Procedural Level Design Tools

As a level designer, blocking out levels can be a time-consuming task so I tried to create a tool to make this proces as efficient as possible with the power of PCG graphs in UE5.

This is a high-level breakdown of what the finished tool does.

Credit to Synty Store for their amazing POLYGON Horror Asylum asset pack!

Project goal

Building tool:

Create a tool for level designers that allows them to quickly block out interior and exterior playspaces in and surrounding buildings.
Walls must adhere to a spline and rotate correctly.
Every wallpiece should be swappable with window and door variations, with appropriate collision applied.
Content must be playable right away.
Easy to adjust with exposed variables.

Environment tool:

Add the ability to 'paint in' LD objects:

Blockers
Placeholder set-dressing to define playspace (paths and context)
Procedurally place objects to rapidly create environments (trees, rubble, rocks, hedges, paths, anything they can think of!)
Define spaces inside the splines to exclude from generating objects

Performance

Keep it performant by limiting drawcalls:

Being aware of material slots
Using instanced static meshes

Visuals to be added very soon!

Pre-viz

Building tools

Generating buildings

The user can select PCG mode in the editor and pick the building generator tool to start drawing out a spline. The walls of the building will follow this spline an rotate accordingly.
The user can select different pieces from the dropdown 'Data Instance' list and pick what window or door piece they want to draw in. Can be easily removed by shift-clicking the object again.
Floor pieces are generated inside the building procedurally with some variation in tiles (damage vs undamaged) and rotation. These values can easily be tweaked in the graph.

Generating interior walls

Interior walls follow a simple spline (loop off, not closed) and are used to create rooms within the main building.
Like the exterior walls, they can be painted in with doors and windows that are selected for interior spaces.

Extra:

Synty pack metrics were used, so every piece fits together perfectly.
Proper collision is maintained so built content is playable immediately: players can walk through doorways etc.
Easily add variations to the graph to create a more varied look (damaged vs. undamaged).
All generated objects are instanced static meshes for performance!

Visuals to be added very soon!

Environment tools

Scatter tool (PCG tool made outside of UE5.7's PCG mode)

The user can draw a spline (closed loop) and generate trees, rocks, bushes (or whatever they want!) in an area. Variables are exposed so each instance of the spline can be set up appropriately.
Exclusion spline: the user can draw a spline to exclude zones from the generation zone. For example: trees will not generate on top of paths.
Seeds can be used to find the desired result.
Some objects have sockets to spawn objects alongside it.
For example: a tree has a chance of spawning a rock at the base.
Possibility to create small, custom set-ups to spawn in as instanced levels to preserve artistic control.

Prop painting tool (PCG tool made inside of UE5.7's PCG mode):

The user can pick a prop from the dropdown 'Data Instance' list and start painting in objects.
Some props have rules like: 'free to place anywhere' or 'always up against a wall' etc.
Used to fill out a space quickly to show context of a space or establish the playable space.
'Random' rotation and size variations per prop if appropriate.
Props can easily be 'erased' by holding shift and clicking on the places object again.

Spline meshes for additional detail:

Allows the user to quickly place repeating objects like trims for buildings to increase readability, hedges etc.
Variations can easily be made for any object.
All generated objects are instanced static meshes for performance!

Visuals to be added very soon!

Procedural Level Design Tools

Project goal

Building tool:​​

​

Create a tool for level designers that allows them to quickly block out interior and exterior playspaces in and surrounding buildings.

Walls must adhere to a spline and rotate correctly.

Every wallpiece should be swappable with window and door variations, with appropriate collision applied.

Content must be playable right away.

Easy to adjust with exposed variables.

​

​

Environment tool:

Add the ability to 'paint in' LD objects:

Blockers

Placeholder set-dressing to define playspace (paths and context)

Procedurally place objects to rapidly create environments (trees, rubble, rocks, hedges, paths, anything they can think of!)

Define spaces inside the splines to exclude from generating objects

​​​

​

Performance

Keep it performant by limiting drawcalls:​​

Being aware of material slots

Using instanced static meshes

Visuals to be added very soon!

Building tools

Generating buildings​​

​​

The user can select PCG mode in the editor and pick the building generator tool to start drawing out a spline. The walls of the building will follow this spline an rotate accordingly.

The user can select different pieces from the dropdown 'Data Instance' list and pick what window or door piece they want to draw in. Can be easily removed by shift-clicking the object again.

Floor pieces are generated inside the building procedurally with some variation in tiles (damage vs undamaged) and rotation. These values can easily be tweaked in the graph.

​

Generating interior walls

​​

Interior walls follow a simple spline (loop off, not closed) and are used to create rooms within the main building.

Like the exterior walls, they can be painted in with doors and windows that are selected for interior spaces.

​

Extra:

Synty pack metrics were used, so every piece fits together perfectly.

Proper collision is maintained so built content is playable immediately: players can walk through doorways etc.

Easily add variations to the graph to create a more varied look (damaged vs. undamaged).

All generated objects are instanced static meshes for performance!

Visuals to be added very soon!

Environment tools

Scatter tool (PCG tool made outside of UE5.7's PCG mode)​​

​​

The user can draw a spline (closed loop) and generate trees, rocks, bushes (or whatever they want!) in an area. Variables are exposed so each instance of the spline can be set up appropriately.

Exclusion spline: the user can draw a spline to exclude zones from the generation zone. For example: trees will not generate on top of paths.

Seeds can be used to find the desired result.

Some objects have sockets to spawn objects alongside it. For example: a tree has a chance of spawning a rock at the base.

Possibility to create small, custom set-ups to spawn in as instanced levels to preserve artistic control.

​

​

Prop painting tool (PCG tool made inside of UE5.7's PCG mode):

The user can pick a prop from the dropdown 'Data Instance' list and start painting in objects.

Some props have rules like: 'free to place anywhere' or 'always up against a wall' etc.

Used to fill out a space quickly to show context of a space or establish the playable space.

'Random' rotation and size variations per prop if appropriate.

Props can easily be 'erased' by holding shift and clicking on the places object again.

​

Spline meshes for additional detail:

Allows the user to quickly place repeating objects like trims for buildings to increase readability, hedges etc.

Variations can easily be made for any object.

All generated objects are instanced static meshes for performance!

Visuals to be added very soon!

Building tool:

Keep it performant by limiting drawcalls:

Generating buildings

Scatter tool (PCG tool made outside of UE5.7's PCG mode)

Some objects have sockets to spawn objects alongside it.
For example: a tree has a chance of spawning a rock at the base.