Today's #gamedev tip. Sometimes scenes can get very visually busy, and it can slow down game designers trying to tune stuff or find problems like collision gaps or triggers in the wrong place.
You can set up the ability to instantly switch your scene to a design friendly mode-
You can set up the ability to instantly switch your scene to a design friendly mode-
Which hides all the art assets and instead shows simple block geometry that represents collision, materials based on physics, grid textures and 'helper' objects like text notes, arrows and snap points.
To set this up, ensure every asset in the level is inside a prefab/blueprint.
To set this up, ensure every asset in the level is inside a prefab/blueprint.
This allows you to include hidden 'helper' meshes with tags or layers to reveal them and a script to turn them on or off when the game runs.
You can also sit your collision on these objects, allowing you to reuse them and switch out the artwork for variations.
You can also sit your collision on these objects, allowing you to reuse them and switch out the artwork for variations.
Unlike your typical "show collision" visualisations, having it all as helper geo allows you to put materials to communicate function, and shaders such as triplanar projected grids so you can visualise scale.
You can add text notes like "spawn point" or "enemy breaks out here".
You can add text notes like "spawn point" or "enemy breaks out here".
Environment art is just set dressing for a much simpler gameplay layer underneath (climbable ledges, damaging areas, pressure plates, block pushing puzzles). So being able to switch back and forth can really help speed development. It also means you are less likely to err...
...with things like leaving gaps and having areas you can clip through
It is kind of like taking your greybox with you. :)
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