Fly through

I had a little issue doing this making the track was fine but I couldn't find a way to export the video out. Ended up having to screen record it which meant that I had lower the res to 720p.

I'm quite proud of the way this has turned out now. Had a few bumps along the way but yeah I'm pleased with the out come. I feel I've learnt a good deal about the engine considering it was my first attempt at making a level from it from start to completion.

Finishing up

 Lighting change and Effects

 So my original idea was a sunny morning with fog  but I can't seem to get the feeling right. I ended up having a play around with the other things I could do with CryEngine when having a bit of a break and found how to add silly amusing things like helicopters, but I ended up finding out how to add rain and lightening  so I changed the lighting to see what it would look like if a wet muddy level. See what it would look like with a cold feeling.  It looked really good made it feel more alive and gave me a reason to make the vegetation  blow in the wind a little more.

 The rain also gave me a reason to play around with lighting more because the level was a little darker now. So I went a head and modeled a lantern to add in areas to guide the player better. The level was also requiring a road because the path looked too dull.

 I'm really happy with the way the lantern light adds warm tones to the level. I feel it makes the level have more colour and less dull from the rain which I feel is more suitable. I feel I've drifted a bit from what i originally wanted but I'm pretty happy with it.

 Treehouse finished

 For some reason I had been avoiding this for a while. I think I may have got distracted  with the rest of my level that I forgot or was too lazy to add it in. Finally all the assets are explored which was really repeptive have to export each one. Wondering if there is a better way to export batches of assets. Possibly but its done now.

 I'm quite happy with this. I did want to add more but there wasn't much room to move around the space. I had to try keep it more playable to wonder around and see out the windows.

Updated background and added feature

 So my landscape from the tree house was looking really dull and not interesting all. I little moment hit me when my nephew was watching lion king and gave me the idea to add a rock like in  the film that over hung and i think it has worked pretty well. I've all moved the river slightly so it was easier to see and trees would just keep covering it up in the before photo.

I got a bit of feedback on this they was about how you  one sided the view was and needed something on the right. and the tree line on the left was too flat. So i went over it again with fixing these improvements.

I also added decals to the level to help bring the rocks together and look more natural than generic. I then got another feed back about been able to see the bases of the trees as it wasn't natural or common because they are at the edge of the forest so they will be more bushy and thicker. so i modelled a new thick tree to help blend this is and i feel it has really worked out well.

 I'm a lot more happier with this now and make dull down the rocks again just a tad because they are a little too dark. I also added another tree house to the scene its a distinct shape so i thought it be interesting to add that as well.

Decals make everything better!

My tree house was having issues with the base looking too new and so i decided to use my moss decals to make it blend in a bit more and I was really surprised how easy it was to add these decals i thought they was going to be a pain but nope was really simple for once.

Boring part of level

There wasn't much interest on the path and it was hard to make out the path going through the trees to the tree house so i needed to add something to break it up and i thought of having a build up on more rocks  to add more height level to it. Turned out really well  and makes the level alot more interesting and easier to follow to the tree house and as an extra exploration route.

I'm really happy with the way this level is turning out now and its made me realise that concepting  and following them completely sometimes creates bad choices. I keep asking my self lately what can i do to make this level better all the time and i feel having that creativity while doing this project makes it so much more fun for me.

Another idea that came to mind was a really quick one and that was to add benches to make it seem like this place has places to relax all over. Before this area felt very work driven.

Big Update

So been away from this for a while after personal reasons but now it's all GO GO GO! I decided to take this time to remake the level as I noticed after walking through my level it was taking a long while to walk it.  Like 6+ minutes which  i guess its fine but it felt boring. I found myself wanting to sprint nearly all the time to just get through it.  So I've made the map as small as i could which has led me with more to play with. I can have my level with more details in.

First off its the path I want the play to start with. I wanted a bridge to cross first off.  I found a bridge to be good as it kind of suggests 'this is the path and way forward' it encourages you to cross it.  It sounds kind of odd but  for me it was a way to invite the player in to the level. I Also wanted the player to have  the goal in their sights from the start.  Like a point of interest.  My original level didn't have any of that, it felt kind of disjointed and not much of a flow. 

I'm not really too happy with the transitions from rock to earth so i've made rocks to kind of blend it better and make it more rocky mountain like. Adding tall tree's really gave the level a size and height. I think because the tree's are tall it makes you look around more so i've found that quite useful. 

 Using the rocks I've found i could create turns and falling areas to block off parts of the level to prevent them going places i don't want. This came very using ful for blocking off the track behind the start so it leaves the player with no one else to go.

 Adding rocks around the edge of the terrain helps me break up the edge of the river too and makes it look more interesting that this move edge i would normally get.

I've also added ferns to the level and grass which gives me some kind of ground covered to break it up as well but ill make more foliage to add to it.

Treehouse

The tree house now has its textures which have come out slightly green ish on cryengine i'm not sure if its the lighting thats doing it yet but i'll fix it soon when the rest of assets are adding and can focus on making everything work together.

 The insides pretty bare too i still need to add the assets too it but i need to fix some stuff first some of the textures are a bit too big like the floor it looks fine but when in first person they just look too big.

Its too creamy aswell so i'll try fix that too but i think its more in game as my textures are more white than cream. 

I've also added the bridge its looking good bit longer than i had wanted it gives room to see the river.

 The barn now has a texture too i'm trying to get the windows to cube map still but they have turned really white and flickerly but i'm pretty happy with the colours

Also logs are now around the level and kind of directionally point the path out for the player to follow.

New lighting

I originally had a a thick fog to the level to kind of block the view distance to the level but it doesn't quite work and makes the level look kind of dull. So i've change the direction lessened the fog and made the light stronger and more brighter and made the sun shine through the trees with its rays which i think mades a more appealing look and theme to the level. 

 So from the bridge you can see the sun lighting up the tree house in the distance which suggests the  point of interest and gives a leading point to go towards.

 The land is now sloped towards the rocks which gives natural look like the earth is being pushed and drawn away by the river.

 Notice board is now in as well to help guide the player in a direction to go

 More foliage is now in oddly its turning blue the further away. I'm not sure why.

 Having a weird issue with light bouncing back off objects and lighting up the shadow area of the assets. Its kind of a cool effect but too strong.

 This is the little path up to the tree house covers in vegatation. I'm quite happy with this.

 The area i had around the tree house was before really dull  so i've lighting it up and added a fire area and made it more living which i originally never had in the concept. I'll have to do some more concepting to work this out fully but its coming along.