Create a modular dungeon in Unity from Udemy

In this course I will be showing you how to create a dungeon level using modular game objects such as walls, floors and doorways. Modular game objects are designed so that you can arrange them in any order you like, almost like Lego bricks. They simply snap together, making it very easy to create hundreds of unique layouts.

We will be covering snapping techniques to build unique dungeon designs very quickly and easily.

We will also be covering lightmaps and prop placements.

By the end of this course you will have developed the skills to create your own levels using modular game objects from any asset packs available on the Unity asset store.

Modular level design is a key skill when creating video games and it will improve your ability to quickly create impressive levels for your own games.

All of the assets used in this course are available to download for free from the Unity asset store.

You don't need any previous experience as I will be showing you how to create everything from a blank canvas through to completed design. This course does not contain any scripting or coding and is designed with beginner learners in mind, although the techniques can be useful for people who already use Unity for their projects.

What's inside

Syllabus

Introduction

Install Unity and assets

Modular layout

Shortcuts

Wall layout

Adding props

Baking a lightmap

Next room

Lighting for the new room

Building corridors

Adding a dinner table

Baking the final lightmap

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 Create a modular dungeon in Unity with these activities:

Review Unity Interface and Navigation

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Familiarize yourself with the Unity interface to navigate the editor efficiently and speed up the level design process.

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Open Unity and explore the main panels.
Practice navigating the Scene View.
Adjust object properties in the Inspector.

Read 'Unity in Action, Third Edition'

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Gain a deeper understanding of Unity's features and workflows to enhance your modular dungeon creation skills.

View Unity in Action, Third Edition on Amazon

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Read the chapters related to level design and asset management.
Experiment with the techniques described in the book.

Follow Unity's Level Design Tutorials

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Learn level design principles and techniques directly from Unity's official tutorials to improve your dungeon layouts.

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Search for level design tutorials on the Unity website.
Follow the tutorials step-by-step.
Adapt the techniques to your own dungeon designs.

Four other activities

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Read 'The Art of Level Design'

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Understand the broader principles of level design to create more engaging and immersive dungeons.

View Putting Knowledge to Work on Amazon

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Read the chapters related to gameplay and visual design.
Analyze the level design of your favorite games.
Apply the principles to your own dungeon designs.

Create a Small Modular Asset Pack

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Develop your own modular assets to gain a deeper understanding of the creation process and customize your dungeon designs.

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Design a set of modular walls, floors, and doorways.
Model the assets in a 3D modeling software.
Import the assets into Unity and create prefabs.
Test the assets by building a small dungeon.

Document Your Dungeon Creation Process

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Reinforce your learning by documenting the steps you took to create your modular dungeon, including challenges and solutions.

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Create a blog post or video tutorial.
Describe the tools and techniques you used.
Share your insights and tips with others.

Contribute to a Dungeon Generator Project

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Apply your modular dungeon creation skills by contributing to an open-source dungeon generator project, gaining experience in collaboration and code management.

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Find an open-source dungeon generator project on GitHub.
Fork the repository and set up your development environment.
Contribute new features or bug fixes.
Submit a pull request to the main repository.

Career center

Learners who complete Create a modular dungeon in Unity will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Level Designer

The Level Designer is responsible for crafting engaging and functional environments within video games. This involves using tools and techniques to build levels that provide enjoyable gameplay experiences. The course helps one become a Level Designer because it covers the fundamentals of modular level design, which is a key skill for rapidly creating diverse and complex levels. Furthermore, the course's hands-on approach, where you learn to create a dungeon level using modular game objects such as walls, floors and doorways, provides practical experience directly applicable to level design tasks. Specifically, the course emphasis on snapping techniques helps build unique dungeon designs, and the inclusion of lightmaps and prop placements are essential elements in level design.

See salaries and explore the career path for Level Designer

Technical Level Designer

The Technical Level Designer combines artistic vision with technical skills to create engaging and optimized game levels. The course will be helpful because it covers the fundamentals of modular level design in Unity, a crucial skill for Technical Level Designer. By learning snapping techniques and how to work with modular assets like walls, floors and doorways, you can rapidly prototype and iterate on level designs. Also, the course covers lightmap baking, and prop placements, teaching you how to optimize levels for performance. The course's focus on readily available Unity asset packs allows you to begin working with industry-standard tools and resources.

See salaries and explore the career path for Technical Level Designer

Indie Game Developer

An Indie Game Developer is a small-team or solo developer who creates and publishes their own video games. This course will be particularly helpful for Indie Game Developers as it provides the skills necessary to efficiently create visually appealing and functional game levels. By learning to use modular game objects, such as walls, floors, and doorways, indie developers can save time and resources while still producing high-quality content. Specifically, the course's focus on snapping techniques enables rapid level design, and the inclusion of lightmaps and prop placements ensures a polished final product. The fact that the course uses free assets from the Unity Asset Store makes it highly accessible for indie developers on a budget.

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Environment Artist

An Environment Artist creates the visual elements of a game's world, including terrain, architecture, and props. This course helps to build a foundation for this role by teaching the use of modular assets to quickly construct detailed and visually appealing environments. By learning how to arrange modular game objects, such as walls, floors, and doorways, Environment Artists can efficiently prototype and iterate on level designs. Furthermore, the course covers essential techniques like lightmap baking and prop placement, which are crucial for creating believable and immersive game worlds. The course's focus on readily available Unity asset packs allows you to begin working with industry-standard tools and resources.

See salaries and explore the career path for Environment Artist

Lighting Artist

A Lighting Artist is responsible for the illumination of game environments, creating atmosphere and mood through the strategic placement and configuration of lights. This course helps develop skills directly applicable to the Lighting Artist role. Lightmap baking is one of the topics covered in this course. By learning about lightmaps within the context of modular level design, one can gain a deeper understanding of how lighting interacts with game environments. The course's emphasis on creating unique layouts using snapping techniques, combined with the knowledge of lightmap baking, enables Lighting Artists to create visually stunning and immersive game worlds. The course also helps develop skills to create your own levels using modular game objects.

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World Builder

The World Builder is responsible for designing and creating the overall world in which a game takes place. This course helps aspiring World Builders to understand the practical aspects of level design using modular assets, like walls, floors, and doorways. This kind of level design is a key skill when creating video games. By mastering the techniques taught in the course, World Builders can rapidly prototype and iterate on their designs. Furthermore, the course's emphasis on creating unique layouts using snapping techniques and the inclusion of lightmap baking and prop placement are essential elements in crafting believable game environments. The course ensures that you develop the skills to create your own levels using modular game objects from any asset packs available on the Unity asset store.

See salaries and explore the career path for World Builder

Game Designer

A Game Designer conceptualizes and designs the various elements of a video game, including gameplay mechanics, level progression, and overall player experience. This course may be useful for aspiring Game Designers because it provides a practical understanding of level creation using modular design principles. Modular level design is a key skill when creating video games, as underscored in the course description. The course's emphasis on rapid prototyping and ease of iteration allows Game Designers to quickly test and refine their ideas. Furthermore, the course's focus on creating unique layouts using snapping techniques can help Game Designers develop innovative and engaging gameplay spaces. The course directly states that modular level design improves one's ability to quickly create impressive levels.

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3D Modeler

A 3D Modeler creates the three-dimensional assets used in video games and other virtual environments. This course helps 3D Modelers understand how their models will be used in the context of modular level design, like walls, floors, and doorways. Modular level design is a key skill when creating video games. By understanding the principles of modularity and how assets snap together, 3D Modelers can create more efficient and versatile models. Furthermore, the course's emphasis on level layout and prop placement provides valuable context for creating assets that seamlessly integrate into game environments. The course includes tips for shortcuts and wall layout.

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Technical Artist

A Technical Artist bridges the gap between artists and programmers, ensuring the efficient implementation of art assets within a game engine. This course may be useful for Technical Artists by providing a solid understanding of level creation workflows in Unity, particularly the use of modular assets. Understanding how level designers work with modular components, like walls, floors, and doorways, allows Technical Artists to optimize performance and streamline the art pipeline. The course introduces snapping techniques to build unique dungeon designs. Additionally, the course's focus on lightmap baking provides insights into optimizing lighting for performance.

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Virtual Reality Developer

A Virtual Reality Developer creates immersive experiences for virtual reality platforms. This course may be useful to Virtual Reality Developers by providing a foundation in creating visually appealing and performant environments using modular design principles. Because the skills taught can be useful for people who already use Unity for their projects, you can apply the lessons from this course to virtual reality projects. The course's emphasis on efficient level creation techniques, such as snapping and the use of modular assets like walls, floors and doorways, is particularly relevant for VR development, where performance optimization is critical. Furthermore, the course's coverage of lightmap baking is essential for creating realistic and visually comfortable VR experiences.

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Unity Developer

A Unity Developer uses the Unity engine to create and implement various aspects of a video game, including gameplay mechanics, user interfaces, and level design. This course helps Unity Developers gain practical experience in level creation using modular assets. Modular level design is a key skill when creating video games. While the course does not cover scripting, understanding how to assemble levels from modular components such as walls, floors, and doorways is essential for integrating those elements into a cohesive game experience. Furthermore, knowledge of lightmap baking and prop placement will enable Unity Developers to optimize the visual quality and performance of their games. The course teaches you how to create a dungeon level using modular game objects.

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Augmented Reality Developer

An Augmented Reality Developer creates applications that overlay digital content onto the real world. This course may be useful for Augmented Reality Developers by providing a foundation in creating 3D environments using the Unity engine. Modular design is a key skill when creating video games. While augmented reality often relies on real-world environments, understanding how to create and integrate virtual elements, such as 3D models and interactive objects, is crucial. The course's focus on efficient level creation techniques and the use of modular assets, such as snapping walls, floors and doorways, can inform the design and implementation of AR experiences. The course also covers lightmap baking.

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Virtual Production Artist

Virtual Production Artists work on real-time rendering of virtual environments for film and television production. These real time environments frequently employ the same tools as those used for game development. This course may be useful as it teaches one how to create a dungeon level using modular game objects such as walls, floors and doorways. The course directly covers lightmaps and prop placements. The course's focus on modular design and efficient level creation techniques is highly relevant to virtual production, where speed and flexibility are essential. This course provides virtual production artists with the skills to quickly create and modify virtual environments for film and television projects.

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ArchViz Artist

An ArchViz Artist creates visualizations of architectural designs using 3D modeling and rendering software. This course may be useful for ArchViz Artist by providing foundational skills in creating 3D environments using the Unity engine. While architectural visualization often focuses on realistic rendering, understanding how to efficiently create and populate virtual spaces is crucial. The course's focus on modular design and level creation techniques, such as using walls, floors and doorways, can be applied to rapidly prototyping and visualizing architectural designs. The course provides experience in creating a dungeon level using modular game objects.

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Instructional Designer

Instructional Designers design and develop learning experiences, often incorporating multimedia elements. This course may be useful for Instructional Designers interested in creating educational content related to game development or 3D art. While the course focuses on creating a dungeon level in Unity, the principles of modular design and the use of asset stores can be applied to creating interactive learning modules. The course's hands-on approach and clear instruction may also provide insights into effective teaching methodologies for technical skills.

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Create a modular dungeon in Unity

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