Devlog #2 - animated objects
Hi!
In previous Devlog I described how razor-sharp pixel-art style achieved. Brief: 2d background hand drawn, 3d meshes for shadows and objects distinctly rendered and then mixed.
It works perfectly for static objects. But an animated and interactive object can’t be created that way. For example, if I want NPC walking any direction plus a couple of animations, I’ll have to draw hundreds or thousands of sprites. And still, have 3d mesh for lighting and shadows.
So here some gifs are showing how 3d-2d mix for objects works.
Some primitive objects like pillar, pole, fence are made of basic shapes with color-fill texture. Such a simplified approach increases development speed. No need to hand draw 2d sprite and match 3d mesh to it for shading. But it only suitable to a very simple game object, any complicated geometry made such way doesn’t fit graphical style.
I experimented with different particle types and stopped on cubic meshes. It might be a little too GPU – costly but after rendered it fits perfectly. So its standard unity particles, but rendered twice – for objects layer and shadows layer. If the game paused, it looks just the way I need.
NPC
The Low-poly meshes and 3-5 colors texture (point filter and no compression of course). After some lighting and shadows tuning NPC look almost the way, I need. Next big challenge – cars. Right now they look great while moving straight. But when the cat turns, the magic disappears, and they look like from the different game. Working on it.
Trees
The most painful story. I tried many-many different possible variants. Sprite, sprite+mesh, mesh leaves, sprite base, etc. And they all looked like from the other game. Finally, after many attempts, I found the best visual variant – standard Unity3d tree with many small single-color plane leaves. Its GPU costly and will have some optimization – I don’t need unity dynamical wind-leaves movement. But I am fully satisfied with the achieved image.
Thanks for reading. More animated objects are coming next versions and the most complicated - cars and traffic.
In previous Devlog I described how razor-sharp pixel-art style achieved. Brief: 2d background hand drawn, 3d meshes for shadows and objects distinctly rendered and then mixed.
It works perfectly for static objects. But an animated and interactive object can’t be created that way. For example, if I want NPC walking any direction plus a couple of animations, I’ll have to draw hundreds or thousands of sprites. And still, have 3d mesh for lighting and shadows.
So here some gifs are showing how 3d-2d mix for objects works.
Primitive geometry
Some primitive objects like pillar, pole, fence are made of basic shapes with color-fill texture. Such a simplified approach increases development speed. No need to hand draw 2d sprite and match 3d mesh to it for shading. But it only suitable to a very simple game object, any complicated geometry made such way doesn’t fit graphical style.
Smoke and water
I experimented with different particle types and stopped on cubic meshes. It might be a little too GPU – costly but after rendered it fits perfectly. So its standard unity particles, but rendered twice – for objects layer and shadows layer. If the game paused, it looks just the way I need.
NPC
The Low-poly meshes and 3-5 colors texture (point filter and no compression of course). After some lighting and shadows tuning NPC look almost the way, I need. Next big challenge – cars. Right now they look great while moving straight. But when the cat turns, the magic disappears, and they look like from the different game. Working on it.
Trees
The most painful story. I tried many-many different possible variants. Sprite, sprite+mesh, mesh leaves, sprite base, etc. And they all looked like from the other game. Finally, after many attempts, I found the best visual variant – standard Unity3d tree with many small single-color plane leaves. Its GPU costly and will have some optimization – I don’t need unity dynamical wind-leaves movement. But I am fully satisfied with the achieved image.
Thanks for reading. More animated objects are coming next versions and the most complicated - cars and traffic.