Unreal Engine 5 Level Design with InstancedStatic Meshes | CIRCULATION Devlog #06
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In this Unreal Engine 5 game development devlog, I'll show you how I created a set of randomized, modular towers to add visual variety and an abandoned, technical feel to my game "Circulation".
When playtesting my game and building levels, I noticed the environment was starting to feel a bit empty, even though that was the general direction I wanted to go for - an abandoned, vacant setting like an old factory. To add more visual flavor, I decided to create some simple geometric structures that could represent remnants of the past.
The key things I considered when designing the towers were:
1) They needed enough detail to suggest a sense of purpose and functionality, even if they didn't need to look like real-world structures. Adding elements like rings, bolts, poles, wires, and lights helped achieve this technical, complex look.
2) The towers had to stay consistent with the overall visual style of the game, using rounded, organic shapes rather than sharp edges.
Creating the modular tower meshes in Blender wasn't too difficult, but I ran into a few workflow challenges. Keeping the segment heights consistent was important to ensure the towers stacked properly. And I had to go back and design dedicated top pieces for the thinner tower segments, as the original tops didn't look quite right.
To make the towers more adaptable, I set up a construction script in the Unreal Blueprint that automatically adjusts the top piece based on the core segment size. This allows me to easily create taller or thinner towers by adding or swapping out segments, without having to manually tweak the top pieces.
Overall, I'm really happy with how the randomized, technical-looking towers turned out. They add a lot of visual interest and an abandoned, industrial feel to the game world of "Circulation". If you're interested in game design and development, I hope this devlog was interesting and inspiring for you. And don't forget, you can already wishlist "Circulation" on Steam - your support would mean a lot!