Jade Empire - Reflections

Jade Empire texture URL list:

http://slodive.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/gold-textures/gold-platter.jpg
http://www.getcliparts.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/wood_texture2.jpg
http://ftextures.com/textures/Red-painted-wall-texture.jpg
http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/sites/default/files/album_images/43909-large.jpg
http://www.deviantart.com/download/157051967/Cream_Texture_by_Artbox_DA.jpg
http://www.pixelscrapper.com/sites/default/files/assets/user-1/node-547/image/marisa-lerin-solid-red-paper-asset.jpg
http://www.armoredfloors.com/ArmoredFloors/images/tiles/stone/Brown-Stone.gif
http://www.fremantlestone.com.au/cache/path/:upload:pages:colours:greystone.jpg/width/960/height/800/name/greystone.jpg

Basic door diagram. Sans a lot of the extra stuff I added in in 3D:

While I originally wanted to keep the design very minimalistic and not attempt to tackle the challenge of creating the roof of the house, the door alone did not quite get across the feel I wanted to portray with my model.

When creating my model, I kept a lot of the pieces very separate, as I only held a rough idea of what I wanted the final model to look like in my head and wanted the freedom to change parts as needed. Initially, I laid out the general shape of the building I wanted to make, using very basic shapes to do so.

I spent some time mapping out the sorts of patterns I wanted to place upon my model in 3D as I found it easier to construct them that way; despite knowing I would eventually replace them with opacity mapped planes.

Originally, I wanted to place the last pattern within the door frames. The start of this can be seen in one of the pictures below. However, I found that doing so would make the actual door too indistinct in comparison when next to the side frames of the building. Eventually, I used the above pattern within the windows of the side frames.

In the above picture, the circle was meant to contain a Chinese symbol. With the redesign of the doors that came later, I moved these symbols onto the actual door. After showing my model to a few friends, I was told that while the model looked good, it did not necessarily look oriental. With this taken into consideration, I added in the roof I did not originally plan on including and also placed a couple of (floating!) Chinese lanterns. The door also underwent a redesign to appear more like the doors featured in earlier blog posts and to make it stand out a little more against the side panels.

When it came to lighting, I wanted to recreate the colour and mood of Tien's Landing in the original Jade Empire game -- seen below.

After some tweaking, I established the basic colours, though there were problems with the light positions causing unexpected shadows.

I also began to map out the desired colours for objects in my head, opting to go with a scheme similar to Tien's Landing, again. Reds, blues, greens and golds were selected primarily. Most of my textures were made with basic textures found on the internet that I then tweaked, adjusted and laid over other colours. The main exception to this is the piece of wood above the doorway; this was made almost completely from scratch with a wooden texture laid underneath.

Some textures had less time spent on them; I knew many would not get as much attention/had parts out of view. I also neglected to texture the roof, as it wasn't part of the original design and a little too complex. As a final touch to add a little more ambience, I put glowing spheres within the lantern to give the impression that they were lit up.

Improvements I'd like to make:

Bump mapping.
Tweaking on the opacity maps in the windows - perhaps adding lighting as though the building lights are on.
More detail on the textures I devoted less time to.
Further clean up on the roof.
Completing the roof/sides (both models and textures).
Adding a little complexity to the lighting.
Adding string to the lanterns so they're no longer floating in space.

Bonus HD Render!

Jade Empire -- Further Study

I took the time to play Jade Empire myself in order to take more specific screenshots of doors and entranceways within the game.

 

In doored entranceways, the most common colours for the door itself are either a deep red, or a reddish brown. Decorations often feature lanterns, whether they are hanging around the surrounding scenery or on the door itself. Another common feature is an inscribed Chinese character, set on or around the doorway. In certain areas, flags are also popular.

Below are some potential patterns or features from real life that could suit the style of Jade Empire:

 

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Architectural Studies -- Jade Empire

Jade Empire was a 2005 Bioware RPG set in ancient China, and is of the Wuxia genre. Wuxia is a genre of Chinese fiction that tells stories of martial artists.

Artistically, Jade Empire is influenced by many Asian cultures, the most prominent being the various dynasties that have risen and fallen within China. An interview with Matt Goldman, the art director of Jade Empire, revealled the specific dynasties that drove the direction of the game.


"Matt Goldman: I prefer the more elegant styles of the Han through Ming dynasties. They are most uniquely Chinese. Sung period monumental landscapes provide a model for the ideal landscape, Tang period green style paintings a model for the ideal color palette. Of course these artistic styles were inspired by nature and I think we have a particularly nice homage to the Huang Shan area. Shang and Zhou period bronze was perfect to represent an ancient and lost "Hyborean" civilization and is used to represent ancient artifacts.

 

From the pictures above, it becomes clear that in terms of colours, Jade Empire favours pale, neutrally coloured brickwork (yellows or greys) and deeper reds/browns for the fences, pillars and the roof. Shapewise, the rooves often begin in a narrow point and widen outward toward the bottom into triangular tips, seen below:

 The influence for these is very clear in architecture taken from the Han Dynasty. The red pillars seen are also used heavily in-game.

The pointed roofing within the game is also apparent in Taiwanese architecture. Again, red pillars are apparent.

Hanging lanterns are also seen in various locations and are of varying colours.

By looking at the original influences for the game alongside the game itself, it becomes possible to imagine further detail on the assets the artists created. Having been made seven years ago, the game suffers slightly from age and the limitations of technology at the time.

 

Chinese architecture is known for its intricate and detailed designs. Some of this is lost within the original game; while the style of the era is very well represented it could be further enhanced

Key features:

- Pointed, triangular rooftops.

- Main colours made up of reds, yellows, greys and browns.

- Maze like patterns in fences and decorations.

- Infrastructure supported by pillars.

- Slate-like rooftop material.

Areas for improvement:

- Further decoration and detailing around the flat surface walls.