Overview

A digital recreation of The Expanse - Ceres Station

This project began as a way to practice designing and building a fictional settlement or city. The Ceres Station setting in particular offers natural constraints due to its location embedded in an asteroid. The tunnels and cave systems act as barriers to the play area allowing me to scope up or down as needed.

Design Goals

        • Design a section of the Medina level from the Ceres Station

        • Improve skills in level and environment design using UE4

        • Use reference images from The Expanse tv series to recreate spaces

       • Design and implement NPC AI behavior and Quests

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As I make progress I will be updating the documentation and photos.

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Update #1 (12/7/2021)

In preparation for this project I collected reference images from The Expanse tv series and its concept art. I've roughly mapped out a play area that includes sections from the tv show, various tunnels to different types of spaces including residential, industrial/maintenance, and commercial areas.

Using a blockout plugin from Unreal, I began creating the space, making necessary and creative edits as I progressed. I wanted to give the player the impression that this area is busy and congested, making it seem larger and more complex than it actually is. After my initial blockout, I iterated on the design some more until I found the layout and flow worked well with my goals and scope.

Before I continue my blockout iteration, I wanted to focus on a small section to get an idea of how it might look once art and lighting were implemented. Using various MegaScans and free Epic content, I did a rough art and lighting pass.

Going forward I plan to do a 'final' iteration and then begin designing and implementing my quest.

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