Today’s exercise? ...Greyboxing...with a worldly flavour.
Choosing a place anywhere in the world, as long as it still exists and it’s easy to grab some photos of, and then greyboxing the bananas out of it.
After much deliberation, I chose Kyoto specifically Northern Higashiyama. Gorgeously filled with a balance of human living and nature, overflowing with temples and trees.
As we gathered all the images as we could of our chosen retreat, we were tasked with designing a courtyard influenced by everything we had discovered. Taking elements from all our research, and making a playable level.
My idea came to me pretty easily, the images I had sourced had very strong similarities with each other and most of them already had distinct courtyards. The challenge came from designing something I could make, and something that wasn’t just a copy of one of the established courtyards. Mixing them all up and adding some gameplay spice.
I could quite easily fill this post with many, many images of Kyoto’s beautiful scenery but instead I urge you, if you should have a free moment and need something positive to look at...google it!
Drawing out the level started easy, and then I realised I was drawing from the weirdest perspective and I had no idea why?! But, it worked. the transition from paper to Unity was the smoothest it’s ever been.
I persisted once more in using SabreCSG but absolutely the next week will be spent re-familiarising myself with ProBuilder. I feel it compliments my methods more so than SabreCSG, not through any fault of its own - it’s a great tool for greyboxing.
I kept it small, simple and used real-world scale right from the start, I’m getting better at putting all of these handy practices...into...practice..
Greyboxing is getting easier, the tools and navigation of Unity are becoming more and more second nature every time I use it. I’m looking forward, very much to the Level Design Module starting very soon.
I’ve really been giving SabreCSG a shot but boy! Do I miss my ProBuilder. There have definitely been ups and downs to both tools. ProBuilder I’ve found to be more challenging in its lack of snapping to a metre grid but SabreCSG, I feel just doesn’t have a certain freedom that ProBuilder does.
The last time we did this exercise I was really happy with what came out of it but with this one, I really wasn’t. Like, not at all. I’m just going to throw some screenshots of my greyboxing throughout the post but instead of talking about what you can clearly see, I’m going to talk about what you can’t. What I did before this ‘level’ became the way it is.
Starting with how I’ve been pushing myself in 3 areas;
- Scaling (Test Early. Test Often)
- Settle on Simple (Being okay with not making something amazing, yet)
- Incorporating Level Design Elements (Leading the player, something interesting every 5 steps and not making the player feel boxed in).
Because I’m testing my design techniques in all these areas at once, I feel like the level of comfort I had in what I was producing has GONE. COMPLETELY.
I’m sure ‘Future Boo’ is looking back and thanking this determination to not retreat into the warm, safe places of Unity and Design. I’m totally sure she is.
Scaling: Using real life measurements to make the levels feel natural. Making sure the player doesn’t feel like that chair is towering over them. And testing to see if they can actually walk through that doorway.
Settle on Simple: I don’t have the skill to make the levels that inspired me to be sitting in this classroom. I have the determination and the passion, but coming to terms with not being good enough has been a real learning curve. One I’m glad I’m getting my head around earlier rather than later. 3 buildings in a village is totally fine. ...For now…
Incorporating Level Design Elements: Watching the pros make it look so easy is nothing short of awe-inspiring. All the games make sense all at once, and Level Design is the thing making my heart fall. I thought I was so clever, “I always seem to know where to go! That can’t possibly be coincidence! I must be a genius!”
...So I never actually thought that but comparatively, I came pretty close. Truth is, giants like Insomniac and Naughty Dog were holding my hand so lightly I didn’t even feel it. And that’s what makes them great.
