I See Trees of Green, Greyboxes Too...

Grant Niesner - Art Direction

Throwing Shade  - The Good Kind!

In an effort to give our pigeons a more lush environment when exploring outside the bounds of the city, I spent some time this past month exploring a few ideas to fill out our trees with denser foliage. Using custom branch cards based on the existing textures created by Neelam Jani and employing the talents of William Pheloung to test the performance hits to the game, I think we found a happy medium by pushing the poly count limits, then scaling back to find a good balance of aesthetics and performance. 

Welcome Home

Soaring amongst the trees is nice, but pigeons need a place to rest after a long day of exhaustive flying, evading the Pigeon Patrol and, well, pooping… lots and lots of pooping. Whether it’s a fancy, bird-lover built home, or a more crudely constructed shelter made from whatever happens to be available, these designs are just the tip of the iceberg of custom pigeon housing yet to come to Pigeon Simulator.

Here’s Some Greybox Models!

Neelam and Emma were tasked with tackling these pigeon properties, so I created a couple of greybox models to test out my sketches, check the scale in game and flesh out the forms a bit to kick-start the process.

Goostav Tower

This greybox concept model isn’t for a pigeon, but for a goose! Goostav’s Tower, measuring a meager 150 meters from base to beacon, is a shining example of what you can achieve when you live a life of selflessness, caring and devotion to the greater good.

The Center of Attention

The Event Center greybox model—future home to many Pigeon Patrol Conventions and Crow Magnus Arena battles to come—was a collaborative effort between myself and Neelam Jani, who will be taking this beast to completion in May.