Early Morning in Venice

Created in September 2020 for Level Assembly and Lighting at Full Sail University
- Models & UVs created in Maya
- Textures created in Substance Designer
- Decal textures obtained from textures.com

This project was my first introduction to developing a fully immersive and playable game level from scratch. The idea of creating something of this level was initially very daunting, but it was very fun to watch this scene come to life over the course of this class. The theme given for this month was Venice, and since I have been to Venice in person I was delighted to be able to bring the quirky city to life in my work.

While in Venice, my favorite experience was walking the streets during and after sundown. I looked to my photos of the trip for inspiration and saw the setting and rising sun, and chose to try and emulate the feeling of warm, quiet streets, after a night of light rain, just after sunrise. I was drawn to the closer canals and alleyways, due to their more intimate nature than some of the more grand palaces and open plazas featured in many "Must-See"s of the city. I wanted to capture the idea that people do live in these nooks and crannies filled with history.

The most challenging part of this project was giving it an old-world feeling without making the level look completely decrepit. The wear and tear of the old Venetian streets has a certain charm to it, and I wanted to try and capture that charm without making it look like a run-down place to be. I learned a great amount about environment design through this class, and I made lots of mistakes that I'd like to keep working at in the future and that I can apply to my next projects. This project already turned out so much better than my previous one, and that exciting progress has definitely piqued my interest in Environment Design going forward.