Behind The Scenes: Secret Base (Patreon)

I wanted to go back to a flat shaded low poly style this week, so I was looking for some interesting ideas and browsing through my list. I put new ideas there quite frequently so a lot of them get lost in time.

And as I'm enjoying few turn-based games lately, my eyes stopped at X-com note. Apparently, at some point I wanted to create something inspired by this game. And it fits quite nicely with the visual style I was going for, so I went ahead and explored this idea further.

Right from the top of my head, I saw some options. I could go for some urban setting, spaceship or UFO interior, or some base layout. And right away I really liked the base idea, because it's a core and very memorable concept of the game since the first X-com game in the 90's.

Visit the full Pinboard here

I started exploring multiple X-com screenshots and similar concepts and saving them to Pinboard. As I went deeper, the first dilemma reappeared. I really liked some urban and street inspirations so I started to go back and forth between ideas.

And as I was spiraling down into the indecision paralysis hell, I stumbled upon infographic, showing some lab in a way where both exterior and interior is included. Same as if you're playing tactical RPG, and the game is removing the walls for you based on where your character is, so you have a clear view of the interior. Obviously!

I had this in front of me the whole time, inspired by the game and all, but I had to see some random image to connect the dots. Thank you brain, so typical.

So I had the theme, I had some inspiration and reference and I was going for a cut-out layout with both street environment and building interior. Sounds like a job done, but if you stare at blank Blender file, you realize that there is still a long way to go.

And I rather stare at a blank piece of paper first. Scribbling around some rough shapes is easier and quicker, than trying to brainstorm in 3d directly. (Maybe I need to try grease pencil in Blender?) I decided I want to include all of the ideas I had, exterior, base interior and also some ship.

At first, I was really just sketching and erasing some lines, that would later define the bounds and layout of the house, where the openings go and what's visible through them. Only after some attempts, I refined the layout and began to fill in some details. The rest of this was quite easy, it involves brainstorming with references and picking out the things you like and trying to figure out some things you missed.

So by applying the principle of the game I was inspired by and a little bit of coincidence, I was able to come up with a new type of layout I never done before.

You can watch the process video on Youtube