One of the things we’re focused on, while creating assets for the game, is the time period in which our story takes place. The Trojan War is estimated to have taken place in the 12th century BC. It was during the Greek Bronze Age, that our hero took his journey to vanquish the Trojans. But it’s a long way from Greece, leading right across the Aegean Sea - to get there, he needed a suitable vessel…
The Trireme
The Greek Triremes have been known as formidable warships. They had three rows of oars on each side, manned with one man per oar. One of these ships could hold up as many as 200 warriors, every one of them ready for battle.
We haven’t really felt like the model we’ve been using (the one behind in the photo below) was adequate to their legend, so we took it upon ourselves to design one that would get even the best shipwrights of the time to look in awe.
Research
As usual, the creation process began with research, mainly of the ship’s architecture and its overall look. We got reference from photos of real ship replicas, which were perfect for our needs.
We carefully studied each detail and feature using reference photos, and after all that work, the 3D model finally came to be. Of course, there was still far more work to be done, we only had a shape back then.
Models
The ship itself is composed of multiple parts - there’s the standard low poly version, as well as a sculptured one with all the ornaments, making the textured model look much more realistic.
Textures
Of course, the textures had also needed to be separately prepared. For example, the wood from the ship consists of a few different texture images. The most important ones are the normal map and the color texture. The first one contains all of the bumps and dents in the wood and is used to give it depth.
The second one, as you might’ve guessed, is used to give the wood colors. Pretty straightforward, right? After putting them together and applying the finished texture to the model, the ship is looking really natural and convincing.
Lighting
And now, the thing that really gives the scene life - lighting! After setting up the scene and carefully placing the light sources, the ship is looking better than ever. The reference images we used were a great help in reproducing a realistic sunset over the Aegean Sea.
In-Game
Now we can put the ship in the game’s engine. As you can see on the GIFs below, it’s not just a rigid model - it actually supports physics! It’s a great accent, making the boat look alive, as if it really was sailing through the waves.
We hope you enjoyed seeing some of the behind the scenes stuff and us revealing parts of our creative process. It’s not just the fixes that we’re focusing on - as you can see, we’re actively working hard on creating and adding more content to Achilles: Legends Untold.
We want to make more posts like this one in the future, as we love to share our passion for making video games with the players. Make sure to follow our announcements page, so you won’t miss out on any of them!
We’d also like to really thank our players for all the feedback we’re getting, both on Discord and Steam. Thanks to your help, we’re on our way to creating the video game that everyone will be able to enjoy. If you also want to take part in the development, you can leave us your suggestions and input, either on the discussions page or on our Discord server (link below).
See you soon!
FOLLOW US
Discord ► http://discord.gg/achilleslegendsuntold
Website ► https://achillesgame.com
Twitter ► @DarkPointGames
Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/AchillesLegendsUntold
Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/achilleslegendsuntold/
YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/c/DarkPointGames