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Asset Naming Conventions

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Bas de Reus edited this page Mar 18, 2024 · 1 revision

Everything is typed in English.

Most things are prefixed with the prefix generally being an acronym of the asset type followed by an underscore.

[AssetTypePrefix]_[AssetName]_[Descriptor]_[OptionalVariantLetterOrNumber]

  • AssetTypePrefixidentifies the type of Asset, refer to the table below for details.
  • AssetName is the Asset's name.
  • Descriptor provides additional context for the Asset, to help identify how it is used. For example, whether a texture is a normal map or an opacity map.
  • OptionalVariantLetterOrNumber is optionally used to differentiate between multiple versions or variations of an asset.

Asset Prefixes

This list is not exhaustive, as new features can require new Asset types. If you are using an Asset type not listed, use the existing list as a guideline for your naming convention for that Asset.

Examples based on the contentions in the table below:

  • M_Collectable
  • T_Collectable_Normal

Base Asset Name

All assets should have a Base Asset Name. A Base Asset Name represents a logical grouping of related assets. Any asset that is part of this logical group should follow the the standard of Prefix_BaseAssetName_Variant_Suffix.

Keeping the pattern Prefix_BaseAssetName_Variant_Suffix in mind and using common sense is generally enough to warrant good asset names. Here are some detailed rules regarding each element.

Prefix and Suffix are to be determined by the asset type through the following Asset Name Modifier tables.

BaseAssetName should be determined by short and easily recognizable name related to the context of this group of assets. For example, if you had a character named Calvin, all of Calvin's assets would have the BaseAssetName of Calvin.

For unique and specific variations of assets, Variant is either a short and easily recognizable name that represents logical grouping of assets that are a subset of an asset's base name. For example, if Calvin had multiple skins these skins should still use Calvin as the BaseAssetName but include a recognizable Variant. An 'Evil' skin would be referred to as Calvin_Evil and a 'Retro' skin would be referred to as Calvin_Retro.

For unique but generic variations of assets, Variant is a two digit number starting at 01. For example, if you have an environment artist generating nondescript rocks, they would be named Rock_01, Rock_02, Rock_03, etc. Except for rare exceptions, you should never require a three digit variant number. If you have more than 100 assets, you should consider organizing them with different base names or using multiple variant names.

Depending on how your asset variants are made, you can chain together variant names. For example, if you are creating flooring assets for an Arch Viz project you should use the base name Flooring with chained variants such as Flooring_Marble_01, Flooring_Maple_01, Flooring_Tile_Squares_01.

Examples

Character
Asset Type Asset Name
Skeletal Mesh SK_Calvin
Material M_Calvin
Texture (Diffuse/Albedo) T_Calvin_D
Texture (Normal) T_Calvin_N
Texture (Evil Diffuse) T_Calvin_Evil_D
Prop
Asset Type Asset Name
Static Mesh (01) SM_Rock_01
Static Mesh (02) SM_Rock_02
Static Mesh (03) SM_Rock_03
Material M_Rock
Material Instance (Snow) MI_Rock_Snow

Asset Name Modifiers

When naming an asset use these tables to determine the prefix and suffix to use with an asset's Base Asset Name.

Most Common

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Level / Scene * Should be in a folder called Scenes. e.g. Scenes/ArtTest.unity
Level (Persistent) _P
Level (Audio) _Audio
Level (Lighting) _Lighting
Level (Geometry) _Geo
Level (Gameplay) _Gameplay
Prefab
Material M_
Static Mesh SM_
Skeletal Mesh SK_
Texture T_ _? See Textures
Particle System PS_

3D Models FBX Files

PascalCase

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Characters CH_
Vehicles VH_
Weapons WP_
Static Mesh SM_
Skeletal Mesh SK_
Skeleton SKEL_
Rig RIG_

3D Models 3ds Max Files

All meshes in 3ds Max are lowercase to differentiate them from their FBX export.

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Mesh _mesh_lod0* Only use LOD suffix if model uses LOD's
Mesh Collider _collider

Animations

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Animation Clip A_
Animation Controller AC_
Avatar Mask AM_
Morph Target MT_

Artificial Intelligence

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
AI Controller AIC_
Behavior Tree BT_
Blackboard BB_
Decorator BTDecorator_
Service BTService_
Task BTTask_
Environment Query EQS_
EnvQueryContext EQS_ Context

Prefabs

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Prefab
Prefab Instance I
Scriptable Object

Materials

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Material M_
Material Instance MI_
Physical Material PM_

Textures

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Texture T_
Texture (Diffuse/Albedo/Base Color) T_ _D
Texture (Normal) T_ _N
Texture (Metallic) T_ _MT
Texture (Height) T_ _H
Texture (Roughness) T_ _R
Texture (Alpha/Opacity) T_ _A
Texture (Ambient Occlusion) T_ _AO
Texture (Bump) T_ _B
Texture (Emissive) T_ _E
Texture (Mask) T_ _M
Texture (Specular) T_ _S
Texture (Packed) T_ _* See notes below about packing
Texture Cube TC_
Media Texture MT_
Render Target RT_
Cube Render Target RTC_
Texture Light Profile TLP_
Texture Packing

It is common practice to pack multiple layers of texture data into one texture. An example of this is packing Emissive, Roughness, Ambient Occlusion together as the Red, Green, and Blue channels of a texture respectively. To determine the suffix, simply stack the given suffix letters from above together, e.g. _ERO.

It is generally acceptable to include an Alpha/Opacity layer in your Diffuse/Albedo's alpha channel and as this is common practice, adding A to the _D suffix is optional.

Packing 4 channels of data into a texture (RGBA) is not recommended except for an Alpha/Opacity mask in the Diffuse/Albedo's alpha channel as a texture with an alpha channel incurs more overhead than one without.

Miscellaneous

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Universal Render Pipeline Asset URP_
Post Process Volume Profile PP_
User Interface UI_

Physics

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Physical Material PM_

Audio

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Audio Clip A_
Audio Mixer MIX_
Dialogue Voice DV_
Audio Class No prefix/suffix. Should be put in a folder called AudioClasses

User Interface

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Font Font_
Texture (Sprite) T_

Effects

Asset Type Prefix Suffix Notes
Particle System PS_
Links Description
What-is-made Here is a list of the team members with their roles and what they have made
Asset Naming Conventions An in depth convention for naming files
Code Convention A code convention used for this project
Definition of done When is something done? Here's a list of criteria of the definition of done.
Functional Design A description about how to play the game
Git workflow This is our git workflow, with branch naming
Scrum A page with all our scrum notes and files
Software in use Here's a list of the software we use to make this project
Technical Design An in depth explanation of how complex systems work in the game
Full code documentation The full documentation of each feature and class
User testing User testing video's of the game
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