I honestly didn’t think getting a character into the game would end up taking this long.
The GLB avatar pipeline has been one of those features that looked simple on paper: load a model, swap a few meshes, save the customization, done.
Reality had other plans.
After chasing animation issues, broken materials, hierarchy problems, and what felt like an endless amount of debugging, I’m finally happy to say that the avatar system is working.
The biggest milestone isn’t actually seeing the character on screen—it’s having a customization system that works with it.
Players can now customize different parts of their character including:
- Hairstyles
- Face and head options
- Clothing pieces
- Accessories
- Colors (foundation is there for future additions)
The whole UI has also been redesigned to make customization feel much cleaner than my first attempt. Instead of dumping every option onto one page, everything is now organized into categories that are much easier to browse.
It finally feels like you’re creating your character instead of selecting a placeholder.
There’s still plenty to improve better animations, more cosmetic options, cleaner transitions—but this is one of those milestones that makes the game suddenly feel much more alive.
Looking back at where the project started, with simple colored cylinders and cubes moving around a map, it’s pretty satisfying seeing an actual character staring back at me.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIIV-FzdW00&list=PLpepLKamtPji3pqcAKh5Fr–d4oJXTNvA