Here is my final submission. As explained in my WIP thread this is a reinterpretation of the Osiris myth in which Osiris is sealed in a coffin by his traitorous brother Set and thrown into the Nile to drown. In one version of this myth the coffin washes ashore in ancient Lebanon, where the life giving powers of the entombed god cause the reeds of the coastline to grow wild, and a mighty cedar tree engulfs the coffin.
In my version, the coffin remained hidden for millennia, until being discovered by a team of future scientists. They discovered that when opened the box overflowed endlessly with a strange luminous fluid that appeared to supercharge plant growth. They quickly constructed a lab to study this phenomenon. Only afterwards did they realize that much of their machinery bore a strange resemblance to the ancient architecture that was once built to please such gods. It seems even a dead god retains enough if his divinity to influence the minds of mortal men.
I built the hard surface assets in Maya, while the papyrus reeds in the tanks were done in Speed Tree. All textures were made in Substance Designer, and the final scene was assembled in Godot 4.
==In engine images==
Working with Godot provided some fun learning opportunities, as i have only recently began learning the software. It is not the powerhouse that Unreal is, so there is much you cant take for granted. I think i ended up with a blend of fallout 3 and Unreal Tournament 3 visual styles, which i think is fun. (shiny metals and big shapes from UT3, glowing green goop from fallout). I’m excited to dive deeper into what Godot has to offer. I was very cautious about polycount at first, and wound up coming in at roughly 50k when i first got the scene assembled. This allowed me to add some extra details and upgrade to a higher poly version of the reeds. while still coming in at roughly 120k.
Final Shot:
Front, side, and back orthogonal views
Wireframe with final polycount of 121866
==Materials==
When I began the project i was unclear on the exact parameters of the texture limitations, so i chose to follow the strictest interpretation of the rules i could think of to ensure i hit the mark. Most of the scene is only two trim sheets, one for the Coffin centerpiece, and one for the metal that makes up the grow tank hardware. The coffin trim sheet contains several different patterns i pulled from real Egyptian coffins in the Met archives, while the gradients in the center are for the reed stalks and leaves. For the flowers i used the same trim and hue shifted the base color in engine. The metal trim contains a cable, a couple greebles, and plain metal both painted and unpainted. The bottom of the sheet is for all my emissive pieces. Late in the contest i learned that tileable textures were acceptable so i made a simple concrete for the floor, and a more manufactured sciency material for the walls. The glass is an in engine shader with a simple roughness noise applied. Ive also attached the substance graphs do further dispel the specter of gen ai. First is for the coffin, second for the metal.
==Final Thoughts==
I had quite a bit of fun with this project. I started late and had a vacation in the middle so i really had to push to get over the finish line. While i ended up working under stricter parameters than was required, the constraints forced me to be thoughtful and considerate about how i could achieve something interesting with minimal resources. I still have ideas for the scene and might revisit once i am freed from the constraints of the contest. Below is the link to my wip thread. Thank you for your consideration!