Okay this will be fun:
There is a work chart template I could give you but its of little use if you have no experience.
Lets Begin
First you will need a detailed layout of your environment. This is because, in the industry, you are often required to know exactly which assets you need and where so the level artists aren’t mucking around to anyones schedule but theirs. You must then present your draft alongside any concept pieces. I take it however that you’re doing this as a one man team and you already have a general idea of layout.
Second you grab a program such as world machine. I know its expensive but here are a few free alternatives: __http://planetside.co.uk/products/download-tg3/file/tg3-w64?id=8__ __starscenesoftware.com - starscenesoftware Resources and Information.
These programs are essential if you need mountainous or rough terrain to look natural as Unity’s in-build terrain sculptor is a bit rubbish.
So what you want is a heightmap in .RAW format, you can find out how to use the listed programs and implement the heightmaps on these forums and respective websites easily.
Generating Believable Heightmaps
Don’t force the features, let mountains and hills flow into themselves naturally (sorry if thats vague but its the best advice I can give unless you buy a copy of world machine). You need to make a decision as to the rough size of the terrain and once you know you may generate → export → import
Assets
The biggest and most important part of any immersive environment it whats in it. You need to consolidate your assets. You need everything at once. Don’t leave it to “model the rocks later” or “import foliage tomorrow” (its inefficient, lazy and might cause you serious problems down the line) you must have absolutely everything you think you’ll need before you start.
Using Foliage Correctly
NEVER just place trees for the sake of placing trees. Every tree must be carefully considered, “what does it add to this zone?” “Does it provide agreeable shadows?” and so on. DO NOT carpet an area in grass, its ugly and horrible for performance, I see so many Unity users just slap on grass everywhere because it looks slightly better than flat texture.
Heres How I Go About Ground
Use a bumped terrain shader or, even better, RTP 3 which I couldn’t recommend enough. Paint appropriately.
You’ll realise how ugly flat ground is and instead of instinctively carpeting take these steps:
- Use detail meshes instead of tex.
- Don’t restrict yourself to just foliage in your detail class, I highly recommend small, lowploy stones and so on.
- Paint conservatively! This means only where it adds something to your terrain, not just “because”.
- It should be there purely to break up the profile of the terrain and roughen it, not to make it seem like a jumble of assets.
Rocks ‘n’ Boulders
I don’t know if you’re using pre-made assets or your own but remember that immersion and that “wow factor” is purely down to asset quality. Settle for nothing but the best. Then don’t even settle for the best of the best… Then settle for those. (just pick good assets okay…)
Michael O is one of my favourite Unity artists, I’ve seen his work in the Witcher 3 and of course the many brilliant unity packages he produces.
Rock are a great way to break up areas and create pathways so the better quality rocks you have, the better your game looks.
Particles
I love 'em. You can make a scene bubbly and fun or grim and evil with particle effects alone. Don’t be afraid to use coloured fog and motes.
One cool thing you can do is add random direction and rotation multipliers to a Shruken emitter to simulate small flies of bugs. (I love that).
Avoid fire whenever possible.
Lighting
Baked or realtime? I don’t know. No one ever knows.
Baked is performance friendly and pretty but your brain notices that time isn’t passing after while (even if you don’t).
Realtime is expensive but can be supplemented with GI (global illumination) tools which are great and look very handsome indeed.
I’ll keep this post updated when I think of new things but i’m tired and my fingers hurt.
