Introducing Spy DNA 3D artist

This is a post written by our talented 3D artist Denis Keman. We'll be publishing a series of posts by Denis, which will cover his creative process, and provide insight into how game models are made.

Who am I ?

Hey everybody, my name is Denis Keman. I am a 3D modeler and a 3d generalist. My YouTube channel (Denis Keman - "very creative i know") is all about 3d modeling. I was lucky enough to get a chance to work on the upcoming game Spy DNA. I was hooked on this project because of the old “Jagged Alliance” feel that it had. Then I met the awesome team at Shy Snake Games and we just hit it off instantly. 

Now with that short intro out of the way, i would like to tell you a bit about my workflow. And what i use to do the things i do.

What do i use in my workflow ?

First things first, what you need to know is that 3D work is basically art. To understand it, you need to know the tools that were used. 

In the field of 3D modeling you have a wide array of different tools like Blender, Maya, Rhinoceros, Max etc. All of these are 3D modeling packages, and the one that I use is 3DS Max. I created the high poly and the low poly models in 3ds Max, and texturing was done with Substance Painter. 

If you are not a 3D modeler, you might ask what’s the difference between high and low poly model. Well it's basically two models with different levels of detail for the same thing. The idea is to get the high poly details onto the low poly model (the one you see in game). That way you get a good-looking model that doesn’t eat up all of your system resources when it’s rendered in-game. In order not to get too technical I will leave that for a future post.

The creative process

Getting from point A to point B is not always a straight line, especially in creative work. The first thing that needed to be modeled was the weapons that will be used in-game. The idea here wasn't to simply recreate an existing real-life weapon, but rather to design a unique one. 

The first custom design model was the P-15 handgun. This gun is compact, easy to conceal and carry around. That means that the frame in not bulky and has flowing lines. 

Another thing that i had to keep in mind was the fact that it didn't shoot conventional ammo. Instead it was shooting gun darts, which meant that the barrel had to be different from a conventional firearm. 

Another thing that I had to put into the design was a screen at the back of the gun for showing the shooter their ammo status, firing mode, etc. After going through a few design iterations I ended up with the design you see below.

Summary

Since this is the first blog post from me, I would like to cut it short here. I hope it was fun, and that you enjoyed a glimpse into my design process. You should also have a better idea of what the process behind making a game model looks like now. Next time we will go over how the creation process goes for a different weapon. 

And if you would like to see a more technical look at things, leave a comment down below. Depending on what you’d like to know, I will do my best to explain it. 

For any information about the game hit us up on twitter @ShySnakeGames. And don't forget to share this around so more people can hear about Spy DNA. Remember folks, sharing is caring.

So that would be it for now. I will see you all next time.
-- Denis Keman