City Builder: Urban

Modular Building and Stackable Architecture

The core of the City Builder: Urban workflow revolves around a modular system designed to facilitate the rapid construction of high-density metropolitan environments. Rather than providing static, pre-composed buildings, the package utilizes 13 mix-and-match stackable building parts. These components allow for variety in height and layout, supported by Level of Detail (LOD) models to maintain performance during rendering. The average triangle count for these stackable extensions is approximately 4,000, providing a balance between visual fidelity and overhead.

To break up the repetition of modular blocks, the developer included 10 distinct building trims and separators. These are available in various sizes, totaling 40 individual trims when accounting for scale variations. For the ground level, four specific shop faces are provided, allowing for diverse street-level storefronts. All of these architectural elements are batched to 4096 texture atlases, which helps in reducing draw calls across the scene.

Street-Level Fidelity and High-Detail Props

Environmental density is achieved through the integration of the Mega Props: Urban package, which contributes 65 high-quality, game-ready props. These assets are categorized by their texture atlas assignments, all utilizing 4K resolution to maintain clarity at close range. The props cover a wide spectrum of urban necessities, from utility infrastructure to pedestrian furniture. Specifically, the street-level assets include eight types of traffic lights ranging from 2,000 to 7,000 triangles and six street lamps with a density of 1,000 to 3,000 triangles.

Pedestrian areas can be populated with highly specific items such as news vendors, mailboxes, and food carts. The prop list is extensive, featuring wooden and metal benches, plastic and concrete road blockades, and various plant beds made from concrete, plastic, metal, or marble. Smaller details, which are often overlooked in city builders, are also included: fire hydrants (1.8k triangles), trash cans, and even 3D text from A to Z for signage. These assets utilize PBR materials and are compatible with all major render pipelines.

Specialized Shaders and Pipeline Implementation

The visual quality of the city is enhanced through several specialized shaders included in the bundle. A billboard screen shader, accompanied by a C# script and dedicated documentation, is provided for both High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP) and Scriptable Render Pipeline (SRP) environments. This allows for animated or interactive signage within the city. For those working specifically within HDRP, a custom crack and puddle decal shader is included to add realistic surface wear and weather effects to the road geometry.

Interior mapping is another critical feature, allowing buildings to appear as though they have fully furnished interiors without the performance cost of actual geometry. This shader includes sample scenes for HDRP, SRP, and Universal Render Pipeline (URP). It is important to note that while the assets are compatible across pipelines, the visual output will vary; the developer specifies that the official trailer was captured in HDRP to showcase maximum visual quality.

Technical Infrastructure and Resource Management

The bundle is structured to prioritize performance through the use of texture atlasing and LODs. The street and rooftop props, which number 56 in total, all feature LODs to ensure that distant objects do not tax the hardware unnecessarily. Infrastructure assets such as water towers, scaffolding, steam vents, and fire escapes provide the vertical detail necessary for a convincing New York aesthetic. Surface-level details are rounded out with four path types, rail tracks, and various road surfaces.

Utility props also follow specific triangle count targets to assist developers in budgeting their performance. For example, security cameras are set at 2,000 triangles, while solar panels are optimized at 900 triangles. Even smaller items like road cones, bollards, and air conditioning units are included to fill out rooftops and alleyways. This package is specifically a collection of assets for manual placement and construction; it does not function as an automated city generator, giving the creator full control over the composition of the urban landscape.

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