Making of a Modular Gothic Environment with Procedural Systems, Trim Sheets, & Custom Shaders

Introduction

My name is Rustam Zhukov, and my path into game art unfolded in several clear stages.

Like many others, I began with a simple obsession – playing games on old consoles and at a friend’s PC, completely immersed in those worlds without thinking about how they were built. Over time, that interest turned into a broader search for something creative, which led me to study architecture for six years.

While architecture gave me a strong foundation in art and creation, the last two years of my studies shifted my focus. I became more interested in the visual expression of ideas rather than purely technical execution.

All the knowledge I accumulated – composition, spatial logic, structure, light, color, and atmosphere – gradually found its outlet in architectural visualization. Right after graduation, I began working with a 3D design studio and continue to collaborate with them today. Archviz taught me discipline, precision, and how to build believable environments.

Over the past two years, however, my focus shifted decisively toward game development. I began building game-ready environments, studying real-time workflows, modular systems, trim sheets, and optimization. Since then, I’ve created several portfolio projects of varying scale and goals. 

Hell Gates

Hell Gates is my largest and most technically comprehensive personal project to date. It was built entirely from scratch as a production-oriented real-time environment, with a strong focus on a semi-stylized approach, modularity, trim sheets, procedural systems, and artistic cohesion.

The scene was designed around a top-down gameplay perspective and inspired by Baldur’s Gate 3, Diablo IV, and Titan Quest 2. Rather than relying on a single defined concept, the project was developed from an initial rough sketch and evolved through continuous creative exploration during production. This process allowed the environment to grow organically, with many artistic decisions refined directly inside the engine.

A key nuance for me was understanding how the creators of these three titles approach their visual identity. Their art direction is not purely stylized, nor strictly realistic — it confidently positions itself somewhere between a fantasy aesthetic and a grounded, believable world. Rather than copying visual motifs directly, I analyzed their environmental art aspects (material richness, palette, prop creation, and top-down readability) and translated those qualities into my own interpretation.

The goal was not to replicate their style, but to understand the balance between atmosphere, realism, and artistic exaggeration.

References

Because there was no clearly defined concept to follow, and many artistic decisions were made intuitively throughout the process, it was important for me to establish clear internal guidelines and boundaries. Without them, the exploration phase could easily become unfocused and drift away from the core idea.

To maintain clarity and direction, I structured my research into several key visual pillars that defined the identity of the scene. These included gothic architecture, mood and lighting, material language, vegetation, rocks and stone formations, statues and graves, and, most importantly, carefully selected examples from the three reference games that shaped the overall artistic benchmark.

This framework allowed me to simplify decision-making, keep the exploration controlled, and ensure that all elements supported the same cohesive vision.

Scene planning

The project began with a blockout phase. The core idea was relatively simple – a bright portal acting as the primary focal point. However, since the scene is viewed from a top-down perspective, it required a strong directional axis to guide the player visually through the space. This was achieved by introducing massive descending stairs that lead directly toward the gate, reinforcing both scale and visual flow.

The architecture is embedded in a mountain mass and follows a largely linear composition. Because of this clarity, the modular kit did not require extensive variation. In a full production scenario, I would expand it to support modular buildings as well, but for this scene, the focused structure kept the system efficient.

Clear forward guidance alone is not enough in level design. After defining the main path, I introduced lateral movement options to avoid restricting the player. I broke the stair railings to enable side navigation and added two additional routes for exploration and potential encounters. One is a steep path along the graves, suggesting tension or ambush, while the other is a calmer route near small ruins, hinting at hidden rewards.

Modular Assets

The architecture in the scene was built using a modular approach. Because of the large, monumental forms and the repeating rhythm of the gate structure, avoiding visual repetition became a key challenge. Special attention was required to prevent the environment from feeling too uniform.

Most variations were introduced within the stair system, as stairs are inherently rhythmic elements. A significant focus was placed on versatile stone blocks, which could be combined to create more unique masonry patterns and also reused as debris elements across the scene.

The majority of assets share a consistent texel density of 512 px per meter, which is more than sufficient for a top-down perspective, even with camera movement. Since the visible play area is relatively contained, there was no need to create LODs, and the meshes themselves maintain a restrained triangle count.

To break uniformity and add a more natural feel, I relied on careful object placement, RGBA mask variation, vertex painting, and decals as final detailing passes.

Unique Assets

Most unique assets in the scene followed a consistent production pipeline: high-poly sculpting in ZBrush, low-poly creation, UV unwrapping in RizomUV, baking in Marmoset Toolbag, and texturing in Substance 3D Painter. While this was the standard workflow, certain assets required slight adjustments depending on their complexity and role in the scene.

For the main statue, I imported a base anatomy mesh from Mixamo in the desired pose and refined it structurally before moving into detailed sculpting. Due to its scale and visual impact, the asset also uses additional detail textures layered in the engine on top of the baked base, enhancing surface richness without increasing texture resolution.

The gargoyles presented a different challenge. Given their sculptural complexity, I chose a more efficient approach by starting from a photogrammetry base and baking it onto prepared geometry. This allowed me to maintain great detail while staying within production constraints.

Smaller props, such as the brazier, the roof window, the gravestones, and the pedestal, were more straightforward. These are fully unique assets with baked textures and relatively simple shaders.

Throughout the creation of unique props, I maintained the overall texel density consistency across the scene. The statue and gargoyles required the most effort in UV layout due to their forms. All stone assets share a custom smart material built from scratch in Substance 3D Painter, which adds controlled dirt accumulation, cracks, moss, and subtle surface variation to keep them visually cohesive.

Vegetation Kit

Natural elements play a major role in the scene, as they occupy a significant portion of the visible space. Because of this, I invested considerable time and iteration into achieving both a distinctive look and technical efficiency. Throughout the process, I experimented with several different approaches.

The tree atlas was built using a hybrid workflow. I first generated branch structures in SpeedTree and baked them, then refined and expanded the texture inside Substance 3D Designer. After that, I created volumetric foliage clusters and carefully distributed them across the base tree structure back in SpeedTree. A crucial stage was defining the overall silhouette and color balance – this marked the transition from a simply grounded or semi-stylized look to a more deliberate artistic direction. I relied heavily on concept art and traditional paintings to achieve that balance. Additional moss patches and peeled bark details were introduced to enhance surface complexity.

Grass became my second point of pride after the trees. The entire grass atlas was generated procedurally in Substance 3D Designer, making it highly flexible. I can adjust cluster shapes, placement within the atlas, scale, density, color variation, and other parameters without rebuilding the texture from scratch.

For bushes, I started from a photogrammetry base, rebuilt all supporting maps, and converted the results into an optimized atlas.

All vegetation assets include subtle shader-based wind animation driven by masks. Grass and bushes also use softened vertex normals to ensure a more controlled and natural interaction with lighting. When it came to variation, I relied more on geometry diversity and shader parameters than on producing a large number of separate textures.

Rocks & Stones

Although rocks and stone formations are technically unique assets with dedicated sculpting and baking, they were designed with additional flexibility in mind to function effectively throughout the scene.

The first requirement was a more advanced shader. It operates using packed masks for edge highlights, secondary material blending, cavity dirt, and moss distribution, while also supporting procedural moss generation based on world position. This allows the assets to adapt naturally to their placement without requiring additional texture sets.

The second important element was adaptive UV behavior. The setup enables mesh scaling without affecting texel density and introduces pattern variation driven by world position, reducing visible repetition when multiple instances are placed across the environment.

Stone placement was not limited to manual composition. I also created two-level instances generated from physics simulations to produce more natural rock piles. For these simulations, I used the Physical Layout Tool by Saeid Gholizade (Unreal Engine Marketplace), which allowed me to quickly generate believable gravity-driven clusters while keeping full control over the final layout. Many thanks to the author for creating such a practical and production-friendly tool.

These clusters helped create smoother transitions from large cliff formations to smaller ground stones, improving the visual flow between vertical and horizontal surfaces.

Materials

All materials in the scene were created from scratch in Substance 3D Designer. Many of them include extensive parameter controls, allowing for multiple variations while maintaining overall visual cohesion.

For example, all ground materials are built from a single base subgraph. This setup gives me control over stone distribution, debris, grass coverage, and core surface properties without breaking consistency. By centralizing the logic, I was able to iterate quickly while keeping the terrain visually unified.

To achieve more natural shapes for scattered elements, I modeled individual stone and debris forms and baked them into two atlases containing all necessary maps. These atlases were then integrated back into the Substance 3D graph and distributed across the ground material.

The gothic architectural elements share a unified trim sheet material. This trim sheet allowed me to construct floor and roof tiling, columns, decorative ceilings, arches, pillars, cornices, and various small ornamental details. The meshes themselves maintain a relatively low triangle count while still preserving sufficient surface detail through normal information and material work.

Decals

The final stage of surface refinement involved enriching the environment with decals. This step strongly depends on finalized geometry and plays a key role in resolving both narrative details and visible repetition.

Decals were used extensively throughout the scene: carved text in stone, moss buildup, cracks, lichen, dirt, water streaks, and blending between meshes and terrain. They allowed me to introduce localized storytelling elements without modifying base geometry or materials.

In many cases, decals proved to be a more resource-efficient solution compared to relying heavily on virtual textures or complex vertex blending. 

Procedural Generation

To avoid spending excessive time manually placing every object and to stay flexible in case of terrain adjustments, I relied on a procedural approach using Unreal Engine’s PCG system. Manually randomizing and rebuilding elements after each change would have been inefficient and difficult to maintain.

At the same time, procedural generation can easily harm narrative clarity and environmental believability if left uncontrolled. My goal was therefore to build flexible systems that would allow me to retain artistic direction while operating at a broader, systemic level.

The most important tool in the project was a custom Grave Generator. This system allows me to quickly create grave prefabs that include soil buildup, vegetation, and gravestones. Structurally, it is a Blueprint with embedded PCG logic, giving me control over object placement, material variation, density, scale, and the ability to bake results while preserving instancing logic.

The stair system was also generated using PCG. The tool distributes steps and railings along a spline and projects them onto the terrain surface. It introduces subtle variation in placement and rotates support elements by 90 degrees to break repetition. Since PCG does not provide strict alignment control by default, additional adjustments were required to maintain precise positioning where needed. In the end, this workflow allowed me to balance efficient scene population with artistic oversight.

Lighting

The lighting was built around a clear focal point – the gate as the main luminous accent, designed to stand out both in beauty shots and from the player’s perspective.

The setup relies on Lumen for global illumination, while several strategically placed spotlights define key architectural elements. I also used light blockers to manually shape shadow areas and control contrast. A significant portion of light is directed toward the stairs to reinforce movement and visual guidance, occasionally broken by long shadows from trees and rocks to avoid uniformity.

FX & SFX 

The atmosphere of the scene would feel incomplete without supporting effects such as environmental phenomena and sound. With Hell Gates, I decided to explore at least a portion of these aspects of game production to push the environment beyond static visuals.

One of the most rewarding parts of this stage was developing the custom fog shader. It was built largely based on insights from an excellent article by Asher Zhu.

The fog system became a highly flexible artistic tool. It provides extensive control over shape, density, animation, color, position, and environmental interaction. For this particular scene, I limited myself to two main presets (emissive gradient from the portal and ground fog), as I wanted to avoid overwhelming the environment with excessive visual effects. However, the potential of the system is much broader, and I plan to explore it further in future projects.

Flame was used from a free library, M5 VFX Vol2. Fire and Flames (Niagara).

As for sound design, I won’t go into great detail here, but it plays a subtle yet important role. The livelier forest areas feature ambient vegetation and bird sounds, while approaching the gate introduces distant whispers from the graves, crackling fire, and a low, unsettling hum beyond the portal.

These elements do not occupy as much visual space as architecture or vegetation, yet they form the boundary between simple textured geometry and a believable environment.

Conclusion

Overall, this project took me approximately one year of work and study. I began it with relatively limited knowledge and gradually expanded both my technical and artistic understanding throughout the process. What started as an ambitious personal challenge evolved into a deep exploration of trim sheets, modular systems, procedural materials, procedural generation, FX, mask-based workflows, multiple UV sets, vegetation animation, and efficient atlas usage.

Beyond the final visuals, the most valuable outcome was the experience of connecting these systems into a cohesive production mindset.

Here are the key lessons I would emphasize:

1. Focus on what is currently relevant in the industry. It’s important to understand where production workflows are heading rather than blindly chasing every new tool or relying solely on outdated pipelines.
2. Continuously update your technical foundation and learn from experienced artists. Studying the work and breakdowns of professionals accelerates growth far more than isolated experimentation.
3. Invest time in references, core principles, and blockout.
   Clear artistic direction and a strong structural foundation simplify later decisions and reduce unnecessary iteration.
4. Be critical of your own decisions, seek feedback, but avoid endless polishing. Refinement is essential, yet knowing when to move forward is equally important.
   
   

Many thanks to 80 Level for the opportunity to share this project, to the authors and artists whose knowledge inspired my workflow, and to the ongoing technical progress in our industry that makes this kind of work possible.

Rustam Zhukov, Environment Artist