In Week 6, I began to build the environment for my Narcissus project in Unreal Engine. This week was mainly about shaping the world space, because I needed a clear place for the story to happen. I used the Unreal Landscape system and worked with the brush tools to create the basic terrain. My first idea was a simple composition: mountains around the outside to “frame” the scene, then hills in the middle to create depth and movement for the camera. I also placed a very small lake, because reflection is a key symbol in the Narcissus story. Even at this early stage, I wanted the lake to feel like a quiet point of attention.
After the main terrain shape was finished, I tried to improve the ground surface. I tested a blended landscape material and started to paint different textures onto the terrain. My goal was to avoid a single flat material, because it makes the environment look like a game test level. I wanted more variation, such as different areas for soil, rock, and grass. I also hoped this could help the mood. A richer surface can make the world feel more believable, and it can support a more emotional atmosphere.
However, I quickly noticed two key problems. First, the brush workflow was slow. Small changes took a long time, and I needed many trials to get a shape that looked natural. Even when I adjusted the height carefully, the mountains and hills still looked “hand-made” in a bad way, not like real landforms. This made me feel that my time was not used well, because I was spending hours on shaping, but the results were still not strong.
Second, the landscape material was not convincing. The textures looked too simple and the surface detail was not rich enough. The blending also did not feel natural, so the terrain looked repetitive. Because of this, my environment could not fully support the Narcissus theme yet. The location should feel poetic and reflective, but at this point it looked more like an unfinished test scene.
Overall, this week helped me understand that environment building needs both a good plan and an efficient tool. I need a faster way to create believable terrain and better material quality. This is why I decided to try the M4 landscape plugin next week, to see if it can improve my workflow and the visual result.