Probuilder

Welcome on this blog about Probuilder. Here I will talk about why u should use Probuilder. What Probuilder is. The things you can do with it. Who should use this tool. And the added value of Probuilder in our line of work as developers, designers and artists. Let's start with a small introduction of who I am and what will be in this tutorial. I am in my fourth year at the HKU studying game design. During the last 2 years of my study I have focused on using Probuilder in projects. With Probuilder I have built the basic designs for the projects I have worked on. Ranging from VR to FPS games. With Probuilder I have been able to create the first design within a couple of days to a week. From there I was able to test as soon as possible and iterate on the level. So like I mentioned before in this tutorial I will talk about what Probuilder is. What we can do with it. Who should be using Probuilder. The added value for your projects when using Probuilder. I will also talk about ...

So what is Probuilder? You might have heard of it before. However, if you have never heard of Probuilder don't worry. I will tell you what it is used for. This tutorial is for anyone that is interested in using Probuilder or if you are interested in speeding up the proces of your projects. So Probuilder. Probuilder is a tool that can create simple geometric shapes. Just like you can spawn a cube through Unity you can also do this through Probuilder. Now you might think well if I can spawn cubes through both methods why would I need Probuilder? Let me tell you why: Cubes are not the only shapes you can spawn. You can also create prisms, pipes, cylinders, arches and even stairs. The added value of creating these objects with Probuilder is that you can edit them. You can create your own 3D models without having to learn Maya or other 3D modelling software. Now you can stay with the basic shapes and already create a level with simple stairs to create elevation. However, with e...

You might have heard people say you need to start your project with paper prototyping. Creating a paper prototype and testing this prototype might be useful for certain games, like board games or card games. However, if u want to create a digital game you want to start digital prototyping as soon as possible. Testing your game in paper form could yield different results and you might end up changing mechanics or the core of your design because it didn't work in paper form. However, it might still work fine if you went and made a digital version. With Probuilder you can create a digital version within a matter of days or perhaps 2 weeks maximum. Depending on how big your game will be and how elaborate your mechanics will be. Once you have created your quick blockout you can then start testing and adapting your level on the results. And with Probuilder you can make changes fast. Because of this you can get a lot of testing done in the early phase of your project. By using this me...

So we talked about what Probuilder actually is and why u should start digital prototyping from the start. However, let's talk more about the added value of Probuilder and how using it will improve your projects. This post will be a bit shorter since I already talked about a couple of things that will improve your project. Like I mentioned before using Probuilder in your projects can speed up the development process. Thanks to the fact that you can easily build your level in its basic form and from there you make it more elaborate. However, during this time while you make it more elaborate you can already start testing the basic form. You can ask people how to size of everything feels and depending on what type of game it is you can even test mechanics already. Here is a great example of a very simple blockout for a zombie shooter: https://twitter.com/jb_babou/status/1065233452998541313 All of the shapes you can take cover behind are still simple blocks as well as the buildi...

Now that I might have convinced you to start working with Probuilder you are probably itching to start creating your first level. Of course you can just jump into it and start creating something in Unity. However, we need some sort of plan for what we are going to make. So since we are going to start with the really easy and quick blockout you dont need anything like an artstyle yet. We are going to start really simple. So for this challenge I want to create a rather simple town. This town is small and will have a couple of buildings and a plaza. You can go with what I make and see how it will look like. Or you can come up with whatever you would like to make and compare it to each other. So here I have a rather simple and quick layout I drew in paint (yes I did it in paint). I want a big house for the chief of the village to live in. Then a plaza with shops around it and a couple of roads going to the smaller houses. With a simple plan I can now start creating this village with...

Now that we have created the base of our project we need to create some more elaborate models. These models are still kept rather simple. You don't have to think about creating highly detailed models yet, because that's not the point with Probuilder. I picked 2 models from the previous challenge that I will make more elaborate. I will show you how they looked in the first challenge and how they will look now. Before I can do that I will need some inspiration of course. So when I think about my village I see a fantasy world like the Witcher in my mind. For the look of my buildings I started to look at the houses in that game as well as other games. House:  https://witcher.fandom.com/wiki/Tomira%27s_hut Fountain:  https://www.primrose-nederland.nl/klassieke-stenen-fontein-drielaags-p-45511.html As you can see they don't have any details yet like in the images from which I got inspiration. However, you can still see that it is a fountain and a small house/building. ...

We have created more elaborate models and people should start to recognizing a certain art style or theme. Creating models that can communicate the narrative or time of your game can help a lot. Even though we are still in the beginning of the project we can still communicate our theme without even having an artist create anything. My project Tigris Templum is all about creating an environment that is still in its basic form, yet can communicate what the game is about and during what time it happens. I can do this because I can create simple blockouts with a defined style. Tigris Templum is a game during the Roman empire era. So I use a lot of Roman styled buildings with their iconic pillars. With this art style I could keep it rather simple and still give all my players the feeling as if they are in a Roman camp. Someone even said it reminded them of their vacation to Rome and reminded them of archeology. I will show you a couple of examples from Tigris Templum. The aq...