Level & Environment Designer
The Halted Earth
A Personal Work
- Concept Design
- Scene Art
- Level & System Mockup
- Thesis Project
Video Link:
SYNOPSIS
In the future, Earth experiences an unprecedented celestial impact that drastically changes its rotation, ultimately resulting in the planet being tidally locked by the sun. Earth is divided into two distinctly different regions: the eternal Twilight Zone and the endless Night Zone.
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The Twilight Zone is a vast expanse forever bathed in the afterglow of the sunset. The skies here often display warm orange and red tones, with soft and enduring light. Due to constant solar radiation, the temperature is higher, and cities are often built on mountain ranges to maximize the use of solar energy. New Lhasa is the dazzling jewel of this region, with towering buildings shining in the sunlight, surrounded by high-tech farms and artificial green ecosystems.
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Conversely, the Night Zone is a world of perpetual darkness. Its skies are always covered with thick clouds and ice fog, making it difficult for starlight and moonlight to penetrate.
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The surface is covered with snow and ice, sometimes more than ten meters thick, and temperatures are extremely low. New Yakutsk and other cities in the Night Zone rely on underground warmth and geothermal energy for survival. These subterranean cities have complex tunnel systems, connecting various residential areas and infrastructure. Above ground, frozen mountain ranges and permafrost plateaus dominate the Night Zone's landscape, explored only by a few brave adventurers and researchers.
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The Seebeck Effect Supergrid spans these two radically different worlds, becoming one of the most significant man-made geographical marvels on Earth. This energy corridor also serves as the sole channel for cultural and trade exchanges between the two worlds, with various Seebeck bases distributed along its length.
BRAIN STORM
What happens when the Earth stops autobiography?
· Geostrophic forces disappear, ocean currents and monsoons disappear
· Half the earth is hot and half is cold, there is no day and night, there is no season
· Meteorological disaster, geological disaster
· The moon will fall
· The Earth's magnetic field would disappear
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Game Creation Workflow
"The Halted Earth" is an indie game and also my undergraduate thesis project.
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The programming is implemented with Unreal Blueprints, and some of the assets are created by me following the PBR (Physically Based Rendering) process, with others sourced from the Unreal Marketplace and Unreal Engine’s built-in Quixel Bridge.​
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The Seebeck Supergrid
The Seebeck Supergrid is a revolutionary technology that harnesses the substantial temperature difference between the Night Zone and the Twilight Zone to generate electricity through the Seebeck effect. The core of this supergrid is a series of efficient thermoelectric converters stretching from the Earth's Night Zone to the Daylight Zone, forming a massive energy corridor that spans the globe.
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Meanwhile, this grid is not just an energy project but also a bond and lifeline connecting two distinctly different regions. The pipelines and cables along the grid have become crucial channels for transportation and communication, and the areas with the thermoelectric converters have gradually developed into Seebeck bases of various sizes for trade and brief stops. They act like the collective arteries of humanity, making interaction and exchange between the previously isolated Night and Twilight Zones possible.
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The setting I am working on is a trade-oriented Seebeck base near the Daylight Zone, where players will embark on their exploration.
To Daylight/Twilight Zone
To Night Zone
The Seebeck Base
Game World & Game Scene Design
The extreme environments have led to a drastic diversification of human civilization, with some humans erecting towering skyscrapers in the Twilight Zone, while others have found ways to survive in the perpetual darkness of the Night Zone.
Scene Construction - The Seebeck Base
Swipe to view the building process
First person perspective in demonstration
Concept Art (Rendering + Hand-drawn)
Swipe to view the building process
The Seebeck Base
City & Humanity
New Lhasa
To maximize the advantageous natural conditions of the Twilight Zone, building vertical cities on the mountains is undoubtedly the best choice.
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The Himalayan range has given birth to the largest city in this world—New Lhasa. The name "New Lhasa" originates from a sacred city of the old world, which was also rumored to be built upon towering peaks, attracting countless pilgrims daily. Today, New Lhasa continues this historical legacy, with millions traveling from the Night Zone to this city each day.
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To better utilize the geographical advantages, the buildings here soar into the clouds. The most magnificent structures are located at the mountain tops, gradually becoming smaller towards the base. The sun-
facing side of the mountain is densely populated, while the shadowed side houses the slums. Despite this, the area remains overcrowded, making survival here as challenging as witnessing a sunset.
Due to the perpetual sunlight, solar-powered aircraft have become the primary means of transportation in New Lhasa and the Daylight Zone. These aircraft are covered with highly efficient solar panels and usually feature streamlined designs with reflective metal or synthetic materials. They are capable of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL), allowing for free navigation between the city's towering skyscrapers and making navigation in the bustling vertical city much more flexible.
New Takutsk
The Night Zone is not a realm of silence; united humanity always creates miracles in adversity. As a shining gem of the Night Zone, New Yakutsk demonstrates the capacity of humans to survive and thrive in the most unlikely environments.
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The city sits atop the richest geothermal sources in the Night Zone, making it the largest city there and a symbol of human resilience in perpetual darkness. Its structure delves deep underground, forming a multi-level subterranean city network. This design not only efficiently utilizes the underground geothermal resources but also provides protection and a stable living environment against the harsh surface
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conditions. At the heart of the city lies a massive geothermal power station, which not only supplies heat and electricity to the city but also serves as a hub for social and cultural activities.
The residents take pride in their adaptability and community spirit. They are well aware of the hardships their ancestors faced in building this city and the importance of collective cooperation in such a challenging environment. Thus, here, emphasis is placed on collective collaboration and introspection. In the Night Zone, thanks to the booming mining industry and the continuous supply of uranium ore, nuclear-powered aircraft have become the mainstream mode of transportation here.
Level Design & Story Flow
The extreme environments have led to a drastic diversification of human civilization, with some humans erecting towering skyscrapers in the Twilight Zone, while others have found ways to survive in the perpetual darkness of the Night Zone.
Step-1
Step-2
Step-3
Step-4
Game Plot and Background
The current Demo version of the story unfolds at a Seebeck base situated between the Twilight Zone and the Night Zone.
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As an engineer, the protagonist (player) was piloting his cargo spacecraft just before the disaster struck, thus surviving the cataclysm by being away from the ground. However, fate took an unexpected turn, and his spacecraft was forced to crash-land in the wilderness. The protagonist used the last of his fuel to activate the hibernation pod, where he waited for decades until the spacecraft's fuel finally ran out, awakening him.
Step - 1
Players start the game here, waking up from the hibernation pod, struggling to climb out of the aircraft. Looking up, they find themselves in an unfamiliar world, surrounded by deep valleys created by terrestrial fissures. The player realizes that they have been asleep for too long and begins to explore this world.
Step - 2
The player begins to follow the fissure, walking deeper into it, during which the game's setting gradually transitions from natural to mechanical landscapes. At the end, the player comes across the colossal Seebeck base. Throughout this journey, the player needs to conserve energy and collect resources to prevent hypothermia. At this point, the game introduces three vital statistics: hunger, health, and body temperature, similar to the gameplay mechanics found in survival games.
Step - 3
The player starts to explore the interior of the Seebeck base, spiraling upwards. During this exploration, the player interacts with NPCs, completes phased tasks, and gradually learns about this world. They discover that this place is an intermediate node of a Seebeck power station and also learn about an impending storm about to sweep through the area (triggering the main quest).
Step - 4
After obtaining some basic supplies and overcoming the risk of hypothermia, the player successfully reaches the trade port. Here, the approaching storm compels the player to retrofit and repair their aircraft to escape.
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At this point, the player acquires three blueprints: aircraft blueprint, New Yakutsk city blueprint, and New Lhasa city blueprint. The player must make a choice: to retrofit their aircraft to suit the eternal night or the eternal twilight, and which city their cultural affinity aligns with. These two factors will ultimately determine which city the player can travel to. Completing all parts of the aircraft blueprint and all parts of any one city blueprint will allow the player to complete the game.
