Using Workflow Techniques and Modularity

Document Link

Even though the documentation is dated back to unreal engine 2 which is now almost 12 years old, the information about modular design, techniques and tips on planning your kits has helped me better understand issues that can occur when creating the assets.

The documentation goes into great detail on how to setup both modelling software and Unreal Engine 2 to the same scaling and grid spacing which allows the users to quickly and efficiently create assets with the knowledge they will be correct when porting them.

Reusing Pieces

There is a quick overview on why using modular assets kits to create large scenes and re using assets multiple times can be beneficial not only for the level designers but also to efficiently use computing memory.

• Re-using pieces doesn't take up any more space in memory, so more RAM can be devoted to higher quality meshes/textures, or costs such as AI.
• Using the same pieces throughout a level or an area can help to unify the look and feel of your game. If used correctly, it can be a great help in tying locations together in space or in function.
• Because you can use the pieces many dozens of times over, you can allocate your time to making higher quality meshes that will see heavy use, instead of many lower quality meshes that will get used and then thrown away.
• Fewer total pieces are needed, because you can reuse them. This results in time and cost savings.

Re-usability

A major concern with making modular pieces is the fear that the player will be able to see the re-use of the chunks. This is a bad situation, not only because it looks sloppy, but because the player may get lost in an area that looks just like every other. Try to make a special effort to differentiate areas visually if they share similar pieces. You can do this in a number of ways. Try using the pieces in different combinations, using lighting in different ways (colored lights, projectors), creating custom geometry to set apart a location, or substituting textures on your modular geometry, to give it a very different look.

Pivots

The documentation goes over some common pivot issues when dealing with corners and stretching of assets when working on the grid

The example they use is some wall assets that have been designed to be modular but the corners pieces do not fit as the diagonal axis is wide that the horizontal which means either you are required to have another assets that fits this size or have the ability to stretch the original meshes to fit.

Summary

although a lot of the information in this documentation has been touched on in other readings I have undertaken its good to get more reference material covering the same aspects and issues involving the design and creation of modular asset kits.

The issues with pivot points and corner pieces was something I ran into during a module last year (Level design in UDK). Having experienced this issue first hand and having to work around it in my own way gave me a lot of experience in this area and I can fully understand and appreciate how important it is to plan the assets out prior to moving into the polish stage.

Reference

Lin, Lentz, Sturgill and Reed 'Using Workflow Techniques and Modularity' DOI http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/WorkflowAndModularity.html.