The Walking Dead - March to War - Rendering 10K Objects on Low-End Mobile Devices

Explore the technical challenges and innovative solutions behind rendering over 10,000 objects on low-end mobile devices in this Unite Austin 2017 conference talk. Dive into the development process of "The Walking Dead: March to War" game, focusing on creating a large, dense game map for iOS and Android. Learn about streaming via Asset Bundles, efficient rendering techniques, and optimizations for handling thousands of static meshes and hundreds of dynamic NPCs. Discover approaches to map construction, world editing, prefab streaming, draw call optimization, character rendering, navigation, and environmental effects. Gain insights into asset bundle strategies, multi-resolution rendering, and implementing dynamic day/night cycles, shadows, and multiple light sources for mobile platforms.

Intro
Problem Space
Solutions driven by constraints
Map Construction Approach
World Editor
Map Compiler
Prefab Stream Tools
Hierarchical prefab stream
Rendering the Data
Draw call solution: Abuse Dynamic Batching
Instantiation
Direct Drawing
Fine, let's change the engine..
Characters
Navigation
Birds
Optimizations
Toolset?
Water
SLA Lighting
Shadows
Multi-Resolution Rendering
Asset Bundle Strategy
Asset Bundle Loading Optimization
Asset Bundle Stats
Outlines
Day/Night
Weather Patterns