Pre FMP week: Part 2

   I went back to Sanctuary (Borderlands 2 hub town) to look deeper into what makes it tick. I drew a birds eye view of the layout to see how it was set out. To my surprise it was a bit up in the air, in terms of building placement and how things were set out. I took some screenshots and sketched over them, looking at general composition and building layout. Almost from every angle has an interesting view.

Sanctuary layout.

Sanctuary composition out of doorways. 

Sanctuary composition in general.

   One thing that I might have overlooked about the layout of my level, if not for sanctuary, was the use of stairs. Sanctuary's floor level is constantly changing, making it seem more expansive and interesting than it actually is. Along with this, the added use of rooftops bring a whole new level and set of expanses to explore too. The use of overhead assets make it feel like your constantly mixing between interiors and exteriors. Not only that but there are plenty of interiors to explore over the town anyway. At the end of one alley way you have to pass through an interior section to get to a further alley way beyond that. The majority of these tricks I plan to utilise within my environment. All except the interiors which I might leave out, depending on how much time I have at the end and the overall size of the level. I don't want to over estimate my skill level and set myself too much work which I've done in the past.
   We started finalising our Idea down on paper so we all know where we're heading. The gist being. A once whole town split into two side due to political reasons. The divide being a huge Berlin wall style structure down the centre. One side who has a government, has evolved and built up their side. While the other has remained pretty much the same structurally, while crumbling and falling apart aesthetically. Each side will retain an essence of the original architectural style (A futuristic Russian Constructivism) the dilapidated version more than the evolved version, because the dilapidated side wont have changed much structurally. The dilapidated side will have a ship parked within its walls (Emily's) and each side will have 2 characters within its walls (Jakes 4 characters).
   I also got to work setting and laying out a basic block out using BSP in UE4. A step in the right direction. It got me thinking about the composition and how I want the player to interact with the environment, how they move through it, what I want them to see and experience. Pretty deep for a BSP white box, but all good stuff non the less. Reading up on composition made me also think about the angles and how they effect what the player feels. "Angles create motion within a scene" Motion meaning action. "Rounded shapes suggest a calm setting". A tough one to fathem when when my architectural choice of style is an industrial one with lots of harsh corners, yet I want to create a fairly calm environment. Guess thats another thing to think about. So much to do!!!

Not sure if I'm currently thinking too big, or just right. I'm 99% sure that its not too small. Most likely its way too big, I tend to do that with these things.