Hey folks,

ran a Beyond the Rim session last night where I used Unity free game builder to make an interactive map for my group.

I connected my computer to the big screen in the dining room, and started off just showing them the top down view, which is the kind of thing they normally see and make decisions with:

Then I switched to a 3d view, which elicited oohs and ahhs.

Then, as they were making plans to take on the Rodians at the end of the street, I switched to my soundboard at starwars.com and played the AT-ST sound, and they all freaked out. Followed that by revealing the Imperial "layer":

It was a ton of fun, and I moved the characters around during the game according to their wishes. Great way to have a really engaging session.

Now, Unity doesn't ship with Star Wars models, you sort of have to hunt those down yourself, and there is a decent learning curve for the program. But if you have experience with programming or 3d graphics, you should be good!

Holy intercourse Batman! That is pretty sweet looking. Thanks for sharing, and welcome to the forums!

impressive.

most impressive.

Is there a gallery of shots like this? I don't plan on learning 3D programming but some sample screenshots would be a good game aid.

Thanks guys.

I built this map over the course of last week using free community resources (not modeling a thing) and will probably continue to do just that for future sessions.

After the next session, I may put up a gallery on my site for all of the maps that I am creating.

For now, here is a high res top down and a high res isometric of this map. This is intended to be Cholganna, but could pass for any jungle environment.

brilliant

I have no experience with Unity, but I am going to attempt to learn it, for the sole purpose of generating maps for EotE. I really like what you've done here, and tho possibility to make maps for ANY location is quite interesting.

How easy is Unity to learn for a layman?

I just downloaded it and am about to take a crack at it...

Looks to be an exciting resource...

brilliant

I have no experience with Unity, but I am going to attempt to learn it, for the sole purpose of generating maps for EotE. I really like what you've done here, and tho possibility to make maps for ANY location is quite interesting.

How easy is Unity to learn for a layman?

Not knowing your background it's hard to say. I downloaded unity on Wednesday and built this map by Friday. There are a fair number of tutorials, which I followed to make the terrain and trees and get shadows working right. With some effort and patience, I think it's doable!

That is truly a step up in digital mapping, nice work!

brilliant

I have no experience with Unity, but I am going to attempt to learn it, for the sole purpose of generating maps for EotE. I really like what you've done here, and tho possibility to make maps for ANY location is quite interesting.

How easy is Unity to learn for a layman?

Not knowing your background it's hard to say. I downloaded unity on Wednesday and built this map by Friday. There are a fair number of tutorials, which I followed to make the terrain and trees and get shadows working right. With some effort and patience, I think it's doable!

I poked around the Unity forums to find tutorials for terrain mapping and came up empty. I hate to be a pain, but could you direct me to the specific tutorials that helped you? There are quite a few and the engine can do so much more than what I need it to do.

Thanks!

Hah! Awesome, Great work!

I am new to EotE and I work at Unity, totally wasn't expecting to see our tools being used in this context

I have actually already begun work on a Unity powered "intro scroller" which you would be able to feed a text file and launch at the start of your game... this certainly gives me a new boost of motivation.

Please feel free to ping me for tips/tricks etc, I've been using Unity for 7 years and working for the company for 5 so I know my way around

Hah! Awesome, Great work!

I am new to EotE and I work at Unity, totally wasn't expecting to see our tools being used in this context

I have actually already begun work on a Unity powered "intro scroller" which you would be able to feed a text file and launch at the start of your game... this certainly gives me a new boost of motivation.

Please feel free to ping me for tips/tricks etc, I've been using Unity for 7 years and working for the company for 5 so I know my way around

Now this is cool. What are the odds?

Conviction, start here and then click forward: http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/script-Terrain.html

Mostly I used a combination of trial and error, but here were my steps.

• Create a new project, and make sure you have the terrain assets imported (Assets > Import Package > Terrain)
• Create a terrain – Gameobject > Create Other > Terrain. It will be completely flat and grey but we’ll change that.
• Create some heights. (There’s lots of settings that I got into later, but I need to see results right away, before I fiddle with dials ) Use the raise / lower terrain tool to start playing with creating hills. You can adjust brush size, opacity, shape, all kinds of fun stuff.
• Bring in some context. You may be wondering how big those hills are. Import something for some reference, like this great free building Unity provides: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/en/#!/content/50
• Throw that on the terrain somewhere and experiment with moving it around. This takes some trial and error to figure out how to get it where you want, but it’s easy once you get it.
• Paint your hills green! With the terrain selected, pick the Paint Texture tool. You’ll have to add a texture, but there should be a good grass texture for you to choose when you click “edit textures.” That will paint the whole thing with the first texture, so add another. Maybe a rock texture. Now you can create some paths or differences!
• Add vegetation. Using the tree button, add some trees on. Again, you’ll have to add a tree model before you can paint it on. Some of the trees are a little wonky scale wise, so if the trees don’t show up at first, try a different model. Theres a way to change the import scale, but that’s a bit advanced. If I recall correctly, the bamboo trees imported correctly the first time

JoeRoYo, I may well ping you when I get into the next project. I have to say, I love the tool and the fact that it is freely available. My next goal is to make the characters selectable in the game window, let me move them, and apply a walk animation as they go! I think I’ve found the scripts I need, now to make them work.

Sounds great, i'm most directly reachable via twitter: @Joe_Robins or via email [email protected]

In terms of learning material, there is quite a bit available. I'd recommend starting here:

unity3d.com/learn and here http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules

depending on how you learn there are also very comprehensive video tutorials available for free here:

http://www.3dbuzz.com/training/topic/unity

and this guy on youtube has some good stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/user/quill18creates

There really is a tonne so its hard to recommend one over the other.

another good way to pick things up is to join the IRC channel #unity3d on irc.freenode.net

I'll try and get some progress done with the titles tool this week and share some builds.

If anyone has any other ideas/needs for 3d visualisations for their games, let me know. I'd be happy to advise or get involved in some projects.

Just off the top of my head, an astronavigation system could be pretty cool.. showing trade routes, and the ability to use it as a mapping system to give context to various trips across the galaxy. Maybe a base management tool that allows you to plot items in various locations etc...

Actually maybe even a GM tool in general that makes it simple to display various scenes/images coupled with sounds to set the mood etc. Plenty of possibilities!

If there a site with just some default landscapes already rendered? I don't plan on learning to use this software but if there was some examples on a site I could use in my campaign that would be great.

If there a site with just some default landscapes already rendered? I don't plan on learning to use this software but if there was some examples on a site I could use in my campaign that would be great.

Hmm, not really off the top of my head, the software is traditionally a game engine for writing fully featured computer games. So creating environments is very much linked to exactly how you plan to use them.

Hah! Awesome, Great work!

I am new to EotE and I work at Unity, totally wasn't expecting to see our tools being used in this context

I have actually already begun work on a Unity powered "intro scroller" which you would be able to feed a text file and launch at the start of your game... this certainly gives me a new boost of motivation.

Please feel free to ping me for tips/tricks etc, I've been using Unity for 7 years and working for the company for 5 so I know my way around

Now this is cool. What are the odds?

And there's ways to make assets in Blender, 3D Studio Max, Maya, Lightwave, etc... and export them into Unity for use in the game engine.

I've got Lightwave and the LWCAD plugin that I like to use to make buildings. Would be perfect for this

Work in progress - Tatooine village. Complete with a half buried sandcrawler that now serves as the cantina / store / local government.

Again, this is all using community resources. When I have it done, I will post the final image along with credits to all the amazing people whose models I have gleefully pilfered.

Ok, it's official, I don't like you anymore.

Too bad the old Star Wars Modelling Alliance (SWMA) stopped existing. They had a huge collection of 3d OBJ objects for Star Wars. Vehicles, equipment, etc...

I would love to have a crack at this! I am looking at making an EotE/AoR app for Windows Phone /Windows 8.1. need to get my unity skills on then!

Where are all these good tutorials you guys are talking about?

Best

Menathorn

This looks awesome, thanks for sharing! Downloaded it and I'm playing around with it myself. So far I've learned how to place a skybox and a palm tree, and resize the palm tree. Maybe I should go read some guides now that I can't seem to do much beyond that, lol.

Where are all these good tutorials you guys are talking about?

This is where I plan on starting:

https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules