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2D Terrain Platform Toolkit for Unity 5!

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Makkon polycounter
Some friends of mine have been working on a fantastic 2d terrain toolkit for Unity 5. Sam Sawyer and Michael Chugg as lead programmers, and myself as the artist.
[latest]
F5rzWZT.png

In a nutshell, with a specialized 2d tileset, these tools allow you to make complex terrain very similar to Rayman Legends.
Screen%20Shot%202015-06-24%20at%2010.19.27%20PM.png
PlatformMaterialEditor.PNG
grossAnim.gif

The toolkit gives you a lot of control over variables, including per-point thickness control
Platform_PointWarping.png
PlatformToolkit_withGizmos.PNG

There's a lot more features to come, including an entire lighting system what uses this same shape system to allow you to light large sections of scenes, or entire scenes, very quickly. No more tedious per-object lighting only!

For the 2d artists here, making the tilesheet is a little tough at first, but once you have the system down you can start pumping these out like crazy. Start with a 'block,' as everything else on the sheet is derived from it.
blocks.png

This block is already one section of your sheet.
rocks_tiledemo.png

When the tool is released, I will have a video tutorial on how I paint these whole sheets
Expect more updates later! Sam may come in and answer questions, and post updates with new features the tool has. Thanks for looking!

Replies

  • gsokol
    This is rediculously cool man.
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    So, I decided that going linearly out from the control points wasn't enough warping damnit! Now you can do whatever the fuck you want.
    (small orange dots are placed procedurally, if you move them to any custom position they turn red - right clicking sets them back)
    np3nSUR.png
  • Avanthera
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    Avanthera polycounter lvl 10
    That's amazing! Can you say if the tool generates collision as well? Would be so fast to iterate with something like that.

    Either way I'm sold already, looking forward to release!
  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    Avanthera: Yup! It absolutely generates collision.
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    Avanthera wrote: »
    That's amazing! Can you say if the tool generates collision as well? Would be so fast to iterate with something like that.

    Either way I'm sold already, looking forward to release!

    Yes, the collision mesh is built at the same time. :thumbup:
  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    Little update while waiting for Sam to be able to post
    Sam Sawyer wrote:
    Also... I noticed you've mentioned the tile sheet on the blog. Full disclosure, I've moved away from that. Unity has auto atlas-ing tools that happen behind-the-scenes now, so I was able to write my code in a way that was not only way easier (yay!), but also removed ALL of the artifacting we were getting before (yay again!).

    So the actual arrangement of the tileset is now done away with, and replaced with something more elegant to set up. It'll also allow for more features for the tileset, like certain units and shapes that are currently hard to pull off. That's a big plus!
  • daphz
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    daphz polycounter lvl 13
  • Muzzoid
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    Muzzoid polycounter lvl 10
    Damn, wow.

    Are you guys going to sell this on the asset store? This is soooo cool!
  • lotet
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    lotet hero character
    this is super sweet! Unity have been needing this for a while.
  • STRIKER
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    STRIKER polycounter lvl 13
    This looks very similar to the tool we're using now. https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/11653

    Ferr has some great tools already, What will make yours different or better? :)
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    STRIKER wrote: »
    This looks very similar to the tool we're using now. https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/11653

    Ferr has some great tools already, What will make yours different or better? :)

    From what I can see, the biggest differences are the way we are doing the corners of the mesh, as well as the ability to warp the geometry at the control points to create more diverse platforms and break up the the repeating texture. That and the mesh-based lighting system of course.

    Though they are similar, we're hoping to achieve a level of control that doesn't appear to be currently available.

    How do you enjoy Ferr? I've never played with it myself. What about it do you like?

    Having used a similar tool, do you have any advice for us on these tools? Features you hope it will have?
  • angrywater
  • Makkon
  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    Global fog built into the shader with no post processing!
    http://i.imgur.com/ItJRw2Q.gifv

    Also, props. Unity's new sprite packing system makes them a breeze.
    1yNurPb.png
  • TomGT
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    TomGT polycounter
    That looks really good! Are you guys planning to sell this on the asset store? Seems like something a lot of people will invest in!

    Do you guys happen to have a tileset blending feature in the works? Don't know if that's possible with an automated tiling system.
  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    TomGT: That's the catch 22, so far. To get these results, you need to make your tileset correctly. In terms of feasibility, Sam or Michael are better equipped to answer your question.


    Dropshadows and platforms! Look at that juicy corner/point deformation.
    F5rzWZT.png

    Platform tools are similar to the larger shapes, but they can be used for a lot of things, such as fences, extra decoration, heck probably even waterfalls and rivers.
  • kshannon
    Awesome stuff! Please let us know about a release date or alpha/beta build. A friend and I are designing a game and currently evaluating tools such as Ferr 2D. Your tool looks impressive as well and we would absolutely be interested in buying it.

    Thanks.
  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    Hey Kshannon. It's still got a bit to go before that, but we really appreciate your interest. If you want to check the tool out in action, you'll be interested in this:

    We just finished a game for the 2015 Indie Game Making Contest for Humble Bundle. You can see the tool used WITH the lighting system!

    http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/412#.VchHaPmrRhH

    Give the game a shot too, it's pretty great for just 24 days.
    MM_SS_2b.PNG
    MM_SS_3b.PNG
    MM_SS_4b.PNG
    MM_SS_8b.PNG
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    This looks great.
  • ironbelly
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    ironbelly polycounter lvl 9
    Any plans to add procedural generation (realtime or otherwise)?
  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    Thanks Hawken!

    Ironbelly, that's out of my league to answer, but I think while it's possible, it seems to be out of the scope of this project for now.


    Here's a video demo of our tools! So pretty.
    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhKjSAu7Jok[/ame]
  • lamb
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    lamb polycounter lvl 7
    that warping ability looks so sweet!

    Looking forward to the video of you painting those sheets. Or anything, really :)
  • sewerhrehorowicz
    Look great. Is this tool available? I wonder how it will act in 4.6 free version, and with perspective camera. But generally it looks like something I could use for my game.
  • AkshayArtPawar
    Where is your toolkit on asset store? I am making a game and this is something that can solve some of my problems .
  • Beestonian
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    Beestonian polycounter lvl 9
    This is absolutely mind-blowing to look at, because it's so simple but powerful. Next time I make a side scroller I'll be using this!
  • BEKKO
    any new about that ?
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    Back by popular demand!

    Ben convinced me to pick this project up again and finally finish it. Playing around with it again this week I can see it's still got a little ways to go, but I'll be sure to to post updates regularly.
  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    For anyone wondering, the large green circle indicates that he toggled the auto-corner, allowing him to make an extreme curve where it would normally make a corner. Makes it a lot more flexible with the shapes you can create.

    10000% pumped for this to be finished.
  • WarrenM
    This looks super slick and easy to use ... this would make money!  :)  FINISH HIM!
  • STRIKER
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    STRIKER polycounter lvl 13
    Hey! I mentioned i used Ferr 2d and its really nice but not powerful, its mainly built for lower specs. Seeing this excited me, hope you guys want to push it as close to ubi art tool as possible. sadly the ferr guy shifted focus and is working on other stuff T_T if this can get to what he has and more i would drop ferr in a heartbeat!


    brain barf of ideas/questions/request

    -When you create the terrain can it generate 3d colliders?

    - terrains being stitched together? maybe with different textures?

    -Would be really neat to Have scrolling textures or texture fading into a different texture or color.

    -Shader effects for different type of terrains (Ex. walking on a fleshy ground, or bouncy.

    -reactive lighting and rim lighting.

    -Vertex coloring

    -animatable terrain ex. pulsing pipes, swinging vines etc.

    ill have more later but hope this helps!
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    -When you create the terrain can it generate 3d colliders?
        Can it? Yes, definitely. In fact, an earlier iteration used 3D colliders exclusively. It only does 2D currently though... I'll have to add that back in. :) 

    - terrains being stitched together? maybe with different textures?
        I have some ideas/plans for this, yes. 

    -Would be really neat to Have scrolling textures or texture fading into a different texture or color.
        Scrolling textures would be hard because of the corner seams, but if you had no corners it would a simple matter of animating the texture channel offset values.

    -Shader effects for different type of terrains (Ex. walking on a fleshy ground, or bouncy.
        I don't have anything currently planned for that - but it's a cool idea for sure. 

    -reactive lighting and rim lighting.
        The custom lighting system has spec map channels per material for foreground and background "lights" respectively.

    -Vertex coloring
        Mayyybe. I see where you're going with this, and it would be a fun way to add quick cheap customization. I'm already encoding data into the color channels though, so I'm not sure if that would be possible. There's actually a few other issues I can see people running into (like losing data when you modify the mesh control points for example). 

    -animatable terrain ex. pulsing pipes, swinging vines etc.
        Yes. Absolutely in the plans.


    Thanks for all the suggestions, keep them coming!
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    There were a lot of steps that had to be done manually to get the desired look in Mechanical Mansion, I've spent the time since the last update working on the backend that automatically handles all of that for users. It's coming along and I think its gonna be pretty slick. No pretty pictures to post, but progress is still marching forward.
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2

    You can now add platforms as layers in a list and easily reorder them in the inspector to manage their sorting. No more doing it manually!
    (Seriously, that was the slowest and dumbest workflow during Mechanical Mansion, glad to see it gone forever.) 

    It also procedurally generates Sorting Layers so you can easily manage depth by groups. This allows you to get cool parallaxing effects for free by simply offsetting your groups from the perspective camera's Z axis.
  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    Are all those overlaying platforms on the same z-depth to avoid weird parallax as the camera shifts? They look fantastic, leaves room for a decal it's so wide.
    Also, are they casting drop shadows?
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    @Makkon
    The platforms are grouped by sorting layers, with each platform getting its own sort order. The z-depth rendering is completely managed in this way, preventing any weirdness.
    Not casting drop shadows, :) everything is hand placed. 

    I'm refining the user experience for working with these layers, hoping for a very "photoshop" feel by the end. Getting close. Here's a pic from my tests today:


  • Makkon
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    Makkon polycounter
    Is this one showing off vertex color tinting, or lighting layers? Either way, really cool!
    I really ought to paint more assets for this.

    Could possibly use a single platform (like the column or fence) that is a soft ambient occlusion shadow for where the wall and platform meet.
  • STRIKER
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    STRIKER polycounter lvl 13
    Looking really cool! would be sweet to see how you set these textures up with the tool!
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    Makkon said:
    Is this one showing off vertex color tinting, or lighting layers? Either way, really cool!
    I really ought to paint more assets for this.

    Could possibly use a single platform (like the column or fence) that is a soft ambient occlusion shadow for where the wall and platform meet.
    This is just semi-transparent color layers, no vertex painting just yet. :)
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    STRIKER said:
    Looking really cool! would be sweet to see how you set these textures up with the tool!
    Are you asking about how Ben designs the platforms in photoshop, or how they're fed into the material in Unity?
  • STRIKER
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    STRIKER polycounter lvl 13
    How theyre fed!
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    Right now its sorta boring, I made several changes to the way things work so I've had to disable the custom material editor for now. But here it is anyway!


  • STRIKER
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    STRIKER polycounter lvl 13
    Nice thanks for sharing, Ughhh finallly corners!! 
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    Here's a look at the editor so far for the system that manages the platform sorting and organization:


    The entire system is reduced to a single visible object in the Hierarchy. During "Mechanical Mansion" it was such a huge pain to manually keep track of all of the platform objects, I don't want anyone to have to go through that. This should streamline the process significantly. I'd like for it to feel a bit like a Photoshop document. With layers sorting from top to bottom, Layer locking, and visibility toggle all easily accessible from this panel. (not finished yet.)
  • STRIKER
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    STRIKER polycounter lvl 13
    Love that your treating it like photoshops layering structure. It could be really cool if you had a "preview" that was part of the editor so you can see how your pieces are being put together. But keep these updates coming!
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    STRIKER said:
    Love that your treating it like photoshops layering structure. It could be really cool if you had a "preview" that was part of the editor so you can see how your pieces are being put together. But keep these updates coming!
    Preview thumbnails for the layers? Great idea! So much easier to use now. Thanks!


  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
  • fatihG_
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    fatihG_ polycounter lvl 14
    Is this available for purchase?
  • STRIKER
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    STRIKER polycounter lvl 13
    really awesome! anymore updates? :D
  • SSawyer
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    SSawyer polycounter lvl 2
    Hey sorry for the delay, still putting time in on it as often as I can get away from work! I'm doing a bit of an overhaul of the GUI system right now, so I should have something visual to post soon. The highlights of the latest changes are that you can add points at any time to your current mouse position by holding ctrl (may change), and adding points fully respects the orientation of your platform gameObject. That means that switching to top-down (or any arbitrary rotation) is as simple as rotating the game object.

    So yeah, just trying to make things easier to use overall for any project people may throw at it.
  • STRIKER
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    STRIKER polycounter lvl 13
    Fkn Bitchen! cant wait to see it :P
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