Showcase (warehouse) map

A showcase map (also called a warehouse, gallery or asset zoo) is a test level that lays out every asset of a kind in one place: every prop, every kit piece, every material. The Level Design Book's advice is to "make a scene or level with every prop / art asset, and walk around in it", because "the best way to validate environment art is to try using it in-game" (The Level Design Book: Environment Art).

It is the art-side sibling of the gym level, which tests gameplay metrics rather than assets.

#What goes in it

The Level Design Book quotes game developer Charles Boury, who keeps several showcase scenes (The Level Design Book: Environment Art):

• ShowcaseCharas for every character.
• ShowcaseProps, "an Ikea-style overview of every game props".
• ShowcaseMats, "a grid-view of every material in different light conditions".
• ShowcaseUI, a scene to play with every interface element.

Boury stresses one word: "Note the word 'every.' Exhaustive lists let you oversee the game content and build confidence" (The Level Design Book: Environment Art). For props he wants "an organised arrangement of all the props to check their palette, silhouette and level of details", ideally "a nice warehouse … with all the game props, nicely grouped by category, arranged on a grid" (The Level Design Book: Environment Art). The book illustrates this with the prop warehouse test level from Caravan Sandwitch (The Level Design Book: Environment Art).

#Problems a showcase map reveals

Laid side by side under the same lights, assets reveal problems that are invisible one at a time:

• Scale. A chair that is 10% too big next to every other chair. See scale and proportion.
• Palette and value. One prop that is far brighter or more saturated than the rest. See value and colour for environments.
• Silhouette and detail level. Assets made by different artists at different densities (The Level Design Book: Environment Art). See silhouette and texel density.
• Materials under different light. Boury's material grid tests this (The Level Design Book: Environment Art). See physically based rendering.
• Kit gaps. For a modular kit, laying out every piece shows which corners, caps or glue pieces are missing.

#Related terms

gym levels and metrics maps · modular kits · set dressing and art passes · art bibles and style guides · playtesting spaces

#Further reading and watching