Do the backgrounds seriously need a crowd of people in it?

[Goddiga]

Hello! I was just wondering about the seriousness of a realistic sense in background arts for Visual Novel. 

My colleague used to complain about the background art for school, classroom, swimming pool, amusement park (or just park), the beach etc. for being unusable without showing any crowds of people in the pic. He also said that those places look like they were abandoned or closed. He even said that if I want to make a quality game, I need the best and the most realistic pic. That includes having the crowd of people in the pic. However, I've seen too many backgrounds from VNs or other genres without the crowd. Though I don't know much about the complains. 

So, I was wondering if it is really that strong of a factor to make sense to the game? Thank you!

Edited October 15, 2018 by Goddiga

[Dreamysyu]

The graphics in VNs is pretty formulaic by default. Even if you draw the backgounds without any crowds, not that many people are going to notice that there's anything wrong with them, imo. In any case, I personally prefer empty backgrounds to the ones filled with creepy faceless extras.

[YomiPlays]

When i read a visual novel i dont care about the people on the background (rarely i do it) , cuz im focused on the heroine and the lines. ( Probably this last one is what makes you imagine the situation)

did u ask u where're the anothers students? empety. or could be in some cases. People. But not always.

[Ranzo]

Background shots typically don't have any people in them at all, even if it is in a crowded place. I would say though that it would make your vn stand out because I always remember the ones that do have a inhabited background.

[Decay]

Clear formatting on your post (the eraser on the left side of the toolbar) or set the text to automatic color so it can show up in themes with a white post background:

Anyway, to answer your question, every time I see a game with populated backgrounds, I see people praise the backgrounds as feeling lively and lived-in. You never hear anyone praise a background for being empty, though. So generally, it's pure upside. The thing is, barely any VN devs actually have characters in the background because it's simply a lot more work. While people praise backgrounds for having characters, it's a luxury. I don't think anyone avoids VNs that don't have those kinds of backgrounds. It's probably not worth it for a small-time VN dev to spend all that time populating their backgrounds.

Though I guess I should point out that the current best-selling VN dev, Yuzusoft, is a company that does populate their backgrounds. It helps lend an air of polish to your product.

Edited October 16, 2018 by Decay

[Fred the Barber]

Just another vote for "I don't really notice when backgrounds are empty, but I really notice and appreciate when they're populated". Muv-Luv and Clannad both come to mind as having a lot of characters in the background art in the school shots in particular, and they breathe a lot of life into those backgrounds.

[ittaku]

I'll give a counterexample that has bugged me lately. I'm playing Sarasarasasara which has lucid dream sequences that characters are aware they're in a dream, but in the dream world there are no other people present. However I just played a scene from a dream sequence which made a big deal about the fact there were no other people around, but the background image they chose of the city showed the usual number of random people walking the streets... meh.

[Funyarinpa]

I don't understand getting weirded out by this, it's a certainly welcome addition in my opinion, far better than having yet another empty-classroom-at-sunset-2343254.jpeg in the background.

[Kiwi]

Whether or not a crowd of people in the background helps increase immersion depends on the game, I think. Brains tend to fill in gaps, so even without the visual indicator, if something is implied through other means (text, sound etc.), that something can still appear to make sense, even if it isn't visually present. This is why the lack of crowds in VNs rarely is a problem.

On the other hand, the presence of information that doesn't makes sense can decrease immersion, like in ittaku's example.

The presence of information that does make sense (eg. a crowd of people on a crowded street) does probably make something feel more real. But then again, I'd argue that not everything benefits from being super realistic. 

Sorry not sorry for the gibberish.

Edited October 18, 2018 by Kiwi

[littleshogun]

I guess it's depend on each people whether they want the background of the VN did have the people or not, although I admit that it's indeed add a lot of immersive if it was used correctly. It's still to each company though whether they'll provide it or not, but in the end I'm more or less think that it would be nice if we could get that and if there's nothing in the background then I'm okay with that as well.

[Bishounen-P]

I don't think you NEED to have a crowd in the background, rather, I'd prefer an interesting setting with unique looking backgrounds to the typical empty background. The way my team got around this was making the setting a bar and drawing the sprites so they interacted with the bg by making it look like it also had a foreground.

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[TexasDice]

Lively backgrounds are the best. Sometimes these still background people have more character than the actual characters and you start wondering what their stories are.

[Thyndd]

I don't think you NEED them. As a matter of fact, most VNs do well without them. They can be a nice occasional addition if they match the art quality of everything else, though.