Hey all,
I am working on a game that will consist of many small scenes that will reuse the game assets. I want the ability to load these scenes from a remote database, so I can create new scenes and edit old ones without updating the app. As I see it, here are my options.
1. Use Asset Bundles
This is probably one of the best ideas, as it will allow me to include new assets with the scenes, but I am afraid the bandwidth requirements would be more than I can handle. The scenes are small (1 room, 5 or 6 low poly models + textures, lightmaps - what can I expect in terms of asset bundle file size?).
2. Remotely Load Scene Files
This seems like a good idea as well, but I am unsure if Unity can do this. Also, if I bake lightmaps, those would have to be downloaded as well.
3. Use an custom XML format for levels
This is what I am doing now, but I am concerned that this may not be the best way to handle things. I am storing information about the scene (and all the objects in the scene) in an XML file, and store that xml file on a server. When I want a particular scene, I download the file and use it to build a scene locally. This is the best for bandwidth, but there is still the limitation of using predetermined assets (and downloading lightmaps if needed). I am only about 50% done with this approach.
Another benefit of this approach is the ability to release a “level editor” at some point of I would like to.
I am open for more suggestions, but those are my options as I see them. What approach would some of you more “seasoned” developers use?