Synopsis
This year, as a rendering of the technical aesthetics of something, further touched Unity and UE4, tried to do realistic style demos, but finally decided to focus on "Tide Traces" (it is indeed a bit of a left and right jump... I reflect). The following is the development log for this period (in fact, it is about a month or two).
To get to the point:
First: decide to fully adjust the game to a 3D-to-pixel style. See below for specific reasons.
After determining the basic framework of 3D transposing pixels after "Traces of Tide", I wrote the matching Lit and Unlit materials, and added a bunch of miscellaneous functions:
Map Cloud Shadow: Sample noise maps using world space coordinates
Backlit Edge Light: You want to achieve a golden aperture effect on the edges of your character when backlit
Frontal darkening: The previous direct pixelation scheme always felt that it lacked a three-dimensional sense, compared with the previous works, it was found that it was because of the lack of color distinction between the front and the side, so the function of frontal darkening was added
(Very provincial) grass effect: write the direction of the dead light and disturb a normal map of the grass, in this perspective you can achieve an approximate grass effect (long live the pixel!) under the premise of very low performance. ）
Simple three-sided mapping effect: good for terrain or natural scenes. Additional noise disturbances have been added to allow the "grass" above the terrain to erode more naturally
Simple depth water + water ripple effect: classic depth map implementation. Directly using depth as the X component of the UV to sample a piece of noise to achieve a diffuse water ripple effect
Then: completed the modeling texture of the cat protagonist and bound to the bone, and prostituted some actions from the mixamo, probably the control system of the whole character. The models of the other two protagonists are still slowly buckled.
The map should also adjust the design accordingly... A lot of things to do...
Talk about pixelated 3D style
The main 3D + pixel design styles in the games currently on the market can be roughly divided into 3 categories according to personal understanding:
Take dead cells as an example, a 2D frame, but use a 3D model to bake sequence frame animation ideas
Taking A short hike as an example, the 3D model framework + rendering and post-processing are transformed into pixel-style ideas
Gun-like 3D frame + 2D pixel art assets, or a mix of 3D assets + 2D pixel assets like the Kangong Riding Crown Sword
These three types of ideas each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the style that "Tide Trace" decided to adopt after that is the second type, that is, the 3D+ rendering post-processing mode, so I will mainly talk about some personal understanding of this idea from development to the present.
Why did the project switch to this style?
First of all, of course, is a personal preference: I have always liked pixel-style games, but I always feel that frame-by-frame sprite animation lacks a little coherence, so when I had this idea, I wanted to try the color block style 3D to pixels, but at that time, it was limited to insufficient technical power, and I could only think about it, and finally I made a small demo with the most stable classic 2D process. Only now do I feel that I have learned enough knowledge to turn the original idea into reality.
After that, there are some more practical reasons, which may be lazy and convenient, good white prostitution, suitable for swinging, professional counterparts.
1. Lazy and convenient: "Traces of Tide" is expected to have a lot of action-adventure elements, as well as relatively large and complex scenes, pure 2D process to engage in these things rely on pixel art resources, if you do it yourself, even if you are afraid of all-weather liver explosion, you can't do much work. The production process of 3D to pixels, the low-side model effect can be good, the scene adjustment scene is easy, the physics, collision and judgment have a more Newtonian scheme, there will be no mistakes, and in terms of character action, it is better than drawing the old nose frame by frame. It is very suitable for me, a lazy person who is tired to death when I write
2. Good white prostitute: I think the core value of this method is to let pixel-style games truly access the production process of modern 3D games, including the reuse of various art resources such as models, textures, and action resources, and the direct use of various engine plug-ins under the 3D process. For example, visiting the unity mall will know the various resources of 3D, how many plugins, and the character aspect, there is also a mixamo, an artifact that automatically engages in binding and action. Teaching the traditional pixel game process of basically relying on hand points, the resources that can be used have directly increased by an order of magnitude
3. Suitable for swinging: Translating into adult words is "the rough spots of things with special details are fine". This is the kind of very realistic reason, because no matter what, the personal energy is really limited, it is impossible to be perfect in every aspect, and this 3D to pixel process is in a sense, the "downsampling" of the clear picture, it can largely cover up some details that are not perfect, such as the texture is not detailed, the action is a little distorted and so on. And there is also a point, that is, it is easier to achieve the style of different materials - after all, different materials that originally look very different in style may be a few pixels behind after pixelation. And so on, without going too far into the details, you can put more energy into those more important parts
4. Professional counterpart: This is considered a purely personal reason. As a person who has not systematically studied the art courses of the Eight Classics, those who especially eat art processes are really inadequate, so they can only play with shaders. Just this year, I also mistakenly hit and did the rendering of the TA, modeling and shader magic have learned a little. This process also eats materials and rendering effects, which can provide a lot of free play
In short, the final choice of this style is the result of a fight between the brain's ideas and the actual situation, and it feels that it should be more likely than the pure 2D framework at the beginning to really make what you want, but you still need to grope while doing it.