So i’m making an fps game similar to doom and hexen but I’m wondering what is the best way to make levels for this game?
Now I know the question may be a bit confusing so ill break down what I mean. Should I make individual static meshes like walls, ceilings, floors and decorations and put them together like legos until the level is finished or should I make the entire level or certain rooms in a 3rd party 3d modeling program and then export it to UE4?
I’m asking this because I want to know the best workflow for making maps without having to go back and remake static meshes or start over from scratch when things arn’t fitting together. I’m use to doom mapping where you can make entire levels and episodes out of bsp however from what I’m hearing it seems like making whole maps purely out of bsp blocks in UE4 or 3d games in general is a bad way to go.
That depends on the style of your level. Is it repetitive like a hallway leading into simple rooms? is it a intricate stairway design like in an old castle?
How I started to go about the level design:
Block out the level “BSP style”, but use the basic shpaed static meshes instead of brushes. it doesnt matter that you cant bool them. Just make a doorway out of three and a windowed wall out of four cube meshes. they still perform better than two booled brushes.
Once that is done, use the property matrix to get a convinient list of all meshes and their current sizes. then check what walls you have that have the same size. i made a blittle BP that prints all mesh dimensions of mesh actors in the level together with the mesh name as a CSV string to the console. From there it goes into Excel.
If there are wall meshes that are “one-offs”, but close in size to another segment that is aleady used, i may change geometry at that point to reduce the number of individual parts. the same can be done by comparing the relative dimenions of each mesh to identify meshes with the same shape but just different scale.
In a later version of this workflow I created a BP for the simple meshes to have some procedural building going on and to define doorways/windows more convieniently…
PS. If using a modular approach, it ia also important to stay on some kind of grid as you would get problems otherwise of maintaining an even corrdor width after a bend.
PPS: Since Im using MODO, I have aquired differnt approach, but as I dont know what 3D app you are using its hard to give you tips on that aspect.
Yeah, those days are over
Working with BSPs is fine, unless you :
I’m using blender for 3d modeling atm. I’m going for like a simple design yet not fully oldschool like doom or hexen. If you see any of the modern classic doom maps made now days then that is the style i’m targeting for.
My maps won’t be that long since i’m going for a multiple path and ending type game.
