Spot Me is a demo of an exploration adventure game made with Unreal Engine. Initially, the project was called Creature Explorer and was a group work at the university. I had the pleasure to be an art director in this project, so the creation of the world was based mainly on my ideas. I wanted to create a colorful, vivid world full of bizarre and intriguing beings. I was responsible for the style and characters. When the group's work on the project was over (with completed mechanics, terrain, models and animation) I decided to refine and expand the reality of this virtual world. The name changed to Spot Me.
Artificial intelligence of roaming around creatures sometimes works strangely (e.g. when they start to levitate or when they want to climb plants which are certainly too delicate to support their size) but I consider such mistakes as happy little accidents matching the game's overall aesthetics.
Since my first main task was to design, model and texture creatures, here they are...
Breezee is the only playable character in Spot Me. He's a scientist, alien planets researcher, hence his oxygen mask and a large magnifying glass indicating his occupation. On the left we see conceptual sketches of the astronaut. Eventually, I gave up the big helmet, long tail and jacket due to the animation, which would be much more difficult.
Modeled & textured by me.
Moszniaks are the most carefree animals in the game universe. These yellow fellas often get stuck but they just don't seem to care. They also have their mighty Queen, the key element of a gameplay, without whom it would be impossible to finish the game.
Berber (above) is a small herd animal with a greenish, slightly metallic color and an inquisitive disposition. I wanted animals to fit into the created world, hence some of them have a plant visually suited to them. Berbers just feel safe while nesting near the green, metallic plant formations as they are less visible for potential predators.
Moszniak and Berber, although completely different in appearance, share the same skeleton, animation and artificial intelligence. Interestingly, they behave quite differently.
< TRY ME!
- click & hold LMB to rotate
- use wheel (click & hold LMB + cntrl) to zoom in or out
- click & hold RMB (click & hold LMB + shift) to move
- click & hold LMB + alt to change the position of the light source
Modeled & textured by me.
Plutek was supposed to resemble both caterpillar and lemur, to be charming but also a bit disturbing. And be very lazy. Its only activity in the project is sitting and sleepy tail wagging. You can also see boules - plant formations on which Plutek likes to hang out.
Modeled, textured & animated by me.
Placucha is a legless toad whose body consist of huge mouth. It inhabits areas rich in plants that look a lot like itself. This is due to the fact that the animal has no legs, so it must tempt the victims with trickery - straight to its big mouth. Sticky, sweet plant leaves near Placucha are attracting flies and insects. The tongue of this creature is deceptively similar to those leaves whose edges surrounded by brighter color look almost identical to the frog's lips. Also the eyes of this legless being have the same colour as the fruit of the plant, what's more, the skin resembles the bark of the plant.
This eternally hungry animal, in addition to its favorite insects, eats almost everything that falls into its mouth. One of these things will be the fruit that we can throw into its mouth to see how the creature lazily chews food.
Modeled, textured & animated by me.
Blep is a shy animal bringing to mind something like balloon or rubber beach accessories. Maybe that's because the inspiration for it was a rubber bouncy hopper, which seduced me with its lips and inspired me to create its in-game version. It likes wetlands so it stands at a watering hole, drinking occasionally. On the bottom right, you can see rubber-looking pink plant that allow Blep to blend in with the surroundings.
Modeled, textured & animated by me.
Fiufeks are flightless and adapted mainly to live in the water. Extremely clumsy on land, they only go out to lay eggs. Their life consists of drifting on the surface of the water reservoir and hunting fish from time to time. Their air-filled swim bladder allow them to quickly dive in water and aim precisely at the victim.
TRY ME! >
- click & hold LMB to rotate
- use wheel (click & hold LMB + cntrl) to zoom in or out
- click & hold RMB (click & hold LMB + shift) to move
- click & hold LMB + alt to change the position of the light source
Modeled, textured & animated by me.
The world of Spot Me may be looking friendly and safe. It certainly is for the player as I wanted to make him or she comfortable and relaxed while exploring. But it is still the wild environment. The bigger and stronger swallow up the smaller and weaker. We can see Treszcz and his prey below.
Modeled, textured & animated by me.
There are more not as noticable creatures in Spot Me...
Some are hidden in the nooks and crannies of the world, some are soaring the skies. All in all the game is called Spot Me for a reason.
As said before project evolved from Creature Explorer to Spot Me. Here are some comparisons of the same locations before and after my individual work.
It is not hard to notice that previously messy area was cleaned up and rearranged so that the player could know where he/she was and where he/she should go. The paths were cleared of ubiquitous grass, randomly scattered plants were ordered by size, colour and task. In addition to level design and level art, I took care of adding new characters, objects and post-processes to the world.
Here are size comparisons used while level planning:
A small addition is the album cover design if the game were ever published
