Create a basic cube shaped level

Hi guys,

I am very new to game development. I've gone through a few tutorials for unity and they have been helpful for learning a bit, however they always come with their own assets.

To start out with, I want to make a very basic level, basically an arena shaped like a cube with just the player and 1 enemy. I'm going about this step by step, starting with make the level (walls and floor).

Should I just be putting cube objects on the scene editor and squishing them down to be flat and use 5 of them for the floor and walls? Or is there an actual level object I should be using? Am I better off trying to create the level in another program such as blender and then import it?

Then follow up question for as I get further into this, will I have to use blender to make the characters as well? (player/enemy) Or could I just link some cubes together to make a block enemy/block player?

Sorry if this seems like a really basic question.

I appreciate the help!!

 

From a beginner's perspective this is a perfectly fine way to go. Primitives are frequently used for prototyping but there isn't anything wrong with using them for simple content. You can always swap them out at a later date.

There are assets on the store - both free and paid - that can assist with creating levels.

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/11919 - ProBuilder Basic (Free)
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/3558 - ProBuilder Advanced ($95)
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/47418 - SabreCSG (Free and Open Source)
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/69542 - RealtimeCSG ($49)

My current favorite for creating levels within Unity is Realtime CSG, but that's after having tried multiple solutions starting with the free ones and deciding it was the one that worked for me. Sales happen reasonably often too.

External tools - like Blender - are great for creating complex environments. Primitives will quickly fall off as a way to create a level and the in-editor assets I mentioned above will start to feel clunky after a certain point. I wouldn't worry about it at this point in time though unless you start feeling like either of those is holding you back.

 

Thank you for the very informative reply!


The plan for the eventual project is that I will be doing most or all of the programming and my friend that will be working on this with me will be doing most or all of the 3D modeling (he knows nothing about coding). So I would be dropping in temporary primitives to eventually be replaced by his models anyway.

So I will just stick to the primitives for now, especially since I'll be focusing on the coding side of things. I might take a look at those in-editor assets you mentioned tho.

 

You can use any of the primitives that Unity provides and you can import other mesh models too.

There are no real rules for this. Flat surfaces usually use planes or quads but a cube works fine too. From your question, my suggestion is to do it anyway that is easiest for you now. You'll understand a lot more after doing it, and will have learned a lot about constructing an environment in 3D.

Instead of using level, let's use scene. They are mostly interchangeable, but Unity uses scene to describe the root object that all other objects reside in. A single scene can have multiple levels. Levels are a progression system within a game, while a scene is the state of the game itself. Semantics, yes, but I'm just say'in...

You can make your own characters in Blender or many other 3D apps. FBX is Unity's default format. There are paid and free models in the asset store and other sources. And, of course you can group primitives to make characters too. I recommend you try several approaches. You'll find what your looking for eventually and you'll have learned a lot on the way.

Good luck on yyou project.

 

Thanks Bill_Martini!

What I'm working on now is more of a "throwaway project" to just dive in and try all kinds of things. Partially to stumble around, and partially to eventually come to decide on a "best practice" to follow so the real game I eventually make is less messy. I guess when I said level, I really meant "terrain" and boundaries (or walls). I'll play around with planes and quads as well to get a feel for what I like best.

Depending on how this "throwaway project" turns out, I do plan to keep expanding/improving on it as well as use it as a "playground" to try out different features/mechanics before implementing them in the full game.

 

I have to say, my very first project was an arena style game with a single player and opponent. Things fell apart quickly as I had never actually created a game from scratch before. Pure lack of experience prevented me from completing the project. I tried to salvage the work and time I put in by calling it a testbed. I planned to do a lot of testing, but in reality, I dropped it for another project, that I did finish.

I haven't wanted to go back and work on it. I have gained experience and knowledge along the way, the things I wanted to do when I started are no longer the things I want to do today.

 

It may have fallen apart, but would you say you learned a bit from the experience? The whole point of this from my perspective is to try something small to stumble through for the purpose of learning and getting my feet wet. I don't need it to turn into something useful. I just want it to be an entry learning experience.