Paulina Kucharska is designing a 3D medieval fantasy environment in Unity to accompany her previous 2D game called Unicorn Slayer. She begins by creating a basic terrain map and importing medieval asset packs. Paulina works on sculpting the terrain using painting and texturing tools to add mountains, grasslands, and a body of water. She populates the landscape with trees, buildings, and other props. Throughout the process, Paulina refines the terrain, adds more details like paths and fences, and decorates locations like a town and mansion to complete her virtual world.

1. Paulina Kucharska
3D Game Workflow
I am designing a 3D level using Unity engine. I want to make a
fantasy/medieval environment which will fit my previous game done in 2D
called Unicorn Slayer. I am aiming to make it feel to be filled with magical aura.
One thing I’m not sure about is whether to make it realistic or cartoonish in
style. This game would work as a first or third person adventure game. I also
want to make clouds to fly on if possible. Another thing is that the land may be
either before, during or after the attack of unicorns.
I drew a basic map idea on a paper with mountains, sea and village marked. It’s
simple and not very detailed, it’s only for helping me placing terrain things,
such as mountains in more interesting places than a square-ish frame. I had to
make the lines bold and darker, so it makes it easier to see.

2. Paulina Kucharska
I have been looking in Unity Assets store and picked packages which are
interesting to me. This includes objects and textures such as: medieval
buildings, different trees, new skyboxes, grass and grass textures, rocks and
rocky textures, fences, graves and other details.

3. Paulina Kucharska
I began with paint height tool to create a base for my terrain. I didn’t wanted it
to be fully flat, so I made it on 4 different height levels – 50, 25, 10 and 5. After
that I used smooth edges tool to make it smoother at the highest opacity. The
reason why I did the base higher is because I may apply holes or a river path,
and with the plat base it can’t made below it.

4. Paulina Kucharska
I started creating the mountains with some paths to wander between them. I
also placed the 1st person character controller and a temporary directional
light.
In the meantime I placed the water surface to see how well it will fit there.

5. Paulina Kucharska
I made mountains on the other side smaller and looking partially like hills.
I moved onto adding textures. The first one I picked covered the whole map, so
I am covering it.

6. Paulina Kucharska
I was using different 5 different textures with varied opacity and target
strength to make these mountains; snow at the top, rocky walls with 2 textures
and 2 grass textures at the bottom and in some places in the middle. I also
used a rocky path in between to mark the places where player can go.
I added the skybox and a pink tinted ambient light to everything.

7. Paulina Kucharska
I started to make a grass ground with use of several different textures on low
opacity.
I changed the background with use of sky spheres I got from Assets Store and
replaced directional lights; one in front of the sun and one in front of another
planet.

8. Paulina Kucharska
I finished painting the land.
I began to place trees and grass in some places using low density. Two places
on the terrain are meant to be forests.
I added a turquoise fog with 0.003 density to make it difficult to see something
far away.

9. Paulina Kucharska
The trees are spreading mainly in two places.
I added shadows casted by directional light.

10. Paulina Kucharska
I placed the rest of the trees and also some bushes in between.
I began to place objects in the background. I found a lot of medieval themed
assets. Unfortunately player is unable to enter these buildings. Each of them
was too small for my background so I resized them to match my player’s
height, then placed on exact terrain height and rotated.

11. Paulina Kucharska
That’s how it looks so far. Under the lack of sources and inexperience in
creating 3D models I decided to change the theme only to medieval, so it will
be easier to make.
I finished placing the main buildings, I also added a little path to the building
behind others.

12. Paulina Kucharska
I added few butterflies and opened player’s view to see how it looks with other
plants.
I was adding other objects; these here were too small so I was scaling them to
the same size.

13. Paulina Kucharska
I started to decorate another place in front of other forest. I places fence and
torches and painted place with sand and dirty grass.
I added another fence around the town using duplicate command.

14. Paulina Kucharska
These are main spots where I’m placing objects. Any of these is finished yet.
I painted the cemetery ground on greish-brown colours.

15. Paulina Kucharska
I raised the ground slightly to make cemetery look more realistic and painted it
grey. Then I smoothed the edgy bits.
I raised the terrain and placed a stone tomb, then painted texture on red flesh
colour, same colour I added to cemetery. Some objects disappeared strangely,
but I think

16. Paulina Kucharska
I placed another tomb in a quite hidden place.
There also is another hidden place with a building and few with chests. I will
add more chests in other places.

17. Paulina Kucharska
And my terrain got deleted after downloading something from
assets store. Unity crashed and I don’t have it now… stupid
earthborn troll object.
The explanation may be that the object I imported was too big and replaced
the whole terrain.
At least I have the first terrain I did as an exercise on lessons.

18. Paulina Kucharska
I made the terrain smaller in order to make it easier to do a new terrain in
shorter time. It is now 500x500 I placed rough shapes of mountains and a
building, which may play an important role in the story.
I shaped the mountains and hills in more detailed way. This dark spot at the
bottom of the map is a sea.

19. Paulina Kucharska
I began to paint mountains using 3 textures of rocks.
I changed the water texture and its normal map. As well as a colour.

20. Paulina Kucharska
I am using different textures to create a background. This time I’m going to
dark moody themes instead cheerfullish and fantasy – it matches my sadness
of having previous land disappear…
I finished making the background. There is a lot of browns, greys and greens.

21. Paulina Kucharska
I added 5 different types of trees. These dead ones look phantom-alike when
player isn’t near them.
I added grass in several places. I also changed the variation in sizes and colours.

22. Paulina Kucharska
I began to decorate the main building with available props for it: chandelier,
table and poison ivies.
I placed transparent orb with clouds on it. It makes an impression of a fog
when you look at it through low LOD trees (when they appear in 2D).

23. Paulina Kucharska
I made a little port on the beach and decided that player will start here, like a
voyager or just person who got lost.
I made a town with two gates in the middle of the scene. That’s the second
location player visits.

24. Paulina Kucharska
I added some more details and skeletons to the building.
These are the game locations: beach, town, small cottage, tomb in cemetery,
small hut and the cursed palace.

25. Paulina Kucharska
I changed the ground in the town a little to appear a bit filthy or used.

26. Paulina Kucharska

27. Paulina Kucharska
I added several details to the town, mostly boxes and torches, but also flowers
and treasure chests. The most detailed areas are the front of the biggest
building (flowers and torches), meat, coins and books in the shed in the
middle, front of the gate nearer to the mansion, the area with fence when
horses are and two other places.

28. Paulina Kucharska
I added a rocky path in between buildings indicating that once people were
walking here.
I added tombs and raised the ground slightly in front of each tomb to indicate
that someone is buried beneath them. Then I painted the ground with more
browns and blacks.

29. Paulina Kucharska
I added few faded roads between locations and a bit of sand in front of hut and
cottage.
I added fence and gate separating cemetery from the rest. I also placed 3
skeletons there.

30. Paulina Kucharska
I placed another fence, this time in front of palace. There also are two statues
and a tomb.

31. Paulina Kucharska
I increased the fog density to create a mood. There is a comparison with and
without fog.
I placed few spiders in the empty area between town, hut and a mansion and
changed the colour of the ground slightly.

32. Paulina Kucharska
I applied a sword and a shield to the player. That’s how it looks from first
person view. I also unapplied the ‘cast shadows’ option for them, because the
player doesn’t cast shadows neither.

33. Paulina Kucharska
I added bushes to the scene.
The cottage near cemetery became a weapon stock.
*There is a glitch making a person jump high when passing one place through
the cottage.*

34. Paulina Kucharska
I added a river on the lowered ground by copying the water I had and placing it
there. The bottom and edges of the river I have painted with sand.
I placed a massive statue on the hill behind the palace making it seem more
important. It also plays the role of a landmark.

35. Paulina Kucharska
I placed body parts in spider area.
Same I did in front of the palace and cemetery.

36. Paulina Kucharska
I made the horse animated, though only so he can move a little while standing.
I achieved this by cutting the transitions in the animation.

37. Paulina Kucharska
I added is a whale in the sea. I also reduced the intensity of directional light
and made the environment seem much darker.
I was adding tree colliders by placing them separately on the land, adding a
capsule collider, saving as a new prefab and then replacing them with the same
prefab in the tree paint terrain tool.

38. Paulina Kucharska
Last thing I did was to activate the flames in torches and check everything for
collisions.