amy brockbank 3 d game engine workflow 2

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Amy Brockbank 3D Game Engine Workflow (Unity) In this task, I have been asked to create a level for a game using a 3D engine. The engine that I am using is Unity, which allows people to create full 3D games. I am planning on creating a Sci-Fi based level, set on an abandoned planet that was once home to civilisation, but is now free to anyone who stumbles across it. I am planning on adding both plant life and industrial buildings in separate locations. The level will begin in the forest area, and then eventually end in the industrial area. To begin, we were taught how to raise and lower terrain, which can be used to create hills, mountains and valleys. To do this, I had to create a piece of terrain that the level would take place on. I had to scale the default size down to 1000, as 2000 was far too large for the setting I was trying to create. After this, I painted the terrain onto the ground using the terrain brush. The longer I held the left mouse button clicked on a particular part of terrain, the higher the ground would go. If I needed to level the terrain again, I could hold down shift while painting to bring high terrain down again. 1 BTEC Level 3 Games Design

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Page 1: Amy brockbank 3 d game engine workflow 2

Amy Brockbank

3D Game Engine Workflow (Unity)

In this task, I have been asked to create a level for a game using a 3D engine. The engine that I am using is Unity, which allows people to create full 3D games.

I am planning on creating a Sci-Fi based level, set on an abandoned planet that was once home to civilisation, but is now free to anyone who stumbles across it.

I am planning on adding both plant life and industrial buildings in separate locations. The level will begin in the forest area, and then eventually end in the industrial area.

To begin, we were taught how to raise and lower terrain, which can be used to create hills, mountains and valleys.

To do this, I had to create a piece of terrain that the level would take place on. I had to scale the default size down to 1000, as 2000 was far too large for the setting I was trying to create.

After this, I painted the terrain onto the ground using the terrain brush. The longer I held the left mouse button clicked on a particular part of terrain, the higher the ground would go. If I needed to level the terrain again, I could hold down shift while painting to bring high terrain down again.

1BTEC Level 3 Games Design

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Amy Brockbank

The terrain can only go higher, however, never lower, so if I needed lower ground, I would have to bring the terrain up around it.

After I had created the terrain I wanted, I then had to paint textures onto it to make it look more realistic. To add textures to the terrain, I had to select the terrain paint tool, which would bring up a set of options.

2BTEC Level 3 Games Design

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Amy Brockbank

To add a new texture I selected the ‘edit texture’ option, then navigated to the ‘add texture’ option on the drop down menu, then drag my selected texture from my assets to the texture box. Now, I can paint that texture on the ground.

3BTEC Level 3 Games Design

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Amy Brockbank

I also had to add lighting to my level. As I chose to have my level set close to night-time, I had to keep the lights down low to create that effect. I also chose to make my light purple to reflect my choice of skybox, as my skybox design is a pink-purple nebula skybox, to give the appearance of my world being set in space.

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Amy Brockbank

I then decided to add assets from the Unity Asset Store, which offers many free assets, as well as paid ones. These assets include models, textures and skyboxes. I downloaded a few assets from the store to help make my level look more interesting.

I downloaded a pack of skyboxes first of all, which had three different coloured space skybox textures in them; I was interested in using the purple/pink one for my level, to create the look of the level being set on mysterious planet.

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Amy Brockbank

I also downloaded a pack of terrain assets, which had a few trees, bushes, rocks and textures, which I was interested in using in different parts of my level. I decided I would use these at the small lake in the corner of the level, as I want a little forest there, with different kind of trees to add more variety in the level

Now that I had been taught the basics of creating my level, it was time to begin designing my level.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Here, I began to properly design the first landmark of my level; a small hill area with a little lake, surrounded by trees. This would be the starting area for my game.

I decided to raise the terrain around the edges, to avoid the player falling off the edge of the world if they walked too far.

6BTEC Level 3 Games Design

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Amy Brockbank

I lowered the terrain in the middle, so I could place water in the middle to create a lake.

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Amy Brockbank

Then, I placed trees around the hill to make the starting location feel cosier. I then downloaded a fence model to put around the lake to prevent the player from falling in.

I also added some rocks into my level from the asset store, which I may place around the lake.

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Amy Brockbank

Now all I have to add to this part of the level is more fences, which I will come back to later. I may also add more rocks here.

I have decided to download some pavement textures for the industrial part of my level, so I can create a road and pavement.

9BTEC Level 3 Games Design

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Amy Brockbank

Here, I have created part of my industrial area using the city blocks that I downloaded. I am unsure yet as to whether or not I should close off the industrial scene, or allow the player to explore it I also downloaded a chain link fence to go around the city.

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Amy Brockbank

Here, I implemented the chain link fence into my design. I also raised the terrain behind it to hide the edge of the world. I may retexture these hills to look like walls instead.

Here, I completed my city. I completed the chain link fence around the sides of the city, and made the pavement textures look much more even. I took away the terrain height at the sides, hoping to make the terrain around the edges look much more man made.

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Amy Brockbank

Here, I created walls around the city, to make the city look more threatening and closed off from everywhere else. To finish off these walls, I may create a new brick wall texture using an existing image, to separate the wall from the pavement.

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Amy Brockbank

This prevents the player from being able to see the edge of the world, or leave the world and fall off.

Here is my scene so far, I am planning on adding a small village somewhere around the world. I may also add more water, and close off the city even more.

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Amy Brockbank

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Amy Brockbank

I found three different packs to use in my city area here. A pack of sculptures and fountains, a pack of park benches with varying levels of damage, and some architecture textures, to help create the look of my city

The city is now complete, although I may come back and make changes here, especially to the square, which I don’t think plays quite right, so I may do additional play testing here, and make changes, depending on what models don’t quite work.

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Amy Brockbank

…~**~…

Here is my final level. I will now go around the level and explain my progress, and why everything looks like it does. I have placed two views of my map here, one with the lighting on, and one with the lighting off, so everything can be seen more clearly.

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Amy Brockbank

First of all, I will explain the city that I created in the corner of the map. I originally wanted to make the entire level industrial, but limitations on assets meant that this was quite hard to do, so I decided to make the city area of my map far smaller instead.

In the centre of the city, I added a small set of statues to make a city square with a little bit of personality. I intentionally made each statue quite big to make the city look more threatening, and make the player appear smaller.

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Amy Brockbank

I intentionally picked this particular statue from the set because of the spikes used on them, which, again, makes the city feel quite dark and threatening, especially when compared to other parts of the level.

This is the pack I got the statues from on the Unity Asset Store; they come from a free pack of statues and fountains.

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Amy Brockbank

I also used a separate texture for the ground of the square. I wanted to put this on higher ground, but, then I wouldn’t have room for the amount of buildings I wanted.

Originally, here, I wanted to add park benches, but after some consideration, and looking over some issues with colliders and the way the benches appear in game, I decided to scrap the idea.

Originally, it was these benches I wanted to put in game, from the asset store.

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Amy Brockbank

Around the square, I added lots of buildings surrounding it. Much like the statues, I intentionally made the buildings tall to make the city look much bigger and much more threatening. The buildings I used from the asset store came with their own inbuilt lighting system, which I quite liked, as the lighting was still low enough to maintain the atmosphere I wished to create.

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Amy Brockbank

Here is the asset from the Unity Asset Store that I put into the game; it is the ‘Low Poly City Block’ model. I like this particular model, as it comes with lights already in the model. The buildings also look quite industrial, which add to the look of the

I created walls around my city to make it look much more closed in, with tighter security. I textured the walls of the city with a dark brick texture. I created the wall by making the terrain around the city higher, rather than using a brick wall asset, as I thought it looked slightly better, even if the texturing looks slightly stretched on the sides

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Amy Brockbank

I also added a chain link fence around the wall, to add to this feeling of closure around the city. I placed each section of the fence individually, using sections of the chain link fence, as well as posts. I got this fence as an asset from the Unity Asset Store online, which was free. I had to resize the model; as originally, the model was far too small for my needs, and needed to be made bigger.

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Amy Brockbank

I then began to create a new section of my level, a mountainous area that hides a small lake, as well as a small village area around the edges around the lake. After I had scrapped the idea of making the entire level industrial, I had the idea to make a smaller village just outside of the city, although I still wanted to keep this village quite secluded, and hard to find.

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Amy Brockbank

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Amy Brockbank

To create the mountain around the village, I raised the terrain around the area I wanted the village to be. To create the area around the lake, I raised the terrain slightly there; making sure the ground was level, so I could slip the water asset into place. I had to resize the water asset so it fit around the designated area of terrain I wanted the lake to be in.

Here, I created the mountains and textured them. I used two textures on the mountain; the first one I used was a grey-brown cliff texture, and the second a black texture. I used the grey-brown texture as the main texture on the mountain, and then placed the black texture over the top of it. With the black texture, I reduced the opacity significantly, then placed the texture around the mountain in random placed, to make the texture look slightly different around the mountain, to avoid everything looking too samey.

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Amy Brockbank

Here are the two textures I used, the second texture didn’t show up with any colour when selecting the different textures, but the texture looks like black rock.

In the middle of the village, there is a lake; I textured the ground below the lake with a sand texture to create the sea bed underneath the water. I wanted to make the space below the water slightly more realistic. I also raised the terrain underneath the water slightly in random spots. I think the sea bed adds to the look of the level, if the player finds themselves trapped under the water.

I also added some steps in the corner of the lake, as I noticed during play testing, that the lake was difficult to get out of, as the space around the lake was too high, so jumping out was almost impossible, but after adding steps and raising the jumping height, the player can now get out of the lake far easier.

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Amy Brockbank

From above, the heightened terrain can’t be seen, as the water above covers it, it can only be seen from above, however, I think this adds a sense of realism when the player is underneath the water, as the sea bed shouldn’t be completely straight.

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Amy Brockbank

I then got to work with creating the village around the lake. I wanted this village to be quite empty, with each building being quite far apart, to make the village appear less populated, unlike the city which I intentionally made quite crowded to make everything appear intimidating. I wanted the village to feel quite abandoned to contrast the look of the city.

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Amy Brockbank

Here are some of the models I used in the village from the Unity Asset Store. I used the models from the ‘Shanty Town’ set to create the village, to make the village appear even more run down and abandoned. The look of the models looks quite old and broken down, with patched roofs, and crumbly stairs, which really add to the feel of the village.

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Amy Brockbank

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Amy Brockbank

Now I will start to look at the lake in the corner of the level. This was originally going to be my starting point in the level, but then changed it, as I thought it might look nicer as a scene the player may approach, rather than start in.

I wanted to make this part of the level have quite a peaceful atmosphere, although this mainly stemmed from the idea of it being the starting area of the game, before the chaos and panic sets into the level.

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Amy Brockbank

I wanted to make a small forest area around the lake, to add to the peaceful surroundings of this area. I used different tree models in this area to give the lake some variety. I scaled the trees up slightly to make them tower over the player, so the trees look bigger, and look like there’s more to explore when looking at the trees in first person.

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Amy Brockbank

Here is the model pack I used for the different trees. It is called terrain assets, and contains 12 different tree models, some rock models, grass models and textures to use. I thought this pack was one of the most useful I downloaded, as the tree models were of good quality, and working with them was easy.

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Amy Brockbank

In the middle of the area there is a lake. I wanted the lake to look peaceful and calm, much like the rest of the area. I added a rock into the lake from the same asset pack as I did the trees to add decoration to the lake, and make the entire area look more interesting for the player to explore and look around in.

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Amy Brockbank

Originally, I didn’t intend for the player to be able to jump into the lake, but after doing some necessary adjustments to the jumping mechanics of the level (I made the gravity slightly lower, and increased the jump height, which makes sense as the level is set in space.), I needed to add an underwater section to the bottom of the lake, if the player did find themselves wanting to explore under the lake.

I textured underneath the lake with the same sand texture I used on the lake near the mountains. I also added a layer of dirt to gradually go from grass to sand, instead of just going straight from one texture to another.

The player can also take a closer look at the rock from underwater.

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Amy Brockbank

I added a fence to the lake, too. I put this in originally to prevent the player from jumping into the lake, but after changing the jumping mechanics, the fence was mainly just there for show. To add in the fences, I filled 1/3 of the edge of the lake with fences, and then copied and pasted the rest, adjusting their position slightly. I felt this technique worked quite well, as the player could not pass through just by walking, as there were no gaps.

I wanted the fence to look quite old, like it had been there for years, to suit the look of the rest of the planet, and to give the world some backstory of it being abandoned and uninhabited.

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Amy Brockbank

As a little secret, I added a treasure chest in a hidden area around the lake. I wanted to add a secret area, that the player would have to find from the start, and given that this is one of the most complex areas of the game, I thought this was the perfect place to put hidden treasure.

The box cannot be opened, but that is something I would address if I was to edit the game further.

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Amy Brockbank

After creating these three areas, I decided that the middle of my level looked rather barren, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to add something else to my level. I decided on two hills, each containing a small amount of water, that the player can explore under.

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Amy Brockbank

Underwater, the pools are nothing too special; they have the exact same texture underneath as the last two lakes. I just wanted these pools to be something additional that the player can explore if they wanted to. To create these pools I raised the terrain, and then lowered the middle, where I put the water in.

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Amy Brockbank

Around the edge of the map, I added more mountains. I wanted these mountains to prevent the player from looking over the edge of the level. I also wanted to make the land look more mountainous, otherwise the other set of mountains I added would look rather pointless in the landscape.

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Amy Brockbank

Again, to texture these mountains, I used two different textures, one stone texture, and another mossy stone texture. I placed the stone texture on first, then, after lowering the opacity, I placed the

mossy stone texture on, to make the mountains look wild and dangerous. This effect can only be seen when the lighting is turned off, though; when the lighting is turned on, it looks less obvious,

which is something I would address if I put extra work into the design of the mountain.

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Amy Brockbank

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