Pack Development
Our goal in creating this pack was to bring the very unique stylised art style to Minecraft, while maintaining the gameplay and visual elements that keeps the game distinctly Minecraft.
Since there are so many iconic locations with very different moods, we had to design the map in a way which would allow self contained zones.
level Design
Iconic locations such as Halloween Town, Christmas Town and Oogie Boogies lair were placed into a single map. Representation of travelling between each town matches that of the Movie, with access via the Holiday doors.
Halloween Town required two separate builds, to represent the version at the start of the movie, and the Christmas version. This meant using the environment and spaces in between in such a way to block any view from other Worlds within the map.
The Nightmare Before Christmas has such an intricate and detailed style, that many of the large curls and peaks across the environment proved challenging with the limits of Minecraft. Stair blocks and half slabs were used to accurately convey the styles as close as possible.
Performance Design
Performance is of upmost importance for the packs as they release across a variety of devices and consoles. Some design considerations are made to ensure the pack works as intended across all platforms.
Large shadowed areas could cause a large performance dip, therefore floating structures and islands were created in a way to avoid the creation of large shadows. This could be done through location choices and allowing the light to pass through the object by designing hidden light shafts.
Quality Assurance and finalising
We worked alongside Disney to ensure our world matched the standards required. It was also important to find and resolve any problems throughout the map which would disrupt the players ability to play.
Areas where players could become trapped needed to be resolved.
areas which were required to be accessible were tested to ensure it wasn't too difficult or impossible to complete.
The map was tested and solutions were made to overcome any performance related issues.
Snowfall placement was changed to be used in a zone by zone basis due to the changes it would have on design.
