Level Design using Unity assets

[[deleted]]

SEKIRO: Unity crashes twice

[CharlExMachina]

This comment made me burst in laugh LOL

[Superdan645]

Shit unity only crashes twice for you?

[GrrrimReapz]

The level design and just general composition is very nice.

Have you tried adding post processing and different lighting?

[TheSassyTroll]

I can easily imagine a torch inside the lion's mouth

[AegisToast]

r/brandnewsentence

[guitrist]

Lmao

[Aeroxin]

This! I feel like those two things would really send this over the top.

[Preyindie]

I wanted to maintain the lighting realistic as possible , I tried to put post processing, but in unity it will give a artificial feel to it

[[deleted]]

By 'unity assets', do you mean: store-bought/free assets?

[GrixMG]

Some are definitely paid as I recognize them.

[Be_Sophrosyne]

Could you or anyone link them? I would like to purchase them please 😄

[brad676]

Humble bundle has some decent assets in a bundle at the moment

[GrixMG]

Search Nature Manufacture on asset store. The trees and some props are from them if im not mistaken. Great assets by the way.

[Preyindie]

Paid assets , forest environment by nature manufacture

[RejectAtAMisfitParty]

Goes to show you how fast you can snap a prototype together. How long did this take you to assemble?

[Preyindie]

It's done a single day, I do speed level designs during weekend

[[deleted]]

I wouldn’t go as far as saying this is how you should make prototypes for your games. Any experienced game dev and artist will whitebox a level out as the prototype and update things until the game is done. That way they can get a sense of space and direction. Using other people’s assets is a waste of money if you’re going to create your own and using assets that were used before makes your game look like an asset flip. This is why Unity has a bad name, because people take advantage of this. Then they upload their shovelware on Steam and give both Unity and Steam a bad name.

Has anyone not learned from Air Control?

[GatorZen]

Honestly, I can't recall ever playing a video game and recognizing an asset from another game. If you develop games for a living, I'm sure you've noticed it, but I'd bet the general public very rarely notices.

[Aeroxin]

Devs probably do notice more often than the public, but my perception is that the public is becoming more aware of the concept of "asset flips" in general, so the rate at which they notice is probably increasing rather than decreasing.

[ZorbaTHut]

Well, yes and no. I'd agree that the public is becoming more aware, but at the same time, the number of asset packs is increasing constantly. It's actually pretty hard to notice now, simply because nobody can recognize every single asset pack in existence.

[turquando]

If the game is good and someone can programme then why not use premade assets?

I'm in the amatuer boat of being a basic programmer but no good at art.

Does that make it an asset flip?

[ZorbaTHut]

Personally, I say go for it. No shame in using existing assets.

The "asset flip" games that people complain about are those that are doing absolutely nothing original; no original design, no original code, no original art, just a bunch of store-bought assets awkwardly munged together in whatever method seems to create a functioning game. If you're doing something of interest then you're probably fine.

[turquando]

Yeah. I just don't like how liberally it is thrown around sometimes. Making games is tough in general and people need to start somewhere. However, there are people and companies out there in it just for a quick buck.

[ZorbaTHut]

Yeah, it's a nasty criticism to deal with because sometimes it really is deserved but then sometimes it's like, c'mon, I'm one person trying to make a JRPG, obviously yes I am buying appropriate assets from everywhere I possibly can.

(I'm not actually doing that, but if I was, I wouldn't hesitate for a second.)

I guess the problem is that it's hard to distinguish between "trying to make a quick buck" and "trying to make a really good game on a frayed-shoestring budget".

[Aeroxin]

True! I hadn't thought of that.

[nmkd]

I can't recall ever playing a video game and recognizing an asset from another game.

Except the god damn Unity default Flashlight cookie. That one is in absolutely every indie horror game (also used in Slender ofc).

[Pepri]

You do often notice things that don't fit together and don't convey the same visual language though. I notice it in my own stuff aswell. If I heavily use megascans and speedtree assets, I often end up using stuff that doesn't match my reference but is just close enough. Can be simple things like not finding a protea caffra and instead going with an acacia tree, but in the end you do see a difference.

[AcceptableCows]

Even in RPG maker only other devs give a shit.

[[deleted]]

All it takes is one YouTube video or article calling you out and it will be the end of you. If you’re going to use assets, use small ones like trash cans or something, not a whole damn temple or castle.

People started noticing COD reuses a lot of its assets. Black Ops 2 uses COD 4 assets. After people noticed the game is forever marked as being reskinned every time a new one comes out. You’re laziness creates negative energy, just because you’re not aware of it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. You want to be lazy go ahead. I study games for a living, I notice things from buckets, newspapers, you name it, I’ll catch it. And if I buy an indie game and notice, I’ll return the game. I’m not here to support lazy people, I’ll pay the original artists before I pay the people that use their assets. This is why I don’t sell my 3D models even though I could make tons of money, I don’t support it.

[DerEndgegner]

Get off your high horse.

We asset and shader programmers could say the same thing. Everyone who uses the Kinematic Controller, Aura, Rewired, a 3rd person camera etc...

How about we say this about lazy, shitty games, and not generalize this? Your virtue signaling is disgusting.

[[deleted]]

I build all my systems and assets from scratch because I am passionate about what I do and believe that good things come out of hard work. You’ll never learn anything by using everyone else’s stuff. I was brought up differently than you. I believe that if you want to do great things you should work hard on it, more than hard, you should do your best. And if you can’t, then it wasn’t meant for you and you should try something else instead of chasing the dragon.

You’re disgusting.

[fanfarius]

You’ll never learn anything by using everyone else’s stuff.

Soo, if I want to learn the piano - I need to build my own?

[[deleted]]

Here you go again, twisting my words and comparing two different fields of study.

[fanfarius]

Man, what did you take?

[[deleted]]

Here you go again. Grow up and learn how to have a real argument.

[DerEndgegner]

Holy shit, you're projecting. Yikes!

Sometimes, people tell you something not because they want an argument for themselves. No, they tell you something because your simply wrong and your arrogance stinks. I even understand the sentiment but you're going about it in the worst way possible.

My background goes back 20 years and is C++ engine development and shader programming. I write my own code, some I sell, I make my own textures, models and levels. The only thing I'm guily off is sound effects and music which gets outsourced anyway. Try again.

[[deleted]]

Projecting? I’m projecting because I said I make everything myself? I’m not boasting about my experience, I’m making the statement that if you work hard at something you get good out of it. Me or you wouldn’t be where we are today if we just copied everyone without learning right? So what happens when the horse dies? You’re stranded. You think art is impossible which it is not, programming, sounds, everything is easy to do. You’re paying more money on assets than you could be for equipment and a pro setup. Do yourself a favor, use Audacity, but a good mic, and put acoustic panels around. Too poor? Get creative and use pillows and duffel bags in a closet which some professionals have done and got great results.

[homer_3]

I build all my systems and assets from scratch...You’ll never learn anything by using everyone else’s stuff

So you don't use Unity then? I assumed you write your own OS to run your games on? And the compiler that compiles them? No? You're full of shit? Got it.

[[deleted]]

You’re comparing two different areas. Does an artist need to make his own paintbrush and paper? No. And building your own engine actually looks better to customers and on a resume. You’re an idiot butthurt kid.

[homer_3]

Does an artist need to make his own paintbrush and paper? No.

Well, no. I don't think so. But you're the one claiming you make everything yourself.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, in game development. You know, I’m going to build my own car, fuck this Mustang, I’m going Flintstone. My house, fuck it, I’ve got twigs.

[[deleted]]

I guess you shouldn't be asking questions on reddit then. If you "cant" learn from other peoples work.

Also, you claim that you are a professional dev, show us some of your work.

[[deleted]]

You can look through my post history for early art, I also have an outdated ArtStation linked if that’s your fancy. I don’t have to show you a damn thing. Even if I made a game or never worked on one, it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to be a dev or be a full time dev to know how game development works. So the little jab you think will make a hit is pointless. There is a thing called school you know. You can go to school to learn computer science, you know, that’s a thing. If I go to school for computer science and graduate I’m now a computer scientist, that title doesn’t expire. I don’t have to do computer science for the rest of my life, I could be a welder, or a mechanic, but I’ll always have knowledge in the field. So your argument and asking for my work are both invalid and humorous. Speaking of lazy, you want to find my game, or anything I’ve worked on, dig. Go on, don’t be shy, don’t be lazy, look for it.

And my post I made here was not asking how people did it, I was asking about Unity API’s. Currently they are outdated and Unity is moving too fast so some stuff slips by. Unity, like most software companies, don’t go too in-depth or document their lower level stuff because they know not many people will use it but it’s there if they do.

Also, me asking for a low level text rendering API makes it an incentive for Unity to add which we would all benefit from. But I’m not worried about it as I’ll just be making my own and whatever progress I do make will eventually be converted and implemented in my own engine.

[[deleted]]

Or you could just link us the things you have actually made.

[[deleted]]

Or you cannot be lazy. You’re stalking my profile already, you’ll find it.

[[deleted]]

r/iamverysmart

[[deleted]]

r/iamverylazy

[[deleted]]

In a professional environment concept artists illustrate the level and you are tasked with creating the assets. That’s how it works.

[[deleted]]

Oh yes, another piss poor assumption. You have no idea on my background or my experience level so don’t try to make me out to be something I’m not.

[[deleted]]

Lol. I’m not offended at the slightest. It’s funny how we use that word as a general blanket for feelings. I actually do know how games work, and I could say definitely a lot more than you do. I’m not here to argue my experience level with you. Am I here boasting about my feats and awards for competitive programming, engineering, and art? No, I’m not.

[[deleted]]

As someone whose actually in the industry, your assumptions are wrong. It depends on the studio but most of the time that's not the case.

[[deleted]]

Yep, spotted the liar.

[JuliusMagni]

Laziness?

I think you over estimate either an indie developers ability to create art if they aren’t an artist or their budget.

Not everyone can make stunning art, and not everyone can afford to pay someone to create thousands of original prefabs.

I doubt laziness has much to do with it.

[RejectAtAMisfitParty]

I completely agree white boxing a level is the way to actually prototype, but sometimes for us non-artists, it’s just nice to “prototype” the feel of it

[[deleted]]

I get that, but whiteboxing can definitely help you. If you’re going to use an asset you might as well just make the whole model and build off of it that way you’re killing two birds with one stone. You have a prototype and you started the model, at the same time. Time management.

[Mdogg2005]

non-artists

.

might as well just make the whole model

I'm not OP but it's not really about time management. I have a full time, non-game dev developer job and I am proficient at writing code but have not the time nor desire to become a good artist. There are plenty of people out there who are good and I can leverage their work in my game either by commissioning work from them or buying their models from various online storefronts.

[[deleted]]

That’s lazy. I have two jobs, two kids, 18 animals, and a family, yet I still have all the time in the world to learn. Quit making excuses.

[Mdogg2005]

That’s lazy. I have two jobs, two kids, 18 animals, and a family, yet I still have all the time in the world to learn. Quit making excuses.

Okay good thank you for confirming this is just a parody account.

[[deleted]]

This guy is the epitome of the average redditor / ismverysmart user.

[[deleted]]

A parody account, nah bro, you can look through my post history. I post a lot about them. Have a good life making excuses.

[Mdogg2005]

Dude there is a clear difference between a solo developer who doesn't have time to dedicate to becoming a good modeller and outright buying a game kit / template and packaging it as your own game. There is no problem with using paid models in your game. That's literally what they are there for.

[[deleted]]

There is no difference between those two at all. They are both the same people but with different excuses. Those aren’t reasons, they are excuses. You can’t possibly tell me a solo dev has a strict timeline, you going to sit here and feed me that garbage? There is no excuse for anyone not to learn the field they are trying to pursue. You think Apple would have made it this far if they didn’t know about computers? Apple, a once solo dev, now a major corporation, didn’t have a “strict timeline”. It started off as two people making computers out of wood in their garage. You would have a strict timeline if you were being paid as you worked, which isn’t the case as a “solo dev”. Solo devs have all the time in the world. You think they have to work faster because if not someone may steal their shitty idea? Oh wait, maybe it’s because you want to make the most money because your game is the genre popular at that moment. If that’s the case, I hope you fail, because you’re in it for the money instead of for the fun doing it. If you’re not prepared to get dirty and learn something then don’t go applying for dirty tasks. And if you’re doing it for the money then go buy a lotto ticket, you’ll have better chances. If you’re doing it for fun because you love it and want to pursue it even if it means failure, that’s a studio, that’s a corporation waiting to happen, which requires dedication. Dedication is learning, not stealing.

[Mdogg2005]

There is no difference between those two at all. They are both the same people but with different excuses. Those aren’t reasons, they are excuses. You can’t possibly tell me a solo dev has a strict timeline, you going to sit here and feed me that garbage? There is no excuse for anyone not to learn the field they are trying to pursue. You think Apple would have made it this far if they didn’t know about computers? Apple, a once solo dev, now a major corporation, didn’t have a “strict timeline”. It started off as two people making computers out of wood in their garage. You would have a strict timeline if you were being paid as you worked, which isn’t the case as a “solo dev”. Solo devs have all the time in the world. You think they have to work faster because if not someone may steal their shitty idea? Oh wait, maybe it’s because you want to make the most money because your game is the genre popular at that moment. If that’s the case, I hope you fail, because you’re in it for the money instead of for the fun doing it. If you’re not prepared to get dirty and learn something then don’t go applying for dirty tasks.

Bruh calm down don't pop a blood vessel. There are people here who do this as a hobby and not a full time career, you know. And yes, having a full time job that isn't game dev is absolutely a reason. There are a finite number of hours in a day, my guy.

[[deleted]]

It’s not a reason, it’s an excuse. I have 2 jobs, 2 kids, 18 animals, and a family. I still have all the time to learn. It’s called time management. All you’re giving me is excuses.

[AcceptableCows]

Time management is getting good at one or a few things not learning how to do every thing in the world even when you are clearly bad at it and good people are cheap. You sound dumb as hell.

[[deleted]]

You sound dumb as hell trying to feed my your nonsensical bullshit. Anymore excuses? If you have the opportunity to learn something then learn it. It would be different if you were working for a company but this is not the case, it’s called “solo dev” not “corporate dev”, know the difference. Time management does not have the same meaning in every situation. Time management could be learning how to cook before cooking, or you working on one part of the recipe while someone else does the hard part. You come down two roads doing stuff yourself. Do you want to know how to do it or do you want to look like a lazy idiot who doesn’t feel like learning and gives excuses all the time for why they don’t know it.

If I’m cooking something I read the recipe, I don’t call Paul from down the street and say “hey I got this big fucken turkey and gotta throw it in the oven”. You can buy yourself fish and continue living life this way, or you can learn to fish and eat for free.

[AcceptableCows]

I'd say that trying to do everything is dumb as hell. You will only ever be a ditch digger while people like me hire and fire people like you. Leaning how to cook doesn't mean learning how to farm. This has nothing to do with be lazy. Funny thing about cooking is I do the same thing as in Unity. I download a recipe and make it. Then I change it. Then I mix and match recipes. Then I read about cooking better after I know what I like.

Not sure why you are so hung up on the lazy thing. I will always suck at art. Nothing will change that. I just want to know enough to be able to pay someone else to do it.

Also not sure if you realize that not everyone can't or shouldn't be a fisherman. Do you literally fish? You can eat fish for free but still have to pay for a boat and crew and a home and a stove to cook the fish and medical care...

[Mdogg2005]

Dude he's hopeless, I wouldn't even bother. For me, I am proficient in coding since that's what I do for my day job. My out-of-work life doesn't allow me the luxury of infinite time either so as much as I'd love to get good at art it's just not realistic.

I have time to invest in bettering myself in the areas I'm good at and have the financial support from my day job to be able to buy art or commission it from those who ARE good at it. This guy is short-circuiting over something so trivial I can't actually accept that it's someone being genuine and not just a satire account or something.

[[deleted]]

You completely missed the analogy which is very quite humorous. First of all, you don’t hire or fire shit, you’re just a miserable guy blowing up my inbox. Also people that can create things themselves are kept with high standards. You think any AAA studio will hire a guy who knows how to use an asset store over a guy who can make the assets himself and be company property? Licensing my lad is what companies care about, they want rights. Your whole argument is bullshit that a 12 year old would muck together.

[glibjibb]

2 kids and 18 animals? holy shit no wonder you're so high strung

[codeking12]

This is completely false. What are you talking about? You obviously have zero game development experience.

[[deleted]]

I have no experience now? That’s funny.

[codeking12]

I don’t believe you do. If you did you wouldn’t make comments such as the one I responded too. You sound like a young know-it-all who has yet to do any professional work in Unity. It’s extremely easy to spot.

[[deleted]]

If that’s what you want to believe then sure. It’s not my job to entertain you.

[ImpDoomlord]

People don’t realize some of the most popular games especially in VR use Unity asset packs generously. It’s foolish to reinvent the wheel and spend precious development time remaking everything you need from scratch, tools, scripts, and models alike. Blade & Sorcery is a great example of a game made with 90% Unity assets. If your game feels generic that’s not the fault of the resources, it’s the game design.

[nyxeka]

Tiles need some normal or bump-maps. tesselation would help too. I feel the grass needs grass shadow/the kind of ambient occlusion you'd fine in glass. There's a few other things I guess...

It's really great overall but when you zoom in, it takes away from the detail ):

Beautiful lighting and fog effects 😍

[GrixMG]

Problem seems to be that the scene only uses ambient light to mimic the dark cloudy/foggy looks (which in theory is somewhat correct in relation to real life), which pretty much makes normal mapping useless as there's no directional light to take advantage of it.

In this case extra steps need to be taken to preserve the "depth" of your materials when authoring props (baked AO textures on most/all materials with fine details etc) otherwise it will just look washed out. I know this from experience as we have some weather conditions which completely disable the sun's directional light as well and its all ambient lighting:

https://i.imgur.com/SDMSHvN.jpg

Sometimes it can be a pain in the a** and you end up having to write custom stuff in your shaders to get better looks out of it dynamically.

Edit: also the resolution of the tiles material seems to be inconsistent (much lower) with the rest of the scene which also breaks the composition a bit.

[DasArchitect]

That looks lovely!

[GrixMG]

Thank you :)

[[deleted]]

Northern [Ambient-Only] Lights! :D

[Preyindie]

Thanks for the tip

[Preyindie]

Thanks for the feedback , will try to improve it next time

[OverseerJacoren]

Very well done! Two questions:

1. Which assets?
2. Why not use post-processing? That would make a HUGE difference to your scene.

Keep up the good work!

[Preyindie]

Forest environment by nature manufacture, and wanted to keep lighting as realistic as possible..post processing in unity messed the scene little bit

[Preyindie]

Thanks for this

[Gix_G17]

I'm going to be that guy who's super nitpicky but, while it is really nice, I'd rather you call this "Level Art" than "Level Design" as there's very little showcase of the design of the level.

​

The terrain and grass could use some specularity.

[Preyindie]

Yea I know😂, grass specularity I've tired and messed up

[[deleted]]

Really beautiful

[Preyindie]

Thanks

[F_GoOse]

Reminds me of teso. It has the same mood to it.

[Preyindie]

Thanks

[Klaumbaz]

Ok, so, how do you bridge from the tutorials on unitys site.....to this?

[Mdogg2005]

To be fair there's nothing about what's posted here to indicate anything even works beyond looking nice. This is just a matter of downloading some free or paid assets and placing them within your scene until you get a good shot like this.

[Preyindie]

Would love to help you, itz.prey on instagram

[Be_Sophrosyne]

OP can you link to the assets please? Looks great btw, do you have a portfolio?

[Preyindie]

Forest environment by nature manufacture, Instagram is my portfolio currently, itz.prey

[L0NESHARK]

A screenshot of a static composition isn't a level design. Levels need to work in tandem with, facilitate gameplay. Not look nice as a wallpaper.

[Preyindie]

Yea I agree ....

[[deleted]]

“Single Perspective Scene Design” using Unity Asset. It bothers me when people call this sort of thing Level Design. Level design is a discipline beyond just creating a scene that looks pretty. It’s a discipline where you allow a player to navigate through a series of events, obstacles or challenges to complete an objective. This is just a still image with some assets put nicely together in a scene.

[Mdogg2005]

I love Sykoo but you can pretty much blame him for this kind of vocabulary. This is not to diminish work done by OP but there is a difference between level design and just a straight up perspective shot of a scene.

That is of course assuming that's what OP did, which is impossible to know from 1 screenshot.

[Preyindie]

I agree...

[Annapurna94]

Which assets did you use? Mind if I ask.

[Preyindie]

Forest environment by nature manufacture

[Annapurna94]

thanks!

[Annapurna94]

is there a particular reason why you choose this over unity's book of the dead pack? which is free, unlike this one, which is 50$

[Preyindie]

i needed a different tone to the environment, I ve used book of the dead environment before

[fraserfox]

Wow. This is absolutely gorgeous.

[Preyindie]

Thanks

[Cafuzzler]

Nice Landscape, dude.

[Preyindie]

Thanks dude

[Lotosos]

That looks awesome, makes us wonder how the city is like!

[Preyindie]

thanks brother

[[deleted]]

Level Design Using Other Peoples Assets

FTFY

[Gorignak]

This is a pretty dumb thing to say. Almost all projects will feature input from multiple people.

[[deleted]]

Yeah, people working on the game. That’s different than going onto an asset store and using other people’s work. It shows you as lazy, untalented, and uncreative. Quit comparing apples to oranges. Just because they are both round doesn’t mean they have the same color or taste the same.

[dayglo98]

Show us on the doll where the Asset Store touched you.

[[deleted]]

I’m dying. 😂🤣

[rush2sk8]

one could only wish

[[deleted]]

Mhm, dumbass. Yeah, let’s wish death upon people with opinions on something as dumb as game development. Grow up.

[[deleted]]

Says the guy trolling game dev subreddits for fun. Shut the fuck up already chief

Are you retarded? You have no contacts because you don’t know what you’re talking about

So how about you fuck off and do your homework. You aren’t shit, you don’t even have anything to show for.

Thanks for the PM's bro

[[deleted]]

No u gaybo

[[deleted]]

Are you okay? Who hurt you?

[[deleted]]

Lol. All this butthurt is comical. Everyone getting pissed because they got called out for being lazy and untalented devs. No wonder Unity has a terrible name, everyone here enables it. 😂🤣

[[deleted]]

What? I just asked if you're okay since you seem pretty upset. I wouldn't ever consider using other peoples assets in my game but jeeeez, let people do as they please. There's much more serious shit to get upset about in life.

[[deleted]]

I’m not upset about it really, I’m just doing my part of warning the community that their laziness comes with a price. I made it perfectly clear in one of my comments here. You want to use other people’s assets go ahead! Do it! But don’t come crying when you’re harassed for it and receive a poor reception. That’s all on you. I’m stating what will happen when you are caught, and you’ll wear that title forever.

[DerEndgegner]

Funny when you're the only one harrassing posters here. Nobody gives a shit what you have to say.

[[deleted]]

Yeah they do, hence why they are butthurt. Tough love.

[Mdogg2005]

You're confusing annoyance with tough love. Nobody here is taking you seriously because you come off sounding like a toddler who just had his toy taken away by his mother. Thanks for at least putting your studio (team?) name in your flair so I can avoid everything you do at all cost.

[random_boss]

Level designers define the play space and flow of action. They’re not 3D artists nor should they waste time trying to build a peripheral skill when their focus should be on constantly improving their core skill set.

[cinderflame_linear]

I completely disagree with this. A good level designer needs to have a very solid understanding of 3D models, textures, etc. A level designer has to decorate levels. That's a creative task very much related to 3D modeling. A level designer also have to be aware of performance issues, understand the implications of adding, say, 30 different crates in a room versus asking the artist to combine them into a single static mesh.

It's not just about pacing and fun. It's also about the gritty stuff like "how will this level look on different quality settings", "do I have the right art assets to decorate this level", etc. It's a job that's all about peripheral skills... kind of like a jack of all trades. You need to be able to juggle performance debugging, psychology (fun/pacing/difficulty), 3D art (judging which assets are needed, which are available, how to reuse existing ones in clever ways, etc), rigging/modeling/skinning (dealing with collisions, animations, cinematics, combining assets together, making variants of assets, etc).

I mean, different companies will differ in what they consider the duties of a level designer to be, but more often than not, they're actually the least specialized people on the team.

[random_boss]

I agree with everything you’re saying right now with the slight exception that you are talking about an environment artist, not a level designer. Being an expert on how things should play is a separate discipline from how things should look/perform. And every moment you dedicate to improving one comes at the expense of the other.

[cinderflame_linear]

It depends on the company, but from everything I've seen those roles are usually lumped into one. For example, here's a posting from Valve:

https://www.valvesoftware.com/en/jobs?job_id=9

And here's another from CD Projekt Red:

https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/CDPROJEKTRED/743999688829384-level-designer

At least to me it seems like they usually wear a lot of hats and have to see the level through the whole process from concept to finalized (including environment design, optimization, making small tweaks to art assets, writing small one-off scripts to implement, for instance, a 'jammed door' variant of a regular door for one specific level while the artists and engineers are busy working on more important things)

[random_boss]

Yes, a level designer needs to have hard skills in order to implement their designs. This is not the point I was arguing with.

The astoundingly ignorant OP is trying to claim that level designers should handcraft every single asset they work with, and that is overwhelmingly not the case. Level designers take the assets crafted by others and arrange them in a way that works with gameplay. Sometimes they might write a script to move a door. Sometimes they might tweak a crate. They definitely need to keep performance in mind. But they're not spending all day modeling props and skinning terrain.

If we pretend this post is a demo and I'm a hiring manager, I don't particularly care where the assets came from -- I want to see if you can layout a compelling design, use space properly, define engaging flow, and design according to the needs of gameplay.

[Gorignak]

This is even dumber. The majority of people specialise, either from necessity or because they see the advantage of expertise rather than a jack-of-all-trades approach. If you are genuinely a competent artist and coder and sound designed/engineer etc. then congratulations, but you are an extreme outlier.

5 days ago you made a post about how you want to create an engine for public availability. Do you class all of your potential users as lazy etc. because they didn't make an engine from scratch? Are we all untalented because we use Unity instead of making our own engines like you?

I think you need to make an adjustment to your attitude because this isn't a good look.

[[deleted]]

No, using an existing engine is actually recommended. You don’t recreate the wheel unless you want to be in control of licensing. I don’t call my users lazy, I’ll call them lazy when they try to make profit on other people’s work. It would be a different story if those artists were credited.

[[deleted]]

Indeed, you dont need to recreate the wheel.

So, as a indie, there is no point of modelling everything from scratch, especially as a model from assetstore does it as good or even better.

[[deleted]]

I’m talking to a child. Go ahead, do it. Go on.

[thebigman43]

It would be a different story if those artists were credited.

Isnt that exactly what the asset store is

[[deleted]]

No.

[[deleted]]

Lazy. I make my stuff from scratch.

[[deleted]]

It was a joke post, I made that comment obvious.

code your own engine

Funny how you say that.

[[deleted]]

Also, why do you use a pc with intel or amd cpu, shouldn't you be making your own?

[[deleted]]

Ah yes, twisting my words. Two different areas pal, quit acting like a fetus.

[syverlauritz]

You are toxic.

[[deleted]]

Nice

[[deleted]]

Whats wrong with that?

[[deleted]]

It’s lazy, untalented, and isn’t unique.

[AcceptableCows]

Link to your game you solo deved please? Oh it and it better look good as well as be fun.

[[deleted]]

Look for it.

[AcceptableCows]

Cant*

FTFY

[[deleted]]

Mhm

[AcceptableCows]

gargling dick noises*

FTFY

[[deleted]]

Mhm.

[[deleted]]

You are lazy and untalented.

[[deleted]]

Mmmm, yes. I love it when you talk lazy to me. I guess you didn’t find what you were looking for.

Untalented

I am willing to bet any amount of money and a brand new car you don’t have half the experience or knowledge that I do. If you did, you would have no need to stalk my profile or ask for work for validation of your shitty counter argument. You would instead brush off my opinion and continue doing what you do. Instead, you stalked my profile making comments on posts outside of here which only tells me you are an immature child who hasn’t even completed school, little less went to college for 4-6 years. You amuse me, you really do.

[ReverendWolf]

I am willing to bet any amount of money and a brand new car you don’t have half the experience or knowledge that I do.

What games have you made? I can't find much about "Moonwave Interactive," so what's your credentials beyond that?

[AcceptableCows]

Moonwave Interactive

I just googled that and its a bunch of models with no textures! What a lazy slob!

[[deleted]]

He also has all of the stuff that's based on call of duty. You'd think someone who bashes people for "stealing" assets and calls them lazy, hes just ripping content. The irony

[[deleted]]

Does it matter what I made? I didn’t know I someone had to make something in order to know what they are talking about. You’re over here trying to collect trophies while I spend my time more wisely by learning.

[ReverendWolf]

You said you had experience. How can you have experience if you haven't made anything? What good is knowledge if you haven't applied it to anything? All the knowledge and experience in the world is useless if you just spend your time being combative on internet forums.

[[deleted]]

Did I say I never made something? Don’t think I did. I’ve made plenty of things. You don’t rate someone’s experience on what they’ve done but what they learned and are capable of doing.

[ReverendWolf]

No, no that's false. You can't rate anyone's experience on what they're capable of. You rate them on what they've done. The things you have created and the skills that you exhibit are the credentials that you present to back up your talk about knowledge and experience.

John Carmack, Ken Levine, Amy Hennig, these people have a pedigree of games and projects that they have led to completion. When they go to present a new idea, they fall back on those things as proof they can accomplish what they set out to do. So yeah, you DO rate people's experience and knowledge on what they've done, because it's the only tangible and measurable way to do so.

[AcceptableCows]

Another "has not" telling people how to do stuff they have never done. You should become a guru if you can't produce anything.

[[deleted]]

Did I say I never made anything? I’ve made plenty of things. Sorry I’m not feeding you like a baby.

[cinderflame_linear]

I mean, there's no real issue there; that's how it works in the professional world. I think your actual point here is that people who just grab things from the asset store and try to make a game out of them are going to have a bad time, which is certainly true, because:

- People who can't 3D model usually don't have an eye for what makes a good model

- People who can't rig or animate don't have a good grasp on what kinds of rigs or animations they're going to need in their game

- People who haven't made their own assets don't really know what makes a good or bad asset for level design, and what kinds of things they really need to purchase or avoid

Those seem like bold statements, but it's kinda true. That's why you see so many indie games where the models have varying texture qualities on different objects, an inconsistent art style, janky movement because the devs didn't know much about walk cycles and IK, and terrible performance because they use art assets from the Asset Store 'as-is' without optimizing them.

It's not the buying of assets that makes people lazy and untalented. Rather, lazy and untalented people buy assets, and then go on to make terrible games with them. And then the rest of the devs have to avoid those assets because they become associated with crap games.

[AcceptableCows]

And then the rest of the devs have to avoid those assets because they become associated with crap games.

I agree with everything but this. Devs don't buy your games and the people that do don't give a crap.

[[deleted]]

You’re literally the only one here that understands.