The “Matrice” square

After my superlative cinematic masterpiece featuring the castle, I decided to expand my creative horizons by building some additional structures in Blender. I started with a few basic buildings and eventually worked my way up to something more ambitious: a church called “Matrice.” Why “Matrice,” you ask? Because, like a true matriarch, it’s the mother of all churches. Or at least, that’s what the name implies.

As I worked on these projects, my Blender skills began to improve. I learned how to use different modifiers, how to blend shapes, move objects with precision, and apply materials that didn’t look entirely like they were pulled from a 1990s video game. It was a beautiful time for me — a therapeutic mix of music and Blender sessions, where every click of the mouse felt like a step closer to greatness.

I eventually created a very tiny portion of Mazzareth (yes, very tiny), focusing on the area around the Matrice church. This was mainly to test things like the skybox, lighting, and the overall vibe of the game. And what was the result, you ask? Well… let’s just say it was a vibe. The meshes weren’t finished, the textures were questionable at best, and as you can see from the video above, the whole thing looked… cheap. Amateur. Like something cobbled together by an overly enthusiastic gamer — basically, me. Eheheh.

But hey, the feeling reflected my skill level, and I was self-aware enough to embrace it. However, I started running into some issues. In my grand vision, the game wasn’t meant to just be a game. Oh no, it was supposed to be an immersive reality where players couldn’t tell if they were walking through a virtual world or the real streets of Mazzareth. Unfortunately, Unity didn’t exactly share my lofty aspirations. Between its lighting limitations, material rendering, and other quirks, my dream of photorealism felt more like a fever dream.

Another issue? Managing chunks. The map couldn’t be loaded all at once with all the elements I envisioned — cars, people, animals, and whatever else my imagination decided to toss in. I cobbled together a script to hide and show blocks as needed, but it wasn’t scalable. In short, my grand open world was more like an open mess.

Still, one thing was clear: I needed better assets. So, while working on those, I found myself pondering an even bigger question: which game engine could actually handle my vision? Cue endless hours of YouTube videos, research, and soul-searching. And then, just when I thought all hope was lost, I stumbled upon the perfect engine. It was a game-changer — literally.

But that, dear reader, is a story for the next chapter. Stay tuned!

Read more on my site: https://www.arcadipanedanilo.it/