How do you guys go about mapping the layout of a 2.5D game in Unity?
Hello there. First of all, sorry if this is not the right place to ask; I tried to look for some kind of Megathread for tiny/random daily questions but saw none. I also tried to get some help on the official Unity Discord; but it's amazing how quiet people are in there with all the online users it has. Please point me in the right direction if I should ask this kind of question elsewhere or in a different format. I would love to have someone with some knowledge to just chat about this kind of stuff.
Anyway; bottom line, is that me and a friend are trying to make a game for fun, and we settled for a 2.5D platformer game. I'm not too sure what the final result will look like; but for starters I was thinking of doing something visually similar to Metroid Dread; a 2D platformer with 3D assets. I'm using Blender and Unity; and I have no clue how to approach generating the level itself. I know I can just use some cubes and Unity for early testing and trying/designing stuff; but how should I go about it when I want to start making it look good?
When I tried making a simple slope in Unity; it surprised me that there is no vertex manipulation whatsoever in there; and apparently people usually do all their models elsewhere (like in Blender), and later port it to Unity. Is this how I should approach it? Should I try making some "3D Tileset Props" in Blender and port them to Unity, and use them in there like construction blocks Mario Maker style? I haven't found good tutorials about this specific way of approaching the level design. I do have experience with other tools (like the Hammer Editor for HL2 and Counter-Strike), but I gotta be honest, getting used to Blender (I'm still on the tutorial phase) is a little on the hard side right now; and I'm not too sure about what stuff should be done within Unity and what other stuff I should be doing in Blender or elsewhere... nor what that stuff would even be.
How would YOU approach making a 2.5D game? I'm meant to design and import a whole level? Should I do "tile pieces" and built with them in Unity? I know I could start doing basic shapes in Unity to get working levels; but when I decide to start trying to make it look good with "cool" 3D platforms/assets; how should I go about it? Any suggestions? Links to any good guides on this particular subject?
Thanks in advance, and sorry again if this is the wrong place to this kind of questions. Would also appreciate links/suggestions of other places to chat about this kind of stuff or ask for general advise.