Over the past week I've been thinking a lot about the format of the experience I want to create, which spaces I'd like to build, and what possibilities for dream-like transitions those might provide.
I have decided that the dreamscape's physical manifestation will take the form of clouds. These clouds can function as a pervasive visual and transitional element. Clouds are a common symbol of dreams, and for good reason. Just like clouds, dreams are sort of nebulous, intangible, and evoke powerful visceral reactions within us. A metaphor I'm working with is that if our mind were a water cycle, our brain would produce thought condensation, which would evaporate into dream clouds. Then, our heads would be literally and figuratively in the clouds. Working with this idea, I could allude to this idea by making the clouds become more dense in areas where dreams begin to invade reality.
So far, I have done a painting conceptualizing what those clouds might look like, in color and atmosphere. I'm going with a color palette that reminds me of early morning and sunrise. Early morning reminds me of dreaming because I associate it with awakening from a slumber. Both early morning and dreaming feel very solitary and introspective.
I have decided that the dreamscape's physical manifestation will take the form of clouds. These clouds can function as a pervasive visual and transitional element. Clouds are a common symbol of dreams, and for good reason. Just like clouds, dreams are sort of nebulous, intangible, and evoke powerful visceral reactions within us. A metaphor I'm working with is that if our mind were a water cycle, our brain would produce thought condensation, which would evaporate into dream clouds. Then, our heads would be literally and figuratively in the clouds. Working with this idea, I could allude to this idea by making the clouds become more dense in areas where dreams begin to invade reality.
So far, I have done a painting conceptualizing what those clouds might look like, in color and atmosphere. I'm going with a color palette that reminds me of early morning and sunrise. Early morning reminds me of dreaming because I associate it with awakening from a slumber. Both early morning and dreaming feel very solitary and introspective.
I'd like for the main environment to be a two-floor apartment -- I find we often dream about places that are personal to us or very familiar, and so a home setting feels fitting. At the same time, places we know in our dreams are often amorphous, inexact versions of the place we know in real life that maintain a generalized essence of that space, but with something slightly off. I might be able to create this sense of a disorienting space by randomly switching the placement and types of objects that are in the room each time you come back to it, or even changing the layout of the house. The player might also encounter new and unexpected anomalies in the room -- objects that are completely out of place.
As you explore the house, I want to emulate the nature of the illogical sequences in our dreams, since nonsensical and peculiar happenings are a frequent occurrence. Dreams are disorganized and subject to fleeting thoughts of the mind. For this reason, I'd like the player to explore the house and experience lapses into dream sequences as they look around, seeing morphing objects or sometimes drifting and transitioning entirely to another area for a moment.
As you explore the house, I want to emulate the nature of the illogical sequences in our dreams, since nonsensical and peculiar happenings are a frequent occurrence. Dreams are disorganized and subject to fleeting thoughts of the mind. For this reason, I'd like the player to explore the house and experience lapses into dream sequences as they look around, seeing morphing objects or sometimes drifting and transitioning entirely to another area for a moment.
While searching for some inspiration, I came across this painting which conveys really well the type of cloud-like transition I want to try to create.
SPLINE MESHES
I've been doing some tests in Unreal Engine 4 with spline meshes. Not much to show yet, but I feel like these will really enable me to create some neat morphing assets, either by deformation along a curve or extension of modular pieces along a curve. Here I've made the beginnings of a Blueprint for a fence type asset, where vertical post meshes are placed at a user-designated interval along the spline. You can drag out the spline points differently per instance of this Blueprint, and the placement of the meshes follows the curve. In picture 3, you can also see I have made it so the user can choose the construction priority of the fence - they can choose whether they want to set the length of the span between the posts, or by the number of posts that they want. In picture 4, I'm demonstrating an "adapt to surface" option I have added, where the placement of the meshes will snap to a surface below it. This is ideal for a fence on a hillside. It opens possibilities for animating the points on this curve as well, which is great for surreal ambient animations.
WORLD CANVAS
I am using UE4's new Canvas Render Target Blueprint to dynamically write to a texture that matches up to the size of the world. The player can draw in texture space wherever they are aiming their reticle on the world space plane. By drawing with white on a black texture, the player can be designating in world space a mask. I can create a fake volume by stacking these cross-sectional planes in Z space and interpolating between them. This mask could be fed into the shaders of all objects in an environment to "unmask" them.
CLOUDS
I've been investigating different methods of creating clouds that would be on the ground plane. The best solution I've found for imitating the shifting form of clouds is to use Cascade, the particle system in Unreal. The parameters of the particles can also be changed within Blueprints, which opens a lot of possibility for some interesting transitions using the clouds.
This method of fake volumetric color blending seems to give great control over determining the colors of the clouds in a cube map style (what color is it at the bottom? top? back? front? right? left?) Not much has been done in the way of getting clouds to be properly lit and self shadowed. I might be able to do this by using this method and hooking up these volumetric colors to the angle of a custom light vector.
This method of fake volumetric color blending seems to give great control over determining the colors of the clouds in a cube map style (what color is it at the bottom? top? back? front? right? left?) Not much has been done in the way of getting clouds to be properly lit and self shadowed. I might be able to do this by using this method and hooking up these volumetric colors to the angle of a custom light vector.
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WORK LOG
Testing and experimentation: 8 hours
Blogging and blog feedback: 2 hours
Pitch video planning: 2 hours
Painting and sketching: 7 hours
Research: 3 hours
This week I feel like I am beginning to visualize and solidify what this project is going to be. More finished sketches for the style of the home to come soon, as well as some early testing with clouds.
Blogging and blog feedback: 2 hours
Pitch video planning: 2 hours
Painting and sketching: 7 hours
Research: 3 hours
This week I feel like I am beginning to visualize and solidify what this project is going to be. More finished sketches for the style of the home to come soon, as well as some early testing with clouds.