Updated Maze

This is my new upgraded maze. I decided to add in a lot more than there was originally. As you can see in these pictures, I have added in torches and given it more of a realistic look with the lighting I decided to use. The torches were all shaped and made from polygons and transformation tools. I also upgraded the textures that were involved in this maze and decided to change the doors to more of an arch look and give them a special frame. I did all of these updates in Maya and created everything from what I have learned in the past. I hope you like this maze as much as I do. Please feel free to leave any comments you might have.

Upgrading the Maze Research Phase

After learning the new materials and different ways I can upgrade my maze, I decided to look at Assassin’s Creed 3, the game I was referencing while using my maze. While looking at this, I noticed the way there are little corners and passage ways in the underground tunnels that ultimately lead you to another door or to a path you already crossed. Also, while going through these mazes, there are lanterns which you should light to know which way you already went/came from. But then I really dug into it to see what I can use to make my maze look better. To do this I first looked at the walls. The walls in these tunnels are very different have slight cracks in them as well to give them an aged look. While passing through a door, the walls stay consistent and flow nicely. I really like the arched passage ways but I am unaware of how I could do that. If I could pull it off though, I believe that would add something extra to my maze. Also while looking at the texture on the floor, it is obvious to see that it is not flat and had rocks, crates and other things to fill up some of that open space. All of which are covered with a tarp or are out in plain sight and have dirt towards the bottom to symbolize that these have been there for a long time. Lastly, the doors and many paths create a real feeling of being lost in the tunnels, something that I want a player or person to feel while navigating through my maze. The most impressive part about this underground passage system, however, comes when you put all of these together. They all fit nicely and flow perfectly. Nothing ever seems like it isn’t supposed to be there. The dirt on the bottom of the walls or on the bottom of the props in the tunnels help the floor really fit in and gives it more of a blend. Also the cracks in the walls and the old looking props give it an older look as explained in the game. In order to make my maze better, I think I am going to try and use a texture that looks the same on all of my walls. I am also going to try and create a light source to go on the walls, due to the time I am thinking it is going to be a lantern. Finally, I think I am also going to include more props than I already have as well as fix the lighting that I have, I want my maze to have an older look to it just like Assassin’s Creed 3. However, there is probably a lot more I can do to upgrade my maze, so if you have any comments I’d love to hear them.

Final Maze

These are pictures of my final maze. I think it came out really good especially since I had little time to work on it. If I could though, I probably would’ve liked to make a bigger maze and go more into detail. What I am happy about with this maze though is the “broken” pieces of wood to look like broken crates like I designed in the story to this maze. I made each individual piece look as good as I could make them and different from the others that are in the maze. I didn’t just duplicate each piece, I spent time on them. I also like the room I built. In the original design there was no rook but I like how I added one to give it more than just another hallway. All in all, even though there are some things I’d like to change, I am happy with how everything looks in my maze. Please feel free to leave comments, I’d like to know what else I can improve on.

Maze Texture Research Phase

Below are the textures I am going to be using in Maya. For the wall I have a brick texture which I updated/modified using the burn tool. I also have a Brick wall with doors on them. One of these doors is slightly opened to symbolize light and that you have reached the end of the maze. I also have a Brick wall with the top layer of bricks missing giving the walls an older look. Finally I have my dirt floor and my wood ceiling including in this as well. The last picture is one of all of these textures in maya and how i hope to make them look in my maze. Please feel free to leave comments on my work, I will do everything I can to try and look at them and make my maze even better.

 

Maya view:

Maze Textures Final

This is my final for the maze textures. As you can see this goes with the story well and even shows a broken crate from one of the illegal movements of good they had down there. I also added a little bit of light both on the top and bottom of the door to symbolize that there is a room through there but you cannot go in. Also, if you look at the sides of the walls meet the sides of other walls, there is a darker border there to symbolize how the shadows would be on those walls. Finally, I attempted to add a broken piece of the wall in there to show the old age of the wall. Granted, this didn't come out as I would've liked but I am still impressed about how much I was able to do in this tiny space. Overall, I am very pleased with how this came out and how this looks. In the future, I might try to improve upon how the wall to the left looks with that broken piece but still I am pleased with its turnout. Please feel free to leave any comments.

Story: After the founding of America, many immigrants, including yourself, decided to move to America in hope of starting a new life and creating a better life for yourself. However, the British presence in North America makes it hard to do your daily affairs in the Black Market, where people buy illegal trading goods. One day while working, a strange man comes up to you asking to buy some of your interesting products. After selling it to him he reveals himself as a spy for the British and calls the guards. Without thinking twice you start running and decide to take the complicated underground tunnel system that your goods are carried through to avoid incidents like these. You hope to lose the guards and find the exit before getting lost in the tunnels or caught by the British. 

Maze Research Phase

These are all my reference images for my maze. The top image is the underground tunnels in Assassin's Creed 3. I thought that I'd try to replicate this and try to make my maze similar to this. I have two types of textures for my wall. I like the marble but I think the brick would add a better effect so I'd really know what people thin would be best. The wood I have is the ceiling. I think that this will give it a nice overall feeling to the maze. The last image I have is the dirt for the floor. I think this really helps me resemble the tunnels from assassins creed and completes my tunnel well.

Story: After the founding of America, many immigrants, including yourself, decided to move to America in hope of starting a new life and creating a better life for yourself. However, the British presence in North America makes it hard to do your daily affairs in the Black Market, where people buy illegal trading goods. One day while working, a strange man comes up to you asking to buy some of your interesting products. After selling it to him he reveals himself as a spy for the British and calls the guards. Without thinking twice you start running and decide to take the complicated underground tunnel system that your goods are carried through to avoid incidents like these. You hope to lose the guards and find the exit before getting lost in the tunnels or caught by the British. 

Example Mazes: these are the three mazes that I am thinking of creating. The first is relatively easy and has a simple structure to it. The medium is slightly harder and more complex. The hard one is the most complex consisting of two floors that a person must navigate through just to find the ending. This hard one also has passage ways that lead back to the beginning of previous trails to add extra confusion to the maze. Due to the fact that we will have to create

these mazes in Maya, this hard maze would be possible but take way too much of my time. I think I am going to create maze similar to the medium leveled maze. Even though I have 1 and a half years of experience in Maya already, I don't have the time it would take to complete a maze much more complicated than the medium leveled maze. Since I have mostly done the animating part of Maya though, this is also a new step and knowing how frustrating but fun Maya can be, I think the Medium is where I am heading and the easy is a great backup in-case things go wrong.

New Prop Final

This is my finished product. I spent countless hours trying to make this as good as possible and trying to fill up all the extra space. I also attempted to really represent the colors in this. The lighting the shading and the borders. I like the way it came out and think that it came out really good compared to how it looked prior to everything I had done prior to shading it over again. As always, feel free to leave a comment, I'd love to hear what you think.