A fan of Elden Ring, Reddit user, and Github creator Honzaap, spent around 500 hours making a low-poly version of the sport’s massive world, the Lands Between. After sharing this creation on the Elden Ring subreddit, it quickly gained attention from the community.
The project caught people’s interest not only due to the sheer scale and energy involved but additionally since it echoed a previous “Tiny Elden Ring” model shared by Konstantin Chemelev. Honzaap’s version, nevertheless, aimed to recreate all the map, offering a singular and simplified tackle the sport’s open-world design.
Honzaap explained that they were inspired by Chemelev’s earlier model, but desired to see what the entire map would appear to be in an analogous style. They used a mixture of in-game references, a top-down map from lostgamer.io, and a 3D map tool called DSMapStudio to accurately place key landmarks.
Although they admitted that Chemelev’s model had a more polished low-poly aesthetic, Honzaap was motivated to construct the whole world, experimenting with different tools and techniques to attain their vision.
The five hundred-hour project, accomplished over five months, required significant effort and time, particularly when it got here to creating models for unique locations like dungeons, castles, and forts. Leyndell, the capital city, was essentially the most time-consuming area, taking a full week to complete.
Along with map creation, Honzaap needed to spend time establishing the model for display on an internet page. The general process involved balancing the reuse of some models, like trees and rocks, while still manually placing many individual elements across the map.
For this project, Honzaap created the terrain entirely by hand and incorporated third-party assets for some creatures like dragons, witches, and turtles. They worked on the project at any time when that they had free time, especially during weekends and their university summer break.
The project also served as a chance to refine their skills in Blender, though it quickly became a much larger endeavor, helping them master the software in the method.
Constructing complex areas like Leyndell, Farum Azula, and Caelid presented unique challenges attributable to their scale and design. Leyndell’s intricate layout made it hard to know where to start out, while Farum Azula’s distinct floating structure required different methods.
Honzaap was particularly happy with their recreation of Raya Lucaria Academy, which they felt matched the low-poly style perfectly. Other areas like Miquella’s Haligtree and Farum Azula also stand out as highlights of the model, showcasing the extent of detail Honzaap was in a position to achieve.
