A friend has dared me to make a realistic game and I’m horrified by the results. I may continue it, yet my mind is severely lacking in creativity. Please assist me in this journey
Everyone’s seen realism, Everyone’s been amazed by it. Unfortunately me and Blender hate each other so this is all studio made…
I’ll agree with you that it certainly isn’t high-poly / realistic. But it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen, so it certainly isn’t terrible either. I can see this passing as medium-poly (a little more detailed than a low poly design but not high-poly).
My recommendation is to work on the color. I’m not sure what design you were going for but there is way too much reddish-brown. If you’re aiming still for high-poly, the wall designs are way too blocky for it to be a high-poly design. You need to work on adding small details that just make it seem real since most realistic designs are not as polished.
I can’t say much else without knowing what it’s supposed to be but it’s not as bad as you say it is.
It’s definitely a good start, you can expand more and add more to the build. You just need to put some more time into brainstorming ideas, they can be small ideas such as elevation like someone previously mentioned.
Did you come up with a concept for the fame yet? If not, you should also come up with a concept for the game beforehand so you can plan accordingly.
The trick to breaking into realism is find a picture and try copying it. You will find that the shapes are less important than the colors and textures. Your floors, walls, and ceilings are all the same texture, and very dark. You can also achieve very dark by reducing light, so use brighter colors, and more varied textures, and then turn down the lights! If you can use Blender, try experimenting with PBR textures.
Here is one of my first attempts at a sewer. Note there is almost zero modelling here. This is all texture.
You are right, without knowing your tools, you won’t get a lot done in blender in 30 minutes. You have to hone those skills between speed runs. It is all about the color though, and knowing where to go to pick a texture.