Dwarven Cave

Dwarven Cave — Team Project | Solo Unreal Build (UE 4.23)

All Unreal Engine work by Ben Gracey

This project was created during my third year of college as part of a collaborative team effort. I led our group through the production process and took full responsibility for bringing the project to life inside Unreal Engine. At the time, none of us had experience with Unreal — so I made the decision to dive in, learn the engine, and take charge of the entire implementation pipeline.

While my teammates focused on modeling and texturing key assets, I handled all aspects of the Unreal Engine workflow: from world building and lighting to FX and post-processing. I was responsible for translating our shared artistic vision into a playable and visually polished real-time environment.

Built in Unreal Engine 4.23, this scene was assembled without access to Nanite or Lumen. Instead, I used baked lighting, atmospheric fog volumes, and layered particle systems to achieve a moody, cavernous atmosphere.

Tools Used: Unreal Engine 4.23, Blender, Substance Painter, Quixel Megascans, Photoshop

My Contributions

Led a collaborative team project and spearheaded the Unreal Engine production
Designed and built the full environment inside UE4 based on a shared visual direction
Integrated all assets and handled level layout, composition, and set dressing
Created baked lighting setup and atmospheric fog to enhance visual storytelling
Developed particle FX using Cascade (pre-Niagara) for ambient dust and cave effects
Optimized collision, lightmaps, and materials for real-time performance
Applied custom LUTs and post-processing to establish tone and color harmony