Gabriella Grace Christyanti / 0371915
Game Art / Creative Media / School
of Design
Final Project Complete Environment Design Bible
1. Instructions
2. Lectures
3. Process Work
4. Final Outcome
5. Feedback
6. Reflection
1. INSTRUCTIONS
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INTERIOR 3D
As explained from my Project 2 Blogger, I had already started on my 3d for the interior. I did add extra props to the design along with adding a 3d version of the illustration on the pillars that I have only been pasting on the pillars instead of sculpting it.
I also got an idea from Sir Kannan's feedback in class to make the circle in the middle of the bridge as some kind of hidden doorway. So I decided to make another design, also created using 2d drawing that was translated to 3d. That same design was later used on the exterior gate design and the pattern was reused in Game Art's poster as a faded logo to show a cohesiveness in the narrative.
Sir Kannan mentioned in a different feedback that I should do research on the type of offerings people do in history for Cobras and what i found was that the most common of these offerings were either milk or whey, which is why I made these simple pots to show some environmental story telling.
INTERIOR 3D RENDER
The most common topic I receive in nearly every feedback is about the plant growth on the temple. My previous attempt before seemed to be quite subtle with the root and vine that grows from the cracks so this time I decided to be more loud with it though making sure to not make the whole render end up looking too loud. The lighting on the snake eyes were also part of Sir Kannan's main concern as sometimes I forgot to add the lighting on the snake during the photo-bashing phase.
My flooring was also a big issue, specifically the photobashing of the rocks which had been too big in my last couple of attempts. So I found a texture sheet from the internet and duplicate it multiple times until I create something that could easily be overlay.
However, despite all that, the most problem I had when dealing with photobashing is with my fire as they don't look realistic enough however hard I try and that annoys me to no end. In the future, I would love to see how to animate fire in Blender so I could avoid this mess and even end up with an even cooler 3d result that is more playable.
In terms of what I would like to improve in the future, I would definitely say the detailing and the texturing. All of the textures I added to the final image were all done with the help of photo bashing. My UV mapping looked horrible which is the main reason why I wasn't able to do the texture in blender.
Sir Kannan had mention how to break down the UV mapping with the use of the knife tool though learning it meant using up more time and I was already struggling greatly with chasing the deadlines. During this holiday, I would like to improve more on that skill.
For doing patterns, I also would like to dive deeper about that as we do our work in class and during feedback sessions, Im able to see other people's works. One of which being Jia Xuan who did excellent patterns on her pillar's design. I would like to learn how to do the same.
An additional note I would like to add about my lighting after giving it a rest and coming back to it is that the Red highlight color isn't bright enough or saturated enough and the torches, though leading towards the snake statue in the middle, feels like the first thing that takes up the attention instead of the main hero asset.
For the other compositions, I followed the angles that I already showed sir Kannan in the past. I wasn't able to photo bash these ones though as I only used the limited time to render my main interior artwork and my main exterior.
EXTERIOR-3D
Now the 3D of the exterior is where I need to talk the longest about my improvement as I changed a lot about this design. First off, I wasn't satisfied with my first submission for Project 1. I thought the entrance doesn't resemble the interior well enough and had a whole different vibe to it which makes the interior and the exterior feel like it's two different buildings entirely.
This would reflect badly in my portfolio as it could show poor planning.
I first thought about redrawing the exterior in Procreate but most of the beginning sketches I start with weren't able to look cohesive enough or just didn't feel much like a temple. So, like a mad man, I decided to do the whole thing in 3d.
I start by simply zooming out of the interior and planning how to expand it. Fortunately, the base design wasn't half bad and fairly easy to improve upon.
I would like to show a side by side comparison of the exterior I created in blender compared to the inspiration I took it from which is Hypostyle and Luxor temple if it wasn't so embarrassing with how different the mesh looked compared to the real thing.
There's very little detail for the house on top of the roof as it is a part that will not be seen much by the players.
For the sake of time and sanity, I reuse multiple assets made in the interior and modified it just a tad to create different items. Array was my saving grace in this process as making one torch meant I could fill the whole roof, making the simple design look somewhat less simple in the quickest way possible as I needed to chase after the looming deadline that progressively moves closer the longer I take on details.
Logically, there should be a way up to that roof if it had a door and torches. As torches meant that people could go up there and light it. So following by that logic, I added stairs. This worked surprisingly well for me as the stairs added that stacked pyramid shape.
The snake lantern at the front were also just a duplicate of the interior snake sculpt. I took away the colors and added a point light inside the mouths to make something like a fire glowing inside the mouth.
Continuing to use the copy pasting method to make things faster. I made the bottom layer mostly using already existing meshes from all parts of the building like the pillars, reusing the staircase, and like mentioned before, reusing the pattern on the floor for the main entrance. But for the bottom, I added extra lighting to really show how the door is supposed to open.
When taking the 3D photos, I wanted to take a front view picture with the whole building visible but without anything infront of it, the building looks too empty. So I used the same bridge I do for the interior and pasted it infront of the building before taking a screen shot.
EXTERIOR 3D RENDER
For the render I created in procreate, I started with the background and empty spaces before photobashing the temple. I'm glad the screen shot of my temple was taken so far away which avoids me needing to create too much details on the structure. For the bridge, it is on top a surface of water, and the background of the temple has the avatar mountains. I also placed plenty of bushes all around the area. For the trees, I just used a custom brush.
Next were the textures, to make it quick, I also used photobashing on the patterns of the pot and the pattern itself was sourced from Google. The same texture was used for the stone pattern on the bridge for both interior and exterior. I also redraw the staircase as Blender's screenshot didn't translate clear enough for my liking so I did it manually. I recalled during my interior process that Sir Kannan wanted a sharper contrast between the surfaces so I also remembered to add that too. Other than the bushes, I also edit, colored, and photo bashed in some plant growth like moss on the bridge to make the temple feel like it had aged. For the statues of the snake on the top floor, I also added a better glow on their eyes. Lastly was the fire that I drew using the procreate brush. And just as a finishing touch, I add a light mist affect to make the area feel more mysterious and also added a multiply layer but only around the edges of the canvas to zero in more onto the building and to hide the lack on details on the tree.
An added note is that I lowered the saturation quite a bit at the ending as I felt like the desaturated artwork made the building feel more realistic in a sense.
The other composition s for the exterior were the same like the interior, they were all unrendered too. But unlike the interior, I had not consulted Sir Kannan with the angles so I'm unsure if the angles I had chose for the composition already acceptable or not.
After everything has been submitted, I honestly felt quite satisfied with the work I had done. Though the rush quality clearly shows to anyone who looked even slightly too long into the details. Even though the final product was quite rushed, I still felt like the 2 main artworks of the exterior and interior looked very neat and nicely packaged.
If I had more time to explore more on the exterior's design, I might try out adding motifs around the walls to make it look less barren and show some story. I do also want to make a snake pattern going down the staircase, but I wasn't able to in this situation as that required a skill I was not capable of doing yet or the techniques I do have wouldn't give me the results that I desire and might end up taking up too much of my time which was something I couldn't risk during this process.
But now that I have already finished, I will use my holiday time to expand more on my knowledge so I can push myself even further in final Project
4. FINAL OUTCOME
5. FEEDBACK
INTERIOR & EXTERIOR DEVELOPMENT
Throughout the project, Sir Kannan's feedback greatly influenced the direction of both my interior and exterior designs. One of his suggestions was to transform the circular platform in the middle of the bridge into a hidden doorway, which became one of the main interactive features of the temple. He also encouraged me to research historical cobra offerings, leading me to include pots filled with milk as environmental storytelling elements. Another recurring piece of feedback was to increase the amount of plant growth throughout the temple, making the ruins appear much older and more abandoned. He also reminded me to consistently highlight the glowing snake eyes during my render process, as they were an important visual focal point.
TEXTURING & LIGHTING
Much of the feedback I received focused on improving the realism of my renders. My earlier floor textures appeared oversized, so I replaced them with tiled stone textures that blended more naturally. Sir Kannan also explained techniques for improving UV mapping using Blender's knife tool, although I was unable to fully apply them due to time constraints. Looking back after submission, I also realized that my red accent lighting was not saturated enough, and the torches unintentionally attracted more attention than the central snake statue. These observations showed me how important lighting hierarchy is in directing the viewer's focus.
EXPERIENCE
This project challenged me far more than my previous environment design work because I chose to redesign a large portion of my temple instead of simply refining the original concept. Rather than repainting the exterior in 2D, I rebuilt it entirely in Blender so that it would better match the interior and create a more cohesive environment. Throughout the process, I learned to balance creative ambition with practical time management by reusing assets, relying on Blender's Array modifier, and combining 3D renders with photobashing techniques. Although the project was completed under significant deadline pressure, it greatly improved my confidence in creating large-scale game environments and translating concept art into fully realized 3D spaces.
OBSERVATION
Throughout this project, I observed that environmental storytelling often comes from small details rather than large structures. Simple additions such as milk offering pots, overgrown roots, glowing snake eyes, moss-covered stone, and reused architectural motifs helped create a stronger sense of history and narrative within the temple. I also realized that consistency between the interior and exterior is essential for believable world building, as players naturally expect both spaces to feel like parts of the same location. Revisiting my work after submission also allowed me to notice lighting and texturing issues that I had overlooked while working under pressure.
FINDINGS
This project reinforced the importance of planning, iteration, and technical knowledge in environment design. I found that Blender's modelling tools significantly sped up my workflow, but my limited understanding of UV mapping forced me to rely heavily on photobashing during the rendering stage. While this produced acceptable final results, it also highlighted an area I want to improve moving forward. Overall, the project taught me that successful environment art is not only about creating visually appealing structures, but also about maintaining visual consistency, supporting the narrative through environmental details, and continuously refining technical skills to achieve more polished and believable outcomes.
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