UDK 4 finished environments out of 5 (need feedback...)

[orion5175]

I really need some feedback/suggestions from a few other designers before I turn in the final project and while I am working on the fifth and final design.

the final pass will have music and some ambient noise in the back ground.

https://vimeo.com/65404091

any comments would be appreciated.

[Sjonsson]

The green scene; I think the lighting is too monochrome, maybe try adding some lanterns with another color or another green, play around with it.

The second scene: make the lamps flicker A LOT slower, they feel epileptic, but else I like that scene.

Fourth scene: I think there is some flickering meshes on the left side of the street when the camera pans upwards - fix it!

And lastly I want to add a personal preferance about the camera flights; I think that you should try to avoid to quick movement as well as having the camera completly still, keep it moving very slowly instead.

Edited May 7, 2013 by Sjonsson

[JeanPaul]

A lot of the environments feel really bare as well. I also noticed in a few of your scenes, there were straight up just flat one texture walls, I try to avoid those at all costs

[Ghostman511]

I noticed your lights in the blue level are turning that weird black bluish colour. Almost inverting if that makes sense.. are you using a time, sin and cosine node? if so you might want to play around with your values so they don't get all freaky like they are. If that doesn't work you might want to try adding a constant clamping to the end of your string of nodes. Values of 0 & 1 should fix that.

I'm not much of a level designer so I won't bother trying to crit on something I'm not that strong in. From an artist standpoint some of the textures are showing kind of flat and in some cases stretched a bit, especially in the first and a little in the last two. Maybe try playing with your normal or specular maps to help things pop out at bit better.

hope this helps!

[Jord]

Are these for a level design or environment art reel? Instead of having a flying camera, why not show you running around in the level? Always much better to show something playable.

If it's for a level design reel, show some game play in your scenes.

I'd also echo JeanPaul's comments about them being quite bare. Your first scene in particular is quite plain but I get the feeling that's what you were going for with that. Also in your first scene, right at the end your camera looks over the fence and out of the main scene in to a large flat area which seems odd. What is out there, why is the fence there? What is it keeping out/in?

Also in your first scene ask yourself questions about how your environments would work practically as a level, such as 'how would someone get up to the house on top of the rock in the middle' and then try to show that. Maybe a small mechanical platform on the outside of the rock?

[TarrySruman]

I don't mean to be a dick here, but all of these look like they're running on a mobile platform from three years ago. If you were actually making these for low-spec devices, good job, though they could all use some additional detail. If not, your assets are far too low-poly and your textures are way too low-resolution. It's mostly a problem in the first and fourth scenes. Look at the buildings in the fourth one, I'm sure you can do better.