Behind The Scenes: Marketplace

It's always been amazing to me how different an in-game environment looks behind the scenes than it does in tightly controlled game play. As scene builders (and I have happily constructed more environments in my life as a game developer than I can count) we have technical restrictions and we have to make the most out of what we've got. So the most sensible approach is to scrutinize the relative beauty of the scene from the viewpoint of the player, since ultimately that's all that matters. And this works! But as you soon as you pull the camera back, you get a totally different story and that's what I want to show you with the Marketplace environment. Remember - this environment is a proof of concept and is definitely going to change as the project continues. But these ideas ring true regardless.

You can see that there is nothing outside of the large walls to the left and right because there simply doesn't need to be. There are also no details in the ground space in front of the pyramids because that area will go completely unnoticed during actual gameplay.

The lack of any life on these platforms becomes really apparent when they become the center of attention. I realize you will most likely notice this as you play since they're not terrifically far away from the play area, so these parts will get some much needed love before this gets into anyone's hands.

That last shot is just to show you a very remote angle you'll never see in the game, because it's angles like this that really show off the inevitable errors in the world! There is no detail on the underside of that bridge object (because again, there simply doesn't need to be) and the water is just a gray plane. The ripples you see in the game are actually particle emitters that are attached to the flowers and canoes at completely different point in the construction process. Furthermore, most of the structural objects have texture seams and they're very apparent down here. I'm showing you these things because they don't really concern me. Like I said before, I have a responsibility to make sure that what you actually have to stare at is at maximum sexiness and I have no intention of letting you down.