How to Create Beautiful Games in Unity

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Programmer art doesn't have to suck! In this video I show how you can code your way to better graphics in Unity using shaders, lighting, reflections, and post processing to overcome lacking art skills.

We'll create two scenes, one with a more realistic art direction, and one that's more stylized. Without creating any textures I'll show you how to create some punchy and striking visuals in Unity URP. We'll make use of the default PBR shaders, write a few shaders of our own, and setup solid lighting and post processing to give the scenes a strong visual hook. We'll even write a little bit of C# code to add some life to the static scenes.

0:00 Intro
0:50 Art Direction
1:56 Base Shading
3:22 Lighting
11:59 Post Processing
17:18 Reflections
18:10 Motion
21:30 Stylization

#devlog #gamedev #gaming #videogames #indiedev #indiegame #unity #unity3d #madewithunity #indiegames #indiegamedev #gamers #steam #gamemarketing

[RvnBck]

This is great, but I have learn some stuff over the years:
1: Volumetric fog makes everything look good.
2: Too much bloom is bad.
3: On moving lights, shadow opacity must be 1.
4: Careful using Black / Dark textures without proper normal map and smoothness adjustment, they can literally bypass any light (like the mountains in 6:00).
5: Do not touch Color Saturation, Shadow Colors or any Color Correction if you don't know what you are doing, it can look very different on other screens/monitors.
6: Same as 4th and 5th point, careful adjusting Contrast it increase dark spots and color saturation.

BONUS:
7: Do you want even more beautiful graphics without doing much? use HDRP with default volumes / settings.
8: Do you want premium quality Lens Flares? Download HDRP Lens-Flares Samples from Package Manager, you can move them to a URP project too.

[Thimas]

I have been using Unity for 5 years at this point and I still didn't know half the stuff in this video. Love your presentation style, Kyle!

[isto_inc]

amaaaazing. im hoping to learn more about tech art and this was a great intro!

[nerdchomp]

I'm currently working on establishing a new style for my current project, and even though I'm in Unreal, this video is still super useful!

[MidorayFire]

As a tech artist and a fan of your work, I really got alot of useful information off this
Looking forward for more Videos of this format :D

[ristopaasivirta]

I loved that you put focus on art style and the intention of the art style.
Too many indie devs just add effects because that's what games are supposed to have.
Art direction is always the number one thing and the effects and options are there to achieve that goal.

[SethODaleStudios]

loved it, I'm just learning urp from built in for 10 years, so this is what I needed.

[genkicat_]

Absolutely need more videos like this. Love it

[JusFinnZalar]

I'm good at every individual thing (modeling, texturing, shaders) but have always needed help in tying things together and using post processing, this video is incredible thank you so much!

[attilabacsa]

This video is a gem for someone like me who's just started getting familiar with game dev and Unity. Huge thanks! 🎉

[cvhamilton]

The lighting on all these looks amazing!

[yashkhd]

Wow...u r really adressing the missing links on youtube. There is no much material around settting up art pipeline properly. Hope to see more material around this...Subscribed..!!

[giggio]

This stylized technique is just incredible! Thanks for sharing

[roinerddev]

This video was incredibly helpful! I'd love to see more videos covering different stylization techniques and shader creation in Unity. I find creating a unique style one of the hardest parts of indie game dev. Thanks again!

[Vesrayech]

Bless be the algorithm for this recommendation. I like your style both in making the video and with your design. Looking forward to checking out your other stuff :)

[nickdevprod]

amazing video, one of the best things i've seen quite some time

[apresthus]

Fantastic video. It's not really tied to an engine, I can easily transfer these concepts to my own engine. Really hiqh quality content you don't see too often.

[eriadus]

Now I just need to learn how to make a game

[Armadous]

I HATE color grading shadows, midtones, and highlights. It's 5 to 10 minutes of messing with sliders only to be told by somebody with a better eye for color that you made it worse. :D

[rohitshinde]

Nice, make similar guid video on outdoor environment ...❤