Level design mobile game? low quallity?
Dear Polycount forum folks,
today I got asked by a friend to create some levels for his mobile device game. He creates this in Unity and want's to put it on the app store. He told me we could make some money if it gets downloaden, and he wants me to create the entire levels, including the assets and everything you need to do in Unity (I am a newby in Unity so that will be following quite the tutorials)
Now, I've been reading polycount forum for a while now. And there is so much experience here that I just have to ask. So that I make as less mistakes as possible.
How do I go on this? He told me everything needs to be low on data. Does that mean I only create diffuse maps? And what kind of stuff can I do in Unity to make things look good withouth creating a heavy game. shaders?
I will watch tutorials, and don't expect people to explain everything to me, but for me it's all very unclear and maybe some people could give me tips on what to learn about Unity. And what kind of textures work for mobile games, and if there are any special things I need to know?
Also, I am a student and have 3ds Max student license. Do I need to buy the real deal before creating this? Or can I buy it right before we release it?
Thanks in advance,
Julian
Edit:
Also, he is a newby. So any tips for him will be glady past through to him
today I got asked by a friend to create some levels for his mobile device game. He creates this in Unity and want's to put it on the app store. He told me we could make some money if it gets downloaden, and he wants me to create the entire levels, including the assets and everything you need to do in Unity (I am a newby in Unity so that will be following quite the tutorials)
Now, I've been reading polycount forum for a while now. And there is so much experience here that I just have to ask. So that I make as less mistakes as possible.
How do I go on this? He told me everything needs to be low on data. Does that mean I only create diffuse maps? And what kind of stuff can I do in Unity to make things look good withouth creating a heavy game. shaders?
I will watch tutorials, and don't expect people to explain everything to me, but for me it's all very unclear and maybe some people could give me tips on what to learn about Unity. And what kind of textures work for mobile games, and if there are any special things I need to know?
Also, I am a student and have 3ds Max student license. Do I need to buy the real deal before creating this? Or can I buy it right before we release it?
Thanks in advance,
Julian
Edit:
Also, he is a newby. So any tips for him will be glady past through to him
Replies
For iOS and mobile games, make sure you check your specs to see what you're targeting. As long as you're not going for the iPhone 2 (or equally as weak Droid devices) or lower, you shouldn't be tearing your hair out too rapidly dealing with framerate.
Unity has some mobile shaders included by default, so when creating materials, use one of them as the shader if possible. If they're missing something (color multiply), either add that in or use the default shaders (sparingly). You should be able to get by with baked lighting and a projector (for character blob shadow), or if you're feeling adventurous, one point or directional light. Normal Map if you dare, but test test test to see how it affects performance.
FX is handled by Unity fairly well; just made sure you don't get too much overdraw (particles in front of each other), or, if you do, make sure they don't take up a lot of screen space (the max particle size is used for this).
Also keep in mind you want to limit the number of things being handled at any one time. That's about it for the tech side. don't go overboard, be clever about what you can get away with and you should be fine.
As for designing the levels, that's too big of a topic to cover here. A lot of artists don't do graybox testing when they're creating a level - this is a very bad thing. Don't assume that the player is just going to do what you want to happen, make sure anything you add is of critical importance to improving gameplay (no "it's there because it looks cool") and there's absolutely nothing wrong with making something that seems simple but has great depth.