Real quick before I ask the question, what I mean by ‘atmosphere’ is just the feel of the game, making it look real, not the literal planetary atmosphere so-to-speak.
Anywho, I’m sure many of you have played Bungie’s Destiny, what I’m trying to do is create an environment that makes you feel like you’re on another planet. Main thing I’m struggling with is the graphic’s side of it, I don’t have any experience with utilizing shaders, or particle systems. I’m developing the project, so anything done programatically is no issue for me. I’ve messed with Unity fog, but it just looks like you painted the terrain yellow, sky isn’t effected at all and gives it a really odd look. Any help on how to make my game look much better? The terrain is ideal for what we’re going for, that part I have no problem with.
Most of the great tools to give you “atmospheric effects” which are usually post-processing shaders - require Unity Pro. Other than that the best advice I can give you is to throw a few giant planet into the sky. One of the most “unsettling” ways to show you’re “not on earth” is to make giant bodies in the sky that are different than the sun and the moon.
See? Looks just like earth, except the sky makes you feel uneasy…
Thanks for the feedback. Currently I only have Unity Free, working on getting Pro. I’ll look into particle clouds or possibly scripting something to imitate those post-processing effects.
You may want to consider teaming up with an artist type - a person with which you can create the vision you have in mind. All the things mentioned in the OP are just tools, it takes a creative to put together an atmosphere that the player can feel.
This is where the term artist/creative is blurry, because there are a large number of developers/coders/designers who can create great atmosphere in games, so the term artist used above isn’t necessarily a 3D guy or concept artist. Possibly a level designer type.
My personal enjoyment entering a new world is seeing the world alive, even if it’s a dead planet. There’s always things moving, even if it’s only particles, dust and gusts of wind, or maybe a scampering 3 legged snozzlepod running for cover in the undergrowth, pushing aside a carnivorous trap plant that repels to the touch of the scurrying alien rodent.
