Space Smack!
Project Title: Space Smack!
Development Time: 4 months
Team Size: around 10 people
Game Engine: Unreal Engine 4.25
Platform: PC
Tools: Zbrush, 3Ds Max, Substance Painter, Photoshop
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Overview
Space Smack! is a 1 to 4 player party game exploding with chaos and sabotage. Enter into the vast expanse of space and clash in a variety of minigames. In this controller-only game, cooperate or undermine your friends to become victorious!
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Space Smack! was created in Unreal Engine 4.25.
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I worked as an artist on this project on a team of 10 people, 2 others as artists. I worked with Saad Baloch (Lead Artist), Anirudh Sundaresan (Artist), Sam Hooser (Lead Level Designer), Minqi Huang (Level Designer), Yan Zhang (Game Designer), William Bennet (Lead Programmer), Neeraj Jairam (Programmer), Haomin Wang (Programmer), and Mary Mutter (Producer).
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My Responsibilities
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Created proxy assets for the LDs to build levels
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Created finalized models for the levels according to the Lead Artist's vision
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Unwrapped and textured models
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Lighting levels
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Created some particle effects
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Collaborated with LDs to make art assets fit each level
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Collaborated with SDs to find solutions to design and artistic needs
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Created complex materials to achieve the desired look specified in the parameters set
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Object Shadow Conveyance
Early in the process, it became very important to find a way to have shadows underneath objects for the player to easily see where the objects were in relation to the play area. I explored several different possibilities on the art side of things for a quick, easy solution that would have a minimal impact on performance without depending heavily on post-process effects. The material went through several iterations and eventually landed on a custom ellipse mask material function to have control on various properties for the shadow effect. The blueprint was based on this tutorial.
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MF_Ellipsoid_Mask
MMST_Shadow_EllipsoidMask
Magma Mayhem
I was primarily responsible for the art asset creation, lighting, and postprocessing in this level. Saad Baloch provided the concepts as well as the finished UI elements and I built as closely to the concept as possible. Anirudh Sundaresan created the rock geometries and I texture the rocks. The particle effects were created by Jason Pavik, an outsourced artist.
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Lava and Rocks Material
I created the lava material underneath the platforms in Magma Mayhem. The problem I faced was finding a way to scroll the protruding rocks across the plane's surface. I could not think of a way to do this with strictly geometry, so I found a way to have that effect with a displacement map. This allowed me to pan the textures across the surface repeatedly without the need for a very large piece of geometry to be moved through the space.
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MMST_Lava
Bomb Brawl
I was primarily responsible for the art asset creation, lighting, and postprocessing in this level. Saad Baloch provided the concepts and proxy models as well as the finished UI elements and I built as closely to the concept as possible. Anirudh Sundaresan created the bomb model.
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Fog Blueprint and Material
I created a fog material with plane instances rotated 90 degrees to give some visual variation.
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BPA_Fog_Volume
MMST_Fog_Volume
Mars Mania
I created the crystals, star, and skull models and their particle effects as well as worked on lighting and postprocessing. Anirudh Sundaresan created the rest of the models. Saad Baloch created the UI elements.
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