Structuring an Office Den in Unity HDRP
I’ve written 27 articles on Unity Level Design, by applying the concepts that I’ve discussed amongst them, I will be structuring an Office Den in Unity HDRP. Since each concept has been discussed at length in former articles, this will be more of a Level Design Diary/Log rather than the usual tutorial format. Whenever I use a specific technique or method, I will be citing the article where I first went over it in case you want to follow along.
Objective: As part of my GameDevHQ curriculum, I was supplied with a starter file to structure an office den. Today’s challenge consists of adding furniture and whichever items I deem to be relevant.
Note: I condensed this article into an itty bitty piece of informative content containing level design tips, feels free to check it out here!
Table of contents
· Using a Reference
· The Center Piece
· Macro-to-Micro Design
∘ Window Area
∘ Fireplace
∘ The Statue Wall
∘ The Entrance
· Character Relevance and Details
· The Result:
· Summary
Using a Reference
To be honest, I wasn’t even sure what an office den was supposed to look like when I was tasked with this project. Luckily, designers and developers don’t need to have all the answers from the get-go — we are problem solvers with the mindset and tenacity to figure things out.
I figured a little research was in order and I found three images that spoke to me.
Key points I drew from this image:
- Getting an idea of spacing and placement of objects
- Figuring out what should be my centerpiece(the carpet and desk area)
- Fireplace Placement
- Window area (I loved the idea of having armchairs by the window to read or otherwise)
From this image, I decided to take a closer look at office dens with fireplaces and armchairs placed by windows. Since those two aspects are farthest in the first image, I wanted to have a more focused reference for those particular areas.
Although I’m not aiming to have 100% fidelity with the images, they help me plan out my scene. Not to mention, I went from not knowing what an office den looked like to being a semi-expert on them! Ah, the wonders of going down an internet rabbit hole…
The Center Piece
This is the started file I was provided. My main concern at first was to fill the scene with furniture of proper scale to the room’s size.
- A simple way to ensure this is to choose a point of interest, or centerpiece to start with.
By using this strategy, I was able to plan how I would space everything else around the center of the room.
Note: I change the time to nighttime using a gradient skybox since. I will go over lighting in the next article.
- I started with a rug because I loved its inclusion in the first reference image. Luckily, Filebase had an asset that closely matched it, too.
- After placing the rug, I added a table with a sofa, coffee table, and armchair.
Note: I used shortcuts to make my life easier, like vertex snapping to make sure the objects were grounded.
With this, my centerpiece was complete!
Macro-to-Micro Design
Now that I knew the scale of my objects, I needed to fill up the room. I decided to go with a Macro-to-Micro approach which is just a simple workflow I came up with for interior-level design.
- I started by placing the large objects first(bookshelves, more chairs, and such) and then filling up the empty spaces with smaller objects(lamps, paintings, small tables…etc).
- I divided the room into 5 sections to focus individually on each: Center, Window Area, Fireplace, Statue wall, and Entrance.
Window Area
Here’s that window sitting area I loved so much. Coffee and book included, and a curtain to make things fancier.
Fireplace
The columns where the lamps are placed were resourcefully crafted. The started file had some wall columns which I duplicated and added to this section to make it pop! It makes a perfect space to place a painting, too.
The Statue Wall
I duplicated some more columns for this wall to add another painting and bookshelves.
Note: Columns add depth, organic variation, and a sense of depth to enclosed areas. I talk more about this here.
I wanted to accentuate this wall with statues, as I got inspired by the first reference image. I am still debating whether or not I will keep the shield there, but for now, it shall remain. I want to see what it looks like when I work out the lighting.
The Entrance
I added a coat hanger right by the door and a vintage cupboard.
For some space context, the door is across from the window area, which makes the vintage cupboard close to it and the centerpiece simultaneously. So the cupboard is conveniently placed there in case anyone wants to get a drink and sit on either side of the room. Always design with intention and characters in mind.
Character Relevance and Details
When designing a level, especially an interior area, one of the most important questions you can ask yourself is who does this area belong to? This will help you design with intention and populate the area with objects that would belong to the owner, as well as structure some environmental storytelling.
When I started designing this level I decided that this office den belonged to an adventurer. This particular detail was left to the final step in my workflow, what I like to call Details Galor. When all the main objects are placed, it’s time to sprinkle details wherever possible!
- Since the centerpiece is the point of interest, I made sure it really talked about the adventurer.
- The adventure is messy, they have piles of paper on the table and a plethora of books to research from. What are they trying to figure out?
- The map is at the center to bring the player's attention to it, whatever the adventurer is trying to figure out, it must be connected to it.
- There is a knife perforating the map and a stain that traces beside its blade. Could it be blood? Coffee or wine? Who knows!? You can invite the player to figure it out.
Note: The Stain was made by using decals.
The Result:
Summary
To wrap things up, let’s take a small recap:
- Use Reference Images
- Choose a centerpiece or point of interest to scale and space object in your scene
- Macro-to-Micro Design — Place the larger objects first then the small ones to fill the empty spaces
- Details Galore — Once all the main objects are in place, add details to your scene wherever possible.
