Ruined Temple
Type: Level Art
Time Frame: 1 Week
Description: The "Ruined Temple" is an exercise in level art, delving deeper into set dressing and creating an intriguing and interesting area.
Goal: The objective of this project was to experience the artistic side of Level Design, focusing solely on the art aspect. I followed the steps typically taken by someone in a level art role to fully dress an environment, from gathering and working with references to placing assets and creating landscapes in the engine, and ultimately lighting the final product.
Tools: Unreal Engine 5, Adobe Photoshop

Final Images




Concepting and references
Starting off, I consulted with several environment artists I work with to gain a better understanding of their workflow and how I should approach planning this project. It was important for me to consider level design principles as a constraint. The initial plan was to create an entrance to a full-scale dungeon. This allowed me to minimize layout work and focus more on the artistic aspects of the level, while still incorporating design elements for setting up the dressing of the environment.
Instead of my usual 2D layout approach, I gathered a selection of reference images to guide the creation of the ruins. I specifically used Megascans assets from Unreal, along with one of the free Infinity Blade asset packs. After collecting the reference images, I began constructing a white box version of the environment, using one of the images as my primary reference. I set up the camera to replicate the angle and view, serving as the basis for all the white box placements.
Once the white boxing phase was completed, I started replacing the assets using the asset packs, starting with the most notable areas and spots in the reference images. From those spaces, I filled in the surrounding areas based on the picture, making minor adjustments to account for the varying perspectives. I also filled in areas not shown in the image or allowed for creative interpretation of the ruins. Finally, I added details such as decals, foliage, and lighting. These finishing touches, including the decals and foliage, added significant fidelity and detail, resulting in a polished final project.
Reference Board

Whiteboxing




Retrospective
Retrospective
Taking on the role of a level artist exclusively was a captivating experience. Shifting the focus towards breathing life into an environment with enhanced detail and fidelity was both enjoyable and a refreshing change from working on meticulous layouts and mechanics.
Working on the Temple Ruins project provided me with valuable insight into what it could be like collaborating with a level artist in the future. Having firsthand experience with the workflow enables me to better understand and communicate effectively when working within larger teams.
The main challenge I encountered during this project was the discrepancy between the asset pack limitations and the original reference image I utilized. I acknowledge that the chosen Infinity Blade pack did not align perfectly with the reference image, as the pack showcased more of a medieval fantasy style of ruins, while the reference leaned towards an Aztec style. To address this, I resorted to kit-bashing the available assets, replicating the structure to the best of my ability.