I have some basic questions that im having a tough time finding answers to since either they are too basic or just common knowledge.
Let’s dissect this scene for a minute… Now, as i understand it, pillars is a 3d based game with a fixed camera angle so they use 3D techniques. Let’s pretend, hypothetically, that the image is from a 2D isometric tile-based version of the game (my interests). What i have a hard time picking apart is figuring out what the strategy typically would be for creating textures that mimic what is seen in the image below. The tire tracks, for example, are probably painted into the terrain in 3D but how would one approach this in 2D fashion; ginormous base layer texture stretched over a plane grid (my guess), pre-creating tiles and aligning them all, separate object on top of dirt entirely? What about constructing the well in 2D, would you model it then convert it into a sprite or would you have a really really basic plane and just draw the texture as is?
Going to stop you right there. Pillars of Eternity uses isometric 2d backgrounds. They’re built in 3D in another program and prerendered out in a way they can be lit dynamically, but in game they’re just giant 2D textures. The characters are 3D.
So the answer to your question of how to do it, they paint everything uniquely. For a tiled isometric game you don’t always need all the tiles to be the same size, or you can have a couple of unique tiles that work together.
So they create 3d assets but then take the texture they drew and create normal (bump map) + specularity (gloss) + occlusion (shadowing) + displacement (maybe not this one, it takes a lot of topology to work with) textures using the same settings for each texture. that makes sense and probably saves on physical space. Hm does anyone have any recommendations on a good approach for unity specifically?
I was considering using Blender to create my models, hand paint some textures, then use something like crazybump to generate the various textures needed to make each object look good and 3D then compensate for the 2D game with (height mapping ??). Is that a viable approach? Is there a better approach? I am not savvy enough to write my own shaders. The alternative is to maintain the 3D models, i suppose since that’s much much easier, and just use the normal and image textures directly but that would probably lose the drawn feel that im really hoping to achieve in my own game. I expect the answer to be “it depends, what are you most comfortable with” but any tips or external references would be greatly appreciated!