(a series wherein I explain to you how to be a game developer. Masterlist of episodes can be found here)

@Marsog asked for this topic, so i’ll cover what he asked for. This is how to organize information for efficiently getting unity projects done

this is a complex enough topic i’ll make a couple posts on it. For now i’ll give you some idea on how to organize your raw developer asset collection

This layer of project is your collection of audio/visual assets like sound effects, reference photos, and textures. Get collecting these, you need them. The bigger the stockpile of odd little noises and photos you have, the easier your job gets on the content creation end

Everything you make, is gonna come from what you have saved up. Images and sound sell reality, so you need to have examples on hand to mimic the real thing (even if that thing is fictional)

Like, if you need the sound of a zombie dying on short notice (as you sometimes do), you have to either have it on file beforehand, or else waste your damn time finding it then and there. Gather up the assets I list here, and you can then probably make 75% or better of your game assets by your own hands. you’ll have the ingredients already saved up

Asset folder/audio

-music

--sourced tracks (organize by author, part of your job is giving proper music credit)

---[EXAMPLE SOURCE]

----[VARIOUS TRACKS]

----how_to_contact_and_credit_this_artist.txt

-soundFX

--mineral

---artificial raw

---natural raw

---prepared ambiance clips

--animal

---human and speech

---scary/mosters/horror

---animal

---misc noises

--machine

---weaponry

---technology

---misc noises

---robots

---effects

-project raw (files and assets that have been created, but don’t yet have a use yet. Someday they might fit one of your projects, and practice is good)

Asset folder/pictures

-reference photos

--animals (the weirder and creepier they are, the better they are to have on file)

--art (record artwork name and artist for future reference and lookup)

--armor

--machines

--places

--characters

--vehicles

--guns/weapons

--[ANY OTHER TOPICS YOU NEED TO SORT]

-textures

--metals

--organics IE things like wood and plants

--animal

--deco/art/advanced

--liquid

--stone and tile

--ground

--”energy” IE things like hot plasma or fire

--[ANY OTHER TEXTURE TYPE YOU NEED TO SORT]

-skyboxes and maps

--maps + overhead/aerial views of various locations and settings

--sky: atmosphere

--sky: space and stars

okay, you got all that? If you have even a small percentage of these gathered, you have the required hoard of information needed to do this job

to successfully create the sight and sound illusion of reality, you need this audio/visual information to sell the illusion. Maybe that sounds too cryptic, but keep following, it’ll make sense

part 2 will cover organizing specific projects