Just tried the Unreal Engine 5.7 preview, and I’m really impressed with two standout features that will push environmental realism and efficiency in game development — Procedural Vegetation and Substrate Materials. The Procedural Vegetation Editor, available as an experimental plugin, lets you create highly detailed, Nanite-ready foliage right inside Unreal Editor. I tested building complex natural environments procedurally using just base assets like branches and leaves, which dramatically speeds up workflows while maintaining great visual fidelity. It reduces reliance on external tools and enables real-time iteration—something every game developer will appreciate. On the materials side, Substrate Materials are now production-ready in this preview. This new system offers a modular, physically based layering framework that lets you combine different material layers like metal, clear coat, skin, and cloth in a highly realistic and scalable way. The adaptive blending and lighting interaction provide unmatched realism on various platforms. #UnrealEngine #UE5 #gameDev #proceduralvegetation #substratematerials

🚀 Modular Road System in Unreal Engine 5.4! 🎮 I just implemented a modular road system using splines in Unreal Engine, and I wanted to share the approach: I modeled a straight road and a curved segment in Blender. In Unreal, I programmed the system so that a new set of road segments spawns every time there’s a 90° turn. This makes it easy to know exactly where to place curves. Instead of using Spline Mesh Components, I chose Hierarchical Instanced Static Meshes (HISM). This allows me to instantiate thousands of road segments with just one draw call — perfect for building a massive open world. The system ensures: Straight and curved segments align perfectly, Roads remain continuous without overlaps, High performance even with large-scale environments. 💡 Using modular pieces and HISMCs is a game-changer for procedural level design and open world games. #UnrealEngine #UE5 #GameDev #LevelDesign #ProceduralGeneration #ModularDesign #HISM #OpenWorld

Before starting to build my levels in Unreal Engine 5, I decided to develop a quick prototype to better understand how the game’s mechanics and spaces worked within the project. I wanted to gain a deep understanding of the gameplay dynamics to create experiences that are both fun and functional. This process allowed me to: Explore how each mechanic influences the player’s rhythm and navigation. Identify which types of spaces enhance gameplay. Validate design ideas quickly before moving into full production. During this phase, I discovered something important: the zombies couldn’t climb, which meant that many of my initial ideas didn’t work as I expected. I had to adapt the design on the fly, replacing vertical structures with ramps and connected spaces, so that enemies could chase the player without disrupting the gameplay flow. Without clear references, the process was more challenging, but it gave me the chance to experiment, test, and truly understand what worked and what didn’t. This iteration helped me realise how the limitations of mechanics shape the architecture of a level and how to adapt designs to keep the experience fun and coherent. Now, with a solid foundation, I can start building my levels step by step (from concept to final experience), applying everything I’ve learned. Every mistake helps me design better every day. This prototype is now part of my portfolio, showcasing my process, analysis, and adaptability as a Level Designer. #Leveldesigner #UnrealEngine5

Others use Meta Horizon, Blender, Unity, or Unreal Engine to build 3D spaces. I build the engines behind those engines — all in the browser. No downloads. No installers. No gatekeepers. This isn’t just another rendering tool; this is Pixel-Prodigy Studio — a next-generation, privacy-first, web-native studio that closes the gap between creator and creation. What started as a simple HTML file is now a studio designed to rival the biggest 3D production platforms on Earth.

Environment Optimization in Unity – My Key Tips & Tricks ⚙️ As a Game Environment Designer, creating visually stunning scenes is only half the battle — the real challenge is making them run smoothly without losing quality. Here are some essential optimization tips and tricks I’ve learned while working on Unity environments 👇 💡 1️⃣ Use the Profiler & Frame Debugger Early Don’t wait until the end to optimize! Use Unity’s Profiler and Frame Debugger throughout development to catch performance issues like high draw calls or CPU spikes early. 🌲 2️⃣ Master Level of Detail (LOD) Groups For props and foliage, create 2–3 LOD versions. Unity automatically swaps lower-detail models as the camera moves away, saving massive GPU cost. 🔦 3️⃣ Bake Lighting Whenever Possible Use baked or mixed lighting for static objects — it gives great visuals at a fraction of the runtime cost. Keep dynamic lights minimal and well-placed. 🧱 4️⃣ Optimize Meshes & Textures Combine small meshes into a single static batch. Use Texture Atlases to reduce material count. Compress textures properly (don’t go overboard with 4K for small props). 🌫 5️⃣ Use Occlusion Culling Unity’s Occlusion Culling ensures objects hidden behind walls or terrain aren’t rendered — essential for large indoor/outdoor environments. 🧰 6️⃣ Keep Post-Processing Lightweight Too many effects (Bloom, AO, Vignette) can stack up quickly. Use only what enhances mood and gameplay clarity. ⚡ 7️⃣ Test on Target Hardware Always test scenes on the target platform (PC, mobile, or console). What runs smoothly on your workstation may choke on mid-range hardware. 🎯 Final Thought: Optimization isn’t about cutting corners — it’s about making smart trade-offs between visual quality and performance. When done right, it turns a good environment into a game-ready masterpiece. #Unity3D #GameDesign #EnvironmentArt #LevelDesign #Optimization #GameDevelopment #Lighting #PBR #Performance #UnityTips #GameArtist

This is a short video of the player scaling a frozen waterfall in a level for my portfolio. Using AGLS in Unreal 5, this is a Last of Us/Uncharted/Tomb Raider type level. After traversing across an icy lake the player will be at the base of a frozen waterfall. Using the ice pick wall climbing mechanic provided in AGLS, the player will need to climb to the top. When initially prototyping the idea of climbing a frozen waterfall, which sounded like a fun set piece, it became quickly clear that there needed to be more to do than just climbing. Visually the player will see a lot of frozen chunks, icicles and rocks, climbing around them. Halfway up they will reach a hidden cave behind the waterfall, which also acts a checkpoint. After resting at the cave, which also has a medkit and a frozen corpse, the player will move onto the second half of the waterfall climb. The danger amps up as there are large falling icicles that trigger when the player gets too close. It is instant death if they impale the player, so there are sound and text cues a few seconds before they fall. The player will need to trigger a few of them to climb around them and there is also one to avoid down a non critical path with a medkit. When nearing the top the player will switch from ice picks to climbing up rock hand holds. When reaching the top and climbing onto the frozen river above there is a checkpoint. #Blocktober #LevelDesign #GameDesign #Unreal

I've tried to recreate the atmosphere of Half-Life 2 in Unity. This short Unity project was inspired by the visual style and mood of Half-Life. The most challenging part of the project was creating the CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) shader. I used a separate camera to render the G-Man scene into an HDR texture and then fed it into the CRT material input so that the Bloom effect was applied only once. I used the sequencer to synchronize sound effects and visuals. I believe audio has a huge impact, so I paid close attention to it as well. During the project, I used models from Sketchfab and Half-Life: Alyx. This was a fun exercise in atmosphere building and shader work. Hope you like it - and that you’re waiting for the next Half-Life game as much as I am. Tools: Unity, ASE, Audacity Credits: • 𝗣𝗖 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹 (𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗜𝗜 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿) - Sketchfab model by 𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗸_𝗶𝗴𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗸 • 𝗚-𝗠𝗮𝗻 - model from 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑓-𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒: 𝐴𝑙𝑦𝑥 on Sketchfab by 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘆_𝗯𝗼𝗶 • 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗯𝗮𝗿 - model from 𝐻𝑎𝑙𝑓-𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒: 𝐴𝑙𝑦𝑥 on Sketchfab by 𝗥𝗬𝗥𝗬𝟭𝟬𝟬𝟮 • 𝗥𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗼 𝗦𝗙𝗫 - taken from YouTube: “𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑜1.𝑚𝑝3” by 𝗥𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 (𝗢𝗿𝗖𝗲𝟯𝟬𝗔𝗨𝗿𝗕𝟬) • 𝗖𝗥𝗧 𝗦𝗙𝗫 - sourced from 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗻𝗮𝗽 • Valve corporation #Unity3D #GameDevelopment #ShaderDevelopment #HalfLife #CRTEffect #TechnicalArt #VisualEffects

Excited to share my latest work on project - a fully functional C++ based turn-based game template developed in Unreal Engine over few months. This template boasts a Turn Based system architecture, simplifying the integration of new characters, animations, and combat logic without overhauling the entire framework. Key features of this project include: - 🎬 Custom level sequence cinematics for an immersive New Game Mode introduction. - 🕹️ Combat UI crafted from the ground up, offering dynamic actions and feedback for both player and AI turns. - 🏫 Level Design Blockouts featuring a school and back alley area, strategically designed to enhance spatial layout, navigation flow, and combat readability. This project showcases my dedication to turn based design and visual grey boxing. #GameDevelopment #UnrealEngine #TurnBasedGame

⭐ After 10 months of exceptionally hard work, Atlux λ 2 for Unreal Engine is here! 🥳 It has been an incredible journey developing this new version, and I hope you enjoy the plugin as much as I loved making it. ❤️ This 2.0 version is a free update for all existing users, and it comes as the default version for all the new ones. It brings plenty of new features, including: - New UI - Fixed crashes! - New Light assets reworked for best Lumen performance - New Procedural Gobos - New Capture tab with Scan presets for #GaussianSplatting generation in external software (I am hugely excited about this one!) - New Prop tab with Backdrops, Colour Checker, Reference Spheres, Podiums, Particle Effects... - New Action tab - New Post-Process Materials and LUTs And much, much more! 🙌 Thanks Epic Games and Bill Clifford for creating such a wonderful tool as #UnrealEngine — empowering independent developers to grow alongside you and support one another. And special thanks to the love of my life, Iona Brinch, for her unconditional love and support. I love you with all my heart ❤️ #ue5 #unreal #epic #visualization #light

In 2019, we started developing a platformer, story-driven game in Unreal Engine 4. It was an experiment in sci-fi and psychology — exploring isolation and perception through stylized lighting and space design. The project was never released, but I still believe the core vision was something special. I like it What do you think — should we bring this game back to life? #UnrealEngine #GameDev #IndieGame #CinematicDesign #VisualStorytelling #Lighting