Starting Alastor's Armoury

Within the next 2 weeks I want to be completely finished with modelling so I am able to focus purely on texturing and some engine work as the project comes to a close. This meant blocking in my 2 remaining bespoke buildings full of character and personality one being Alastor’s Armoury and the second being Buer’s potions Emporium. As well as these 2 buildings there are also a few smaller assets I still would like to include in the street itself such as a lamp post, barrel ect.

Firstly I took a quick screen shot of my rather empty level and sketched over it quickly as a rough guide as to where I would like my remaining buildings and filler buildings to git into.

Focusing on Alastor’s armoury I decided the building should look like a forge shop, a typical place seen in Victorian England. The blacksmith that operated the forge would be approached by Victorians and asked to perform all manner of tasks from shoeing horses to welding pots and pans. My forge however would be a creator of bespoke weapons and armour for the player.

Using the above mood board as a guide I created my concept piece to work from, as I have done with every larger asset thus far, and created a blocked in mesh from the concept.

Looking back at the concept I particularly like the scorch/burn marks with fire veins up the side of the building. These were actually added a bit later to add a bit more character to the forge and it fit with the tag line of ‘fires of hell forged’ used above the doorway to the shop. Looking at an area of the concept which could become problematic is the task of creating an actual forge set into the shop which in its own right is another miniature environment. The idea of having the forge set into the shop rather than outside as a standalone feature was inspired by the image of the Victorian butcher collected on my mood board before I began making Alastor’s Armoury. This authentic reference combined with not wanting to clutter my market centre too much, with the fountain occupying a good percentage of it, meant an inset forge would be a great idea. Colour scheme wise I used the reverse of the Beezlepub which sat opposite the forge shop and I feel the colours have worked quite well however I may switch some colours around if I find they clash too much when placed in the level.

Reporting on the 3D modelling itself I didn’t find the crafting of the shop itself too stressful. The only issue I encountered was fitting the bay display window which was made separately and attached later on once I was happy with the rest of the shell of Alastor’s Armoury. I continuously had issues of plugging holes to make everything one consistent mesh. I believe that was a mistake on my part not thinking far enough ahead to plan where the vertex anchors to attach the window to the main building were going to be. Definitely a learning curve there. Modelling the various items for the forge I established there should be a few key things (due to time constraints) and if I had time towards the end of the week I would model a few extra things. The key things I had to have were:-

• Forge pit and metal vent

• Anvil

• Hammer

• Metal bucket

With these 4 things easily made within a day I did add a few more items including, stored coal to fit under the stone forge, a second hammer, a single lump of coal as well as a horse shoe, a wooden barrel, a pair of smiths plyers and a wooden tree stump for my anvil to rest on. In creating the barrel I saved myself a bit of modelling time later on when I would concentrate on more filler assets to populate my level area. The finished assets I’m pleased with and I have to say that I feel my speed modelling has improved massively. Considering it took me around 2 weeks to concept then model an asset and now towards the end of the project Ive cut that time in half. Some might say it was a skill developed by necessity but it’s a valuable skill to have and one I am particularly pleased to have developed.

The only other substantial thing I was able to complete this week was the sign for the Beezlepub which I designed and painted to be as eye catching as possible and represent the purpose of the building to the player if my level was ever to be developed into a functioning game. In the pubs case it is aimed to look like a welcoming area which could be considered a safe zone or save point. I really can’t wait to see the sign painted onto the actual model but I do have more pressing tasks first. With that said the next task to attend to is to model Buers potions Emporium. Wish me luck.