I focused on cinematic sequencing and animation. Camera rails and cinematic cameras were set up, and multiple object animations were keyed to enhance environmental storytelling.
The main sequence was designed to simulate a player-like exploration, beginning from a telephone booth and moving outward into the steampunk city, gradually revealing environmental details and atmosphere.
Different lighting setups were used to distinguish narrative spaces: • The main steampunk city features a sunset lighting scenario, conveying a sense of grandeur and romanticism. • The cult environment is set at night with rain, using green ambient lighting contrasted with red backlighting behind doors, while candles provide warm highlights to enhance visual tension.
During the final stage, I addressed rendering crashes and quality limitations by switching to cinematic-level rendering. Output settings were optimised for high quality and anti-aliasing, exporting the sequence as high-quality image frames, which were later composited into an animation in Blender.
I also imported a previously created angel model to increase the dramatic impact of the cult scene. And add the object animation in the level sequence.
I focused on building a steampunk environment in Unreal Engine, starting with a whitebox layout to establish spatial structure and scale.
One of the main challenges was constructing the street layout, as the map was based on brick street modular assets that required manual assembly. This process was time-consuming but allowed precise control over the environment’s layout. I imported Ultra Dynamic Sky to create an adaptive sky system and integrated multiple steampunk architectural OBJ assets to populate the scene.
For materials, I applied Unreal Engine smart material assets to all whitebox meshes. I modified the master material by adjusting and adding nodes, then created and fine-tuned several material instances. UV scaling was adjusted to ensure consistency across the environment, resulting in a cohesive steampunk visual style.
Two camera angles were set up at this stage. However, the limited map size caused the skyline boundaries to become visible in camera shots. To resolve this, I adjusted height fog, expanded the playable area, and placed architectural structures in the distance to block the horizon line, ensuring the environment appeared continuous and immersive.
In addition, I constructed a cult-themed secondary environment, establishing its spatial layout and setting up two initial camera shots.
Material
For materials, I applied Unreal Engine smart material assets to all whitebox meshes. I modified the master material by adjusting and adding nodes, then created and fine-tuned several material instances. UV scaling was adjusted to ensure consistency across the environment, resulting in a cohesive steampunk visual style.
After i modelled the scene in blender, I use Rizom UV to fix the UV part.
In the land of Aetherian, day and night are born only from the great Rift. History speaks of a time when luminous orbs once governed the light and dark. The Esoteric Creed holds that the world’s order was once maintained by a pantheon of “gods”— beings who bestowed truth and civilization, observers existing in the space “Between Order and Chaos.”
Among them is Vigilant—the All-Seeing Watcher, god of the Esoteric Creed. He gazes upon all mortals, granting reason and knowledge, though those who dare to overstep the bounds of understanding often pay the price in madness or a slow transformation into iron.
Steam
Steam is the vital energy of this world. Scientists hail it as a new power source; merchants call it the lifeblood of fortune. But the Esoteric Creed believes it to be the very breath of slumbering elder gods— a fusion of Aether-essence and living metallic spores, an existence both spiritual and deeply corrupting.
When burned, it emits a pulsating glow of deep crimson or copper-green—a force of life and corrosion. Those who inhale it for long fall prey to Iron-Wasting: their skin rusts, their thoughts solidify, until they are eventually absorbed by the city itself. To the Creed, this is a “penalty of truth”— forbidden knowledge, once touched, reduces a man back into the base components of order.
The Rift and the Gaze
That colossal fissure in the sky, the sole source dividing day from night, is the focal point of all conflict between faith and science.
The Esoteric Creed names it the divine organ of Vigilant, a window through which He watches mortals with countless eyes. Scientists dismiss it as a natural phenomenon, attributing the occasional sensation of being watched to energy anomalies caused by steam pollution.
Yet regardless of interpretation, all feel the weight of that gaze— a presence that does not seem to judge, but merely to observe. And that observation alone is enough to shatter sanity.
Scene I: The Forged Iron Harbour & The main city
Type: Steampunk City Streets Visual Reference: Mechanical Labyrinth Style
Atmosphere: Rust, mist, pipelines. A bastion of steel and industry.
Narrative Points: While the city gleams under airships and neon, the workers below are slowly consumed by Iron-Wasting.
Walls bear two conflicting creeds: The Creed’s slogan: “Bliss in Ignorance, Boundaries are Mercy.” The Industrial Alliance’s advertisement: “Break Limits! Steam Creates Infinity!”
Narrative Points: The chapel lies hidden deep within the city’s lowest steam-shrouded layers, its structure repurposed from ancient ruins. The high priest invokes the “Truth-Warded Guardian.”
3D character design: ZBrush/nomad
Time of Day Day / Night Dominant Palette Verdigris, Iron Grey, Misty Amber Crimson, Azure, Dark Gold
The industrial sector’s lights and the chapel’s rituals share the same eerie red and green glow— a subtle suggestion that technology and faith may, in essence, spring from the very same source of power.
I try to practice and get used to UE5. I attempted to create the terrain using a plant brush.
I collected the conceptual design of ArtStation, from the conceptual artist Arina Grabovskaya, as well as the modelling of the game Dark Soul and Elden Ring. And try to model assets with Blender and build white boxes.
