Game Developer Turned Unity's 2D Tilemaps Into Fully 3D

A Reddit user named nodoxi demonstrated his custom version of Unity's 2D Tilemaps, revealing some details about his approach, which makes them appear 3D. Nodoxi shared a screenshot of the Rule Tile editor with GameObjects and mentioned that all mesh parts are merged into one to improve rendering efficiency.

For the 3D pieces, nodoxi used a shader with tri-planar mapping and two textures (one for the upper rocks and one for the bottom). The snow is just a regular tilemap.

Take a look at some screenshots below:

Sure, optimization is a big concern with this workflow, but the developer mentioned that the map isn't very large and the polygon count is low. However, he sees room for improvement and is considering breaking it into chunks.

For more details, check out the original Reddit post. If you're interested in the project nodoxi used these tiles for, you can wishlist Crimsonwood, a roguelike top-down shooter set in a cursed national park, here.

If you're looking for a nice Unity 3D tilemap tool, we recommend checking out MAPGrid by TulioAndMiguelMPG, which is still in development:

Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.