1. AmyBrockbank
1
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
3D Game Engine Workflow (Unity)
In thistask,I have beenaskedtocreate a level foragame usinga 3D engine.The engine thatIam
usingisUnity,whichallowspeopletocreate full 3D games.
I am planningoncreatinga Sci-Fi basedlevel,setonan abandonedplanetthatwasonce home to
civilisation,butisnowfree toanyone whostumblesacrossit.
I am planningonaddingbothplantlife andindustrial buildingsinseparate locations.The level will
begininthe forestarea,and theneventuallyend inthe industrial area.
To begin,we were taughthowto raise andlowerterrain,whichcanbe usedto create hills,
mountainsandvalleys.
To do this,I hadto create a piece of terrainthatthe level wouldtake place on.Ihad to scale the
defaultsize downto1000, as 2000 was far toolarge for the settingI wastryingto create.
Afterthis,Ipaintedthe terrainontothe groundusingthe terrainbrush.The longerIheldthe left
mouse buttonclickedona particularpart of terrain,the higherthe groundwouldgo.If I neededto
level the terrainagain,Icouldholddownshiftwhilepaintingtobringhighterraindownagain.
2. AmyBrockbank
2
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
The terraincan onlygohigher,however,neverlower,soif Ineededlowerground,Iwouldhave to
bringthe terrain up aroundit.
AfterI hadcreatedthe terrainIwanted,I thenhadto painttexturesontoitto make it lookmore
realistic.Toaddtexturestothe terrain,I had to selectthe terrainpainttool,whichwouldbringupa
setof options.
3. AmyBrockbank
3
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
To add a new texture Iselectedthe ‘edittexture’option,thennavigatedtothe ‘addtexture’option
on the drop downmenu,thendragmy selectedtexture frommyassetstothe texture box.Now,I
can paintthat texture onthe ground.
4. AmyBrockbank
4
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I alsohad to add lighting tomylevel.AsIchose tohave my level setclose tonight-time,Ihadto
keepthe lightsdownlowtocreate that effect.Ialsochose to make mylightpurple toreflectmy
choice of skybox,asmy skybox designisapink-purplenebulaskybox,togive the appearance of my
worldbeingsetinspace.
5. AmyBrockbank
5
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I thendecidedtoaddassetsfromthe UnityAssetStore,whichoffersmanyfree assets,aswell as
paidones.These assetsinclude models,texturesandskyboxes.Idownloadedafew assetsfromthe
store to helpmake mylevel lookmore interesting.
I downloadedapackof skyboxesfirstof all,whichhadthree differentcolouredspace skybox
texturesinthem;Iwas interestedinusingthe purple/pinkone formylevel,tocreate the lookof the
level beingsetonmysteriousplanet.
6. AmyBrockbank
6
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I alsodownloadedapackof terrainassets,whichhada few trees,bushes,rocksandtextures,which
I was interestedinusingindifferentpartsof my level. IdecidedIwoulduse these atthe small lake in
the corner of the level,asI wanta little forestthere,withdifferentkindof treestoaddmore variety
inthe level
Nowthat I had beentaughtthe basicsof creatingmy level,itwastime tobegindesigningmylevel.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Here,I beganto properlydesign the firstlandmarkof mylevel;asmall hill areawithalittle lake,
surroundedbytrees.Thiswouldbe the startingareafor mygame.
I decidedtoraise the terrainaroundthe edges,toavoidthe playerfallingoff the edge of the worldif
theywalkedtoofar.
7. AmyBrockbank
7
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I loweredthe terraininthe middle,soIcouldplace waterin the middle tocreate a lake.
8. AmyBrockbank
8
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Then,I placedtreesaroundthe hill tomake the startinglocationfeel cosier.Ithendownloadeda
fence model toputaroundthe lake topreventthe playerfromfallingin.
I alsoaddedsome rocks intomylevel fromthe assetstore,whichImay place aroundthe lake.
9. AmyBrockbank
9
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Nowall I have to add to thispart of the level ismore fences,whichIwill come backtolater.I may
alsoadd more rocks here.
I have decidedtodownloadsome pavementtexturesforthe industrial partof mylevel,soIcan
create a roadand pavement.
10. AmyBrockbank
10
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Here,I have createdpart of my industrial areausingthe city blocksthatI downloaded. Iamunsure
yetas to whetherornot I shouldclose off the industrial scene,orallow the playertoexplore it Ialso
downloadedachainlinkfence togoaround the city.
11. AmyBrockbank
11
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Here,I implementedthe chainlinkfence intomydesign.Ialsoraisedthe terrainbehindittohide
the edge of the world.Imay retexture thesehills tolooklike wallsinstead.
Here,I completedmycity.Icompletedthe chainlinkfence aroundthe sidesof the city,andmade
the pavementtextureslookmuchmore even.Itookawaythe terrainheightat the sides,hopingto
make the terrainaroundthe edgeslookmuchmore manmade.
12. AmyBrockbank
12
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Here,I createdwallsaroundthe city,to make the citylookmore threateningandclosedoff from
everywhere else.Tofinishoff thesewalls,Imaycreate a new brick wall texture usinganexisting
image,toseparate the wall fromthe pavement.
13. AmyBrockbank
13
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Thispreventsthe playerfrombeingable tosee the edge of the world,orleave the worldandfall off.
Here is myscene so far,I am planningonaddinga small village somewhere aroundthe world.Imay
alsoadd more water,and close off the cityevenmore.
15. AmyBrockbank
15
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I foundthree differentpackstouse inmy cityarea here.A pack of sculpturesandfountains,apack
of parkbencheswithvaryinglevelsof damage,andsome architecture textures,tohelpcreate the
lookof my city
The city isnow complete,althoughImaycome back and make changeshere,especiallytothe
square,whichIdon’tthinkplaysquite right,soI may do additional playtestinghere,andmake
changes,dependingonwhatmodelsdon’tquite work.
16. AmyBrockbank
16
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
…~**~…
Here is myfinal level.Iwillnowgoaroundthe level andexplainmyprogress,andwhyeverything
lookslike itdoes.Ihave placedtwoviewsof mymap here,one withthe lightingon,andone with
the lightingoff,soeverythingcanbe seenmore clearly.
17. AmyBrockbank
17
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Firstof all,Iwill explainthe citythatIcreatedinthe cornerof the map.I originallywantedtomake
the entire level industrial,butlimitationsonassetsmeantthatthiswasquite hard to do,so I decided
to make the city areaof my mapfar smallerinstead.
In the centre of the city,I addeda small setof statuesto make a city square witha little bitof
personality.Iintentionallymade eachstatue quite bigtomake the city lookmore threatening,and
make the playerappearsmaller.
18. AmyBrockbank
18
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I intentionallypickedthisparticularstatue fromthe setbecause of the spikesusedonthem, which,
again,makesthe cityfeel quite darkandthreatening,especiallywhencomparedtootherparts of
the level.
Thisis the pack I got the statuesfromon the UnityAssetStore;theycome from a free packof
statuesandfountains.
19. AmyBrockbank
19
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I alsouseda separate texture forthe groundof the square.Iwantedto putthison higherground,
but,thenI wouldn’thave roomforthe amount of buildingsIwanted.
Originally,here,Iwantedtoaddpark benches,butaftersome consideration,andlookingoversome
issueswithcollidersandthe waythe benchesappearingame,Idecidedtoscrap the idea.
Originally,itwasthese benchesIwantedtoputin game,fromthe assetstore.
20. AmyBrockbank
20
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Aroundthe square,I addedlotsof buildingssurroundingit.Muchlike the statues,Iintentionally
made the buildingstall tomake the citylookmuchbiggerand muchmore threatening.The buildings
I usedfromthe assetstore came withtheirowninbuiltlightingsystem, whichIquite liked,asthe
lightingwasstill lowenoughtomaintainthe atmosphereIwishedtocreate.
21. AmyBrockbank
21
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Here is the assetfromthe UnityAssetStore thatI put intothe game; itis the ‘Low PolyCityBlock’
model.Ilike thisparticularmodel,asitcomeswithlightsalreadyinthe model.The buildingsalso
lookquite industrial,whichaddtothe lookof the
I createdwallsaroundmycity to make itlookmuch more closedin,withtightersecurity.Itextured
the wallsof the city witha dark bricktexture.Icreatedthe wall bymakingthe terrainaroundthe city
higher,ratherthanusinga brick wall asset,asI thoughtit lookedslightlybetter,evenif the texturing
looksslightlystretchedonthe sides
22. AmyBrockbank
22
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I alsoaddeda chain linkfence aroundthe wall,toaddto thisfeelingof closure aroundthe city.I
placedeachsectionof the fence individually,usingsectionsof the chainlinkfence,aswell asposts.I
got thisfence asan assetfrom the UnityAssetStore online,whichwasfree.Ihadto resize the
model;asoriginally,the model wasfartoosmall for myneeds,andneededtobe made bigger.
23. AmyBrockbank
23
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I thenbeganto create a newsectionof my level,amountainousarea thathidesa small lake,aswell
as a small village areaaroundthe edgesaroundthe lake.AfterIhadscrappedthe ideaof makingthe
entire levelindustrial,Ihadthe ideato make a smallervillage justoutside of the city,althoughIstill
wantedtokeepthisvillage quitesecluded,andhardto find.
25. AmyBrockbank
25
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
To create the mountainaroundthe village,Iraisedthe terrainaroundthe areaI wantedthe village
to be.To create the areaaround the lake,Iraisedthe terrainslightlythere;makingsure the ground
was level,soIcouldslipthe waterassetintoplace.Ihad to resize the waterassetsoit fitaroundthe
designatedareaof terrainIwantedthe lake to be in.
Here,I createdthe mountainsandtexturedthem.Iusedtwotexturesonthe mountain;the firstone
I usedwasa grey-brownclifftexture,andthe secondablack texture.Iusedthe grey-browntexture
as the maintexture onthe mountain,andthenplacedthe blacktexture overthe topof it.Withthe
blacktexture,Ireducedthe opacitysignificantly,thenplacedthe texture aroundthe mountainin
randomplaced,to make the texture lookslightlydifferentaroundthe mountain,toavoideverything
lookingtoosamey.
26. AmyBrockbank
26
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Here are the two texturesIused,the secondtexture didn’tshow upwithanycolourwhenselecting
the differenttextures,butthe texture lookslike blackrock.
In the middle of the village,there isa lake;Itexturedthe groundbelow the lake withasandtexture
to create the sea bedunderneaththe water.I wantedtomake the space below the waterslightly
more realistic.Ialsoraisedthe terrainunderneaththe waterslightlyinrandomspots.Ithinkthe sea
bedadds to the lookof the level,if the playerfindsthemselvestrappedunderthe water.
I alsoaddedsome stepsinthe corner of the lake,as I noticedduring playtesting,thatthe lake was
difficulttogetoutof,as the space aroundthe lake was toohigh,so jumpingoutwasalmost
impossible,butafteraddingstepsandraisingthe jumpingheight,the playercannow getout of the
lake far easier.
27. AmyBrockbank
27
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
From above,the heightenedterraincan’tbe seen,asthe waterabove coversit,it can onlybe seen
fromabove,however,Ithinkthisaddsa sense of realismwhenthe playerisunderneaththe water,
as the sea bedshouldn’tbe completelystraight.
28. AmyBrockbank
28
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I thengot to workwithcreatingthe village aroundthe lake.Iwantedthisvillagetobe quite empty,
witheachbuildingbeingquitefarapart,to make the village appearlesspopulated,unlike the city
whichI intentionallymade quite crowdedtomake everythingappearintimidating.Iwantedthe
village tofeel quiteabandonedtocontrastthe lookof the city.
29. AmyBrockbank
29
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Here are some of the modelsIusedinthe village fromthe UnityAssetStore.Iusedthe modelsfrom
the ‘ShantyTown’setto create the village,tomake the villageappearevenmore rundownand
abandoned.The lookof the modelslooks quite oldandbrokendown,withpatchedroofs,and
crumblystairs,whichreallyaddtothe feel of the village.
31. AmyBrockbank
31
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
NowI will startto lookat the lake inthe cornerof the level.Thiswasoriginallygoingtobe my
startingpointinthe level,butthenchangedit,asI thoughtit mightlookniceras a scene the player
may approach,ratherthan start in.
I wantedtomake this part of the level have quite apeaceful atmosphere,althoughthismainly
stemmedfromthe ideaof itbeingthe startingarea of the game,before the chaosand panicsets
intothe level.
32. AmyBrockbank
32
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I wantedtomake a small forestareaaroundthe lake,to addto the peaceful surroundingsof this
area.I useddifferenttree modelsinthisareatogive the lake some variety.Iscaledthe treesup
slightlytomake themtoweroverthe player,sothe treeslookbigger,andlooklike there’smore to
explore whenlookingatthe treesinfirstperson.
33. AmyBrockbank
33
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Here is the model packI usedforthe differenttrees.Itiscalledterrainassets,andcontains12
differenttree models,some rockmodels,grassmodelsandtexturestouse.Ithoughtthis packwas
one of the mostuseful Idownloaded,asthe tree modelswere of goodquality,andworkingwith
themwas easy.
34. AmyBrockbank
34
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
In the middle of the areathere isa lake.I wantedthe lake tolookpeaceful andcalm, muchlike the
restof the area. I addeda rock intothe lake fromthe same assetpack as I didthe treesto add
decorationtothe lake,andmake the entire arealookmore interestingforthe playertoexplore and
lookaroundin.
35. AmyBrockbank
35
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Originally,Ididn’tintendforthe playertobe able tojumpintothe lake,butafterdoingsome
necessaryadjustmentstothe jumpingmechanicsof the level (Imade the gravityslightlylower,and
increasedthe jumpheight,whichmakessense asthe levelissetinspace.),Ineededtoaddan
underwatersectiontothe bottomof the lake,if the playerdidfindthemselveswantingtoexplore
underthe lake.
I texturedunderneaththe lake withthe same sandtexture Iusedonthe lake nearthe mountains.I
alsoaddeda layerof dirtto graduallygofrom grassto sand, insteadof justgoingstraightfromone
texture toanother.
The playercan alsotake a closerlookat the rock from underwater.
36. AmyBrockbank
36
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
I addeda fence tothe lake,too.Iput thisin originallytopreventthe playerfromjumpingintothe
lake,butafterchangingthe jumpingmechanics,the fence wasmainlyjustthere forshow.Toadd in
the fences,Ifilled1/3of the edge of the lake withfences,andthencopiedandpastedthe rest,
adjustingtheirpositionslightly.Ifeltthistechnique workedquite well,asthe playercouldnotpass
throughjustby walking,asthere were nogaps.
I wantedthe fence tolookquite old,like ithadbeenthere foryears,tosuitthe lookof the restof
the planet,andto give the worldsome backstoryof it beingabandoned anduninhabited.
37. AmyBrockbank
37
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
As a little secret,Iaddedatreasure chestina hiddenareaaroundthe lake.Iwantedto adda secret
area,that the playerwouldhave tofindfromthe start,and giventhatthisis one of the most
complex areasof the game,I thoughtthiswas the perfectplace toput hiddentreasure.
The box cannotbe opened,butthatissomethingIwouldaddressif Iwasto editthe game further.
38. AmyBrockbank
38
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Aftercreatingthese three areas,Idecidedthatthe middle of mylevellookedratherbarren,soI
thoughtit wouldbe a goodopportunitytoaddsomethingelse tomylevel.Idecidedontwohills,
each containingasmall amountof water,that the playercan explore under.
39. AmyBrockbank
39
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Underwater,the poolsare nothingtoospecial;theyhave the exact same texture underneathasthe
lasttwo lakes.Ijustwantedthese poolstobe somethingadditional thatthe playercanexplore if
theywantedto.To create these poolsIraisedthe terrain,andthenloweredthe middle,whereIput
the waterin.
40. AmyBrockbank
40
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Aroundthe edge of the map, I addedmore mountains.Iwantedthese mountainstopreventthe
playerfromlookingoverthe edge of the level.Ialsowantedtomake the landlookmore
mountainous,otherwise the othersetof mountainsIaddedwouldlookrather pointlessinthe
landscape.
41. AmyBrockbank
41
BTEC Level 3 Games Design
Again, to texture these mountains, I used two different textures, one stone texture, and another
mossystone texture.Iplacedthe stone texture onfirst,then,afterloweringthe opacity,Iplacedthe
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.
