Best tools for terrain/level building (Polybrush, Gaia, Terrain Editor, others?)

Hey, I'm a CS graduate and a life long gamer that is finally making his dream game.
So far I've been prototyping and working on components of the game.

I'm at the point where I want to delve into some level design. I've already used Pro Builder and Pro Grids which I very much like!

I wanted to do some research on the do's and don'ts of this topic and explore the available tools as my Google-ing and YouTube watching doesn't seem to highlight their differences and strengths ( in my exp ).

The game is in first person perspective and I'm going for a semi stylized look for the terrain, e.g. Firewatch, Subnautica or even World of Warcraft, realism is not the goal here.

Currently ( in my dreams ) I assume the map will end up being about 2000x2000m.

Questions I have
- Should I split areas up in to tiles ( how big? ).
- Which part of the terrain would you start with ( edges, inland, does it matter? )
- What tool is most viable for this style.

Any general advice would also be great.

Thank you in advance!

 

For those interested I found this video helpful.

 

Hi Hallu
I'm just starting doing my own terrain. For me I'v started with the edges(mountains) and working inwards but don't really think it matters. I'm also starting with a large terrain 40000x40000m after I am done I will use Kostiantyn Dvornik excellent split terrain code to cut it into chunks after that way I know all the edges and textures will line up perfect..
.http://kostiantyn-dvornik.blogspot.com/2013/12/unity-split-terrain-script.html

 

Thanks for the reply Tawdry.
Personally after trying a bunch of tools I think I'm going with Blender for the level- and terrain design.
I feel like it's very hard to get accurate results if you have a specific design in mind.
Most of the videos I've watched where people are showing off the terrain tools they tend to be all about getting a cool screenshot or a video rather than something you might have actual gameplay in.

Note this is coming from someone who hasn't spent a whole lot of time with Unity terrain or Gaia... so I might be wrong.

 

You can covert a mesh from blender into a unity terrain afterwards anyway. Theres a script that can convert an object into terrain https://lmhpoly.com/convert-mesh-to-unity-terrain/

 

That's great! Didn't know that, thanks!