David’s Mighty Men
Work In ProgressRealistic hack and slash with army-scale encounters and crowd combat. Active development in UE 5.6. Focus on environmental art and world building.
Marketplace
The marketplace within Jerusalem, which serves as the tutorial level and main city of the game. The textures, set dressing, and landscape (including all the sand visible) were created by me, while level designers handled the placement of set dressing.
Next to King David's Palace
A view next to King David's Palace showing the entry to the marketplace. The right side features the palace, while the main area shows the marketplace entrance. All textures, set dressing, and landscape elements (including the sand) were created by me, with level designers handling the set dressing placement.
Gallery
Modular Kit
25 hours
These are the first modular kits that I made for David's Mighty Men that represent the old Jerusalem 3000 years ago. The kit consists of 30+ modular pieces designed to work together seamlessly, all driven by three 2K trim sheets.
Hero Asset - Shield
4 hours
David's shield, which is a hero asset. Showcases royalty through gold trims and wood materials. This hero asset uses a dedicated 2K texture for maximum detail.
Hero Asset - Sword
6 hours
David's main sword. Features a holy energy effect in the center to convey royalty and holiness. This hero asset uses a dedicated 2K texture.
Trim Sheet
3 hours
One of the main trim sheets used for David's Mighty Men props. This 2K texture atlas drives the majority of modular kit pieces, allowing for consistent detail across assets while maintaining performance.
Overview
David’s Mighty Men is a realistic hack and slash game that focuses on army scale encounters and crowd combat. The six person team is building the project in Unreal Engine 5.6. My focus is environmental art and world building.
Responsibilities
I led environmental art. I designed modular kits driven by trim sheets, rebuilt and cleaned the landscape after level design set dressing, created additional props, maintained the Art Style Guide, and briefly supported UI before handing it off due to workload. I produced materials from scratch in Substance Designer to match the setting.
Asset and Texture Strategy
I prepared more than thirty modular assets using three 2K trim sheets. I created six hero assets with dedicated 2K textures. Less prominent props use 512 by 512 textures for performance.
Process
I gathered reference from historical documentaries and curated images. I also generated supplemental visual prompts to study forms and surface cues, then grounded the final materials in references that reflect the Middle East from roughly three thousand years ago.
Technical Details
All modular pieces use trim sheet workflows for efficient texture reuse. Hero assets receive dedicated 2K textures for maximum detail, while less prominent props use optimized 512×512 textures to maintain performance targets.
Technical Specifications
Unit System
- 1 Unreal Unit = 1 centimeter
- Workflow: Maya → Unreal Engine
- Player Height: 183 cm (Metahuman scale)
Asset Category Specifications
Small Props
Tri Count: 300-1800 | Texture: 1024×1024
Clutter Props
Tri Count: 150-700 | Texture: 1024×1024
Character Props
Tri Count: 1000-2000 | Texture: 2048×2048
Medium Environmental Assets
Tri Count: 50-400 (scalable up to 600) | Texture: 1024×1024
Large Environmental Assets
Tri Count: 400-1000 | Texture: 1024×1024
Extra Large Environmental Assets
Tri Count: 800-1400 | Texture: 1024×1024
Hero Asset Specifications
Hero Shield
Tri Count: 5,096 | Texture: 2048×2048
Hero Sword
Tri Count: 3,256 | Texture: 2048×2048
Modular Kit Specifications
Modular pieces follow Medium to Large Environmental Asset specifications. All pieces use trim sheet workflows with 2K texture atlases, allowing for consistent detail across 30+ modular assets while maintaining performance through efficient texture reuse.
Time Investment
Modular Kit Creation
25 hours total across all 30+ modular pieces
Hero Assets
Shield: 4 hours | Sword: 6 hours
Trim Sheets
3 hours per trim sheet (3 total)
Materials
Sandstone Brick: 7 hours | City Sand: 2 hours | Clay: 2 hours | Dune Sand: 6 hours | Wood: 2 hours
Lessons Learned
This was my first time working in a professional team-based environment on a serious project. The collaborative nature of this work taught me the importance of clear communication, planning, and understanding how my work impacts the entire team.
This project pushed me to think ahead before I start modeling, because the smallest things can impact the workflow and make me redo a lot of my work. Now I understand why many artists spend hours, even days and weeks, just researching their work before they begin modeling and texturing things. Proper planning and research upfront saves significant time and prevents costly revisions later.
Working on David's Mighty Men also taught me a great deal about the history of Jerusalem that I didn't know about. This historical research was essential for creating authentic materials and environments that feel true to the period.
I learned the complete modular kit process pipeline. My workflow involved creating assets in Autodesk Maya, then creating materials in Substance Designer and applying them in Substance Painter, bringing them back to Maya for UV mapping on the modular kits, and finally taking them into Unreal Engine. This process taught me not only how to create trim sheets and modular kits, but also the importance of optimization and how much of a drastic impact it can have on a game's performance.