- In this unforgiving world, we - the people - are the backbone of our survival. Our unique strengths, from scavenging to farming, are what keep our settlement alive. But each of us confronts the ever-present threats of diseases, relentless radiation, and the unforgiving natural environment, as we strive to secure a future for our community. Only together will we prevail. -
Creation of a Settler
The process of creating a settler involves meeting specific criteria, such as using a low-poly mesh and minimizing the number of bones for animation. Despite these constraints we try to enhance the details on a settler’s mesh. Unlike in Endzone 1, settlers will have fingers and even a nose tip this time. Well, it seems like now they even have to withstand the smells of a post-apocalyptic world.
- First version of our new mesh on the right and the old one from Endzone 1 on the left.
Level of Detail
Later in the game a lot of your settlers will be visible at the same time when viewing your settlements from a distance. This is where Level of Detail (LOD) comes into play. We’ll create different versions of a settler model each with further reduced mesh resolution. We do this until we reach a very abstract version. It doesn’t really have to look like a settler anymore as the player won’t identify it from a distance.
- Increasing LOD-Levels from left to right, reducing the overall polycount with increasing distance of the cameraAnimations
At one point we’ll bring the settler to life through initial animations like the walk cycle. These tests are made before putting a texture on the settler to check if the mesh deforms correctly when animated and to do small adjustments to the mesh. If we would change the mesh after it was already textured it might require recreating the texture.
Textures
To make our settler look nice, he gets a new coat of paint. To make sure that our artist can paint the model correctly, there is a first test. Step by step we’ll move towards the final result.
Visual Variety
In order to make our settlers look more diverse, we give them different accessories, which we distribute as needed or randomly. For example, these can be different hair types, hats or tools.
Final Results
Of course, all this only comes together once our settlers inhabit our city. Our settlers have to perform various tasks, such as transporting resources or fishing. From time to time they also hold a short chat in the settlement's center.
What do you think settlers should do in their leisure time? Should they visit a campfire to warm themselves up or would you prefer your settlers to have no leisure time at all? Let us know in the comments below!
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