Creating a Scene for my 3D Pixel Art Game

Date of Recording: 2020-11-14

I took a bit of a break from the usual tech updates this week to record a making-of video detailing what it's like to create a scene from start to finish in the Unity-based pixel art game engine I've been developing.

I found some neat modifier stack tricks in Blender for creating procedural, non-destructive details for rocks, stone bricks, and trees. This saves a lot of asset-creation time, which should hopefully make it more feasible for me to create a large game world without a huge team.

music: lofi hip hop to [chill/dance/study/relax/rage/party/sleep] to by Virtual Boy is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

[tsselr]

FAQ:

1. Can I buy this?
The package I'm building is for a game project I'm working on, so I currently don't have resources to support external users. Plus the code is in a constant state of flux. I may revisit this in the far future toward the end of my project, if there is interest at that time.

2. Can you make tutorials for how to achieve this?
I've written about the techniques I've used in the video descriptions of my older videos, and plan on making new higher quality videos as I work on new features that I think are interesting or have educational value. I don't always have time to make a detailed video for every thing, but I'm always happy to respond to specific questions here in the comment section, or privately over on twitter.

3. Where did you pick up your skills?
I mostly learned graphics programming through following the tutorials of Inigo Quilez and Catlike Coding online. I also highly recommend Sebastian Lague and AdamCYounis' channels here on YouTube.

[Geddy]

I could imagine an entire game being made in this style and at the very end of the game, the camera pans in and moves around to reveal the game was 3d the whole time.

[roastman]

"To make the rocks more realistic, I let the computer do it for me."

[oliveryt]

I never worked with any of these programs... But WOW, 2 hours for this?! Insane!

I am impressed by the quality of this piece of art.

[FilipeDeschamps]

Wow, the final scene is amazing!!! Congratulations and thanks for sharing 👍

[nologin]

Even without the pixel engine the scene looked pretty nice and serene, but that engine stepped it up so much, very nice.

[ktmochiii]

the colors and little grass/leaves movement really make this scene! looks so good!

[josewenzel]

This youtube channel must be the best thing I found this year, you are really talented dude... it makes me envious... in a good way

[silvercarroll]

I'm at a loss for words at how beautiful the final product is. Just subbed!

[ruvimperna]

Your pixel art is superb, the lighting/shading is perfect to emphasize the shapes of objects in pixel art, like your water line is very light, if a stone is sticking out, u have a lighter gray highlight around where it differentiates it from the ground (4:23 stone next to pillar). Your style is so perfect.

[__leftistVegan]

I absolutely love this art style. the combination of pixels and realistic reflections in the water make it look to warm but immersive at the same time.

[dumas]

Wow, the pixel shader you have going on here is absolutely amazing.

[Esteban_Santos]

That displacement and decimation technique is so cool I’ll try to figure out how to do something like that, great video!

[ZedAmadeus]

Holy hell. The final result is goddamn gorgeous!

[danlei]

This is some incredible work! Can't wait to play whatever games you make with this system.

[pluto]

This already looks so cool, like this as an entire game just- damn
Amazing work so far

[mythicdawnist]

When they said “trees are just cylinders with some merged spheres on top.” I felt that

[yukinanka]

Yo, I'm stifled. Your work looks fantastic! Thanks lord YouTube algorithm.

[ZimmervisionCZ]

This looks absolutely stunning! I would be overjoyed to watch or play something that looks like this!

[Levi_Zacharias]

I love the cloud shadows in the final version! and that pond reflection looks great.