Syphos Maze - Unity design

 Greetings. It's been a while since my last post, so here we go. I wanted to do a maze type dungeon, and this is what I came up with. Firstly, there are no procedural generators involved, at all. I made this wall by wall. I also did not draw up a maze design to follow. I did it all on the fly, in my head. It is broken into 4 separate sections. It all started with a basic room in one corner on a terrain painted with a desert texture. I started expanding it in one direction to get a proper width.

From there it was just painstaking placements of wall and archway sections to grow the build. As mentioned above, it was all done on the fly with no template. Just my brain and game flow, as well as some great music in the background. After a day of placing, the final configuration was done. The 10 pics below are various shot of the workflow and design process. After the structure was done, the lighting was started. I think there are close to 380 torches, and a few braziers and fire pits. In the first picture below, you can see the orange highlighted section of the wall size I used to make all of this.

I posted a few pics on the internet and got a reply from a viewer. They mentioned that the floor was not very appealing. I intended it to be a desert dungeon, where sand is everywhere. I did decide to modify the flooring, and began painting in a block floor texture in places to break up the continuous single texture. So along with the dirt texture on less traveled places in the maze, I added in the block floor to further contrast with the maze/dungeon theme. I also added in a few hundred sewer vents for effect. As this is not a dynamic game environment at this time, I decided not to add the fog/gas particle effects from the vents, but the possibility still exists.

 As also mentioned, the maze is broken into 4 different sections in which 4 or 5 'bosses' or events can occur. So in the following pics, there are a few props added in, such as barrels, pottery, carts, and such for environmental visibility. Throughout the maze, in many corners, I also placed cobwebs for effect, as well as putting larger webs across some doorways also for visual effect. I checked the game in Play mode in 3rd person to get a feel for the environment and check for glitches or wall/corner gaps.

 After finding very few imperfections, I felt it was essentially game ready. It was designed to either be 3rd person, 1st person, or Top Down. Although there continues to be room for improvement and additions, for the most part is complete. So below are a few closing shots of the 'finished' project.

I hope you enjoyed the mazing process. It was something I wanted to do for a while and finally did it. While I have nothing against procedural dungeons, I wanted to make one completely by hand with a small handful of assets. Procedural worlds can be very complex and the time factor in creating using these engines is great. I just enjoy the satisfaction of creating by hand and putting my own personal touches into it.

The Dwarven Caverns Unity Project

 Greetings! I'm running a bit late with posting, and it's pretty close to bedtime. But I wanted to get this online without any further delays. As you have seen in my many prior works, everything has been outdoors. I wanted to do something a bit different, and I decided on creating a setting inside a vast cavern. So to do this, I would need to create the interior first. I placed a cavern onto the terrain and increased the scale 5X to create the interior. I then had to work in the end pieces to make it appear enclosed. I got carried away with putting in assets and didn't quite get a bare interior. I was thinking architecturally when I was creating it, so many columns were needed, and put in. These 3 shots are the beginning of the interior.

I wanted it to be vast, as many literary MMO Dwarf habitats are quite spacious, and I wanted to convey that. I decided to keep just a tiny bit of Fog going to create a natural depth.

 From here, I began putting in the platforms and walkway assets. Some took a bit of re-scaling and tweaking, but I managed to get it all into a puzzle like fit. I find it annoying to see gaps and visible seams in these things, so I try as best I can to make sure everything snaps in correctly. 

At this point, a majority of the major structure is fitted together and in place. In the 3rd picture, you can see the makings of hanging decks/platforms. They were put in and adjusted, but after looking at it for a while, I decided to move them out of the scene. They're floating outside the scene if I ever decide to put them back in, but it seemed to detract from the overall interior size. After the primary structures were in and approved, I started working on sub structures and adding lighting. At this point I still had the main Directional Lighting covering the scene, and began putting in the game/local lighting as well as other details.

As I do with many projects, I import a few utilities using Gia Procedural Worlds. I import the 3rd Person Controller so I can wander my creation to see what works and what doesn't. I've found assets that had no colliders attached, and have fallen through floors or walked through walls, lamps, and other various objects. So many shots are using the 3PC for functionality and play-ability. The above shots are such an example. The last shot above is a view from the Cavern into the back Chambers.

 Some of the detail I added was a Forge Area where blacksmithing would be done. I also take random interior shots as I'm working, just to capture depth, detail, and lighting. At this point, the Directional Lighting is turned off, and I'm strictly working with Point Lights and Spotlights. I think there are about 70+ scene light additions in the Cavern so far.

Above are a few more in Cavern shots. The first one is the King's Platform, and the rest are random positions in the Cavern with prespective views.Below is another view of the King's Platform after a few additions and more location lighting, with the illusion that the carpet itself is glowing.

 At this point I started working on another platform area in the Cavern, just over the entrance and added details to it.

It was a bit of an afterthought, but it worked in well, and I enjoyed putting it together. At this point, I decided a majority of the Cavern was complete, and moved into the back Chambers to start adding.

First I had to create the main structure which was the support walls and the ceiling/decking for the upper platform. Once the platform was in, I could begin adding sub structures like stairs, railing, housing, shops, and of course, the Kings Chamber. The lighting had to be created as the Directional Lighting is/was also turned off for the Caverns. I added additional details to the scene, but I try not to add too much detail, as it is generally ignored/lost during gameplay. This is the upper platform and is mostly complete at this point.

Here we have a few shots of the lower level of the Chambers. I also had to import lighting for this level also, so there is about another 50+ lights in this are also. I added some shops, and utility areas along with a small stable area for the Ram mounts. At this point, it is not yet complete, but this is where it is so far. I will add more detail and tinker with other assets before I close this one out. So until then, thank you for taking time to check this blog, and I'll update this soon.