sika - a day in -
Log #001
Ever since I started VRChat I've been enamored and mesmerized by the freedom of expression the platform gives to players. The fact that you can build anything out of nothing more than a blank space in an empty project file is incredible.
I think most creators get a sort of "spark" moment when they come across something that inspires them to pursue a particular art form that's completely new and unkown to them. My friends and I traveled to a lot of worlds the first week we started playing, and all of them were so amazing and fun!! It wasn't until we visited 猫屋敷やよい's Yayoi Summer Nights, however, that I experienced that "spark."
"You can really make something so beautiful here." That was my first thought when I loaded into the world. From then on it became my favorite world to come to, even setting it as my Home world for a while. I started thinking about what kind of world I could make, or what kind of world I want to make.
"I want to make a world that I can come home to."
Quite literally, I thought it would be nice to try making a Home world for myself. While working in Unity on Desktop mode, or logging into VRChat while working from home, I wanted to make a world that was comfortable to stay in for long periods of time. One that friends could stop by and say hello or stay for company while we all worked on separate things.
As a kid, I would visit my relatives who lived closer to the countryside. Their doors were always open during the day and friends, neighbors, relatives would stop by for coffee or bring leftovers and desserts. At home, my friends would do the same from Elementary school through High school, as both schools were very closeby. My house was on the way, so they would stop by and we would play video games or watch movies until late into the night.
That kind of nostalgic atmosphere ended up being the driving force and inspiration for my first world! I like calming, simple worlds with nice lighting, so I figured it would be good to make one of my own.
World Construction
I wasn't sure where or how to begin, but I knew enough about assets by now, so I browsed Unity and Booth. I tend to be overly ambitious and overwhelm myself with large projects and lofty goals, so I tried my best to start small: a simple room or apartment.
I really admire amanek's world and creations, so I purchased Room 01 Simple from Booth. It was a relief for me because I know nothing about worldbuilding, as I've only been focused on Avatar modification until now.
Purchasing ended up being the best decision, as the lighting's already set beautifully.
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It felt like I'd just moved into a new apartment -- all that was left was to decorate it.
I found as many free assets as I could to start off with. I'm very grateful to the creators who provide free assets, like Coquelicotz, as it provides an accessible way for people (like me!) to get into worldbuilding.
As far as atmosphere goes, I had a very vivid feeling I wanted to convey: Coming back to a nostalgic room on a sunny Spring day.
A couple years ago, I had the chance to see my favorite pianist and composer, Yiruma, live in my hometown. During the concert, he talked about various inspiration behind his songs. One that I remember fondly was the inspiration behind his EP, From The Yellow Room - and particularly the song "Yellow Room" itself. While writing this post, I managed to find an interview from 2020 that mentioned it.
"While he was living in England, Yiruma’s mother decorated his bedroom yellow. “I didn’t like it initially,” laughs Yiruma, “but every day, the light would come in, and, despite the British weather, I felt warm. I came to feel so comfortable and safe in that space.” " - uDiscover Classical
That imagery has stayed in my mind ever since, as it reminded me of my own childhood room that I had painted a pastel green. The light would pour in from my east-facing window, and for a few moments before starting my day, I would lay there and feel enveloped in an indescribable comfort and warmth that only lasted the morning. If you have the time, please give his music a listen!
As a result, because I wasn't sure how to manipulate lighting and post-processing in Unity, in order to get a warm feeling I changed the wall colors yellow.
Adding in various furniture. We don't have built-in AC where I live, so I had to look up where AC units are typically placed. I changed the location a couple of times.
Mirror placement was very important! I wanted to put the mirror in a central place where people could gather. Putting it in front of the couch was also important, so that I could check my sitting poses, and so that there was a way for people to sit in Desktop, 3PT and FBT.
The skybox is very beautiful, but I didn't know how to make moving clouds. That's something I'd like to change in an update.
Getting the layout established. I learned a lot about colliders during this phase! It was really fun making pick-up objects be affected by gravity and adding colliders to tables and countertops. I personally like the immersiveness of objects falling to the table or floor when you drop them - but I also learned about how colliders affect 3PT and FBT when walking around a small room. It can be a little troublesome, especially when trying to use the pick-up objects, so I decided to remove the colliders and adjusted everything accordingly.
I wanted to make sure my world was as accessible as possible, so I added LQ/HQ Mirrors, as well as a pen system. There have been many situations where my friends and I were in a world but could not communicate with each other because there weren't any pens, so I'd like to avoid that situation in my own world.
It's slowly feeling more and more like a home! I love CRT TVs, so I added it in. I really wanted to make it play videos too.
While testing, I scared myself when I opened a new instance. It was really unsettling seeing your own avatar and username outside the door... LOL
Testing out the video player! It worked for a preset playlist, but how do you make it so you can add your own URLs....?
I tried adding a URL video player, but unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to reduce the size and place it properly...
I'll add it in a later update.
World Optimization Attempt
At this point, the world file size was increasing with each new test, so I researched a lot about optimizing and size reduction. A joke my friends and I like to say often when joining each other is "I'm downloading __MB just to see you, so you better not change worlds before I get there!" There have been a lot of situations where my friends can't meet up with me because they crash before they can finish downloading a world I'm in, so I'd like to make sure my world is as small as I can make it with the skills that I currently have.
Here are some tutorials I referenced heavily while trying to optimize my world:
- VRChat's World Creation, Optimization, and Community Labs Tips
- Unity's Reducing the file size of your build
- jetdog8808's World Optimization Vr.2
- Xiexie's Lighting Tutorial : "How to Get Good at Baked Lighting : 101
While checking textures, I noticed how beautiful the grain of the wood was on the floor and various other wooden furniture. The way the light hits the grooves gave off such a nice feeling... I learned a lot about the small details and care that creators put in to texture during this process. The biggest takeaway from optimization is that you learn what you can and can't compromise on...aka, I kept the wood textures and reduced everything else.
I also learned how to make a simple dust particle!! I was so happy, I took a screenshot. It's just dust, but I was very proud of it.
Working on the outside UI menu, credits, and pen placement. Because of the lighting, the pens were completely shadowed when placed outside of the room.
I tried to understand how to fix it so that the pens were not affected by the lightsource, and it works for now, but I think there's a better way of going about it.
Limbs and Knites stopped by frequently to help me playtest. Thank you so much for the feedback!!
Editing the menu was very fun! I'd love to learn more about creating menus so that I can improve mine.
Choosing Sounds and Background Music
I had a clear vision in mind for the world sounds, so I found royalty-free recordings of birds chirping and then asked my friend Soulostar if I could use his music for the BGM.
Soulostar's music has been a huge inspiration and comfort to me through good and bad days. Each song feels like a journey with its own story -- scenes, places, people, memories and feelings bubbling up and floating to the surface whenever I listen. Music that feels so personal and intimate, like you've been listening to these songs for forever. I wish I could properly convey how much his music means to me, but to put it simply I think it's wonderful when a creator can spark something so vividly in another person through their work. I only hope that my awkward fumbling through art can do the same for someone one day.
If you have the time, please check out his music as well!
Spotify | Youtube | Apple Music | Bandcamp | Soundcloud
World Photos
The final step was to take photos of the world like I would in any other world! That way I can adjust details and try to catch mistakes before publishing.
The photos here were all taken by myself around various VRChat worlds/creators I'm inspired by! I tried to fill it up with personalized items that best represented me. I also became a Trusted User when I uploaded my world!!
Thank you to the many kind friends and strangers who stopped by and continue to visit it. There's a lot I don't know about in regards to light probes and post-processing, and as a result not every avatar looks good in my world, so that's something I want to fix ASAP! I also have some updates planned:
- Add a video player to the CRT TV
- Fix the bloom and lighting
- Convert to SDK 3.0
- Fix bounding box issue in some areas
Someday I would also love to expand this world so that there's scenery outside, such as a quiet road, trees, and electricity poles. But like everything, it will take time and practice. It was a great first step in creating worlds and learning more about Unity, so I would like to make more worlds in the future.
Thanks for reading! Field researcher Noah signing out!