Nathaniel3W
Rockwell Studios
I need to make a level that looks forboding, inhospitable, dangerous, otherworldly. It shouldn't be too barren and lifeless, but I wasn't looking for anything too verdant either. I was kind of thinking something along the lines of Shadow of Mordor. In my story structure, this is the start of act 2 where the player has crossed the threshold and everything is different and there's no going back. Therefore the world has to be totally different from the world they came from, but it has to invite exploration rather than evoke a paralyzing fear.
I started off with this, which I thought was a good place to start:
I figured that landscape base looked pretty inhospitable and otherworldly, but also really boring and monochromatic. It needed something more, and I don't think I've improved on it. This is what we have now, and I think it just looks like a boring, dry, colorless African savanna.
My first draft was going to be a lot more forboding...
...but I quickly decided that was too dramatic for the start of the second act. Lava levels are something you should only see later in the game.
Maybe I'm looking at the wrong template. Maybe I should be going for more of a Warcraft's Silverpine Forest:
Can any of you give me some suggestions? What should I do to make this level more interesting and colorful, without making it too playful and verdant?
I started off with this, which I thought was a good place to start:
I figured that landscape base looked pretty inhospitable and otherworldly, but also really boring and monochromatic. It needed something more, and I don't think I've improved on it. This is what we have now, and I think it just looks like a boring, dry, colorless African savanna.
My first draft was going to be a lot more forboding...
...but I quickly decided that was too dramatic for the start of the second act. Lava levels are something you should only see later in the game.
Maybe I'm looking at the wrong template. Maybe I should be going for more of a Warcraft's Silverpine Forest:
Can any of you give me some suggestions? What should I do to make this level more interesting and colorful, without making it too playful and verdant?