THE MANSION - Level design

The Mansion is a level design project that is a part of Level design class.

It is a mansion in the countryside somewhere in Europe with a Neo-Palladian style layout. The scene took place in the 21st century. The mansion looks old but maintained.

The atmosphere that I aimed for this scene is Mystery without ghost, old mansion give off weird and uneasy feeling while the underground lab will act as a twist to the scene to create unexpected feeling

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The Mansion | Unreal Engine 4

Design Focus: Level design

Development Time: 14 Weeks

Software: Unreal Engine 4 (UE4)

Architecture Style: Neo-Palladian

Structured based: Wrotham Park, Woburn Abbey, Russborough House,

Hammond–Harwood House, Province House (Nova Scotia)

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Reference and First Draft

Before coming up with a first draft, I tried to find many places across the world that match the design in my mind and put it up together to get an overview of the location and the structure building.

This is the initial floor plan. The entrance hall contain a doorway to other part of the mansion and there are 2 stairs near the entrance to offer an ease of access to other floor. At the opposite of the entrance, There is a hall that connected the mansion to the backyard.

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Final version of the floorplan

After many draft and redesign, this is the final result of The Mansion's floor plan. It's consists of 3 floors, 3 entrances, 25 rooms, 2 master bedrooms and 4 restroom. The main structure retain a part of the original draft but the left and right wings were change significantly to fit the architecture style and create a symmetry look from the outside.

Key locations

- Main Hall

- West Hall

- East Hall

- Dining Room

- Gallery

- Piano Room

- Recreation Room

- Secret Stairway

- Library

- Office

- Balcony

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Modular Furniture

While designing the scene, all of the furniture were being made by me at the same time. I used Maya for modeling and Substance Painter for material painting.

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Retrospective

What Went Well

Atmosphere: The surrounding atmosphere from the forest and mountain around the mansion can convey the feeling of solitude to the level and added this to the placement of the single mansion in the middle of nowhere, this can create a scene that convey a feeling of mystery and uneasy feeling for the player inside the mansion.

What did I received

Level Design: I have learnt a lot during the process of the level designing, from finding a reference for an initial draft, to the process of the placement of the level itself.

Modeling: Every models in this level were made by me to fit the theme of the level. This is the first time that I have to model everything from a scratch while designing the scene that it's going to be there so not every models is good, some are more or less complex than the other but overall, it's an enjoyable experience.

Material Painting: Basic texture painting for 3D model is what I got along the way of modeling furniture in the map.