I'm not really sure where to begin with something like a postmortem, seeing as how I've never done one before. So I figure why not start off with some fun stats!

• 🌟 Total 3D assets created: 87
• 🏞️ Environment kit pieces: 14
• 🖼️ Gallery exhibit assets created: 67 (excluding base pieces)
• 🥤 Energy Drinks consumed: 6
• ☕ Caffeinated non-energy-drinks consumed: 7
• 😴 Total hours of sleep: 11 (approximate)
• 🤩 Overall satisfaction level: 💯

(If reading isn't your thing and you just want to see the pretty pictures, scroll down 😉)

Over the years of participating in game jams as a 3D artist I've learned quite a lot. I've learned new workflows and techniques, I've learned new software and pipelines, and I've learned that in order to bring out your best abilities and talent you need to work with a team that knows what you're capable of. LD58 was my fifth time working with the same core team I've worked with in previous jams, so that meant we didn't need to waste any time figuring out our team composition or trying to guess each others capabilities. It's always nice going into a jam knowing you can drop in a discord call when the theme drops and get straight to work on discussing concepts without anything else getting in the way.

This time around with the theme of Collector we ended up on the concept of being a museum curator who is in charge of curating a museum collection. Right off the bat I knew we were going to need to go as wide as possible when it came to art assets. After all, it would be a pretty boring game if there was no variety. With that in mind I was happy to let the designers come up with a huge list that we could later trim down a bit. I think the initial list was around 50 exhibit assets, which I thought would be a pretty big challenge but I felt up to the task. However, in true game-jam fashion that list quickly ballooned to right around 100 items. The scope creep was real 😆!

‎                     A small snippet of 'the list'

I knew that number was unachievable within the confines of a 72-hour game jam, so I had to make a decision: either I create a handful assets myself and supplement the rest with freely sourced assets (and opt out of the graphics category) OR go completely balls-to-the-wall and spend every waking minute making as many assets as humanly possible right up til the jam deadline, knowing full well I could never finish the list.

I went with the 2nd option. Perhaps it was pride, or I just really wanted to challenge myself, or maybe I've officially lost my marbles. Probably all three to be honest! But hey, that's what game jams are all about: having fun, challenging yourself, knowing that the odds are against you, and losing a small bit of your sanity along the way 🤪.

*Now, let's get to the fun stuff... *

The Art!

Environment Kit

So immediately after figuring out the core of the game I set out to start making the environment kit. I didn't know at the time if the environment level would be static, procedural/random, or some mix of the two. There was already some early discussion of some rooms being unlocked through gameplay, so I figured the safest bet would just be a simple modular environment kit that covered the essentials: some wall segments of different lengths, aesthetic variations of each size, a doorway, some doors, and a nice slightly-oversized pillar to tie up any ugly corners.

I knew from the start with all the assets I'd need to make later that any fancy PBR materials were out of the question due to time constraints. So figuring I'd be going with a more stylized/cartoony look I tried to accentuate some features in the design of the kit assets. I also figured that this would be one of (if not my only) chance to have some fun making actual textures - even if limited to only using the color map. So I popped over to substance painter and got to work.

‎               Trim Sheet (left) & Door/Frame/Floor texture (right)

After making my environment trim sheet I got to doing the UV's. I realized that I'd want the doorframe and doors to stand out a bit more so they got their own texture atlas as well, including the floor tile texture. By the time I wrapped up work on the environment, got everything imported to unity, and pushed it to the repo we were already 10 hours into the jam and I decided to call it a night so I could get an early start on the ever-growing list of assets.

So many assets...

                The first few exhibit assets that I made

After going through the list I started to tackle a few quick and easy ones to get an idea for how long they were taking me just on the modeling side of things. Things like the crystal ball, aether crystal, and kraken tentacle didn't take long to model at all since they were mostly made up of primitives and easy stuff like spline sweeps. Now I just needed to tackle the texturing aspect. My initial plan was for pure flat color, but since I'd need to make a texture atlas of colors anyway I took some time to make a pretty intricate one with many options for hue/saturation variety, as well as light/dark gradients. I also made a second atlas that was entirely made up of different color-to-color gradients (which I'd also use for an emissive map).

‎             Main Texture Atlas (left) & Secondary/Emissive Atlas (right)

With the first handful of assets modeled, my texture atlas's created, I did some quick UV's and got them in-engine. I think I also had made the exhibit bases for all of the different sizes around this time but it's honestly a bit of a blur. By the time I got everything pushed to the git repo we were already fast approaching the 24 hour mark! But hey, I had my workflow all set up and I was primed to tackle more things on the list!

So little time... 😬

After making a couple more quick assets and a quick chat with the team, I realized I needed to have a chat with our game designer @zavi-reinagel about what assets to focus on next. At that time the list was still getting revised, with some things being cut and others being added. Zavi asked me if there was anything specific I'd like to make that wasn't on the list. For whatever reason the first thing that popped into my head was those little model battle dioramas you see in history museums. I always found those fascinating. Zavi liked the idea and immediately added them to the list. I don't know if it was excitement, hubris, or the intoxication of the game jam atmosphere but what I said next was something really really stupid.

"I think they'll look super cool and they shouldn't really take me too long to make."

Well... I was half right.

Battle Models

These damned battle models. I love them. I hate them. Well, okay... I love how they turned out, and I hate how much time I spent on them. I got so swept up in making all the little details and trying to make each scene tell a story that I completely lost track of time. That happens a lot when I'm making art, which is normally a great thing, but in a game jam - not so much. These four assets took me 6 hours to make. In a game where going wide was the goal from the start, I utterly failed when making these. But dammit, they turned out so freaking cool. Oh well, live and learn. Or don't, it's just a game jam after all 😅

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End of Part 1

There's plenty more to talk about and a lot more assets to show. But until I get around to posting it please drop by our game page and give Genius Gallery a play!

Now I'm off to play a bunch of jam entries 😄