Creating the Alchemist House Interior Pack for Unity

Evgeniya Yaremko is a 3D modeller from Russia. She has recently released the Alchemist House Interior pack on the Unity Asset Store and it contains over 90 prefabs for interior locations in your game. She talks about the creation of this pack and her favorite tools.

Evgeniya Yaremko

I enjoy playing computer games and my favorite ones are Diablo and The Witcher series. I have been professionally creating graphics since 2011. My educational background is in construction engineering, however, once tried working with 3D graphics, I wanted to choose it as a profession. I studied 3D graphics independently, finding lessons from the Internet. My friends also helped me.

During the development of assets, I try to imagine myself as a game character and what I would do everyday and the things I would own. For the environment creation, the ability to harmoniously compose all individual elements and create a complete scene is important. Besides that, a 3D modeller must not forget the technical side – mesh and UV coordinates optimization.

Alchemist’s House Interior

I like fantasy style games, movies, literature, and 3D graphics with colorful hand painted textures. Not too long ago, I took part in the development of an indie-horror game, and created the environment for the exterior and interior locations. However, I wanted to work on something more bright and cheerful. So, the idea to make the asset “Alchemist’s House” came to me.

The first thing I’ve made was a list of necessary models and textures. But I was not able to provide it all at once, so this list has expanded during the development. Next, I started searching for references and collected quite a lot of them. After that the work on the 3D assets began. Sometimes I draw small sketches, but more often just take for modelling 3D objects.

Tools of Development

I work in 3ds Max when creating meshes. For some models I used Zbrush. I started off with the largest elements like the walls, floor, and ceiling. After modelling, I exported those objects in Unity. The next step was drawing textures using Photoshop and graphic tablet.

When all the constructions were finished, I focused on the furniture. I imagined what kind of things would be found at the alchemist’s house and what materials can be used. At the end, the smallest objects were created. They fill the level and make the house look comfortable – books, candles, scrolls and, of course, alchemical supplies.

All models and textures are then ready and exported to Unity. I also needed to make materials – add a normal or specular maps. There are a lot of ways to create a normal map for a pre-made texture, you need to write a special article to list them. I used Substance Bitmap2Material and then modified maps in Photoshop.

Once the work on content has been completed, it’s time to assemble the scene. I made a house plan, which had small, comfy rooms that perform special functions – kitchen, bedroom, laboratory etc. But during the placement of objects, that planning has been changed a bit for better composition. After setting up the cameras I put work into the lighting, image effects, and reworked certain textures until I got a satisfying result.

Creating Content Packs

My work on content packs started about a year ago. I had a break from work and did not take part in any projects. When someone suggested I try creating assets for Unity, I thought why not? Now there are a lot of possibilities for indie game developers, and I like to think that my work can help them.

“Alchemist’s House” is not my first job for Unity Asset Store. Before I made two packs – “Lowpoly Township Set” and “Lowpoly Forest Ruins“. Also I was interested in finding out how it will look on Unreal Engine, so I composed content from my Unity packs into “Hand Painted Environment“, which is now available on Marketplace.

Obstacles and Challenges

While working, I had no difficulties related to the creation of the content. I think that one of the obstacles in the work of a freelancer is laziness. And sometimes I struggle with it.
The nice part of my job is that I can work when I want on my content, and not stick to a schedule. I’m glad that the developers like my assets and I hope my work brings them benefits.