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Swords and Shovels: Designing Modular Sets

by Michael Baker

For many games, modular sets are crucial for both design and production. In this course, you’ll learn how to create a design and production ready modular set from pre-existing art assets.

What you'll learn

For decades, modular systems have been used to solve a variety of technical and design problems in game development. Modularity provides the basis for efficiency and flexibility and allows a small set of source elements to be expanded into a much larger whole. In this course, Swords and Shovels: Designing Modular Sets, you’ll learn how to create a design and production ready modular set from pre-existing art assets. First, you'll cover the basics; project setup, choosing a unit basis, and assembling a modular tile set. Next, you’ll beautify the scene by adding set dressing, collisions, lighting and start saving prefabs. Lastly, you’ll assemble the modules you’ve created to create a playable level. By the end of this course, you’ll not only have the confidence to create your own modular development kit, but to create visually stimulating previsualizations for levels. Software required: Unity.

About the author

Michael Baker is a game developer and graphics production expert with more than 15 years experience in games and VFX production. He's worked on big licensed projects based on Star Wars and Alien, and developed software tools for the popular Bullet Physics Framework which powers countless authoring tools, feature films, and games. In 2013, he co-founded Codex Worlds, and indie AAA game studio based in Austin, Texas.

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