Here’s what I aimed to achieve at the start of the project:

1.       Ruined jungle temple environment based around Balinese carvings

2.       Current generation graphics

3.       Running on the university computers at an acceptable frame rate (no slow down, around 30 FPS)

4.       Made in cryengine 3

5.       High quality sculptures as the main feature

6.       Suitable foliage as the secondary feature backed up by research

7.       Aim to be around 150,000 triangles (without instances)

8.       Texture pixel density around 256 per meter

I believe I have achieved that. The level runs smoothly at around 30 fps, with slow down only affecting it when it one very high settings ( then the lowest it runs is at 25 fps). The sculptures are the main feature, and I think they stand out as interesting focus points.

Things I would have liked to add would be more sculptures. However, they are very high poly, so the level would probably slow down to an unplayable frame rate. I would also have liked to have added more foliage, but I think the same limitations would apply. Maybe the level would be improved with more variety in foliage.

One thing I found while working on this level, was that because of the length of time I feel my skill level has increased.  This mean that the work I did 4 months ago at the start is a lot different than the work I did last. However, I can’t go back and redo 4 months of work. I updated the textures as I went along to compensate for this.

Another thing I found was due to the long length of time on the project, I grew less interested in the level. Once the last hero asset was done, my motivation slowly began to wane. There is only so long you can spend tweaking the lighting before you want to move on to another project.

In summary, I am happy with how this turned out. I think the project achieved what it aimed to do and the finished level looks like the concepts.

Over the last weekend, cryengine has been down. This means I do not have flythroughs yet. I'll post these up as soon as I'm done, but for now, have the final renders:

Updated the lighting, added more foliage and some particle effects. The level now has a vis area to help with the lighting inside the cave, and an alternative route on the second corridor. Also the doors in the cave are now moving.

Here's an update on what I've been doing. We had a level jam and I've had a few suggestions. Here's what I've changed:

• Rain
• Lightening
• Fog
• Cube maps on water (also water has been rescaled)
• new roof in the lower cave room
• cave door down working
• Corridors are now populated (new lantern)
• Lighting improved
• Some textures improved
• floor decals
• all plants moving

Now I'm working on making the vista interesting, adding particle effects, music, and adding some more doors. From this stage on it just polishing the level.

I haven't updated in a while, and I really need to get back into the habit of updating every week. I'm not going to go into huge detail, but here's the things I've added or changed recently:

• New plants
• Repainted textures of statues
• added moss to textures and added moss decal
• Tree roots
• Temple and Balcony updated
• More water
• Made a Pillar
• Waterfalls are now in the level but are very work in progress

Here's how the level is looking now:

Easter Update

Here's what I've been working on over easter. I've finished the garuda and the archway. I tried to focus on getting this middle area room more complete. I've also worked on the temple, but its not yet finished.

The Garuda is slowly getting there, I've been painting additional detail in the difuse.

Ok, big update, the level looks a lot different. I've changed the lighting back to what I originally was planning. I think this looks a lot better than before. The lights are going to be coming from candles and torches.

I've also started work on the Garuda. Here's the sculpt so far.