Killzone Shadowfall DLC - The Academy
This was one of my favourite levels to work on for Shadowfall. It was a really interesting level to light because we didn't want to use any artificial light sources due to the level being so derelict, all light should come from environmental petrucite effects or glowing shrapnel. On one small section we caved in and used glowsticks though. The colour palette was quite striking though occasionally a bit on the nose when we were trying to sign post the blue VSA and red HGH ends.
It was also interesting as so much of the level was covered in dust which made baked lighting come out very consistently due to the fairly constant grey albedo.
I was a joint lighting artist on this level with Hus Zekayi. I did the first pass and final polish pass on lighting with Hus doing the second pass.
This is a view of the central courtyard. We decided to use a very diffused sunlight to help differentiate one end of the map compared to the petrucite flares.
By and large most of the surfaces in the map had a lot of grey dust coverage which made them fairly consistent to light.
On the opposite end of the map we used an animated petrucite flare as the key light source. This would flicker and was fairly dramatic in motion.
Where possible we used glowing shrapnel to contrast with all the cool blue light and to signify you were on the HGH side of the map.
Originally we tried to make all shrapnel come in at the same angle as if it came from the same source. This ended up not being practical though.
A view from the exit of the VSA spawn. Extending the room and putting in plenty of ceiling lights helped make a simple room quite dramatic.
Sometimes we couldn't get in enough light from above and so we brought it in from below. The petrucite effects made a good excuse for some dramatic volumetric effects.
You couldn't actually make out anything of note in the bright floor, it was just a hole with a bright sheet on it.
The large petrucite flare let us use some very long volumetric godrays, these were very effective in motion.
It was possible to create some really nice contrast when opening up holes into the darker tunnel sections.
This is deep inside VSA territory so the blue comes through pretty strongly. Highlighting route exits against the strong light and volumetrics was tricky.
This is an exit from the HGH base. You can see it's pretty red from heavy shrapnel. We tried to make sure some cool blue areas were visible in the background to contrast this.
This is a room in the dead centre of the map. Here you can see we've made it quite clear which side lead to the VSA/HGH base.
Another example of fun with volumetrics.
This was one area where we needed a little more light and the best solution we could come up with was scattering a few glowsticks around. We tried to use this sparingly to stop it feeling contrived.
Killzone Shadow Fall – The Academy DLC Map | PS4