Virtual Town Version 1
We built this early version of the town with varying widths of paths based on the frequency of when they would be used. When testing we noticed that players would get lost due to the lack of visual markers.
Virtual Town Version 2
To help orient players, new art assets were added to the town. We decided to make every non-playable character (NPC) have decorations that were specific to them around their house, which would allow players to recognize their location as soon as they came close to an NPC house. Art assets from preproduction were added to help fill in the town until new art could be created, and sections of fence were replaced by hedges and trees to add variety. Testing showed players needing to run across the entire town for several of the main story quests, which felt tedious.
Virtual Town Version 3
To cut down on the tediousness of trekking across the town, NPC homes were organized so the player would not need to pass more than one house before reaching their destination. New art was added to help add visual markers throughout the world.
Virtual Town Version 4
More art assets were added to provide visual markers when navigating and to help with world building. Lamps were moved to outside of several NPC yards to hide layering issues with hedges.
