Environment- rocks and trees

For the surrounding environment the basis was to keep it quite uncluttered but to also have things like trees and rocks to both keep the environment realistic but also to have things that we could use to force the players to use different tactics and to work together,

For instance if we wanted the red to have to go a different way than the blue player we would use enemies to lure the red player a certain way and then use things like rocks to block off the path so the blue couldn't save him if blue enemies arrived. 

A precedent I used for inspiration

Here I tried different types of rocks to create layered effects and see what type of atmosphere I would be creating with them. The stacked ones look better I feel as they have more complexity and would fit well with the totem poles and cultural aspects we plan to bring in throughout the game. 

For the trees I wanted them to stay as if they had died slightly and were spindly with no greenery or life to them. 

Environment- cliffs

To start off with I have made up some environmental aspects to go in the game. We are trying to keep the aesthetic focused on very untouched environments as the players are quite tribal and we wanted this to be as nature related as possible especially as they are based on animals.

I created some base cliffs for them to walk through which allows them to be introduced slowly as characters for the tutorial level. There are separations in the chasms where enemies can come in from the side to attack but the player will have time to learn how to use their controllers. 

Precedents

While starting to think about the aesthetic for the game I've used some of the below precedents for inspiration.

A lot of the inspiration is about ruins and temples that I think would help the feeling of desolation and ruined remains. However because of the high angle of the camera we plan on using we may not be able to design for interior angles a lot. 

Fur density

Here I was looking at how furry I wanted the character to be. I wanted him to have enough thickness that he seemed as though he could withstand the cold, but not fluffy where he seemed like he could be cuddly and too friendly. 

Directional fur

The below images show the different tests I did to make the fur move the right way and sit naturally. On the back I had the fur following the spine downwards and outwards to give even coverage. On the front, the majority of the fur just lay flat down. I made sure to keep his 4 paws clear of fur as they need to grip on the ice but have also left a small layering on the back of the hand and leading down onto the feet. 

UV maps and fur maps

Throughout these iterations I was looking at how bright or dark the fur and skin of the character was going to be. Through making adjustments I found that having brighter skin and then slightly darker fur to overlay the skin and dull it down looked the most natural. Making sure to counter the colours with the overlaying fur became really important because otherwise he started to look too cartoony in his colours. 

Face fur development