Cities in Games. How to Create a Believable Urban Environment

What the talk is about

Ania Bulavina explains how to build a believable city for a game. Her core idea is that a game city exists to be comfortable to play in, not to live in, yet its structure must rest on real urban logic rather than randomly placed buildings. She names four basic kinds of space (street, square, courtyard, green area) and three parameters to set early: size, scale and level of detail. She then covers district variety through layout, architecture and landmarks, and street-design rules: collect references, walk the blockout, alternate open and closed spaces, and move to 3D early. The Q&A touches on placing shops and on places the player returns to. Useful for level designers and environment artists.