Challenge Statement

The challenge was to join a team of artists (up to four - ish) to create a Completed interactive 3D environment based off of a story prompt.

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Basic Overview of Details

• Based off of 1 or 2 story prompts provided here on canvas.

• Final output to Unreal

• Minimum of 2 rooms

• Use of Maya, Adobe, and additional Tools

Considerations

• Interior Room Flow, or Exterior 3 level ground elements

• Composition of Player spawn and path

• Composition of chosen shots for rendering

• Color story, lighting, and mood

• What was the prompt?

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In my own words, the challenge was to innovate a 3D scene (environment or world) together with a group of three or four individuals. The scene would be one in which someone is able to move around and it would not be considered a game, mechanic, or a goal.  The scene would be able to convey a story. Additionally, the scene should be related to either the first or second prompts provided on canvas, the final scene is in Unreal, there should be at least 2 rooms, and should be developed using Maya, Adobe, and other software. Other topics to keep in mind were the flow of one room to another inside/ 3 level ground elements, the form of the location where the character emerges and his or her path, the setup of rendering shots, color to tell a story, the lighting, mood, and determining the prompt. 

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The prompt was to create a scene that fulfilled the following description:

“2. An explosion of colors, lights dancing wildly to and fro, shadows reeling with their every move. In the center of the chaotic whirl, a serene stillness unaffected by the raucous surrounding. Like a solitary flower escaping the cracks of concrete, a triumphant stand in defiance against the onrush.”

 

 

• What did you decide?

Originally, I wanted to create a type of supernatural scene that had a variety of colors in the center. In the center would be a flower or tree or some type of tranquil, surreal thing. In the background would be darkness and chaos. I wanted this to be some type of spiritual realm that the mystic entered after doing various meditations and spiritual activities to get closer to the Divine Being (i.e., God). 

In the next paragraph, I explain how I finally decided on a story of one evil people/alien race that was trying to dominate a good people/alien race. The good race influences the evil race to see the light.

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• What was the idea your team agreed on?

In the end, my team wanted to change my concept of a mystical realm to be one that was more relatable, “down to earth”, and involved more of a sci-fi space theme similar to other recent video games. One group member suggested that the scene could involve a war between two peoples or alien races. I liked this concept but I was looking for a theme that was a bit more complex, original, and also taught a deeper moral lesson that people could learn from in our current day and age. I wanted a story that contrasted good and evil and taught positive messages of right and wrong. I also wanted my story to convey the message of connecting to God which is important in my life as well as being appreciative of what one has.  

 

I came up with a story that I felt created a strong moral message that could benefit people today:

I suggested to my group members that the war had occurred because a dominating, evil race was trying to conquer the planet of ancient, good people and make them their slaves.

 

Now the ancient, good people connect to and reach closer to the Divine Being through the conduit of a glowing “Energy Life Tree” in the center of their planet. Like the tree, the good people had tranquility, light, happiness, and thankfulness. (It took a while to determine what object would symbolize the conduit for the ancient people to connect to the Divine Being. One of my group members came up with a glowing tree and another group member commented that people often connect to God through nature).

 

The dominating, evil race did not have this connection to this Divine Being and thus lived in darkness, and chaos, and were not content. They were not thankful for their own planet and wanted to conquer others. 

In the end, the dominating people try to overtake and destroy the poor ancient people. They start pillaging and laying waste to the ancient people’s planet. (I suggested to my group that the ancient planet’s architecture is that of ancient Greek just because I happen to like this architecture style. The invading evil people have a different form of architecture which happens to be of greater sophisticated technology and tanks). Eventually, after destroying much of the ancient people’s buildings and dwellings, the evil people come to the center of the planet where the Energy Life Tree is one of the last remaining edifices. The evil people try to chop the tree down and break its branches. All of a sudden, the entire planet begins to shake and convulse. Little did the dominating, evil people realize, that the connection to the Divine Being through the medium of the tree is what kept the planet floating in outer space. The entire planet begins to fall apart and rock and debris explode from the core of the planet. The evil people are in panic and don’t know what to do. Perhaps the planet rocks try to bury them and harm them. The ancient people then come to the aid of the evil people. They explain to the evil people that they have the light of the tree through their connection with God and it is through God that they have light and peace. The good ancient people say that they will teach them to connect to the Divine Being through the Energy Tree, share with them their goodness, and help them to experience tranquility and thankfulness. Through this, the good, ancient people are able to turn around the evil dominating people to the side of good. The evil dominating people realize and learn that dominating and conquering more land doesn’t bring more happiness. Happiness comes from being content with what one has.

 

Being content with what one has, in my opinion, is an imperative moral lesson that myself and the world at large could work on. Especially with the current events of the war with Ukraine, it is important for the world to realize that controlling more land does not necessarily mean greatness nor does it bring happiness. One should appreciate what he or she has. This is a concept I need to work on myself as well.