[WIP] Forgotten Graveyards: Low Poly Cemetery and Nature Mega Pack

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Here are some screenshots from the graveyard asset pack I'm working on. Started over a year ago on it, but it grew a lot. Now it's close to 2k models.

If there are some things you wish me to include in the asset pack - feel free to suggest them. Feedback is welcomed!

Finally released: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/forgotten-graveyards-low-poly-cemetery-mega-pack

The most recent thing I finished are 2 sets of modular fences

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Update time. Cobwebs, barrels and buckets. Cobwebs in low poly style were surprisingly hard to get right. I think in the end I got it mostly right, but I might revisit it in the future. Barrels and buckets I just revisited and improved a bit. It still took a bit of time, but nothing special here.

I wanted to see how those cobwebs could be used in a scene so I made below scene

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Spent quite a bit of time on benches now. They weren’t that difficult to model, but I took a detour to better understand uv lightmapping. There’s not much information out there how to do them correctly though… On one hand I guess there will be someone that appreciates carefully made UV lightmaps. But on the other hand I doubt many people will notice any change (I checked quite a few asset packs from the Marketplace - all of them had those generated by Unreal). So moving forward I will do ‘best effort’ approach to it (esp. that now when I know a bit more it’s hard to ignore completely).

Here are all of them together:

And some close ups (including wireframe for one of them)

Btw. I prepared a 3 sets of benches in ‘pieces’ so they will be able to be broken down in game easily (that looks better than just fracturing in engine) or assembled into different ‘piles’ for more variations.

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Small update, added a few sacks:

Not a typical prop associated with graveyards, but you have to somehow bring in stuff there like building materials, fertilizers, etc. Fairly easy to model too, so I added them. Wires:

This time though I thought I will do a bit more to showcase those models (and others in the pack). First two ones are campfire shots… I couldn’t decide between day or evening lighting, so I made 2.

The third one was night lighting test with those assets - I imagine such will be a mood for majority of projects using them:

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Aside from obvious props like tombstones and graves what does a graveyard needs? Bones and skeletons! Here they are

Wireframe for one of those 💀

As previously I wanted to check how it will work in game, so I made this render too

Last, but not least I recorded a short video:

https://youtu.be/yY5C7aEbUe0

What do you think so far?

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Update time! This time I worked at crypts/mini chapels/mausoleums (idk how to call those things 😅, called them ‘crypts’ in the asset pack).

6 models in two states: damaged and clean (example below). Don’t seem like much given I made way more variants for other object types, but individually those are way more complex and time consuming to make. Especially doing them carefully - e.g., not simply scaling UVs to 0, doing light map UVs, taking care of topology (not going crazy for full quad based topo, but keeping it fairly clean - by adding a few supporting edges those clean variants would be even subdivisble).

Topology of one of those models

And last but not least - I took one of them and put them in context of other models and particles (still from Marketplace. I haven’t decided if I will keep this pack to only models, or will I add some).

And morning lighting scenario

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Short video from above map: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a07IN-zMp4

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and now - daytime lighting scenario https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTA0js4C8Io

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Very quick update. Working on various tools at the moment. - broom (from Blender):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vhJdECSOWA

And here's a pickaxe: https://youtube.com/shorts/bARL9_DxFz4?feature=share

Any requests for tools for this asset pack?

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Finished with tools for now. Will probably add some more in future updates. Here are some images with them.

And quickly made render (in Blender) of tools in small environment:

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Subsurface scattering looks good on low poly candles 😃 (UE4.26 render)

Working on lighting props… almost at the end of modelling… just a few categories left after that: statues, church and (optionally) few extra models for sidewalks/paths/roads… so close…

Btw. here are some of those candles in blender (very old render from 2020 - did them for a small project that is basically an inspiration for the whole asset pack):

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almost all lighting props done, quick sneak peak of a lamp and brazier from inside Blender:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6LcHTgsMJ4/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==

vertexrage

Lamp post and a Brazier - sneak peak of lighting props for upcoming Forgotten Graveyards🪦asset pack

#gamedev #lowpoly

Instagram

[sleek minnow]

great work, thanks for sharing your journey

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Thanks! Another quick shots of those lamp posts:

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ok, here's the 'proper update'. I added a few categories of ‘lighting related props’. Now aside from candles, there are grave lanterns, lamp posts, torches and braziers.

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Tiny update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDPFEag0eZQ

[sleek minnow]

man im ready to play

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Almost at the finish line with low poly Forgotten Graveyards asset pack. Around 2.2k models for this beast (will be including nature models from previous pack in a bundle). Wondering about compatibility. 5.1 should be enough, right?

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Also.. I'm thinking of having releasing 2 packs out of it actually (one bundle, one props). So after that this my low poly situation on Unreal Marketplace would be:

1. Low Poly Nature pack - environment category (808 models), already releleaed
2. Low Poly Graveyards + Nature - environment category (2.2k models), including all the models, new demo map(s)
3. Low Poly Graveyards - props category (~1.4k models), just overview map and models

What do you think about that?

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Low poly candle flames particles made in Niagara for the asset pack:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijOkKzrZvLk

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And a torch vfx:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_eKvqZ2cXI

Plus quick in-editor version without post processing:

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Finally finished Niagara particles. Now need to "package it up" and will submit it to Unreal Engine Marketplace. Making ~1.4k low poly style graveyard-related assets was quite the journey. Hope you'll like it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7TGS-k4RY8

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I finally submitted the ‘props’ version of Forgotten Graveyards to Unreal Engine Marketplace 🥳 . 1.4k models… that was a lot of work…

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while fixing some colliders - I found this view 🙂

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And it's out! https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/forgotten-graveyards-low-poly-cemetery-mega-pack

Demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrmdyAiPfM4