The Candy Baron Woods was a project that myself and a team of 6 other classmates worked on for two quarters (6 months). During that period we were supervised by two professors as well as given bi-weekly guidance by Sony Online Entertainment - San Diego. The project was based on SOE San Diego's current in-production game FreeRealms, and we were tasked with creating what could conceivably be considered a game zone.
My role on the project was a Level Designer and I provided work on the initial design and inspiration of the level, in the form of concept sketches and paper maps. Later I worked on asset placement and world building, along with designing the overall mood of the environment through the creation and use of our lighting and particle assets. I also provided some art assets, as noted.
We ultimately settled on designing the map as a deep forest, with dark secrets; nestled back in the hills. We made extensive use of atmospheric effects, as well as lighting, particles, physics, and some animations. It was decided that we would divide up the map into sections, and design each one with subtle differences, with trees and the surrounding area getting more and more corrupted and polluted as the player neared the mansion at the top of the valley. I ended up creating a series of lighting and post processing effects to ultimately set the mood of the various areas of the level.
Throughout the course of the project I also helped with the creation of some of the art assets in order to alleviate some of the workload from our artists. The bulk of my artistic work came in the form of creating the majority of the particle effects throughout the level but I was also tasked with creating our skybox, as well as the small bridge model and the fencing found along the road.
During the second half of our project I was tasked with creating one of the iconic props to go along with node two; the massive, fire belching furnace that the Witch uses to keep her mansion warm and her factory running.
