Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye Visual Effects
Spoilers ahead!
A compilation of visual effects work I did for Outer Wilds: Echoes of the Eye! These are some of my favorite pieces that I worked on, and it was really exciting to be able to do so much for my first professional project! The 'Simulation View' in particular is something I'm really proud of, since I was in charge of the look development, the entire replacement architecture and prop kit, and developed the shader with alongside some help and heavy lifting by our technical artist, Logan Ver Hoef.
A lot of these pieces involved collaboration with my wonderful coworkers. Here's a quick list of some of the people involved:
Sarcophagus Model: Emily Blatnicky
Dam Intact Model: Eilish Lambrechtsen
Rock Models: Lara Colson
Wood Particle Models: Kindra Dantone
Water Shader and Simulation Tech: Logan Ver Hoef
Concept Art: Ian Jacobson
Art Direction: Wesley Martin
Level Design: Alex Beachum and Loan Verneau
Vision beam coming out of the sarcophagus.
The dam breaking! I also modeled the pieces that it splits into, which I have in my environment art post separately.
Time lapse of the leaks coming out of the dam.
A bird's-eye view of the Starlit Cove in Simulation view. I worked closely with Logan Ver Hoef to create this shader, and they developed a lot of the initial functionality.
The 'Simulation View'! Here is a quick look around. Interactibles are bright white to signpost them for gameplay. I tied the brightness of the environment and props to camera depth for a clear visual hierarchy.
Green fire for the Dreamworld! I took care to make this feel more like an artificial gas flame than the comforting campfires normally found in Outer Wilds.
The screen effect which shows if the player is recalled at the end of the loop.
A Simulation Cat for my dear kitty Comet, which shows up instead of the candle in the Simulation view. :) Thanks for reading!