# Ethan Jennings - 21333271 - Rolling Rivals

## Research

Year 2027, there is huge discrimination against wheelchair users in hive city, they are cast into pits to fight and battle for entertainment of the public. Over the years more and more people watch and start to love the entertainment. Year 2035, the battles are now all across the region and people start to modify there wheelchairs in the underground leagues giving them an advantage over other competitors, this was seen by bigger leagues and started to be used on the main stage. In year 2045, a new sport is created having wheelchair users play a modified handball in the same arenas as the battles. Other countries love the idea and more arenas open up in other regions creating a world wide sport.
Year 2051, Apex Acceleration bought out the top leagues and players, funding huge amounts of upgrades and arenas creating the ultimate rolling rivals league. It is now the year 2064 competing in 100’s of countries and leagues, the rolling rivals are more popular than ever, now being the number one sport in the world with huge names and stars across the world. Are you ready to roll into the arena, rivals?

Going into this project I took the roll of project leader. I set up the discord which we used to communicate ideas and give feedback, set up some millanote boards letting the team add ideas to look back on while working, and set up a trello board to keep track of tasks. My goal for the team was to make sure to turn up to the Thursday sessions where we would use it as a meeting to see where everyone was up too in there work, we would also discuss what we would do in the week before the next session.



> Created on milanote

This was the first mood board we created to give us an idea for how we would want to create the game mechanics and how the game was going to function.


We wanted to achieve a game style that has an element of cartoon but still realistic, think overwatch, valorant or rocket league.


For the environment we wanted to create a desert junkyard environment, think borderlands or mad max. This was my mood board for the environment.



I played mad max recently which is a big insperation for my environment, the rusty decayed metals, sandy rocky deserts and old dirty equipment will be big influences going forward in this project.

## Development Journal

### 04/02




I started to create some 3D models of wheelchairs from designs that my teammate created. I wanted to make some now so i could use them in unreal for testing purposes.


I created this digital concept art of the arena.

- modeled arena

### 06/02
- import into unreal
- create blueprints for chair
- animation
- wheels
- Record all dimentions
- change specs

### 08/02
- drawings
- joint drawings


I created the big hinges for the doors of the arena.

### 09/02
- Door drawings




I modeled the doors and basic arena.

### 12/02


I created a container as a prop for the environment

### 15/02




I modeled a chair and sofa that I will later use for props




I modeled a craine modularly so I could make it quickly, I then started to piece the scene together

### 17/02



### 19/02
- Moved all into unreal

### 20/02










I spent a lot of time texturing various assets, I did this using substance painter. I wanted to create a junkyard atmosphere so when texturing these assets I wanted a lot of rust, wear and decay. I made sure to show this when painting the textures.

### 21/02



More texturing on the hinges and railings. I also tweaked some textures that where not rendering correctly.

### 23/02





I textured the arena and seating areas. I wanted the arena to look dirty and roughly made. As we where making a desert junkyard environment I thought sand and metal would be the best way to create this arena.

### 25/02



I compiled all the current assets and added an AiSkyDomeLight to simulate real natural lighting. I kept the colours warm as we where in a desert environment and I liked the low shadows as though it was evening or early morning.

### 26/02





I textured the ramps and other smaller assets, I also textured the outside floor which enhanced the scene a lot. I took some more cinematic renders for the presentation.

### 27/02



I textured the sofa, which I was really happy about as I added a lot of detailing in the leather.

### 13/03




I modeled a blimp which will be in the scene above the arena allowing me to use this as a source of lighting.

### 17/03

Feedback from the week 7 presentation, some people said that the scene was looking quite dull in comparison to the character design. Talking with team members we decided that the charcters had a bit of a cyberpunk/futuristic style. Having doing a lot of research in cyberpunk this was easy to implement in my work.

> screenshots from cyberpunk 2077



Cyberpunk is very vibrant, neon, rough and bright. So I added some neon lines and lights around the arena to create a more futuristic environment. I also started to add some posters and adds to the scene that Moosa created to add more colour.

### 21/03


I added a lot more junk and assets to the scene to give the environment more depth, as a result of this the polycount went extremely high. I decided that this was only going to be for the renders and when pulling it into unreal lots of these assets will be taken out for performance reasons. Most of these assets wont be seen when in game anyway so this wont make any difference for the player.

### 27/03


> Parts created with Ai

> Parts created with Ai


To fill out the scene I created some ads that could be put into the scene, unfortunately this was another team members role that wasn't being completed so I used a bit of Ai for time purposes.

### 18/04

#### Final Renders




I added some spotlights to the scene. I wanted to have the spotlights show so I needed to add an atmosphere volume. This let me add a density so I could make the spotlight more visible.






Through out the project I was in contact with my team going back and forth with ideas and feedback. We collaborated with a lot of the work sending files and using each others work to enhance our own.

I am extremely happy with my end product but there where some things I would change if I could do it again. I used pre-made textures from quixel bridge, these made the environment too realistic which looks professional and high quality but didn't hit the brief very well. I would like to learn how to make my own textures so in the future I can make environments that work with the rest of the project better. I also wanted to add more graffiti and other adds. Unfortunately other team members did not have time to create these.

Saying this, there were some aspects which I think I really excelled in. learning from the last project I changed how I worked making it a lot easier for me to texture and create the scene quickly. I made sure to UV the object I made as soon as I finished before duplicating and texturing, which was something I did not do last time. I tired using fog in Maya which worked out very well allowing me to create spotlights. Lighting and UV mapping in this project is some of the best I have ever done and I think it looks realistic and professional. The main objective I wanted to hit was, creating a junkyard that is busy lively and used without having people in the scene. I think this really creates the right atmosphere by making the arena feel old and worn but busy and infamous. A lot of this came down to the amount of research I did. I think that really helped with my ideas and how I wanted the arena to look.

Over the time of making this project I have been learning Unreal engine. If I were to make this again I would like to use unreal for a lot more of the project. I would make the assets in Maya then texture in substance or unreal then assemble it in unreal. This would allow me to utilise the lighting and tools within unreal, which I think would have created a better outcome.

In this project I have learned to use unreal engine, which I would like to use in the future. I have practiced how to UV map and texture in substance painter and how to use the correct topology. I have researched junkyard environments and props which I have used to create an arena and I will use these skills in future endeavors.