Tsukimi

Tsukimi is an exploration game set in an enchanted Japanese garden. Collect offerings from shrines and offer them to a deity to finish the game, or just enjoy the atmosphere. 

Conception

Tsukimi is a result of a Games Design Studio 2 assignment, where a combination of 3D skills and Unity skills is required. 2 concepts are needed, the map and the important landmarks. Then style is required, and I chose a Genshin Impact art style. However, due to the limitations of my 3D abilities, the final product is not as stylized as I would like. 

Process

I created the 3D assets in Maya and used vertex coloring to color the assets. Because I used the built-in render pipeline in Unity (Yes, the OG one), I created the assets as low poly as possible without making them feel low poly. I did not feel comfortable with UV unwrapping and texturing before, so the best and quickest option is vertex colors. I somehow found a way to use the vertex-colored assets in Unity.

The tree leaves are made using a png image I painted in Photoshop. I painted 2 tree leaves: sakura and wisteria. Then to make the Sakura trees, I used the tree generator from Unity in conjunction with the terrain system. Then for the wisteria, I made a bark using the tree generator and manually place the leaves - I could not find the right settings to make the leaves fall like the Wisteria trees in Demon Slayer. The bamboo trees are another hurdle, I could not find anyone with a functioning tutorial to make bamboo trees in Unity the way I wanted it. Luckily, I am familiar enough with the tree generator and made the bamboo tree using the tree generator. I straighten up the bark and scarcely spread bamboo leaves on the bamboo tree. An unforeseen problem is the number of bamboo trees in the scene needed to make it look like a bamboo grove. I put in too many bamboo trees - to make it look good - with the price of low FPS to pay. I need to rebalance the amount to a point where the FPS is playable.

The grass is an easier task - at least I thought it was. The grass in the terrain system is easily picked up, and spreading grass and flowers is a cakewalk. The problem comes with the amount of grass and also some weird artifacts on the grass. The fix I found is to limit the grass for the first problem and to change the import compression quality of the latter problem.

I painted the skybox in Photoshop using the 3D panorama technique. Painting is a skill to learn at first, I am not a digital painter or painter in general, so the final product might be a bit weird - the placements of clouds per se are abnormal. 

Finalization

I added post-processing, lighting, and some VFX and called it a day. The game was finished. I am proud of what I have done so far, this is my first Unity game too! For those interested, here is a download page. 
https://naves-02.itch.io/tsukimi