LerpworksAcademy

Art and worlds · course

Your own open world

25 lessons · 6 chapters

How to build a large world from the first idea to loading it in pieces: scale and landmarks, land and terrain in Gaea, water, roads, forests by rules, places and air, the budget. The theory works for any engine and game, the practice is in Unreal, with notes on how other tools do the same. Read in order.

Chapter 1 · The idea 0 of 6
  1. How a world is built: from large to small 29 steps
  2. World scale: meters, minutes and density 31 steps
  3. Open-world design: regions and landmarks 17 steps
  4. A world you believe in: where people live and where the roads go 18 steps
  5. Wayfinding: how players find the way 20 steps
  6. Blockout: a world of boxes 18 steps
Chapter 2 · Terrain 0 of 5
  1. Landscape: terrain from a heightmap 37 steps
  2. What real land looks like 28 steps
  3. Gaea: first steps 7 steps
  4. Erosion in Gaea: water, talus and deposits 18 steps
  5. Terrain from a generator into the engine 8 steps
Chapter 3 · Water and roads 0 of 3
  1. Water in the world: lakes, rivers and shores 30 steps
  2. Lake and river in Unreal 8 steps
  3. Roads and trails 38 steps
Chapter 4 · Ground and forest 0 of 6
  1. Ground material: layers, slope and tiling 18 steps
  2. Masks from terrain in Gaea: slope, flow and deposits 15 steps
  3. Biomes: how a forest is built 19 steps
  4. Scattering by rules 23 steps
  5. Plant a forest by rules in PCG 8 steps
  6. Placing things along roads and shores 8 steps
Chapter 5 · The scene and the distance 0 of 3
  1. Composition in 3D 15 steps
  2. Interior and exterior 17 steps
  3. Air and distance: fog, sky and time of day 18 steps
Chapter 6 · Large worlds 0 of 2
  1. Open world: how it loads in pieces 20 steps
  2. Open-world budget