Ben White Task 3

For task 3, I have been assigned to create a level in the Unity engine. I will have to establish a

detailed terrain complete with objects and extra details such as trees and grass.

To begin, I firstly created a blank piece of terrain. With this, I used the special tools to create the

mountains and volcanoes seen within the image. I used a mix or raising the terrain, lowering and

softening to create a more realistic, rock, jagged mountain range. I aim to have a large island

complete. I then added a player controller.

Ben White Task 3

I wanted to create some textures to add further detail to my level. I wanted to add a different

texture to my rocky mountains, so have created a cracked rocky surface, in which I would like to

blend in with the original rocky surface already in unity. Similarly, I wanted to improve any grassy

areas by adding a mixture of dirt, so that the same grass texture is not just used over and over for

grassy sections. To begin, I imported the texture and set the dimensions to 1024x1024 px. I then

used a filter tool to copy the texture by 4x, size it down and place it in so that I had 4 equally sized

rock textures within the 1024x1024 frame. This would then allow me to use the clone tool to blend

in the cracks and rock plates so they look connected. I then removed the filter and imported the

texture into unity.

Ben White Task 3

Above, you can see how I have implemented the dirt and rock textures into my terrain. I still plan to

add more textures and improve surfaces.

Ben White Task 3

I thought about changing my level so that it was darker. To do this, I changed the lighting intensity of

the directional light which covered the land and changed the sky box to a night time setting. With

this, my level had a much creepier tone. After this, I wanted to create a torch for my player so that

he could see in the darkness. To do this, I created two cylinders and combined them together to get

the shape of a torch. I then created a spot light and parented all objects to the players’ camera, so

that they would follow wherever the player looks. I then used NeoTextureEdit to create a texture for

my game. I needed to create a torch texture, so I created a black background with arranged squares

to show grip.

Ben White Task 3

I then went on to create ancient ruins on a small hill to show that an old civilization used to live here.

I also added a castle to the coast to improve this feeling. The ruins consisted in various trees such as

Japanese maple and bamboo. There were also destroyed houses, skeletons, pillars and a shrine. The

castle pack came in various parts and I built the main castle as-well-as a lookout tower. The main

base has 3 towers and a room and the singular tower to the left that can be seen below, however, I

feel that I will need to improve this.

Ben White Task 3

I then went on to sculpt a volcanoe which is connected to my island. I used the terrain editor to

make a rocky surface and used point-lights to show light from the lava. I then constructed another

castle at the base which an ancient civilization built to worship the mountain. It has houses, walls,

torches, shrines, carts, trees and skeletons. I included another stone slab texture that can be seen

dotted about in parts. This was to show that sand has covered the ground overtime and has

consumed the ancient floor.

Ben White Task 3

I then went on to build the next area in my level. This area was built by more advanced humans and

contains houses, trees, walls, fences, tables, carts, a well, barrels, boxes, logs and rocks. It is build

next to a lake that has a shrine built on it. In the town, there is the owners manor which can house a

number of people, a storage tower and a house that can be used for construction. There is also a

small workshop next to the smaller house and barrels near the lake.

In the mountainous area of my map, I then went on to improve the terrain by adding pathways and

more sections of mountains and hills. At the top of the path, I constructed a camp for people to stay

at. I had to use the smooth tool to make the ground less rough and used a dirt texture so that the

people don’t sleep on the solid ground.

Ben White Task 3

I then began to experiment with different sky boxes. I quite liked this nebula skybox, however,

decided to change it back to the original.

Near the mountain encampment, I added a cave system. There are two paths, one leads to a

skeleton whilst the other leads to treasure. There are also stalagmites and stalactites.

Ben White Task 3

I then realized that I needed a player spawn point and location, so I added a small dock with boats,

hut, workshop and storage facility. I added the player to spawn on a boat that has arrived at the

docks to show that the player has just arrived at the island.

Ben White Task 3

After this, I went on to make improvements to the coastal castle. I improved the tower and

established a sort of religious monument complete with fire that is guarded by a skeleton. This

monument will scare away invaders and show that the castle owners were strong.

Ben White Task 3

One glitch I needed to fix was the fact that some of the trees had no collision meshes. I had to find

the model and add a physics mesh component to it as well as select the actual mesh component. I

did this with most of my tree models. Using this same technique, I was also able to add collision to

all objects on my map that didn’t have it, including castle walls, houses, boxes, barrels, boats and

more.

Once I had thoroughly checked that everything was collide-able, I then began to experiment with

particle systems for weather. I used two separate systems here, one for the clouds which has really

low gravity so that it floats and large particles and one for the snow which uses smaller particles with

low gravity so that it can fall and dampening, so that when the snow reaches the ground, it sticks

and wont bounce or roll. I was then able to encase mountain tops and paths in a snow texture.

Ben White Task 3

After this, I added a crashed World War 2 plane to my island, to show that the skies were and could

still be battle zone. This plane is in flames and has a dirt trail behind it to show the trail of how it

crashed. A plane wing has also broken off and landed near the skeleton camp below. I had turned

lighting on so the wing is more visible. I also added sand rocks to the desert area

Ben White Task 3

Now that I had some experience with particle systems, I began to create a new system. This would

act similarly to the snow, except I now want to create a water fall, so I would have to lower the

dampening levels and slightly increase the bounce so that the water splash particle is able to roll

down the rocky surface.

With an increased knowledge on particle systems, I went on to create a final particle project. This

image shows the volcano spewing out molten rock and ash. For these particles, I added bounce and

dampening to slower movement and allow rocks to roll down the mountain. They spew out at an

angle and launch out at a high velocity. It slows down a little over time, but also the colour on a few

particles changes to black to show the transformation of molten ash to dark ash.

Ben White Task 3

Finally, I went through my map adding minor improvements. These included slightly modified

terrain, added rocks, increased use of dirt and rock textures and a few minor areas such as the grave

site seen below for the player to discover.

To record the game, I used a program called ‘Cam Studio’. After editing the settings, I was able to

record my game from the version I have built in the unity engine by opening the application,

pressing record and then pressing the window.

Ben White Task 3

Ben White Task 3