UE5 Breakdown - The Noctura Covenant

The Noctura Covenant was the name of a 4 person group project created over 16 weeks for our fifth and final module at Escape Studios London. The module brief was to create a game environment that runs in real time, with optimisation in mind in order to have a smooth experience. I discovered how workflow, collaboration, and scalability work in relation to using Houdini, learning to incorporate the software into the game art pipeline. My main goals were to build the modular kit that would work for multiple levels, striving to find when to use Houdini versus my own modelled assets. I really learned a lot about the program, and all the amazing ways you can achieve faster, more iterative results. I can't wait to continue exploring Houdini in more depth in the future!

The final idea was to have a collaborative environment project that explores three distinct levels linked by the same story: a city street inspired by Final Fantasy XIV to introduce our project, leading into an interior cathedral level inspired by Castlevania, and concluding in an exterior courtyard level based on the book Fourth Wing. The story goes: “The city has experienced a thousand-year war with the dragons, but ever since the concordial treaty between man and dragon was signed, upon the land befell a time of peace.” The art direction took a turn for medieval gothic themes prevalent throughout all the assets in the levels.

My role was to create the modular kit and the Houdini HDA's that would make up the majority of the structures and layouts in the environment. I later contributed some props and set dressed a lot of the levels, lighting and post process effects included. Programs used for the project include Blender for my modelling, Houdini for procedural generation tools. ZBrush to sculpt models with a higher detail. Substance Painter to create unique textures and to bake high-to-low polygon models, Substance Designer to create my own textures specifically matching our Art Bible. Unreal Engine to put the whole project together, Perforce to integrate a group effort into the project. And finally, Adobe Premiere Pro to composite our videos. Please check out the previous post detailing some more experience with Houdini!

Please check out the other amazing members that helped me on this project!
David https://www.artstation.com/davidmcelwee
Lin https://www.artstation.com/lmg_persona
Kate https://www.artstation.com/kate_moreno