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Unity Level Design

Abandoned House

4.6 Filled star Filled star Filled star Filled star Half star
Based on 291 ratings
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Pete Jepson

In this course I will be showing you a professional workflow for creating a level from a blank scene through to completion that is inspired by the video game: "The Last of Us".

We will be using free props and models collected from various places online and I will be showing you how you can modify them in Substance Painter to make props fit within an environment that meets your vision.

We will be covering the following:

Read more

In this course I will be showing you a professional workflow for creating a level from a blank scene through to completion that is inspired by the video game: "The Last of Us".

We will be using free props and models collected from various places online and I will be showing you how you can modify them in Substance Painter to make props fit within an environment that meets your vision.

We will be covering the following:

  • Terrain sculpting

  • Painting terrain textures

  • Arranging flowers, grass, ivy, rocks and trees

  • Level layout of an abandoned house

  • Re-texturing assets in Substance Painter

  • Creating decals in Substance Painter

  • Lighting and baking lightmaps in Unity

  • Using post processing volumes

  • Adding environmental sounds

  • Recording video within Unity for your portfolios

By the end of this course you will have developed the skills needed to build your own levels for your own games.

I look forward to seeing you in the course

Music by Jason Shaw: from freemusicarchive

Enroll now

What's inside

Learning objectives

  • Level design
  • Post processing volumes
  • Sculpting terrains
  • Texturing terrains
  • Level lighting
  • Baking lightmaps
  • How to record videos from within unity

Syllabus

Introduction
Install Unity
Unity Overview
Downloading Assets
Read more

Traffic lights

Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Uses Unity, a leading game engine, which allows learners to directly apply the skills learned to game development projects
Covers terrain sculpting and texturing, which are fundamental skills for creating immersive game environments and interactive landscapes
Explores lighting and baking lightmaps in Unity, which are essential for optimizing game performance and enhancing visual fidelity
Teaches re-texturing assets in Substance Painter, which allows learners to customize and create unique visual styles for their game environments
Requires learners to download assets from various online sources, which may require additional time and effort to find suitable resources
Uses Substance Painter, which requires a separate license or subscription, potentially posing a financial barrier for some learners

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Reviews summary

Practical unity environment creation

According to students, this is a highly practical project-based course focused on creating an abandoned house scene in Unity. Students appreciated the step-by-step guidance and the depth of coverage on topics like lighting and post-processing, finding the results suitable for portfolios. While the core Unity level design aspects are well-explained, some learners found the sections using Substance Painter challenging, feeling they required prior knowledge or were paced too quickly. Despite minor points about asset management with newer Unity versions, the course is widely regarded as rewarding for those looking to build realistic environments.
Strong coverage of visual effects.
"Learned a lot about lighting and post-processing."
"The lighting section is a highlight."
"I was very happy with the final look using the lighting techniques taught."
Instructor explains concepts clearly.
"Fantastic! The instructor is clear and concise."
"The steps were easy to follow even when complex."
"Everything was explained in a logical sequence."
Excellent hands-on approach praised.
"Great course, very practical. Learned a lot about lighting and post-processing. Project-based approach is excellent."
"I really liked the hands-on nature of building the level step-by-step from scratch."
"Building the scene step-by-step was very rewarding."
Minor issues with newer versions.
"The asset management section wasn't clear for newer Unity versions."
"Some steps required slight adjustments for my current Unity version."
"Had a small issue following along due to Unity updates."
Tool usage challenging for some.
"Substance Painter parts could be more in-depth, maybe assume less prior knowledge there."
"Struggled with the Substance Painter sections, instructor goes too fast."
"I needed to find other tutorials to fully grasp the Substance Painter steps."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Unity Level Design : Abandoned House with these activities:
Review Terrain Sculpting Techniques
Practice terrain sculpting techniques to build a strong foundation before starting the course. This will allow you to focus on the level design aspects during the course.
Browse courses on Terrain Sculpting
Show steps
  • Watch tutorials on basic terrain sculpting in Unity.
  • Experiment with different sculpting tools and brushes.
  • Create a small practice terrain with hills and valleys.
Practice Texture Painting in Unity
Familiarize yourself with texture painting tools in Unity to efficiently create realistic terrain textures during the course. This will save time and improve the visual quality of your level.
Browse courses on Texture Painting
Show steps
  • Import textures into Unity.
  • Apply textures to a practice terrain using different brushes.
  • Adjust tiling and offset to achieve desired effects.
Create a Mood Board for an Abandoned House
Gather reference images and create a mood board to define the visual style and atmosphere of your abandoned house level. This will help you stay consistent with your design and create a compelling environment.
Show steps
  • Collect images of abandoned houses, interiors, and props.
  • Organize the images into a mood board using software or a physical board.
  • Identify key elements and themes for your level.
Five other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all eight activities
Follow Tutorials on Lighting and Baking Lightmaps
Study tutorials on lighting and baking lightmaps in Unity to understand how to create realistic and optimized lighting for your levels. This will enhance the atmosphere and performance of your abandoned house environment.
Show steps
  • Find tutorials on lighting and lightmapping in Unity.
  • Create a simple scene and experiment with different light sources.
  • Bake lightmaps and analyze the results.
Experiment with Post-Processing Effects
Practice using post-processing volumes to enhance the visual appeal of your scene. This will allow you to add cinematic effects and improve the overall mood of your level.
Show steps
  • Add a post-processing volume to your scene.
  • Experiment with different post-processing effects like bloom, color grading, and ambient occlusion.
  • Adjust the settings to achieve the desired look.
Review 'Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design'
Read 'Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design' to gain a deeper understanding of level design principles and techniques. This will help you create more engaging and immersive environments for your games.
View Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design on Amazon
Show steps
  • Read the book and take notes on key concepts.
  • Apply the principles to your own level design projects.
  • Discuss the book with other students or game developers.
Design a Small Section of the Abandoned House
Start designing a small section of the abandoned house, such as a room or a corner, to apply the techniques learned in the course. This will provide hands-on experience and help you solidify your understanding of level design principles.
Show steps
  • Choose a section of the abandoned house to design.
  • Create a basic layout using simple shapes and blocks.
  • Add props and details to bring the scene to life.
  • Experiment with lighting and post-processing effects.
Document Your Level Design Process
Document your level design process, including your goals, challenges, and solutions. This will help you reflect on your work and improve your skills for future projects.
Show steps
  • Keep a journal or blog to record your progress.
  • Take screenshots and videos of your work.
  • Write about your design decisions and the reasons behind them.

Career center

Learners who complete Unity Level Design : Abandoned House will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:
Level Designer
A Level Designer crafts the interactive environments that players explore in video games. They are responsible for the layout, flow, and overall design of the game levels. This course, with its focus on creating a level inspired by 'The Last of Us,' directly aligns with the core skills of Level Design. You will gain experience in terrain sculpting, texturing, arranging environmental assets, and lighting. Furthermore, the course covers level layout for an abandoned house, which helps you build a portfolio piece demonstrating practical abilities in building immersive environments. The course also shows you how to record video within Unity for your portfolios, a skill that is crucial when presenting one's work. By completing this course, prospective Level Designers can showcase their understanding of level creation and how to record video.
See salaries and explore the career path for Level Designer
World Builder
A World Builder designs and creates expansive and believable game worlds, focusing on the overall coherence and consistency of the environment. This course, with its emphasis on creating a level inspired by 'The Last of Us,' provides a foundation in the skills needed for World Building. The course covers terrain sculpting, texturing, and the arrangement of environmental assets, all of which are essential for creating immersive game worlds. Furthermore, the course includes level layout for an abandoned house, which can serve as a portfolio project demonstrating one's ability to design and create detailed and believable environments. The course also shows how to record video within Unity for your portfolios, a skill that is crucial when presenting one's work.
See salaries and explore the career path for World Builder
Lighting Artist
A Lighting Artist focuses on creating the mood and atmosphere of a game environment through the use of lighting techniques. The course, with its coverage of lighting and baking lightmaps in Unity, is directly relevant to the skills of a Lighting Artist. The course teaches how to use light sources and adjust lighting settings to achieve the desired visual effect. The course also covers the use of post-processing volumes, which are essential for creating visually appealing and immersive game environments. The creation of an abandoned house can serve as a strong portfolio piece to showcase one's lighting skills. Understanding how to record video within Unity for your portfolios may also be useful when presenting one's work.
See salaries and explore the career path for Lighting Artist
World Designer
A World Designer focuses on the overall design and creation of game worlds. This course, with its emphasis on creating a level inspired by 'The Last of Us,' provides a base in the skills needed for World Designers. The course covers terrain sculpting, painting terrain textures, and the arrangement of flowers, grass, ivy, rocks and trees, all of which are essential for creating immersive game worlds. The abandoned house project can serve as a portfolio project demonstrating one's ability to design and create detailed environments for their work as a World Designer. The course also shows how to record video within Unity for your portfolios, a skill that may be helpful when presenting one's work.
See salaries and explore the career path for World Designer
Environment Artist
An Environment Artist is responsible for creating the visual elements of game environments, including terrain, vegetation, and architectural details. This course may be useful since it covers terrain sculpting and painting, as well as the arrangement of flowers, grass, ivy, rocks, and trees. Furthermore, the course teaches how to re-texture assets in Substance Painter which allows the Environment Artist to ensure that the visual assets fit the game's style and theme. The course's coverage of lighting and post-processing volumes enhances the understanding of how to create visually appealing and immersive environments. The portfolio piece of an abandoned house demonstrates one's ability to create environments that can be used later on.
See salaries and explore the career path for Environment Artist
Texture Artist
A Texture Artist creates the surface details of 3D models and environments, adding realism and visual interest. This course can be valuable because it teaches how to re-texture assets in Substance Painter, a widely used tool in the game industry. The course covers the creation of decals and the texturing of various props, providing practical skills in creating high quality textures. The course's focus on creating a level inspired by 'The Last of Us' allows you to apply your texturing skills in a real world scenario. The knowledge gained in terrain texturing also helps build a foundation of skills.
See salaries and explore the career path for Texture Artist
Open World Designer
An Open World Designer is responsible for creating vast and detailed game environments that allow players to explore freely. This course, with its emphasis on creating a level inspired by 'The Last of Us,' gives a solid basis in the skills needed for open world design. While the course focuses on a smaller environment, the principles of terrain sculpting, texturing, and asset arrangement are directly applicable to creating larger open worlds. The creation of an abandoned house level can serve as a portfolio piece demonstrating one's ability to design and create detailed environments. The course also teaches how to record video within Unity for your portfolios, a skill that is crucial when presenting one's work.
See salaries and explore the career path for Open World Designer
Indie Game Developer
An Indie Game Developer works independently or as part of a small team to create and publish video games. This course may be useful because it provides a practical understanding of level design, which is a key aspect of game development. The course covers terrain sculpting, texturing, arranging environmental assets, and lighting, which are all important skills for an indie game developer. Furthermore, the course teaches how to use free assets and modify them, which is a valuable skill for developers working with limited resources. The course can help you create a complete level from scratch to completion.
See salaries and explore the career path for Indie Game Developer
Technical Artist
A Technical Artist bridges the gap between art and programming, optimizing art assets for performance and implementing visual effects. This course may be useful because it covers lighting and baking lightmaps in Unity, which are technical aspects of creating visually appealing and performant game environments. Additionally, the course shows how to re-texture assets in Substance Painter and create decals, providing practical skills in asset optimization and visual enhancement. The course's focus on creating a level from scratch to completion provides a holistic understanding of the technical considerations in game development. The knowledge of setting up assets created in Substance Painter in Unit may be helpful.
See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Artist
Game Artist
A Game Artist creates the visual elements of video games, including characters, environments, and special effects. This course may be useful because it covers various aspects of environment art, such as terrain sculpting, texturing, and arranging environmental assets. The course also teaches how to re-texture assets in Substance Painter and create decals, providing practical skills in creating high quality game art. The course may help the Game Artist build a portfolio of work and can be a testament to their skills.
See salaries and explore the career path for Game Artist
Virtual Reality Developer
A Virtual Reality Developer creates immersive experiences using virtual reality technology. This course may be helpful because it uses Unity, a popular engine for creating VR experiences. The skills learned in level design, terrain sculpting, texturing, and lighting can be directly applied to creating VR environments. Furthermore, the course teaches how to record videos within Unity, which may be useful for presenting VR projects. Having a pre-built abandoned house level can be a great addition to any VR developer's portfolio, and may be a useful demonstration of your skills.
See salaries and explore the career path for Virtual Reality Developer
Game Designer
A Game Designer is involved in the overall design and creation of video games. This course may be useful because it provides a practical understanding of level design, which is a key aspect of game design. The course covers terrain sculpting, texturing, arranging environmental assets, and lighting, which are all important considerations in game design. Furthermore, this course focuses on creating a level inspired by 'The Last of Us.', allowing you to create a portfolio piece of an abandoned house and showcase your level design skills. The level design skills learned in particular may prove invaluable to your work.
See salaries and explore the career path for Game Designer
3D Modeler
A 3D Modeler creates the three-dimensional assets used in video games and other visual media. This course may be useful as it provides a good foundation in understanding how 3D models are used in a game environment. Although the course focuses on using pre-made assets, it does cover how to modify them in Substance Painter and Blender to fit within a specific environment. The course also teaches how to set up these models in Unity, which are required skills for a 3D Modeler. The knowledge gained in this course can be applied towards your own 3D models.
See salaries and explore the career path for 3D Modeler
Augmented Reality Developer
An Augmented Reality Developer creates interactive experiences that blend the real world with computer generated content. This course may be useful because it uses Unity, a popular engine for creating AR applications. The skills learned in level design, terrain sculpting, texturing, and lighting can be directly applied to creating AR environments. Furthermore, the course teaches how to record videos within Unity, which may be useful for presenting AR projects. One can use the skills taught in this course to create a level to be used in augmented reality.
See salaries and explore the career path for Augmented Reality Developer
Level Scripter
A Level Scripter implements the interactive elements and gameplay mechanics within a game level. This course may be useful because it provides a strong understanding of level design, which is essential for creating engaging and interactive game levels. The course covers terrain sculpting, texturing, arranging environmental assets, and lighting, which are all important considerations for a Level Scripter. The skills for level design may be helpful in implementing gameplay mechanics. Level Scripters may be able to create a more immersive and interactive experience.
See salaries and explore the career path for Level Scripter

Reading list

We've selected one books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Unity Level Design : Abandoned House.
Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design
Save
Provides a comprehensive overview of video game design principles, including level design. It covers topics such as creating engaging gameplay, designing intuitive interfaces, and crafting compelling narratives. This book is more valuable as additional reading than it is as a current reference. It is commonly used as a textbook at academic institutions.
Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design
Paperback
Check
Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design
Kindle Edition
Check

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Course image
Rating
4.6 Filled star Filled star Filled star Filled star Half star
Effort
16.5 total hours
Via
Udemy
Instructor
Pete Jepson
Language
English
Traffic lights
Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Uses Unity, a leading game engine, which allows learners to directly apply the skills learned to game development projects
Covers terrain sculpting and texturing, which are fundamental skills for creating immersive game environments and interactive landscapes
Explores lighting and baking lightmaps in Unity, which are essential for optimizing game performance and enhancing visual fidelity
Teaches re-texturing assets in Substance Painter, which allows learners to customize and create unique visual styles for their game environments
Requires learners to download assets from various online sources, which may require additional time and effort to find suitable resources
Uses Substance Painter, which requires a separate license or subscription, potentially posing a financial barrier for some learners
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