Wellspring Environment and Guardian (Vex Mage)

This is the Wellspring, an interstitial level in Vex Mage where players get to heal and collect bonus Radiant Orbs before moving on with the campaign. I designed it using a modular set that was inspired by a palazzo in Venice I visited as a teen, the "Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo". I wanted this environment to be a little reminiscent of the courtyard with fountain in the Alhambra in Spain, which I have not yet had the joy of visiting. This is also the level where up to two players will be revived, thus the light-themed sarcophagi on either side of the gazebo. The Wellspring Guardian is a character that welcomes you to this purgatory-esque waiting place, and their face is a sculpt based on a close friend of mine. Otherwise they have garments and hands similar to the Magi in the game, as they are a friendly part of that culture.

The other thing this environment is perhaps referencing is the loading area in "The Matrix", where helpful items are secured for the adventure ahead.

All images are screenshots from in-game in Unity. Vex Mage is a hybrid flat mode and VR title, so all environments are optimized to run on mobile VR hardware. This is the flat mode or PCVR look, Quest 2 and Quest 3 have custom shader overrides and texture size limits. Everything in this scene was authored by me.