Greyboxing / Blockout
Begin Greyboxing with a Plan
Before completing the "greyboxing" your Experience, it is highly recommended to create a Rough Base Map. This gives you a plan so you can start building the physical spaces of your Experience with fewer revisions.
This phase is often called grayboxing because level designers start framing out the general size of the event spaces for their Experience and may or may not use colour. Start only with solid blocks and add extremely large assets that are part of the main terrain or structure.
The playable space should be easy to explore when tested in play mode with no traps where players will get stuck. Test often to consider the player's line of sight as they explore and adjust your design for the most attractive visual result. Choose what assets or terrain features should have the greatest visual impact, such as landmarks or special art features, and tone down the rest so players' eyes will be drawn where you want first.
After this phase, add basic logic to access all areas, such as climbable ladders, platforms, etc.
Various Block Uses & Tips
Blocks can liquid or solid, have a degree of transparency, and use emissive and normal colours.
LIQUID - NO TRANSPARENCY
Types: Deep water, lava, chocolate, etc. Uses: Waterfalls, damaging lava, etc. Defaults: - Wave animation (top) - Falling animation (sides) No Collisions Tips: - Enable/Disable Swim - Use a block of 1 colour for still water
LIQUID - WITH TRANSPARENCY
Types: Water, fog (if swimming disabled) Uses: Improved visibility for underwater exploration and looking into water Defaults: - Wave animation (top) - Falling animation (sides) - Transparency (increments of 20) set by block creator when upload to Workspace No Collisions Tips: Use a block of 1 colour for still water
SOLID - NO TRANSPARENCY Types: Solid colours to detailed textures Uses: Ground, rocks, concrete/asphalt, walls, carpets, tiles, etc. Defaults: No shine or animation Collisions Tips: Use texturing to create shiny details when creating the block
SOLID - WITH TRANSPARENCY Types: Glass, ice, etc. Uses: Visibility to other areas, yet a physical barrier Defaults: The game engine applies a shine Collisions Tips: Default shine effect appears on all blocks of this type as players move
Optimise Software Use
Some level designers avoid adding liquid blocks until much later in their project and notice slightly increased performance while building.
It's also best not to add decorative objects until much later, prioritising objects with logic that function smoothly first.
Blockout: Art
See Blockout Aesthetics for creative recommendations when building your terrain.
Blockout AestheticsLast updated
