Awesome and playfull physical=> digital level prototyping

[vonknut]

Hey all, thought that we (PortaPlay) should share our latest iteration of our physical prototyping tools.
-its playfull and funn, creates more visually appealing levels and saves time:


First buy some wabbafun / kinetic sand:


Then make a level/landscape or similar, e.g. a high-detail model og a meteor level in our game protoype Tales from the Void
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdHsZUw ... HL&index=1):

-this will enable you to test your level physically, without doing a lot of 3D modeleing first (only takes 10-30 minutes to mockup in sand).
AND we have experienced that the levels looks better and need less iterations in 3D programs, when doing the physical prototype first.

But wait, it gets better:
Then download and fire up the "mostly free" Autodesk App 123Dcatch, take 10-20 screenshots of you level using the app,
ask the app to process it (wait 10-15 minutes), then voila - you get it as a 3D model:

See the interactive 3D version of the model on their website
http://www.123dapp.com/catch/Tales-test-map/2883968
-click the link then click the "3D view"

Then simply download the model and clean it a bit up, mostly "left-over-stuff" and some holes,
but apart from that its very high detail, nice looking, semi optimized (do a reduction in e.g. mudbox to improve it).

-final prototype level, from the scanned 3D model, with some lights, texture and props added.

Apart from using it for level design, it can also be used for making e.g. games with assets prototyped in clay/playdough or similar,
where you try and get it to look like actual clay or similar. -as the model comes fully textures and uw-mapped!
Not anything you can really use in your normal games, but maybe usefull for getting that "analogue look".

[Code]

Hah! That's a pretty sweet way of creating a terrain

[vonknut]

Its soo much more fun, than clicking in maya.

And a general note we have found is - as soon as somebody is modeling in a 3D program, then everything kinda gets squareish / symmetrical / evenly sloped / very smooth etc. (when working with a hammer, everything looks like nails....).
And as soon as someone is sitting in front of a 3D program, then the eyes focus on that and the talk kinda stops.
-so i usually say "stop clicking, untill were done talking about this"

Working in "the sand" makes it much easier to model together, while talking about it, rapidly changing the level design, due to discussions, in ways that would take forever in a 3D program.
Earlier on we just prototyped in sand, then when we were happy, we modelled it in a 3D program - but a lot got lost in the "translation process" (typically dimension/proportions/heigh differences/sightlines of things). So while you still need to do stuff with it in a 3D program, you keep the creative phases in a tool, which has lower barriers for creativity...

[jonaz.dk]

Cool! And looks like a lot of fun.

Have you though about retheming your game. To something with tropical islands, kids sandbox or other.. something relevant. Instead of that strange scifi theme you are going for?
A lot of the niceness in the free texturing is lost in the pink and purple color shock.

Also do you have any performance issues with collision detection on such a complex mesh on mobile devices. Or perhaps it's a desktop intended game.

[vonknut]

Its dark and strange sci-fi, we don't use the textures that we get from the model.
-I also think it would be hard to find a graphical style, that would work with the the photo-textures, unless you go for a analogue style.

Were using Terrain-4-Mobile for optimizing the mesh-collider + allowing us to texture paint on the mesh, without smashing performance (e.g. when using unitys terrain). -works like a charm

[Gorm]

I assume you saw you are the front runners in trend? http://kotaku.com/sega-is-making-a-sand ... 1632887044

PS. Cool stuff!

[Pegepinden]

I like!

[vonknut]

I assume you saw you are the front runners in trend? http://kotaku.com/sega-is-making-a-sand ... 1632887044

PS. Cool stuff!

Damned copycats



But cool idea with the projection on top of the sand.
And anybody who wants to try and "touch the goodies", are welcome to drop by the office anytime...