I made this level in blender, looking for advice.
6 months ago by Sunless Game Studios to c/gamedev
Making levels in Blender feels a little backwards, but the results speak for themselves. Does anyone have a better way? Please share. I'd love a way to setup materials faster, tile out floors, and separate out the collision shapes .
Thanks for the reply. Clunky would be the word I use. I would say it's perfect for finishing a level, for all the reasons you mentioned. However, I feel like there could be something even simpler. For example, those crazies that use Hammer to make Godot maps, like that but in a more sensible direction.
Good question. These programs have worked for a lot of people, but they just didn't click for me. To try and put it into words, they feel like they're one layer of abstraction away from where I need them to be.
Compare it to Paint.net and Photoshop. By the time Photoshop has booted, and loaded the image - I've already done what I want in Paint.net. It's not that Photoshop is bad, or Paint.net is better. It's just for 99% of image editing paint.net is good enough.
There exists a niche for a paint.net of map editors. It would be designed around creating a scene that you could import and finish in blender. Some ideas:
- GLTF Material Managing ( Resolutions, maps, folders, maybe tie-ins to existing programs like PS and Aseprite. )
- CSG To another level of abstraction, but would bake to a mesh with UV's prior to blender import. Think modifiers built around game design and not just 3d modelling.
- Automatically handle naming of objects for importing purposes in Godot or other engines.
- Provide an anchor point for blend file assets, to decrease linking and appending complexity, while also keeping assets separate.
- Extend all this into some form of version control
This all basically exists in some form or another, but not as a standalone tool. I think the idea is neat, but most people get by with all the programs they use just fine. Something like this is really gratuitous and only serves people who struggle. If I ever get good enough I may try making it myself.
Not as a standalone tool you say?
Just wanna throw out that I've managed to decompile Source engine maps and then at least semi successfully import them into Godot.
BSPSource ->
GodotVMF ->
Most of the 'brushes' are at least in the right places, lol, sometimes the textures even work correctly!
I imagine this would go a good deal more smoothly if you had the actual proper VMF to start with.
Ok, was busy, now: actual map review:
Well, to be frank, its pretty simple.
Basically an elevator shaft through presumably the spine of a module of a spaceship or station?
Technical process aside, what I would do if I were you would be to literally get pencil paper and a ruler, and draft out the design of the ship.
While drafting on paper, make things with as many basic level elements as you can, as modular components:
Hallway 1 Wide, 5 Long
Hallway 2 Wide, 3 Long, etc.
Hallway 45 deg Junction
Hallway 4 way 90 deg junction, etc
Minor Airlock/Door/Firebreak
Major Airlock/Door/Firebreak
Officers Quarters
Regular (Group) Quarters
Bridge Command
Elevator Shaft (depending on your game, may make sense to have auxilliary ladders if say the power fails)
Utility Access Shaft (same with hallways, have modular forms for different sizes/patterns)
... etc.
Then, when you've got a design drafted out for the ship, identify the different modules you are using in the paper version, you could mock them up fast in Blender, import... or, you could mock them up those in CSGs to just experience the outline of the 3d space, then, snap em together like legos, according to your drafted blueprint.
Maybe use basic CSGs also as placeholders for prominent 'props' in specific rooms.
I would imagine doing this or something like it would result in a fairly rapid ability to prototype ship designs, and get the jist of a feel for them in 3d, and you'll likely discover things you want to tweak or alter.
The addon:
CSG Toolkit - Enhance your Blockout Speed
Is maybe a way to do this in Godot, or there's maybe the Meridian thing to use Blender as a level editor.
Personally, I'd suggest just trying to blockout the level first, to get a solid rough draft you find agreeable, before moving on to setting up more properties of the map like dynamic elements or texture layers and lighting and such.
As mentioned earlier in my other comment... yeah the actual technical method you use may vary, there are basically varying degrees of half to mostly baked ways to go about it... poke atound with a few of thrm and hopefully you find something that makes sense to you.
Also, ... lol, what is the picture you've set as your player avatar, haha?
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Why? That's a perfectly valid way to do it, and it's generally the approach "power users" take. The feature set in an engine's level editor can't really compete with dedicated tools. For example, in Blender you can make use of geometry nodes for creating procedural content. Big (or at least funded) studios typically use Houdini.
For Godot, read through this section of the docs to leaen how to import collisions
save