Level Design Assignment 01: Cube Level!

As our first assignment for Level Design, we were given a tutorial on how to make a good-looking cube in Maya, and then how to import and add materials to it in Unreal Engine 4. From that point, we were allowed to try whatever we wanted to make a level! I decided to go with the Destiny Islands from the game series Kingdom Hearts, since I wanted to make a simple level to start getting my level design gears going!

The first thing I started with was the simple cube we made in the tutorial. We beveled the edges and smoothed them to make them look nicer.

Next, I brought my cube into UE4 and started making the first material: a simple sand material. I used this material to build (most of) the other ones! 

Since I was going for a natural scene, the materials I used tended to be rougher, except with the leaves and water. The water I tried to do differently by using a translucent material, which didn't quite behave the way I wanted to! I hope we go over opacity at some point, because I would have loved to make more realistic water!

The first thing I built was the basic sand bank. I knew I wanted a shelf so that the player could go in the water, so I made my little beach ridge.

Next, I added that water material. It looked kind of weird, but I went with it. I also made sure to leave room for a little islet, too! I set the water cubes to not have collision, also, so the player could walk around in it.

Next, I added the islet (and turned the skybox back on!), a bridge, and some trees. I even added a staple from the Kingdom Hearts series... A Paopu Fruit! (it's on the tree, of course!)

Lastly, I added a wall behind the beach to match the original version of the Destiny Islands. It really brought together the look I was going for.

And super lastly, I added exponential height fog and changed the lighting. I always liked the islands during the sunset scenes, so I tried to give it that feel. I also decided I didn't like my translucent water, so I made a new material and made it smooth and reflective, but opaque.

Here is an example of the Destiny Islands in Kingdom Hearts, both the illustration and a sunset scene:

And here are some screencaps of my final level!