Colossal Cave: The Hall of the Mountain King
One of the first fantastical areas encountered by a player in Colossal Cave is The Hall of the Mountain King, a large throne-room dedicated to a long-dead king. I was in charge of blocking out and refining a central focal point for the room, along with adding additional detail polish to the entrance staircase and the side alcoves - the Altar and Tomb. Much of my focus here was on creating believable damaged architecture that implied what the rooms were used for long ago. As this was the first ancient-styled room, I helped to develop the final look of the modular kit that was further carried through later levels.
Much thanks to:
Emily Compton for the initial geometry, Snake Statue, and Altar Statue: https://thiefrabbit.com/
Vaikunth Raghavan for the sandstone texture set: https://www.artstation.com/vaikunthraghavan/
Amber Johnson (our lead) for lighting and general direction: https://www.artstation.com/lief3d
I polished the architectural details of the Mountain King area by editing original meshes and adding my own. Initial area by Emily Compton, textures by Vaikunth Raghavan, lighting by Amber Johnson.
Altar and snake statue by Emily Compton.
I was tasked with blocking out the focal point for this whole area, and to push the "King" theme further.
I initially went with a coliseum style throne-room, primarily to improve performance via culling, but after playtesting I shifted it to a more open, stonehenge-inspired layout.
Stairway into the main room.
Further into the stairway.