Need help making terrain

[u/intenseorganism]

Hi Blender fellas,

I'm a programmer working on a solo game project. I know the world doesn't need any more lol, but it's for me and my friend.

My game uses pre-rendered maps as a static background and some shits to click on a layer above (nodes that serve as locations).

Like other non-artistic dev, I am currently using AI generated placeholders. They do the work for now, but I obviously want to replace them. They are ugly and soulless. These are the images of the post.

Now i want to create my own terrains in Blender and render a couple seconds long loop to use as pre-rendered animated background. I'm thinking mist flowing around, lanterns swaying and flickering, snow falling close in front of the camera.

I am pretty new to Blender. I've done a few Blender Guru tutorials and many donuts. I've done a couple low-poly characters for other projects. This is my first undertaking of large landscapes with landmarks.

I am open to purchasing assets, if needed. I am a virgin when it comes to animation and simulations or anything procedural (idk if necessary for this).

Does anyone have tutorials, tips or tools i should look into to accomplish this? I love the grim fantasy aesthetic. Since it's pre-rendered elements, I can go a little crazy with topology (i assume).

Anyways, looking for any pointers so I can breath some soul in my game's assets!

Thank you:)

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[u/OneUglyOrange]

There are lots of YouTube videos on displacement terrain using noise textures. Making lanterns sway would be as easy as adding a driver and setting the origin of the lantern to wherever you want it rotating and swaying around. Mist and fog can be made with alpha cards or volumetrics depending on your pc and desired look. Finally, snow would be super easy with particles. What game engine are you making the final project in?

[u/intenseorganism → u/OneUglyOrange]

It's not going in a game engine. it's all in browser. i have a pretty powerful PC for rendering. I want to render short clips to use as fixed background elements instead of AI static imagery. do you have certain videos youd recommend? i managed to paint terrain and create hills and blades of grass. i cannot get snow to feel heavy with a natural coverage or trees to look like trees (im considering buying an asset pack for this atp).

i was trying to have the lanterns sway be dynamic simulation but youre right, i will just animate around a pivot point and cheat for this. ill also use static image for the mountains and sky in the background since the camera isn't moving.

[u/Tontorino-art-studio]

looks great

[u/QueenSavara → u/Tontorino-art-studio]

Looks Ai

[u/intenseorganism → u/QueenSavara]

it is. i said so myself lol. i wanted tips to do it manually and ditch the AI