The City & The City
Environment Art
Concept & Inspiration
The scene was built from blockout to final polish, beginning with scale-accurate layout work in Blender before being developed and lit in UE5. Modular construction and trim sheets were used extensively for walls and architectural elements, allowing efficient asset reuse while maintaining visual variety. Vertex painting and decals were applied to break repetition and introduce material wear, grime, and age consistent with a noir-inspired 1970s New York setting.
A strong emphasis was placed on environmental storytelling. Props such as paperwork, photographs, weapons, and office clutter were deliberately placed to imply an active murder investigation and suggest character behaviour without explicit narrative prompts. A central hero object was designed to act as a focal point for both composition and story, reinforcing the psychological tone of the space.
Lighting and atmosphere were treated as key storytelling tools. High-contrast lighting, volumetric effects, fog, and post-processing were used to establish mood and guide the viewer’s eye through the environment. The scene supports a first-person walkthrough and incorporates spatial audio, including ambient city noise, mechanical sounds, and subtle environmental effects, to enhance immersion and realism.
The City and The City – Inspector Borlu’s Office is a narrative-driven, game-ready interior environment created in Unreal Engine 5, based on concept art by Alec Chalmers. The project was developed to address a gap in my portfolio by producing a single, fully realised environment that demonstrates both artistic direction and professional environment art workflows.
Outcome
All assets were created by myself, with a focus on modular workflows, material authoring, and real-time optimisation. The final result is a polished, walkable environment that demonstrates my ability to combine technical efficiency with narrative-driven environment design.