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Street Lights Thread Of Creating Atmospheres And Environments

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ThatOneFox
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Street Lights Thread Of Creating Atmospheres And Environments

Post by ThatOneFox »

What is this thread about?

Too many a time the designer uses the default skybox as a level skybox, and it ends up making the level look very cheap, also some designers rarely incorporate any sort of lighting or fog effects in the level, which ends up giving the same effect. This thread aims to help designers create an atmosphere for their level.

What do I do first?

Well first you determine what environment your level takes place in, for example a forest, a temple, a spoopy house.

Then what?

You first open the rules section
Image <---- its that button

Then scroll down to this bit
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You will then need to choose a basis skybox. Now the cheap option is to just use the halloween skybox, and tbh its pretty crap.

Using the default skybox, you should change the colour of it to match the location you are building, for example you should use some lighter greens when making a forest, darker purples when making a mysterious eldritch location, some turquoises when making an ocean, and some slight yellows when making a beach/desert. The default sun sometimes doesn't cut it either, as in reality sunlight isn't just pure white, it's slightly yellow. Although, sometimes you may not want to create a realistic sun, you may want to make a more fantasy style of sunlight, so you could include some blues or purples (not too drastic, you don't want your player looking like a smurf).

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Realistic sun.

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Fantasy sun

Next is the sun ambient section. This is the ambient lighting effects, and determines the overall brightness of the sunlight. So the lower these values are, the darker the level is. For a natural location you won't want to change these values too much, but we'll move onto other environments later.

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Night time/Twilight

A lot of people thing they can just slam the default night-time skybox on and suddenly they have a night time level. This is not the case. We will however start out with that skybox as a basis. First we change the values in the skybox tint to a slightly lower value. 70ish will be good. Then for the fog we want all the values at 0, and the intensity around 0.4. In the sunlight section, change the sun light colour values all to 0. In the sun ambient colour, change the values to around 30. This creates a realistic night-time effect.
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A few tips

Always try and compliment your environment. If your level is in an enclosed space, make sure the lighting in that area is darker than outside. If you are completely enclosed in spaces such as a cave or tunnel, the main light source should come from torches etc.

In buildings, they should be lit, but some light should still come from physical light sources (the lolipop lamps work really well if you slot them into the ceiling of a building).

The ambient sun section is a great way to give your level a feeling. For example creating a wet and dank cave, you could use some bluish greys to give it a really musty feel. When creating a spooky area, use some slight purples. When making somewhere hot, add some dark orange to the mix. Never go overboard with this section though or you could end up making something really odd.
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Disco-sphir

Fog should also be used sparingly unless you are purposefully trying to restrict view. Having too hard colours (Such as block red) can make a level look very unrealistic, and instead you should tone down the value a bit.
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Realistic red

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OH GOD WHAT ARE YOU DOING red.

Atmosphere is pretty important in levels (especially for a game called atmosphir), so take care not only in the playability of your level, but the looks and aesthetics as well.

Examples of lighting.
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Phantomboy
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Post by Phantomboy »

Oh, this is really well formatted and quite helpful! I am currently starting on a misty/fog like level so this is SUPER appreciated!!
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ElectroYoshi
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to to create a snowy nighttime setting, do you? I'm making a snow-themed level right now, and I did what I could to try and get that effect, but in all honesty, I think it could've come out way better...
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Baufritz
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Post by Baufritz »

ElectroYoshi wrote:I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to to create a snowy nighttime setting, do you? I'm making a snow-themed level right now, and I did what I could to try and get that effect, but in all honesty, I think it could've come out way better...
Something like that?
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Spoiler
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Another idea using a different skybox:
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Spoiler
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Finding the balance between blue/white for frosty feel and black for darkness is pretty hard.

(Yes, I am also working on a snow-themed level :P )
If it's broken, fix it.
If it isn't broken, I'll soon fix that.
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papaya
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Post by papaya »

a snowy nighttime level feels very unrealistic considering your poor character would probably be a brick of ice
just make it daytime and crank the white fog all the way up baby
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ElectroYoshi
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Post by ElectroYoshi »

Oh, my mistake papaya, I forgot your opinion was the absolute truth.

Oh, hold up...
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papaya
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Post by papaya »

I think the only way you can really get away with a dark nighttime feel to a level is if the level is in a cave with those brick blocks, though. The more outdoor-y blocks tend to have really awkward brightness and ofc the character looks weird in dim lighting

just saying i've never seen an outdoor dark level work.
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Post by bionicnacho »

Baufritz wrote:pics
Those eyes tho xD
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