Ultimate Game Design : Building game worlds

Building Game Worlds
66
U L T I M A T E G A M E D E S I G N
FIGURE 3-7
Use-specific texture
It is kind of tricky sometimes to create a texture that will tile well (without showing
any seams or edges). When you are creating tiles based on complex or interlocking
patterns (think lava flows or Mayan temple inscriptions), it’s important to utilize
the skills of a texture artist. Quite often, in the production process, placeholder or
temporary textures are put into a scene until the finalized textures are handed off by a
texture artist. It’s important for world builders and level designers to at least be able
to construct and make basic modifications to these placeholder textures or to create
their own “basic” textures. The more you can learn about texturing the better!
When a texture doesn’t work (or isn’t made to tile properly), you will know it immediately.
You’ll see an unwanted repetitious pattern emerge immediately. This
means that the texture in question doesn’t hook up seamlessly on an edge.
Using Textures Well
Part of creating your asset breakdowns (recall the simplified version described in
Chapter 1’s cathedral example) includes identifying which textures you will need to
complete a scene or section of your game. From your concept sketches, you’ll need to
work closely with your texture artist to extract and build a texture set that you can