim sheet on a plane and on the assets it was made for in the kit render.

Personally i found week 10 really fun, This is where i started to work on some more advanced lighting. To do this i used some spotlights in certain areas in the scene with a slightly adjusted colour to drag the players attention to certain parts of the scene. Like in the cave where the scaffolding is i added a spotlight there to get the players attention to the stuff in the background to add to the story telling of the scene. I also messed around with the emissive texture on the lamps and made them the main lights in the scene instead of using point lights which ended up looking WAY better. I also started working with volumetric fog, I feel like this is where the scene really came together, made the overall area seem more like a dungeon where something might be lurking instead of just a regular mine. This also complimented the new lighting really well and i was really proud of the scene. During the peer review i realised i couldn't get more up to date screenshots with the new lighting and textures because it wouldn't let me commit or push any of the local changes of my home PC but regardless even off the older screenshots i managed to get some pretty good feedback, i noticed a lot of people brought up the bricks but the very large contrast in depth between the bricks was what i was going for as it best suited the dungeons i had scene in the game while doing my research.

I had completely forgotten about the Hero asset, and i only had a week to go, This week i focused entirely on the shrine. I first went back into zbrush and refined some of the sculpts that i did for it and then baked it in substance. Texturing the hero asset was really fun. In substance i really enjoy messing around with emissives and the hero asset had a lot of places where i could use them. once again i used the brick and rock tile textures as a base and tweaked the colours and masks around. I then used some fill layers set to multiply to add some variation to the edges of the shrine. I then hand painted the runes with an emissive layer. and the shrine was completed and i was finally able to import the missing piece of the scene into unreal. the only thing i had to now is add some lights around the candles and my scene was complete. However this caused some issues in unreal as i would've had too many lights in the scene, But i got some really good feedback and ideas for a fix from my peers and i painted on some candle lights using an emissive layer and this worked really well, not only did it look good but it also helped optimise the scene even more. -------- NOTE ------- the shrine was lost during week 12 uploaded images are from final deadline after i had to re texture and sculpt everything in week 12

the final week was probably one of the most stressful weeks of my life. to start off my drive where i kept all my work and my fork repository had completely died on me and i didn't manage to salvage much off it, When i realised that most of my work had gone missing i only had around 3-4 days before the final deadline. After applying for an extension and having it denied i spoke to the lecturers and we had no luck recovering anything of fork, as everything didn't push but instead was saved locally on the drive that died :p after this I salvaged whatever i could from the drive and from onedrive and restarted with a new unreal level. I imported my kit and the textures that i still had and began working on everything again, but this time with a much smaller level so that i could atleast attempt to get everything in on time. In these 3-4 days I sculpted, baked and retextured quite a few of the assets that lost the textures i had made previously, I then reimported everything into the new unreal level and started constructing a new smaller scene that was more manageable given the time crunch i was on. I would've used an older fork backup but they were all so far behind from what i had that i think it would've taken longer to go through everything again on a bigger scene considering id have to go in re do all the lighting and re optimize everything too. However after 3 days straight of no sleep i managed to construct a decent scene using everything that i had. im not the most pleased with it but its the best i couldve done given the situation. I managed to include the fog and some decent lighting in the scene and honestly with a smaller scene it was easier to make the backgrounds i had made with the pillars and id argue that the illusion of distance worked out better than in the level i had before the data loss. i have attached all of my final renders as i was so focused on finishing everything i didnt have time to screenshot my work incrementally in the time i had to finish everything.