Environment White boxing
polycounter lvl 14
I came across this term the other day "Environment White boxing" but have no idea what it means? Can anyone enlighten me?
My only assumption is that perhaps it just means blocking out a level with basic white shapes.
My only assumption is that perhaps it just means blocking out a level with basic white shapes.
Replies
That's basically it. Its for testing gameplay before assets are done. It also stop assets that ruin gameplay from being made. Also known as orange boxing.
1.
A Designer/Level Designer will rough out their level idea from 'concept' to in-engine without really measuring distance or heights just to get a real idea of their design in a 3d perspective.
2. Second Iteration of whiteboxing would be to clean up areas and set up the measurements for correct functionality of gameplay, game cameras/ framerate ...etc. It will be very similar to the image feanix posted. This Stage will certainly be tested the most. Alot of feedback should be coming up - so changes for gameplay, cameras and playable areas are imminent
3. Once most areas of the whitebox ( or what ever color it is by now) are decided on. It can be cleaned up even more. Cutting Meshes up into sections. Thinking of tillable,reusable parts. Fleshing out areas with minor details to get a good hint of the full scope of the level. ( my self have combined steps 2 & 3 depending on the size and complexity of a map).
Then youre all ready to farm your work out to the Artists! Spending more time on the whitebox eliminates alot of backward steps found later on in building an environment!
Heres a final measurements of the whitebox on my apartment. This is very simple and fast to create - and of course not much gameplay here haha.
So i just grab those pieces and build my final visual meshes over top