Maelstrom Arenas Lobby

My responsibilities: LD / WB / Lighting
I went for a moody ethereal look for this intro area. Its forever twilight, the sun is setting and never sets. I painted shadows with darker texture into the recesses of the sand dunes to accentuate their forms. All the dunes lead your eyes to the focal point location where you enter a portal to another level. I heavily propped the interiors to give you a comfortable feeling of intimacy. This level is the calm before the battles begin. I created a texture of stars for the portal entry point which I then added water over top of so make them shimmer. It was a way of selling the idea of the portal as an other worldly travel device. I also added mists around the floor like dry ice to further weird the scene. You will see a pink violet color grading applied quite consciously here, again to reinforce an ethereal calming quality of emotion.