Blocking

[Cerberus]

Just a few questions about blocking,

I've never done blocking before nor have I really heard about it before this site so I just want to ask firstly, is this normally what level designers do in the beginning? I've always detailed as I go along. So for example if I make an area I will completely flesh out the geometry, textures, props etc before moving on and then play test that specific area to see how it plays and looks.

Is this bad practice or would you consider this just another way of doing things? Is the only benefit to blocking to see the gameplay and map size? Also do you always use dev textures or do you texture in blocking as well?

Thanks

[Aldighieri]

I would save details for after the level is working and has been tested. Aesthetics are secondary to gameplay, IMO.

Blocking in is a good way to get map scale and allows you to implement puzzles and mechanics properly.

[DevinSherry]

The purpose of white-boxing, or blocking, is to take your 2D drawn layout and bring it into the 3D realm using the program of your choice. By blocking out the entire level in 3D, it gives the level designer the chance to test it for play-ability, scaling, and flow. By testing the blocked out version of the level, any major changes that you need to make to the level to improve the layout can easily be done. If you put the time into making everything fleshed out before you test, if you find that an area isn't playing right, you now have to manipulate a handful of objects, or even get rid of some areas all together. Waiting to test until after the level is meshed out usually results in a lot of time wasted because you could have spent maybe 2 days meshing an area to find that the area is not necessary and need to take it out. When I first started level designing, I fell into the trap of making things pretty before you test and I ended up wasting a lot of hours where I could have done something more productive. Making sure that you plan ahead and test your level at every possible moment will make your levels better and your process of making these levels more efficient.

I hope this has helped!

[Cerberus]

Thanks for the replies, they were very helpful.

Just how detailed should blocking be? Should everything be entirely flat? No height levels all on 1 floor? If not should things like undergrounds be implemented? Should any of the walls have any geometry details such as indentation etc or should it literally be just a block? And also should everything use dev textures typically?

[DevinSherry]

Let me answer your questions using some of my work as an example.

Here are a two screen shots from the whitebox I did for the current level I am working on called Space Station, it has its own thread if you want to check it out in the Work in Progress. This is how much detail I put into the white-box, this was made using the UDK and the screenshots were taken in detail lighting mode instead of lit mode. The purposes of these white-box screens are so that the concept artists can paint over them and create the room in full detail and then the 3D artists can look at that, create the necessary assets, and you implement those assets into the level.





Here is the concept art made from using a different screenshot I took, but it is the same room as the first white-box image that I have shown you above.


Lastly, here is the current progress of making the room from the concept art in the actual level:



I hope this answered some of your questions. If not, I can go into more detail.

[Cerberus]

Ok so I guess it's a bit half and half really, except for texturing which is left until much later. I guess if you have a solid idea of what the geometry is supposed to look like then you can fill it in there

[DevinSherry]

Just to drive the point home, white-boxing is a crucial step in level design and should not be over-looked by any means. My trip to GDC and talking with some of the developers there, most are looking for white-box screen shots in a portfolio and they want to see your ability to create fun spaces and the ability to explain why a space is fun or your design choices for why a space is layed out a certain way. Of course, they do want to see the final version of the level in all of its glory, but a huge part of level design is creating fun play-spaces and being able to effectively communicate that to others. This is where the white-box comes in; you can show people the white-box of an area and they can see for themselves what it is you are trying to do with the level and you can use the white-box to communicate your ideas to others.

[Cerberus]

Thanks for the advice, you've been most helpful.

I guess I should start blocking more. My problem is I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I like to detail things as I go along. Also, if I show people progress so far all that will be seen is a blocky orange map (if it's a CSS map for example). I just didn't feel like you'd get the right feel for it.

Also sometimes details for particular areas come into my head as I'm developing it which spurs those in the moment ideas. If a map is blocked out I will have to go back and change them at some point later anyway.

I'll start getting into this and see how I get on. It does seem to make sense from the point of view of layout and gameplay though. I'll see if I do blocking the correct way if I post a few screenshots here haha

[Aldighieri]

Also, if I show people progress so far all that will be seen is a blocky orange map (if it's a CSS map for example). I just didn't feel like you'd get the right feel for it.

Blocking in is purely about technical aspects and pacing. This is where players test the merits of your gameplay, without fancy graphics to distract them. Of course, there are some games that actually rely on meshes early on.(Such as Penumbra and Amnesia) Those games actually are virtual worlds that rely on immersion. So unless the aesthetics are critical to gameplay, I would avoid doing that at this stage. Basically make a checklist of what ABSOLUTELY must go into the map, and implement it at this stage. Anything else is either a bonus feature or can be done at a later stage.

Also sometimes details for particular areas come into my head as I'm developing it which spurs those in the moment ideas. If a map is blocked out I will have to go back and change them at some point later anyway.

The reason you do a whitebox is because BSP is disposable. You wouldn't want to delete a fully detailed room because it didn't work, would you?

My comments are in bold.

[Cerberus]

Fair points, thanks for your answers

[ClimateChange]

I'm trying the whiteboxing approach for the first time ever in so many years of failed maps. I must say that it's a good way to prevent yourself from losing control of things, because if you force yourself to look at scale first and "forget" about textures and lighting, then it becomes more organized. In one extreme I was worried about textures, cracks on walls, fractures here and there, the shape of this and that, to the point that I would go mad. Now I don't do this anymore, I'm attempting a two phase approach, scale first, placeholders second. But I'm also taking in consideration modular design from the start by using blocks that are multiples of 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 units.

I once tried that complete this part first, then move on to the next approach and it failed miserably. I would either fail because I was taking too much time to finish one part or, because I focused on one part alone, I'd lost the overall flow of the whole level, making that piece feel "detached" from the rest of the world.

[Cerberus]

I started doing it a little bit and it does feel like a bit more of a structured way of doing things focusing on the core gameplay and movement around the map rather than the texturing and detail. Also it would get you a working playable map much quicker

[Nock_3d]

for my job i think the blocking is very important for start making the map

is very easy for make change when you think is not good way to go