How to Build and Light a Post Soviet Hospital with Different Rooms
Alexander Goryachev talked about the pipeline behind the Post Soviet Hospital, explaining how he set up the standards, showing how he divided the rooms, and discussing the lights he used to enhance the environment.
Introduction
My name is Alexander, and I am a Solo Developer operating under the White Noise Team brand. Nine months ago, I began working on the Post Soviet Hospital project, which serves as the ideal case study for analyzing my pipeline.
Solo development requires strict time management and detailed preparation. The foundation of my pre-production is Miro, where I structure the visual direction and plan the asset list before modeling begins.
Reference Workflow:
- Key References: Selecting 10–20 "anchor" images that define the final mood and art direction.
- Technical Details: Gathering references for structural joints and materials.
- Prop Management: Creating an object table to estimate the scope of work and production time.
Solo Development Economics and Technical Standards
In solo development, time is the most valuable resource. On average, creating one prop takes 1-2 days. Exceptions (e.g., a machine tool pack) require 4-5 days due to complex geometry.
Technical Standards:
- Collisions and LODs: Collisions are always created manually. For LODing hard-surface low-poly meshes, Unreal Engine's auto-generation is sufficient.
- Optimization: Speed is achieved by simplifying 3D object forms and omitting minor details. Texturing is driven by a pre-made library of masks, textures, and smart materials.
- Authorship: Using third-party resources (e.g., Megascans) only as intermediate steps during texturing excludes direct borrowing.
- Fab Link
Technical Pipeline: Grid-40 and Level Design
Grid System and Cluster Assembly. The environment is based on the Grid 40 system. Every surface is Vertex Paint (VP) ready by default, allowing for easy environment geometry iterations without leaks. Mesh trims with a fixed Texel Density are used instead of unique unwraps.
Based on user requests, I use a 2K per meter standard. However, for actual video games, I always recommend 1K per meter. Practice shows that at this value, the drop in quality remains unnoticeable while performance increases significantly.
The location is assembled from clusters of ready-made, fully decorated environment sections. These blocks fill the space to form the final location. This pack architecture also allows users to easily set up Level Streaming for optimization if needed.
Layered Detailing (VP):
- Base Layer: Primary geometry aligned to the grid.
- Dirt/Leakage Layer: Tint and transparency control via BW masks in Material Instances.
- Edge Trims: Narrow meshes with baked normals to hide hard edges and simulate bevels without complicating the geometry.
Lighting: Lumen and "Light Fakes"
- Windows: Lit via Rectangle Lights, which eliminates Lumen artifacts inside walls.
- Emissive Planes: Used with a Transparent shader to exclude their contribution to the Lumen scene calculation and prevent noise.
- Fakes: I use Point Lights with a large Source Radius (shadows disabled) to fill the scene, or additional Rectangle Lights in interior windows. Both types use minimal Indirect and have shadows disabled.
Alexandr Goryachev, Solo Developer
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