On Tuesday, March 11, 2025, 3D and graphic assets were discussed at Bologna Game Farm. A day also attended by students from Demetra Formazione’s ITS 3D course, now at the end of their first year.
Storm in a Teacup: Asset Management in Video Game Projects
Roberto Semprebene, project manager at Storm in a Teacup, opened the morning by discussing asset management in a project.
Managing assets in a video game project is complex. They can be of various types: graphic, animated, audio or programming-related, and must be organized with an effective system, such as a NAS (Network Attached Storage is a storage device connected to the network, which allows multiple users to access and manage files centrally), to facilitate their storage
Since different people work on a project, a versioning system helps monitor changes and avoid accidental overwriting.
Versioning is a version management system that allows you to monitor file changes, avoiding accidental overwrites and allowing you to restore previous versions in the event of an error. This helps maintain control over changes and ensure a more secure workflow.
The folder structure must be clear and shared with the team to optimize the workflow and manage any staff changes.
Another important thing is that assets must be optimized to ensure smooth performance, considering weight and compatibility with lower-performing hardware.
Good asset and engine management improves team organization and project quality. But not only that, in fact in indie projects, porting to other platforms is often entrusted to specialized studios. Clear documentation facilitates handover.
Another tip is that 3D assets should be proportionate to their use: distant elements may be less detailed, while foreground elements should be more carefully crafted. Reasoning about how the player will see the game world.
If the team works with a specific engine, it is best to maintain consistency. Updates should be handled with caution to avoid problems in advanced projects.
Dreambits Studio: Concept Evolution and Asset Management
Luca Appio of Dreambits Studio shared the methodology they used on their team to create terrain for the game War of Wheels.
Initially, War of Wheels had a visual style too similar to its competitors, so it was rethought to differentiate itself. As the first project, the choice of programs was crucial because it would affect the entire development of the game.
The cars had to be destructible and modifiable, but also lightweight to facilitate porting and multiplayer. To optimize textures, techniques such as:
World Position: Apply textures directly to static assets by leveraging their position in the world.
Vertex Painting: Allows you to paint in-engine textures, making them more complex.
Automatic Blending: Improves visual quality with less impact on performance.
Another key aspect was that of game maps, which in single-player mode required two formats: wide for the open world and compact for arenas. Tools used:
Gaea: software for procedural generation of heightmaps and splatmaps, useful for creating realistic environments with little effort.
Microverse: Plugin that allows you to modify the terrain in real time and automatically place assets such as trees, avoiding specific areas (e.g. roads or mountains).
A node-based pipeline made testing quick, with Unity used only for trimming. The same method was applied to arcade maps and Haunted Space Arena in Unreal Engine where larger assets were designed in a modular way, breaking them down into assembleable parts.
Studio Evil: Juiciness and Gamefeel
Finally, Marco di Timoteo of Studio Evil illustrated juicyness and gamefeel, or how to make a game satisfying for a player.
Juiciness is the satisfaction a player feels in interacting with the game, even in quiet experiences. The gamefeel extends this feeling to the entire gameplay, improving engagement.
One method to have this effect is to use animation techniques such as:
Tweening: automatic interpolation between two keyframes, with non-linear movements.
Responsiveness: A stable framerate and responsive controls improve the gamefeel.
Marco also did a roundup of numerous tools that can help produce juicy video games.
It is essential to choose tools that are compatible with the project pipeline. A tool without support and documentation may require paid assistance, which isn’t always sustainable for an indie team.
Tools for Unity:
Text Animator: Animate text in real time for more dynamic interfaces.
Libre Fracture: Handles object destruction in real time.
Dotween: Smooth animation and interpolation manager for Unity.
Modeling Tool:
ZBrush: Advanced software for digital sculpture.
3DS Max: Modeling and rendering for environments and characters.
Blender (free): Free software for modeling, animation and rendering.
Maya: Used for 3 D animation and advanced modeling.
Plasticity: Procedural CAD software for artists, with perpetual license.
3D Coat: Complete tool for sculpture, painting and retopology.
Tool for 3D and Animation:
MagicaVoxel: Voxel modeling software.
Cascadeur: AI-based animation tool for realistic movements.
Womp: Browser-based modeling and rendering software.
Procedural Simulation and Modeling:
Houdini: Leader in procedural simulation, but expensive.
4 D Cinema: Great for motion graphics and simulations.
JangaFX Suite: Specializing in smoke, fire, and fluid simulations.
Blender Geonodes: Allows procedural generation of environments.
Workflow for Texturing
Substance Painter & Designer: Advanced tools for creating realistic materials.
Marmoset Toolbag: Texture rendering and baking software.
Blender with addon: Adds advanced texturing features.
Texture Generation:
Material Maker: Open-source software for creating procedural materials.
Mixture (Unity): A tool for creating textures directly in Unity.
Pixel Composer: software for generating pixel-art textures.
iPad Tool:
Procreate: Digital drawing app with advanced tools.
Nomad Sculpt: 3 D Sculpting Software for iPad.
Cozy Blanket: Texturing and Painting Tool on iPad.
Generic Tools:
Obsidian: application for taking notes and organizing documentation.
ShareX: Tool for taking screenshots and recording GIFs.
PowerToys: suite of advanced tools to optimize Windows.
Fork: Advanced Git client for versioning management.
Web Resources:
Robot Streamer: platform for automated streaming.
TwitchTracker.com: Analyzing Twitch Channel Statistics.
SteamSpy: A tool for analyzing sales and popularity data on Steam.