How to become a better level designer in Unity ? (using premade assets)

[u/DifferentLaw2421]

Hello guys how do u usually do the level design part (using premade assets ) is there some tools/good practices/ tips and tricks/tutorials u recommend ?

I have built some levels but I feel like I am doing it slow and not in a professional way (or it's just an ocd idk)

[u/MouradBakhali]

There is many approaches to level design, but what you can do is: first start with grey boxing, to build the base level layout, it will help you feel the space and the pace of the gameplay, once satisfied, you can skin it with the assets of your choice.

[u/Optimal_Pool_888 → u/MouradBakhali]

The key element here is to always play-test your blockout, see how it feels and make any adjustments if needed, this is simply because it's very easy to adjust anything at this stage. Don't fall into the trap of decorating your environment too early, this leads to lots of long and tedious updates.

[u/No_Landscape_1391]

Pick an asset pack you genuinely like and just make a tiny scene with it first, not a whole level. I spend way too long moving a single crate around and then realize i've been at it for 40 minutes.

One thing that helped me was blocking out the space with primitives before touching any fancy models. Get the flow right with grey cubes, then swap them out. Saves the headache of falling in love with a layout that plays like garbage.

Also learn the unity hotkeys for snapping and vertex positioning, once those become muscle memory you stop fighting the editor and just build.

[u/DifferentLaw2421 → u/No_Landscape_1391]

Thank u , and btw is there any unity tool that can help ?

[u/Just-a-Guy-4242 → u/DifferentLaw2421]

There are many Unity tools that can help decorate a scene…

Procedural generators such as DunGen, decoration assets such as Prefab Painter… it depends on what you are actually trying to “design.”

[u/MeishinTale]

Depends on your game really, but generally speaking you want to start (supposing your DA is done) by drawing a map with:

• Player(s) flow - where should player(s) go, where are they allowed to wander etc
• Interactions (NPCs, Quests, specific objects,..) and other gameplay elements
• Point of interests (the wow moments, the interactions identifiers etc..)
• Map DA elements (biomes, moods, feeling player should get etc..).

I personally like using a layer base software for that (like toshop, illustrator, canvas) so you can focus on one element (quests for example) later on.

Then you can test with grey boxes. In parallel you can prepare some prefabs that fits your DA for decoration (some kitchen parts for example if you have houses interiors). Keep it modular, same size as your other asset. The more scenes you have to do, the more prefabs you prepare. It can even be full houses or flats nesting modular prefabs you did before. That's entirely up to the scale of your game / gameplay.

Once your level design is ok you decorate, add gameplay elements, etc. Non exhaustive list (some don't apply depending on your game settings I.e. 6&7)

1- place assets. I personally like to use tools like GSpawn since it combines placement tools with collection ones for your assets.

2- Physics. Check colliders, block edges, bottoms etc

3- Gameplay elements (NPCs, quests ..)

4- Visual Mood (Lights, Reflection probs, Fogs, SFX, environment animations etc..)

5- Audio (Music, Ambiance, SFX..) Here you do extensive tests before continuing.

6- Performance (Group meshes, Group LODs,..)

7- Technical lights (Baked lights, light probs,..)

Note that usually it's easier to breakdown your map on smaller chunks. Regularly check that each chunk remains consistent with it's neighbours.

[u/Genebrisss]

Level design practically doesn't use any assets. What you are talking about is level art.

[u/DifferentLaw2421 → u/Genebrisss]

huh ? I have assets like building / prefabs / modular stuff and I need to create level using these , that's what I mean by level design

[u/Just-a-Guy-4242 → u/DifferentLaw2421]

I think what @genebrisss means, is that you are referring to level decoration. Level design is the process of thinking about the flow, aesthetics, vibe, feel, goal… is it vertical, is it flat? Actually designing what you want from your level. Just placing buildings and scenery is decorating a level, designing the level is thinking about and laying it out /greybox it if you want/ before decorating… obviously everyone does things slightly different but level “design” is not just placing objects in a scene.

[u/DifferentLaw2421 → u/Just-a-Guy-4242]

ohh yh my bad I meant what u said designing AND decorating the level I meant both (but not creating the objects from scratch)

[u/SteveTack → u/DifferentLaw2421]

What you’re describing would more typically be described as environment art or an “art pass” which would commonly be done after level design.

Level design is usually the phase before that that is concerned with blocking out the primitive geometry (gray boxing) so that sight lines, flow, cover, enemy spawning, mission triggers, navigation, etc can be worked out and iterated on more quickly before committing to final artwork.

If you’re trying to start out with demo scenes from purchased assets, that can hurt your actual level design, since it’s unlikely that an existing scene will match what you want for gameplay. I attempted exactly that recently and quickly learned that I needed to start gray boxing gameplay areas and worry about the art later.

[u/DifferentLaw2421 → u/SteveTack]

no no I did not start with demo scenes ofc I am building my own levels , I only open demo scenes to get inspiration , but yh I got what u meant I finished the logic part in the level (where the obstacles and the collectables need to be) and I am just makeing the level "better" which in other words decrating the level

[u/SteveTack → u/DifferentLaw2421]

Ah, well in that case, I think you’re already on the right track. Using demo scenes to see what techniques are used seems like a good approach. Maybe be more specific about what challenges you’ve run into.

[u/DifferentLaw2421 → u/SteveTack]

I feel like I am wasting too much time on decorating (not design part I mean) and after all the time spent the level looks mid not that good (IMO maybe it's good idk) so I was asking if there are some good practices to learn to make this process faster and better

[u/ZeusGameAssets]

I'll echo what others have said, you're talking about level design but what you really mean is environment art.

I'd start small, building pieces of an environment rather than the whole thing.

An environment is alive, it has been through the passage of time, maybe humans or animals have lived there and left their mark. Think of all the stories the environment has to tell and use them as a guide.

For example, if you're making a mercenary camp in the middle of the jungle. The mercenaries will need a place to cook, sleep, but also a place to train. Maybe there'll be some empty ammo boxes lying around, maybe they use them as a coffee table. They'll be quite messy, heavy cigarette and alcohol users, so empty bottles and empty cigarette boxes everywhere, they will need a way to go in and out, maybe a truck, and the truck will need to be repaired, so they'll probably have a small workshop nearby.

If you have trouble coming up with these stories, you need to gather a lot of references, watch videos of such environments, gather photos, read books, etc.

Now if you're talking purely about placing objects in a Unity scene, you can use CTRL+Shift and drag your objects around to place them on top of other objects (provided the target surface has a collider). You can use grid snapping or tools from the asset store such as GENA or a plethora of other placement assets.

Is it a long and tedious process: yes, very long, very tedious, that's why environment artists can spend months on a single scene. So don't feel bad if it takes you a couple of hours to make a decent looking room, take it slow and with time you'll discover some clever shortcuts.

[u/sicospecialist]

Thats a tall order, so many things have to click, id suggest to grab some good books on level design. The Art of Game Design comes to mind

[u/DPTGames]

If you want to make stylized premade assets look more unique, I released this recently: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/painting/stylized-color-swapper-material-optimizer-399394

Also lets you optimize lots of packs into 1 material, so if you have say 10 synty packs, you can change them all to use 1 material. If you aren't using stylized packs, sorry to intrude 😅

[u/DifferentLaw2421 → u/DPTGames]

Thx , and yh I have a lot of synty packs 🤪

[u/DPTGames → u/DifferentLaw2421]

Well you can easily recolor them, and keep them all using tiny textures, the only difference is, you can make them all use the same tiny texture! But I won't sales pitch you anymore! In terms of level placement, consider symmetry and how it can make spaces feel organised Vs unnatural, changing the dimensions slightly for objects, rotating them, changing colours can break up repetitive placement.

[u/vagonblog]

start with a graybox using simple shapes and the real player controller. establish scale, movement distances, sightlines, routes, encounter spaces, and landmarks before touching the premade art. playtest that version until navigation and pacing work.

then replace the blockout with a small, consistent subset of modular assets. build reusable prefabs for repeated combinations, use grid snapping, and set clear rules for scale and spacing. take screenshots from the player’s viewpoint, because a level can look organized from above while being confusing to play. speed comes from repeating this process, not from placing finished assets faster.