help making a level.

[eridan]

the level for our demo is to "flat"

A few tricks to help make any level look more alive:

• animated assets - rotating mechanical parts, plants swaying back and forth, birds flying through a scene(pretty easy to pull off honestly)
• particles - show off airflow(dust, leaves, snow, etc)
• post processing/lighting - Vawx commented on the lighting aspect, but I think it is important to note post processing
• fog - probably obvious but adding some fog to your scene can help. try playing with the density, color, and brightness properties

[acsam12304]

yeah sorry guys, the level we are making and levels we are going to make are going to be pretty much out doors, the game we are making is similar to SOCOM and the first Ghost Recon games that came out back in the day.

and thanks for the quick tips, i learn that level design is not just something you do, but a real art.

also Vawx i took a look at your link, really good stuff you have done man . here is a link to our project "Under the Radar" we only have very few screen shots of the level, we are going to post up more
http://foxdeltagames.com/undertheradar.htm

[Vawx]

I'm not sure of the style of your game, so giving specific advice will be difficult, but my best suggestion is to find a photograph of something that resembles your game world and use that as reference.

A few things to keep in mind:

-- Scale has a huge effect on how the environment feels. Massive, empty rooms for example, those can be exceptionally boring.
-- Lighting is important, too much light and it's obviously wrong. Not enough and maybe there are portions that are too dark; a good step would be to set up Static mesh art the same way houses or buildings are, and then place lights next to the static mesh light. Also, let dominant light play its role as a 'broad stroke'.
-- Try and find as much reference art as you can; Google is awesome for this.
-- Research other games that might have a similar game type as yours. Looking at the way they made their levels can be helpful.

Here is a good book to read: http://www.hourences.com/the-hows-an...-design-about/

[reinrag]

real ? you mean real as reality, as you see outside ? or real as in a human doing it ? the reality of what actually, the map or the graphics ? not really sure what you mean

[acsam12304]

ok so i been my project is going along fine. only thing that is keep hitting me is the level it self does not look believe able. i think the believe that the level for our demo is to "flat" what i mean by that is the level does not feel real, does not have that game level feel. is there any good tutorials on the net that shows how to make a level that feels real instead of a level put together with out any real sense of feeling real?