hey, it’s me again and I’m very glad your sharing information on performance and optimization. last month I started on an open world survival game and currently It’s suffering from lag problems I might be a little out of my league with this genre, but I’ll push though somehow.
but man, your scenes look great, and the animation are very smooth. just thought I’d let you know your advice will help me. 
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Hey StarSilver22 ! good to see you and thanks, i try to post things that may help others when i can. Nice to hear your active with a project
You should see the armored skeletons ive been working on, lol. Ive also been working on ghosts which plays a role in the storyline. They are not enemy, they are remnants of the past sending a message.
If you need any help, just send me a DM here, be glad to help if you need it…
I made an audio pass tonight as i just needed to have the base-line audio set up. So youll hear the ocean at the coast (per camera distance), and it fades as you move in-land.
So now that PPE and audio have been set up, its time to work on the saurien camp/teleport area on the west end of the island. Ill be working on the actual lizardman/saurien model for the next few nights. Ear candy:
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Hi warthos3399,
Some great progress there. Looking good.
I guess you have a lot more to do looking at the Game potential with scope for a lot of various Game Play concepts and ideas and I hope that you will continue with equal dedication that is shown to date until you finish the game…
I know it can be very hard work
Kind regards
Peter
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One thing i can say about IAB it really is fun to develop and doesnt feel like a chore (like UE and some in-house engines). All assets for the project are pre-optimized/pre-fabed/pre-modded so i can concentrate on level design and just tweak things here and there.
Yes the game potential and scope is big but do-able (as solo-dev). I love pirate lore, stories, and history, makes a great storyline.
Thank you petercoleman for the comments, IAB will be developed to release, but im still fighting what all us devs do…time.
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Hi warthos3399,
I love Pirates too. I have some in my Hack and Slash project which is currently stuck on an old computer as recently I opened a copy on my current dev machine in the latest version of Unity I use and Unity trashed it so I have to take care of any functional copies I still have and try again later. I would love to get on and continue developing it but as you say time is against us.
I look forward to following the development of your Game.
Kindest regards
Peter
Heres a short video of the WIP saurien camp on the 2nd island, ive changed the lava texture on the ground of the teleporter to a more realistic lava. To the right of the teleporter youll see a stone altar (unfinished), im currently modeling parts for the altar. The sauriens would worship a famous saurien or ancestor, so im working on a saurien skull/headress type idol:
I spent the weekend starting work on Island 3. Island 2 is almost finished (just a few small things to add). Im cutting back a bit on showing ALL of the game, as if i show it all, then there wont be any surprises…
Island 2 has a newly added area (in the NW) that youll find on your own. Besides the 6 islands you can sail to and explore, theres going to be 3 elemental towers (fire/earth/water). To complete the game you must visit and kill the boss from each tower.
Example: posts ago (while making island 1) i showed a SS of the new Rock Golem NPC, he will be the boss in the earth tower, and alot larger (there will be smaller versions of him in game also). Ill have SS or video in the next few days…
This is the base terrain for island 3. Theres a reason i chose this design, as a pirate you had to behave visiting here as if you didnt, you wouldnt make it out alive. You have to enter/dock inside the large cove, so its a protected inlet/outlet, even pirates like a safehaven, lol.
This is a decent sized island with alot of possibilities, alot of fun and storyline to be had. Hint: if you look at the cove, the dock/harbortown will be on the west side of the cove:
thanks for the offer sorry it took so long for me to replay. I’ve been so busy I haven’t barely even worked on my own game lol (that’s a fake laugh btw)
Did you mean if I need help to say so on this forum page, or to click on your profile and start a conversation?
love the looks of the new Island can’t wait to see what you have in store for it 
If you need help click on my profile and start a conversation. You keep mentioning “little out of my league” and your post count is low so ill guess your kinda new, lol…dont worry.
Thanks for the comment! i started outlining the harbor tonight, this island has a bigger harbor town than the 1st island (an intro island), so alot is planned. Now per-storyline this is an important island.
Heres a WIP SS of the start of the harbor area, so many endless possibilities, lol:
Worked for a few hours tonight, now per-workflow any island you see an arch-way like this means 2 things: Important main storyline/quest info, or lots of treasure. Visual cues play a big role…
Please remember the Unity Engine itself is CPU intensive so use GPU instancing (if needed, per project/situation) to improve/balance performance. So far ive not needed to use it, as correct static batching has done well. There are conditions for static batching (model import settings: Read/Write on, etc.) so make sure your models/mats are correctly set up for static batching.
Current WIP progress:
Very early WIP video of the 3rd island, im still amazed at what the BuiltIn renderer can do…
Workflow info so you understand the procedures i follow for IAB. This is what i was taught: You must have a “plan”/workflow for your project and it will be changed and refined as you progress. Yea, he was right, lol. Heres my short list without elaberation…
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Build the islands(6)/towers(3).
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Add AI and enemy/NPCs.
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Add teleporters/fast travel.
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Add loot chests/treasure.
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Once islands/towers are finished use top-down SS’s to develop a Map or travel map.
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Add combat and interactions.
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Add questing and dialogue systems.
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Add cut-scenes (island to island travel scenes, interaction scenes with NPC’s, etc.).
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Complete UI (settings/options/menu, etc.).
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Final optimization/preps.
As a solo dev, developing IAB (really a small team based/scale project), ive done well so far. Bummer is i cant fire anyone, lol. Island 3 has drasticly changed and is looking great: added warehouses, inn/brothel, civilian houses, cannon bases at cove entrance, and more. Video this weekend…
Get this, i have a youtube channel as a repository for videos i show in updates here. Lots of great comments, but a few of the public comments are almost a joke or meme, lol (and i quote):
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“It’s looking like Risen, it is Risen or some kind of TES mod ?”
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“Youtube says this is Skyrim footage.”
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“It’s obvious you never tried to make a game so refrain from being a jackass.”
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“Not sure if early alpha or Skyrim.”
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“Is it pirates of the carribean game?.”
Ok so now im accused of being a modder, a Skyrim hacker/modder, a jackass that is not a game developer, or developing a pirates of the carribean game, lol. This is how stupid people can be. I dont hide, and i provide alot of info, this is 2024, you can easily research me (who i am, what ive done, Unity, YouTube, FB, etc.).
Ill take the Risen and Skyrim references… (as IAB is inspired by the Risen series) Thank you, lol. The rest is called “laziness” or “not doing your homework”…
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Sorry the video is late, but alot of work has been done to island 3, and i wanted to show more progress
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Cannon towers have been set up on both sides of the cove inlet, each tower has 9 cannons (3 per side).
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Harbor holding area (cargo/supplies) added.
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Many NPC’s added (roving/stationary guards, citizens, etc.).
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Rotated the skybox to line up with directional light angle (almost forgot about that one, lol).
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Re-design of the Inn interior, and working on Governors house.
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Many props added.
I love this point in the game dev workflow. Because by now all assets for the game have been made/setup/pre-optimized/prefabbed/etc. I can now concentrate on level/scene design, may have to custom model here and there, or modify something, but for the most part the hard work is done:
Worked on island 3’s harbor tonight, im really loving the sharp shadows and camera effects (PPE and Beautify combo). This is what the BuiltIn renderer is capable of, and more…
It might not be HDRP, but its close and has a nice feel/look to it. SS of tonights work:
My work for the weekend, spread out and expand. Theres now 4 ways out of harbor town, 2 in the south leading to the cannon towers, and 2 to the north leading to their respective sides (east/west).
Currently running at 60-80 fps with no optimization done, as the scene progresses ill add in Frustum Culling. Heres a top down SS to show paths added/direction, etc.
I have to explain the next SS of island 3. Ive set up the fortress/castle to the north of harbor town on a mountain top. Alot of work done, heres the updates:
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Updated the house texture (game-wide), as it had a plaster white look on the outside walls (check earlier SS’s). Now looks the way i intended. I know some of you saw them and said umm that looks like crap because even i did, lol. Just now got around to getting it done.
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This fortress is a new one with an octagon type shape, new textures/models, and the archers (that will be introduced soon) have full access to all walls and towers.
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Fountains have been added, no special function though i can add that at any point.
Video will follow, as im currently adding rocks, plants, characters, particle effects, etc.:
I love this SS. This is from the island 1 fortress, looking at the inn (with the new outside wall texture). Goes to show ya, just one texture update can change the whole look of the project, lol.
I met my goal (workflow-wise), this is exactly what i wanted for the buildings outer walls. It just looks good, the colors and textures mesh or fit well together:
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