Wild Rebirth
This is my Naba thesis project: it's a first person tech demo developed in a team of 4 using Unreal Engine 5.2 and PerForce. The setting is a post apocalyptic world conquered by tropical vegetation that the protagonist will have toendure and explore looking for his/her family. The core gameplay has a survivalistic taste focused on the dangers inherent to the unknown and mutated/evolved environment.
I worked on Game Design and focused on Level Design, Environments, Mechanics and Optimization.
Level Design - Blockout to Environment
Level Design - Cave Blockout
Level Design - POIs in yellow, forest view
Level Design - City view
Environment - Creek Detail
Environment - Swamp Detail
Environment - Swamp Forest
Environment - Swamp Forest
Environment - Swamp
Environment - Forest
Environment - Forest Path
Environment - Forest Rift
Mechanics - Tree Felling
I designed a modular system to implement the ability to fell trees to create alternatives paths and collect resources.I used Maya, Unreal Blueprints and Chaos Destruction.
Breaking tree section with Chaos Destruction
Trees fall and branches deform in a physically accurate fashion, the developer can set which parts of the tree need to break/deform on impact and which parts can be collected.
Branches rotations, blueprint
Collectibles
Mechanics - Heart Rate Simulation
As a mean to implement stamina in a diegetic fashion, I implemented a simulation of the heart beat of the character.
When Beats Per Minute reach the max value (HR max) the character is impeded and can't run, jump , etc. until BPM go down enough
The Beats Per Minute value is extrapolated from numerous variables such as Body Temperature, Age, Current Activity, Health Level, Fitness Level and the list goes on.
Optimization
Unreal Engine 5.2 Nanite has issues managing properly aggregate geometries, which is the type of geometry most prevalent inside the level
Custom Nanite LODs
I implemented a custom system to take advantage of custom LODs integrated with Nanite, greatly reducing performance cost of vegetation inside the level, boosting fps of nearly 200%.
Custom LODs optimization with Nanite
LOD Visualization Tool
Test area
Testing environment and custom tools
Profiling and results