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Expert advice wanted: Unity/URP techniques to improve in-game graphics (feedback only, no code needed) #278

Description

@marceld23

What this is

We'd love input from experienced Unity / graphics developers on how to push the game's visual quality further and use Unity's rendering features more effectively. This is a comment-only issue — no code contribution needed, just your expertise and pointers. ✨

The game is a voxel/block-based space builder on Unity URP, with procedurally generated planets, ships, weather, water, and sky. It runs on desktop and WebGL, so techniques need to degrade gracefully.

Relevant areas of the codebase

  • Rendering/post: client/Assets/BlocksBeyondTheStars/Scripts/UrpScenePost.cs, SkyVisuals.cs, Sky.cs
  • Meshing: ShipMeshBuilder.cs, BlockShapeGeometry.cs, BlockTextureAtlas.cs
  • Atmosphere/effects: WaterSurface.cs, Clouds.cs, WeatherFx.cs, AtmosphereDome.cs, Starfield.cs, NebulaField.cs

(Screenshots of current in-game visuals available on request.)

Questions we'd love advice on

  • URP settings — Renderer features, HDR, tonemapping, post-processing stack: what's the highest-impact, lowest-risk win for a blocky aesthetic?
  • Lighting — Baked vs. real-time, ambient/sky lighting, cheap GI approximations, day/night handling for procedural worlds.
  • Voxel-specific tricks — Greedy meshing quality, ambient occlusion on block edges, texture atlas filtering/mipping, avoiding seams.
  • WebGL constraints — What renders great on desktop but should be scaled back or replaced on WebGL?
  • Performance vs. beauty — Where we're likely leaving cheap visual quality on the table (or overspending).
  • Style references — Games/shaders that nail a friendly, colorful, readable block aesthetic worth studying.

How to help

A comment is perfect — a prioritized list, "try this URP setting first", shader/technique references, or a critique of a screenshot. No PR expected. 🎨

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