Unreal Engine 5: Global Agenda​ Environment Remastered

Project Inspiration:

My mission for this project was to demonstrate and cement my skills in the Unreal Engine, along with 3D modeling, level art and design, texturing, lighting and rendering, video composition, sound design, and shader/material creation. With the new Unreal Engine 5 coming out just before I was inspired to work on this project, I knew the technology available had a lot to offer. I thought it would be a great challenge to revisit an older game and try to recreate one of its environments. But, I wasn't just looking for any game, I was looking for one that was developed using an older version of the Unreal Engine, since that was the tool I would be using. I went through some of my older Steam games and made a list of potential candidates. From that list, I had to conduct some research on the development of each game. I found that Hi-Rez Studios started developing Global Agenda in 2005 using the Unreal Engine 3. This was exactly what I was looking for. With a game selected, it was time for me to pick an environment that would challenge me the most. Although I had a few ideas, it had been many years since I had last played the game, so my memory of all the environments was fuzzy. I launched the game and was on a mission to find the perfect environment. This is where I came across my first problem. The game servers were down... Recall this was a game that came out 13 years ago and likely didn't have a large player base. I wasn't going to give up that easily, as I had found the perfect candidate for a game. As anyone would, I turned to the internet to see if anyone else was experiencing similar issues. After running around the internet and following dead-end rabbit holes, I found that the servers would come online "every once in a while," according to a Reddit user. This might not have been the most trusted source, but based on my research, there was a constant: the servers were usually down, but every once in a while, players could join the game world. I didn't want to waste too much time if this was going to be a big problem, as I could always go back and find another game. However, I gave it three days and tried logging in every day at different times. On day three, I got lucky! Instead of receiving an error message, telling me the servers were down, the character selection screen came up. I was unsure how much time I had before the servers would be shut down again, so instead of roaming, I used my memory to the best of my ability and headed straight to the locations I thought would be good candidates. I was able to find 4 of them, and took as many screenshots as I could from different angles and perspectives. I went through each of the screenshots and evaluated how I would go about the construction of each environment. Some of them had been large environments, and that wasn't necessarily challenging; it was just time-consuming. One of them, however, was small, which meant I could focus on the quality. More importantly, it used some advanced particle systems, complex reflective materials, and a unique lighting arrangement. This environment seemed to present the greatest challenge.

Now I had made my decision! I would re-create an environment known as "The Hall of Legends", and with my screenshots already taken, I was ready to start my project.

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The Environment Construction Process:

Below is my process of creating the 3D environment. This is pretty much the normal convention in the industry, and it looks something like this:

1. Concept, Design & Planning Phase

2. The Blockout (Greyboxing) Phase

3. Low-Poly Modeling

4. Placing the High-Poly Models in the Environment (Revisit Steps 2 & 3 if Needed)

5. High-Poly Modeling

6. Placing the High-Poly Models in the Environment (Revisit Step 5 if Needed)

7. UV Unwrapping, Texturing, and Material Creation

8. Final Polish with Lighting & Particle Systems

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Page is still under construction, more explanations coming soon...

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Rendering, Video Editing & Adding Audio:

After the 3D scene was created, it was time to set up the cameras, animate them, and render the final video out of the game engine. With that complete, I started editing the video, making adjustments, and color grading in a video editing software. The last steps would be adding in audio and rendering the final video out of the video editing software. My process looked something like this:

1. Blockout Camera Shots

2. Animate Camera

3. Render Frames

4. Compile Frames in Video Editing Software

5. Color Grading and Adjustments

6. Adding Audio

7. Final Rendering out of Video Editing Software
    

Page is still under construction, more explanations coming soon...
 

What I Learned:

I loved working on this project, and I learned so many things. I've also gained appreciation for the artists who have mastered the skill of creating stunning 3D environments and the rendering/video editing process for use in games and film.

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Page is still under construction, more explanations coming soon...

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Future Inspiration:

Before I started this project, I had a few ideas for a Generative AI application to help with 3D environment development. Though this project was not the first time I have gone through the process of creating a 3D environment in a game engine, I have constructed many of them over the years. However, this was the first time I took the project a step further and worked with camera renderings in the engine, moved to video editing, and final composition. With this project under my belt, I had a greater understanding of what the entire process looks like. I spoke to a friend of mine who is a digital artist about the application I wanted to develop, and he gave me some great insights. I was inspired and felt properly prepared to start planning this new Generative AI application. On my project page, you can learn more about that project, which is titled: GenScene: Using GenAI to Develop 3D Environments