https://www.sammdavis.com/contact daily 0.75 2024-05-12 https://www.sammdavis.com/about daily 0.75 2024-09-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/bb7a1bb8-671b-496e-a5b7-3087c283c89b/IMG_2950.JPG https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/ee7f0662-4ecb-47d2-a22d-3d9645287966/Best_Tabletop.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/a479748f-5d16-4f52-835a-1613f84ee89a/IMG_20240524_141520_hdr.jpeg https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/2a834b4f-cdd8-4e53-89fb-7417d0b5623c/CB24_24151607_0067_StephanieLindgren.jpeg https://www.sammdavis.com/homepage daily 1.0 2026-07-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/8deedfb0-b6b8-4e88-8f11-d3cc0872147d/thumbnail.jpg Home Page VFX Work Past & Present https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/5eaca000-3fe3-4e0c-8d4f-56c7ba3ffac8/HighresScreenshot00020.png Home Page Last Call Home (Blueprint & Art). This was my thesis work for MFA at SCAD. Horror game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/aa29504e-c038-422f-b300-c356ff21eaca/HighresScreenshot00033.png Home Page Hazard Harry (Blueprint & Art). HH is a personal project with art, blueprints, a design document etc. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/6eeac5a9-12cd-4d62-8ff2-afb9bfa9eaff/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-095314.jpg Home Page Electric Eden (Blueprints & Art). Group work done at SCAD where I focused on blueprints and art content. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f1355672-7893-4518-97ea-d4edb6ed20b2/Screenshot+2026-07-01+135744.png Home Page Cats on a Boat (Blueprint & Art). Fan game of FTL but were cats on a boat and not constrained to a grid or 2d space. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f4b01566-7011-4f20-bb95-d7299e3da459/samm-davis-highresscreenshot00005.jpg Home Page Rescue Jimmy (Blueprint/Art/Design). Escape room game where you rescue my cat Jimmy. Lol. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f051c2df-3369-4353-838d-6935a0704b9f/samm-davis-highresscreenshot00000+%281%29.jpg Home Page Team Escape (Blueprint/Design). Single player game where the player controls two bodies to solve puzzles. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/7285599d-5447-4896-8f7d-1416807c6cbd/samm-davis-highresscreenshot00000.png Home Page Tower Defense Game (Blueprint/Design). Tower defense game to test my map design abilities and using more advanced data storage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/8681dda5-4e19-48c7-bdb1-0bfb83bcffea/samm-davis-highresscreenshot00000.jpg Home Page Mousescape! (Blueprint/Design). A maze minigame where I toyed around with camera managers and a demo that kept scores. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/c8c2bea2-79dc-4e3f-9268-3ae3f13bcb5a/HighresScreenshot00062.jpg Home Page Boundless Skies (Art). Group work where I was asked to be an art director. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/9e2eea2b-e47b-41d4-8baa-a352f73cef86/HighresScreenshot00066.png Home Page Ace Bar (Art). Animation in environment practice. https://www.sammdavis.com/cats-on-a-boat daily 0.75 2026-07-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/a24f1c46-342b-41fc-b831-aea0b2d2c121/HighresScreenshot00000.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/9ac43523-82be-42ce-8115-94ebd5413cb2/Screenshot+2026-07-01+200732.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/3d37aa13-b8b7-4556-8b92-4bb5ce2fa20c/Screenshot+2026-07-01+200806.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/780c2da8-87dd-481e-933f-23d92f6d3398/Screenshot+2026-07-01+201642.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/2b47a575-646e-4883-8e68-14fd75b88829/Screenshot+2026-07-01+201254.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/06830b4e-e5c2-450d-a575-0b7566261cfc/Screenshot+2026-07-01+201604.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/04e165ad-43b8-42f2-8a06-c814dfdc83fc/Screenshot+2026-07-01+202457.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/1cd4d5e0-9561-444e-9a5f-d5dd26d49475/Screenshot+2026-07-01+202432.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/c4856f2c-ba62-4037-af3a-625de0bb8161/legion.gif https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f49cf4be-6f95-4aa2-8023-650be1627be3/Screenshot+2026-07-01+195932.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/ed36ed4b-ada7-4036-afc3-374a09d0ea1e/Screenshot+2026-07-01+200801.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/c68ab7a0-fd15-455a-94ec-7fc6c2638e91/Screenshot+2026-07-01+201235.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/6af0d7e1-1237-443c-b154-0986debc54bb/Screenshot+2026-07-01+202154.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f29fd513-b8ba-49a7-9962-51593b39b5b0/Screenshot+2026-07-01+202602.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/bbc92513-9101-4ed9-8b2a-bb0d52b1b5ad/Screenshot+2026-07-01+202546.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/cb6e6a38-3acf-4f64-b6c3-7d27c2057427/Screenshot+2026-07-01+202553.png https://www.sammdavis.com/hazard-harry daily 0.75 2026-07-01 https://www.sammdavis.com/last-call-home daily 0.75 2026-07-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/131c07c7-bac4-4f64-8336-532d159bea98/HighresScreenshot00016.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/a32f7bd9-d4fd-4e24-ba56-1b4fb6f673aa/HighresScreenshot00024.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/0376a3db-bd01-4b74-9ec4-0b060fb0ed36/Screenshot+2026-07-01+181438.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/3fb69dd1-9e60-4751-8639-42649a96cbf7/Screenshot+2025-10-28+100253.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/78e6a7c5-c422-4b6e-920b-1a5f079d2d52/HighresScreenshot00010.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/17978e03-8fa1-42af-ada8-0243d94a0689/Screenshot+2026-07-01+141009.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/8e3231cb-7bd1-4c85-a553-8f4d9eae9068/Screenshot+2025-08-24+151349.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/5d63a7d3-d881-4224-b9bc-c6609c2f4101/HighresScreenshot00025.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/21b8685d-f487-4d35-814e-da6334f90792/Screenshot+2025-10-16+203531.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/7167c1ca-27e2-4d86-8d0b-ad94c65d5949/Screenshot+2025-10-28+100518.png https://www.sammdavis.com/power-of-2 daily 0.75 2026-07-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f2c9284e-c8bd-4fc5-aa53-49ec069b1f94/samm-davis-740level-design-06.jpg Power of 2 This project was for the level design course at SCAD. Professor Cookson wanted us to create a pitchdeck to give to potential game developer publishers. The game could be any design and the assignment was more focused on covering all the bases rather than pitching an original game. For mine I chose a comfy single player puzzle game. I had been working on a solar-punk project with another group and wanted to keep up the peaceful scifi setting. In this world humanity is long gone and the research facility created to design weapons for killing has faded into an overgrown relic of the past. After all this time the slumbering AI has awoken to find that its self sufficient power supply has been compromised, and that in order to stay operational it needs to repair it. In order to do so it awakens two maintenance bots to help. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/8a4dfe21-afa1-46b7-956a-bedbd1e86179/samm-davis-740level-design-00.jpg Power of 2 For my three Cs I thought of a game I had played when I was younger called Fire Boy and Water Girl. In it, the players collaborated to solve puzzles which blocked each others paths. Each character could solve unique problems and I wanted to recreate this type of gameplay in a single-player setting. The player would control two robots in the same level which could be swapped to seamlessly. Each robot could interact with objects in a unique way and this is how you would progress the level. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/17f5f292-49a1-4ce0-a5c3-d1b2a0ae1681/samm-davis-740level-design-05.jpg Power of 2 When designing the camera system I wanted to make it more than just a visual aspect of the game. It is included in the puzzle solving for the game. The player will only be able to see the environment from the static top-down angle, so they will need to utilize their ability to switch to first-person to view their locations better. While in first-person mode the player is unable to move and can only look in an omnidirectional way. This first tutorial chamber forces the player to use the first person camera in order to locate the doors power switch which is hidden under a ceiling. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/946c64b0-8f9a-4736-8124-62652d293b99/samm-davis-740level-design-01.jpg Power of 2 When designing the level tutorial I wanted to create a simple chamber where the player would be introduced to their 3 Cs. At first the player takes control of their walking robot "Fisheye." You can travel around by foot and use your strength to smash the logs blocking the front door. In order to activate the door however, you have to switch characters to the flying bot, "Bojack." Bojack can plug itself into switches to turn on/off another object in the room. In this case, the door opens after connecting. In this slide you can see the Integration, Interaction, Puzzles, and Feedback breakdowns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/68666c7d-403c-4c44-85d7-9258bf9c681c/samm-davis-740level-design-07.jpg Power of 2 The second intro level slide shows a visual representation of our players start, objective, and roadblocks. The small input breakdown on the side is a reminder for the presentation viewer that each bot has a different input system and must be used in collaboration to escape. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/86354515-b942-4fcb-852c-1c8f6414d557/samm-davis-740level-design-03.jpg Power of 2 I then breakdown the games other interactables with a separate slide. The narrative connections are written on the side. I find it extremely important to tie the aesthetics to the gameplay so that players can make better sense of their actions and feel more attached to the world. The interactables include a few general categories. Power Switches, Heavy Switches, and Debris. What I neglected to include in the breakdowns was other dangers such as gun turrets or wire-based plugs. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/eff98ac8-9c6d-49c5-b081-8a6ec2e976f6/samm-davis-740level-design-02.jpg Power of 2 From there my vertical slice ends! There is a short hallway leading up to the central hub area but that is how the game begins! In the central hub area we are introduced to GLADIS our friendly and loving and motherly AI program which runs the facility. She is a very reassuring and caring AI who beckons us to aid her in keeping our facility alive and at peace. That may sound sarcastic but I did want the narrative to be wholesome and peaceful, and how better to do that than by introducing GLAD0S if she wasn't a psycho- kind of subverting expectations in a silly reference to Portals (which obviously I am borrowing a lot from here). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/db7c9da4-4301-4a69-9b67-31b3b91676e6/samm-davis-highresscreenshot00000.png Power of 2 After I was done making the first path I did some lighting tests to get the interiors to feel more cozy and abandoned. I was going for, "Office building at 3AM" vibes. The entire game is quite dark and you don't really get rewarded with the natural light and beautiful greenery until the end of the game where GLADIS is able to power up the windows and let the light in. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/a33094b2-0fce-4dea-8ec4-d38bee7db496/samm-davis-highresscreenshot00002.png Power of 2 I had so much fun working on Power of Two that I kept going! I added new puzzles, interactables, chambers, and hazards. You can see the full gameplay in the youtube video posted above. https://www.sammdavis.com/mousescape daily 0.75 2026-07-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/2f94e843-0f58-4b22-b85f-f40783b0b5ae/samm-davis-highresscreenshot00000+%281%29.png Mousescape! Mousescaped was sort of rushed but I went into it with 3 weeks and a f*cking mission. It was my last course with Professor Cookson and I wanted to finish it with yet another cat project. Including this I think that brings my total of cat projects with him to 5, which happens to also be how many cats I (currently) am a parent of. Mousescaped though, is essentially pacman if it were a horror game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/d8290938-db34-4370-92cd-4ef08170901f/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-134416.png Mousescape! The games aesthetics were inspired by this insane Japanese death game movie I had seen. In it, there was a game where players had to survive a giant killer cat statue. I figured sure, lets make that into a horror game pacman. I was so sleep deprived this year it was unreal. I had like 3.5 studio courses because I was a dumb stupid idiot and also I had no friends at the time and also I didn't know any better. The mice in the game spawn around the map randomly and will eat the cheese laid throughout the area. The cheese acts as a form of point collection alongside gaining points for surviving extra time. The NPC mice can be killed by the giant cat and serve as a great distraction. The player can even pick up other mice and hurl them at the cat. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/c8cb9a34-db7b-4a5f-8262-8f42e775428f/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-134444.png Mousescape! The giant cat paths around the maze randomly and is relatively quiet. It's paws can be heard close up but the walls muffle the sound quite heavily. She does make a horrifying and loud fog horn sound every time she finds a mouse so hearing the pittering of her sprinting up behind you and then getting hit with her eating you while a fog horn blasts in the background can be quite horrifying. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/04391733-ec83-4b10-8e52-74ce6b2e7bff/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-134503.png Mousescape! The maze has mouse holes around the area which the player can use as hiding spots if the cat is approaching them. Peeking out of the mouse hole can be helpful to check left or right but if the cat gets too close to them while peeking they will die. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/00945dc4-06d8-44db-9cc9-81d80b28f309/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-134511.png Mousescape! While you can't directly hurt the cat you can be an asshole to the other mice. Like I said earlier you can grab the other mice and throw them into the path of the cat which will temporarily distract her. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/5be628ec-5dcf-4b99-9c5e-79998d8e35c2/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-134453.png Mousescape! The goal of the game is to collect as many points as possible. After each game the players score is recorded. Points are gained by surviving for longer and also collecting as much cheese as possible. The game has a 100 second timer and the player must not only survive to the end but also escape from a corner of the map to end the game. Basically, you need to decide when to escape and head towards one of the escape holes to win. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/603b14e0-aac9-47b0-bd2a-57306a8746e8/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-134520.png Mousescape! One of the pickups in the game I designed was this laser pointer. It never made it into the actual game but it would have been a funny way to use a line trace to instantly change the giant cats pathfinding and sort of just drive it around for a second. You can use it to send the cat somewhere else or even just so she runs over other mice. I think being able to be an asshole lends very greatly to the comedy of the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f3d2f3f3-a71a-4a08-8f9e-ef4bcd112719/samm-davis-highresscreenshot00001.png Mousescape! Here's a size comparison of the giant cat and the mouse. Yes the cat is just a giant pear shape. She looks just like my Jimmy Cat, lol. https://www.sammdavis.com/catpurred daily 0.75 2026-07-01 https://www.sammdavis.com/boundless-skies daily 0.75 2026-07-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/e5883df6-d887-459c-8a41-2545ff7d436e/Screen%2BShot%2B2024-06-18%2Bat%2B1.27.37%2BPM.webp Boundless Skies Boundless Skies central hub area. The game is a roguelike sort of village unlock progression game. From what I understood the player starts on an island and as they travel to new islands, they unlock new gear, new merchants, etc. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/5f753d19-dc7f-4daf-b7e1-1702232e46fa/HighresScreenshot00062+%281%29.webp Boundless Skies I created all of the foliage for the game in an attempt to salvage their desire to have a cell shaded type of stylized game. They were using reference images from a game called "Solarpunk" which uses stylized PBR modeling and cell shaded trees. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/1861811b-bfc5-44ee-bb5b-6b6e0002c9a0/HighresScreenshot00078.png Boundless Skies Here are some trees which I made using TreeIt. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/bebde67a-87f2-40d1-bb7c-754af5a73fb1/HighresScreenshot00079.png Boundless Skies The bushes in the same way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/ada5eff6-7350-4f6f-a90d-0a88b50e49da/HighresScreenshot00082.png Boundless Skies Logs were modeled in Z and retopo'd in Maya. Then hand painted in Substance Painter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/40456063-a066-4eae-bf78-e0b871bedadf/HighresScreenshot00084.png Boundless Skies Same with the rocks. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/2833c20a-1404-418b-9dcf-882688a5addb/HighresScreenshot00089.png Boundless Skies I also created a few key props to help the art team get started with the custom materials from Substance Designer. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/11cb65d0-964d-41cf-8854-dfb211687546/image%2B%289%29.webp Boundless Skies This model honestly ended up with too much detail but it's what I used to teach the rest of the art team. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/02b73f11-4535-44f8-bd34-5bae09708937/image%2B%287%29.webp Boundless Skies I also tried to show them all how to re-use the pre-existing environment work to create original shapes and blend in the landscape mesh in UE5. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/903b0af7-c6de-4f31-92e7-33a8504d9f9a/HighresScreenshot00038.webp Boundless Skies I blocked out the level-1 environment using the landscape tool and quickly added a few key props. The rest of the team took this area and added objectives based on the level design teams plans. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/01296bb0-b089-4a51-b71c-20c7fe1a4e4d/image%2B%283%29.webp Boundless Skies Once the objective markers were placed, I threw in a bunch of foliage so that I could do some simple load-unload optimizations. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f39e7134-6065-46b0-b29d-36d1ac2cdba6/HighresScreenshot00086.png Boundless Skies And then I began to set dress the world to make it feel like a rugged and abandoned sky island. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/278b7019-99a8-40bb-a1d0-cd3069c9ccd1/HighresScreenshot00087.png Boundless Skies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f1f93711-1976-4f90-9d02-99750fbd013e/HighresScreenshot00088.png Boundless Skies Here's a wide image of the landing area for level 1. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/bdd1b807-f8ba-43fa-9726-527f0cd38199/image%2B%281%29.webp Boundless Skies The top-down view. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/5f32e250-e81e-4d3d-abb3-33892aae5e63/image%2B%286%29.webp Boundless Skies Heres what the central hub looked like before I was brought onto the project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/64fa3a74-808b-413e-b941-325b72de49a6/HighresScreenshot00057%2B29.webp Boundless Skies Aaand, after. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/9dcbdc33-59de-47da-9ad7-13659bac519e/charles-chao-2.jpg Boundless Skies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/c7eb278f-7cc6-4d59-9fb8-f5f5a96d1f02/charles-chao-4.jpg Boundless Skies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/36ad7bd6-b2d8-488e-aa17-02848bda34cc/charles-chao-6.jpg Boundless Skies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/05a55c46-0de2-4d86-92f6-093adbed83cd/charles-chao-7.jpg Boundless Skies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/c19c13c9-5c3a-43d0-b60a-43d831544b35/image%2B%282%29.webp Boundless Skies https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/17f9214f-c963-4249-ba64-5e082b434897/HighresScreenshot00060.webp Boundless Skies Very proud of these guys. They were able to accomplish a lot from scratch, and I think everyone was doing their best! https://www.sammdavis.com/ace-bar daily 0.75 2026-07-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/fa4b170c-dec4-45e4-a5dc-9c32ce44329d/Screenshot+2026-09-14+115706.png Ace Bar We were given a wide array of concept art pieces to work with. I selected The Ace Bar because I thought it looked complex and I wanted to challenge myself as an environment artist. Originally, I wanted to experiment with a hi to lo baking process and use primarily low poly models. In the end I could only find the time to use the high poly models. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/f53ca699-62ec-4673-9454-55f25624cd06/HighresScreenshot00061.png Ace Bar Here's the scene in UE5 in unlit mode. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/3f220bed-4958-4d33-8c7e-11cf80d258c3/HighresScreenshot00062.png Ace Bar Simple lighting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/63a76b77-b30b-4fdc-b04c-b20c462ea472/HighresScreenshot00063.png Ace Bar Wireframe of props. Earlier I mentioned a hi level toplogy but you could probably tell from the pipes and the signage that I ended up creating mostly average level poly count props. I'm used to game ready asset topology so that's what I usually default to when I'm working hard. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/6c3e26b3-45e4-4013-91fb-b90004bd261b/HighresScreenshot00067.png Ace Bar Here's the final render with the post process and LUT added. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/9c479e5d-edf8-4935-be8b-ef3f31688baf/709_movie.0463.jpeg Ace Bar Scene from the cinematic. I was playing around with DOF and different camera effects while creating the cinematic. This is my favourite shot from the cinematic. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/7a5cfe90-5d23-45c2-84af-de7052e98b4a/709_movie.0887.jpeg Ace Bar Pan R to L to show off some of the moving props. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/7240240a-5004-42eb-91bb-7d4c117770dc/709_movie.1075.jpeg Ace Bar Unfinished backgrounds like the paintings, building corners, and the materials on the drumset. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/60acfe43-f98b-4ae2-90ba-53d57efd6e02/709_movie.1551.jpeg Ace Bar The largest and most important piece was the sign. There's damage on the right and pipes and gears all over the place. Overall, the project was really decent practice. If I had another shot at making this, I think I would certainly have improved in my art direction thanks to what I failed at in this. https://www.sammdavis.com/tower-defense daily 0.75 2026-07-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/78e9238c-65ef-42b6-ae13-3c50eb903810/HighresScreenshot00005.png Tower Defense I started working on this tower defense game because of my love for Kingdom Rush. That's it. Plain and simple. I was like, what if I designed some towers to shoot some guys. I also wanted to force myself to learn level loading and some level optimization stuff. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/d578b49d-c75b-495d-9180-5546f78f087b/HighresScreenshot00001.png Tower Defense The central hub area is this like, colorful little spot in the woods. It's supposed to be a secret camp in the mountains which you upgrade over the course of the campaign. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/23418b19-94ac-43cf-b6e3-78dca6bae0a7/HighresScreenshot00002.png Tower Defense https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/c2e679fc-3f0a-4c06-b313-39b9c81b6ab0/Screenshot+2026-09-14+125848.png Tower Defense The player gets missions from their main helper who is located at the center of the hub. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/b4fb601e-0a4b-455b-be49-89888281ab11/HighresScreenshot00000.png Tower Defense You can see some of the huts here. Each of these buildings serves a specific purpose but for the demo the player can only access the tower selector. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/4ef26ade-6496-4254-8ffc-19eaf606dc51/Screenshot+2026-09-14+125906.png Tower Defense You basically have 5 inventory slots for towers (just like kingdom rush) and can load them before missions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/9b605276-86e9-4d7a-9521-7cc758b08a9c/Screenshot+2026-09-14+125943.png Tower Defense When you're on the game board you can select the tower icons and itll zoom in the camera above the tower slots. This lets the player select their tower. I was debating making the tower selection consume towers, so they have less permeance, but I opted for a simple slot system. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/33627d1e-2b49-4cb4-9951-78e2115a1419/Screenshot+2026-09-14+125628.png Tower Defense Here's the game UI with the player gold, wave start controls, and some game speed controls. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/8430a235-2224-40da-9ef6-ac8cc3771683/Screenshot+2026-09-14+131120.png Tower Defense The player can explore some of the game map in 3rd person after or before starting missions. I got this idea from Three Houses in the way that their game map also has a 3d rendered version. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/0df39c3f-599f-4256-abe6-6e736b3f58cb/Screenshot+2026-09-14+130829.png Tower Defense Enemy waves are controlled through a struct and data table which I edit through excel. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/fba3e9fd-07fe-4d29-a4d0-292d4761d771/Screenshot+2026-09-14+131153.png Tower Defense The enemies models were made super quickly in Zbrush and my mouse, lol. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/94ef4eb4-fef1-4d1b-879e-e4b20d379e88/Screenshot+2026-09-14+131158.png Tower Defense They have pretty basic, "Move here" AI but I was planning on adding some combat with other enemies. I was hoping to be able to spawn friendly units on the opposite end of the track to slow down waves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/59f1b135-37f3-4095-bd9f-a72a7c00b954/HighresScreenshot00003.png Tower Defense Overall, the project ended up being very successful and I was able to execute full wave-based gameplay with the mission system I set out to create. https://www.sammdavis.com/electric-eden daily 0.75 2026-07-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/97e31b1b-8054-43c1-875f-252d0c2af459/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-04-05-160316.jpg Electric Eden The project concept artist Lia didn't quite understand the space or the art direction of the game. To help her I blocked out a space and sat with her while she painted to get a better understanding of our art direction. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/d031c5d2-cfba-4877-aa0a-63205cf58a60/samm-davis-image-2.jpg Electric Eden Once she had created a detailed draw-over of the blockout we went over the colors and continued working until we had our final result. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/b7a9643f-229b-4443-8191-264dbf638043/samm-davis-image-1.jpg Electric Eden When the final paintover was done we created a presentation with pieces cut out so that our environment art team could start working. To be honest though, the environment art team ended up being just Lia and I. We were dating at the time and it just worked out for our schedules (staying up until 4am working). The other environment artists during the project kind of just up and vanished for the most part. I have to give credit where credit is due though. Lucas Carbone did a lot to learn proper topology in just 10 weeks and it was very endearing to see his growth! He's a great guy with lots of potential! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/acb22b24-db17-4e57-aa8f-ab3e0c309ab5/samm-davis-image-5.jpg Electric Eden I did a few drawings (would you believe me if I said this was in MSpaint and my mouse) of the level pipes and a POI location. The main characters primary movement function is his ability to curl into a ball and speed around. This also helps him fit into tight spaces. There are circuit boards, switches, etc, all hidden in different areas which we need to find in order to progress the game. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/278f3324-24d3-4e1f-96a3-4f3526c96724/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-093417.jpg Electric Eden I did a basic "Level 01 blockout" in unreal so that we could start adding the gameplay interactables and playtest level progression. I must say though, a lot of our time was spent arguing about puzzles instead of actually programming anything. During this project I was also still quite new to programming so I wasn't able to do as much as I wanted to. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/79d5eea4-062d-4841-9d06-4f2f598d4a94/samm-davis-image-8.jpg Electric Eden I started modeling the inner pipes for the level layout. If you're wondering about the dense topology of the walls it's because I was using a spline blueprint to bend the tube-chambers in ue5. The denser topology helped with the texture stretching in a lot of places, and made the characters rolling much smoother. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/aaceb5d3-05dd-44d1-b3ce-9434a7c6c5d4/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-093715.jpg Electric Eden Here's our level 1 layout final. It changed quite a bit. We went from wanting a speedy run around game type to a more explorative and puzzle based game. If that sounds like the entire game changed, it did. Thanks Ari (our professor who I love but also kept trying to change our character BP). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/7dc05d62-30c2-408f-9785-c45177503d78/samm-davis-image-9.jpg Electric Eden We used warp pipes to cinematically change locations. Originally these were going to be piloted by the player so they could see how fast they were moving in the pipes, but some collision issues came up and we scrapped it into a teleporter. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/5a5f6128-77b5-43bb-b983-ce901ce49edd/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-095612.jpg Electric Eden For the project blueprints I created the teleporters, the health system, character rolling system, the terminal monitors (and ui widgets), and the inventory crate systems. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/e212a8b7-1fa5-4405-a47e-62237a1ef8ac/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-094011.jpg Electric Eden After our core programming was finished I started set dressing the level. Like I said earlier, our other artists kind of said fk it and stopped contributing so I was working double overtime. Quintuple overtime actually because I was in 3 studio courses at the time. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/914d9688-8606-48a7-b9b2-3545920c970d/samm-davis-screenshot-2023-09-01-095314.jpg Electric Eden Our little POIs came out looking pretty great though. We opted for a baked lighting method just for performance sake. I didn't have time to set up level-instance loading or any LODs for meshes, so we stole performance from lighting. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/ca3292b1-1445-4716-bea0-cfda5a1b7d0d/samm-davis-highresscreenshot00000.jpg Electric Eden After our tutorial area was finished I tried to set up the secondary chamber but ran out of time. It was going to be a water mill generation area where the player had to run around on rafters and charge up the entire facility. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/9b885262-1d39-4fca-9f4f-2f30180f665e/samm-davis-img-0119.jpg Electric Eden Super proud of the work everyone did. Even though people bowed out at the halfway point I think we still managed to get a lot done. Thanks for reading! https://www.sammdavis.com/visual-effects daily 0.75 2026-07-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/428e2d84-ae86-4e77-98f8-95d6e9282ec4/Screenshot+2026-07-15+114916.png Visual Effects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/43b45e11-32a9-47d1-8594-3fd691ac8635/Screenshot+2026-07-15+115600.png Visual Effects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/1f5d92e6-3ade-41cc-8ded-674e974c39c1/graves+abilities.jpg Visual Effects https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/b2fcdafc-bab8-4a26-a598-bfe940121761/Screenshot+2026-07-15+144428.png Visual Effects https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/10a4af23-d4fd-41a8-b410-26e63f550f66/playlist.m3u8 https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/10a4af23-d4fd-41a8-b410-26e63f550f66/thumbnail Visual Effects Visual Effects https://www.sammdavis.com/gravesfvxbreakdown daily 0.75 2026-07-16 https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/3f39df5f-9f1f-4d93-a6cb-293fe6618426/playlist.m3u8 https://video.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6640ee8977a70a63d92791cb/3f39df5f-9f1f-4d93-a6cb-293fe6618426/thumbnail Graves Abilities Remake Graves Abilities Remake