Key Highlights :
1. The weather system is a dynamic element that adds depth to the game world without compromising its core aesthetic.
2. It introduces a layer of atmosphere beyond slime interactions, allowing players to experience the same zones in different ways depending on the weather.
3. Each team and its members had a unique role in bringing the weather system to life, and we’d like to walk you through how we collaborated to bring this experience together.
4. By way of introduction, we are:
-What sets the weather system apart from previous updates in and
-How our teams explored various environmental changes.
5. Experimentation helped us refine what sorts of experiences we wanted to deliver with weather, making it a perfect fit for the game's evolving world.
6. Delivering fresh experiences within the same zones has been important in differentiating from its predecessor.
7. The weather system is designed to interact with existing systems and become more interesting when weather patterns are layered on each other. This dynamic adds depth and complexity to gameplay, offering players a wealth of emergent behaviors to discover.
8. Because weather added a totally new dynamic to the game that hadn’t been seen before, it brought with it new challenges, which the tech art team approached by developing some custom tooling in Unity.
9. Approach: typically, a new feature would be added into the world in different sections, focusing on one cell at a time. To streamline the set dressing process, the team worked from the largest elements to the smallest, aiming to add a purposeful weather design effect without creating chaos.
10. By creating a custom tool in Unity, the team was able to easily place elements, such as puddles, and have the tool automatically determine the appropriate folder and zones for them, all while considering the current conditions, such as rain. This automation significantly reduced the manual and tedious aspects of the team’s work, thanks to the scripting expertise of the technical artists.
11. The UI was straightforward, enabling the art team to control weather, puddles, streams, pollen clouds, and vines within Unity. Such custom tooling not only saved time for the art department but also benefited design, quality assurance, and engineering teams, eliminating the need to test for misplacement or loading issues.
12. Approach: another custom editor in Unity was created that enabled the team to activate different weather conditions at once. This feature proved to be beneficial for all departments involved in the project.
13. Designers could assess how elements behave under various weather combinations, ensuring that too many conditions were not overwhelming. Engineers could identify any performance or functionality issues caused by heavy weather effects. Artists could fine-tune the appearance of different weather elements, such as clouds during thunderstorms or rain, to create a harmonious visual experience.
14. This collaborative effort underscored the critical role
At the intersection of technical and creative lies the intense work that went into developing the weather system for Slime Rancher 2. From crafting dynamic elements that add depth to the game world to ensuring that the weather fits the game's aesthetic, the process of bringing the weather system to life was a collaborative effort between multiple teams.
The tech art team developed custom tooling in Unity to streamline the set dressing process, enabling them to easily place elements such as puddles and have the tool automatically determine the appropriate folder and zones for them. This automation significantly reduced the manual and tedious aspects of the team’s work. The UI was straightforward, enabling the art team to control weather, puddles, streams, pollen clouds, and vines within Unity.
Another custom editor in Unity was created that enabled the team to activate different weather conditions at once. This feature proved to be beneficial for all departments involved in the project. Designers could assess how elements behave under various weather combinations, ensuring that too many conditions were not overwhelming. Engineers could identify any performance or functionality issues caused by heavy weather effects. Artists could fine-tune the appearance of different weather elements, such as clouds during thunderstorms or rain, to create a harmonious visual experience.
The team settled on six weather types, from serene rain to intense storms, and meticulously tested and iterated to ensure the desired player experience. The challenge was to create an emotional connection that aligned with the game's mood while adhering to the game's art direction.
My role in the project was to take artistic objects, effects and sequences, and make them into tangible elements that seamlessly fit into the game. I'm the architect behind the tools that enable dynamic changes over time, orchestrating how weather patterns interact with one another and developing the systems that allow Dyala to fine-tune and implement weather in a way that feels just right to players.
It was important for us to maintain a high level of fidelity while upholding the game's whimsical style. Challenges like achieving the right balance between transparency and color in water effects and controlling the density of raindrops to prevent visual chaos were essential in ensuring that each visual element contributed to the overall immersive experience.
The development of the weather system for Slime Rancher 2 was a unique and challenging process, requiring the collaboration of multiple teams and the expertise of technical artists to bring the experience to life. The result is a dynamic and immersive weather system that adds depth to the game world without compromising its core aesthetic.
