I’m currently working on a Boston QZ, inspired by The Last Of Us, and as I’m creating my alleyways, and streets something feels off - it feels too empty and or too blank.
Just looking for some feedback on how I could improve, or what I could do better.
Thanks!
Try to make some background buildings or landscape of any sort that fits well with the theme & then it may not seem so empty.
Sick buildings btw!
Yeah that was an unfinished prototype, attached below is an alleyway with background buildings and it still seems bland. I think it might have something to do with the pavement models but I’m unsure.
I think that a little bit of emptiness is nice sometimes, it’s not necessarily bad. It can convey of abandonedness a lot better, if that’s what your going for.
I think a cause of this issue could be the fact that you’re shoving everything onto the sidewalks when you could be fitting a bit more onto the streets. It seems pretty abandoned and broken-down so even pretty random objects, large or small, can fit pretty well. For example, you put a truck on the sidewalk, which still works don’t get me wrong, but could also help fill up space if put a bit closer to the road.
Another issue is that the roads don’t really have that much variation to them. You can add some pavement markings, trash and small details like broken asphalt and such that can help fill up the space a bit and make it feel more broken-down.
You might be thinking too hard about it. That image specifically is not at all bland.
I’ll look into pavement markings and other smaller details. Thank you
One of my favorite ways of making things feel less empty is a little concept known as CLUTTER!!!
Things like trash bags, bricks, bottles, debris, piles of crushed stuff, wood pallets, and god knows what else make streets that were once empty now full of interesting little details that are visually appealing, especially if you were going for a last of us vibe. Another thing you could do is add some moss / leaves around buildings in such, although I don’t know if the city you made is abandoned or not.
Even stuff like little ground pebbles / stones can make stuff look more detailed.
I think for a Last Of Us style, you should add tons of debris, clutter, and plants/vines everywhere similar to what @ItsNathanity said.
TL;DR: Mainly moss, vines, and grass is what you’re missing.
I’ll definitely have to explore into adding debris and clutter like @ItsNathanity said; however plants and vines isn’t feasible for this region of the Quarantine Zone, the abandoned area that we’re calling Residential has overgrown buildings, moss and what not - so for this region we’re trying to make it look like it’s habitable.
This is what I ended up doing with the original pictures, though there’s definitely some room for improvement
abandoned and/or burnt down cars. some overrun checkpoints
