Pack Development
The goal with Steven Universe Mash-Up pack was to bring a variety of locations from the show with importance, but to also make them exciting to play through in Minecraft. We felt that the visual styles and silhouettes of the designed locations were a high priority, as the change from a 2D to 3D world crossed over.
The pack contains a variety of locations, including Beach City, The ancient Sky Temple and the Kindergarten. The entire Nether was remodelled and changed to take on the aesthetic and style of the Gem Homeworld.
level Design
The biggest task during this pack was the translation of 2D animation to a 3D world. Cartoons often do not need to make logical sense in terms of space, therefore it is often challenging when fitting interiors into vastly different exterior spaces.
The show involves a large variety of different environments, which split the map into many islands across the map. In some cases, even large floating structures and islands were made to keep in theme with the show. These Elements must be made with navigation in mind, to allow the player to scale and interact with all of the locations on the map.
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.
Due to the amount of high, large scale objects in this pack, design was tasked to work within the height bounds of Minecraft.
Quality Assurance and finalising
We worked alongside Cartoon Network 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.
