Covalent

Link to the game:
https://lyolo45.itch.io/covalent
A game project that I am a part of, a 2d Metroidvania type side scroller.
I mainly did the set dressing to the game to look good and unique in every single section while still functional to play and optimized.
It was more of a challenge to figure out good lighting set up to lead the player to the right path and subconsciously reveal the secrets hidden around the world. Furthermore, learning different types of lighting was more complicated than I first thought, movable and static light were easy to understand and optimize, however stationary light and shadow maps usage require a bit more planning than the other 2.
Moreover, optimizing the scene with spline instanced mesh, construction script, and post-processing options were challenging but interesting to learn. Most of the optimizing part came from learning how to make and use a trim sheet to mass create assets and utilizing only 1 main material with a lot of parameters.
I tried to add personality and narrative to every single place in the world, even though they were not in the initial block out. The task gets significantly harder later on since I was working with a limited number of assets. Therefore, I had to utilize material instances to changes the look of the assets. With the trim sheet, I can also use a curvature map to change the wear and tear of the materials on each instance which can diversify the look of areas even more.