[Kit Request] Japanese Neighborhood
under review
라해변
An anime neighborhood (small town or suburb, not a city, no skyscrapers). Btw, it's something we see all the time in a "Slice of Life" genre. Please, build blocks, not single housing units (difficult to kitbash). A good use-case scenario would be, obviously, anime! Also, having an NPR render for one of KB3D's portfolios would stand out.
More tips: go for a general look and don't make it heavily themed in a typical way (e.g. School, Shinto Shrines). Rooftops (variety) are important for top-down or landscapes.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/6b0gGW (but "streets" aren't that useful, give us backgrounds instead)
M
Michael Reese
under review
Thank you for this kit idea!! The references and ideas you put into the request are great! Any other major influences or references that you want to make sure we have? Which assets do you think would be the most fun to use in a kit like this?
라해변
Michael Reese:
First of all, it's great to hear back from you guys.
I collected some references and my thoughts that might help.
I tried searching for these kinds of kits, but there weren't anything that useful. Please make us a must have resource for anime related projects! Btw, potential use cases could be for any kind of anime productions (school life, slice of life), but also indie games, visual novels, etc.
Houses:
Neo Tokyo (https://kitbash3d.com/products/tokyo) is a bit nuanced for general usage, so I am hoping to see something more casual. A series of kits could work out exceptionally well (urban, suburban. rural = scalability + modularity). This will ensure a versatile and comprehensive collection for a wide range of anime and game projects.
P.S. Things to keep in mind: the outskirts neighborhood is characterized by irregular road layouts and numerous utility poles, as proper urban planning is not well-established. Also, when designing a house, the features of the roof are as important as the (facade) sides, but depends on the camera (or eye level) I guess...
Props:
City Streets (https://kitbash3d.com/products/city-streets) looks pretty good, but a bit too western.
More ideas...
Urban: apartment (apaato*), convenience store, overground railway, scramble crosswalk, snow crab signboard, tokyo tower, vending machines
Suburban: detached house (ikkodate*), school (auditorium, fence, pool) + props (bicycle, clothesline, outdoor a/c unit, a bunch of utility poles)
Rural: rice field, shinto shrine (or torii), train station, transmission tower + backdrops (harbor, trees and mountains, mount fuji)
* Different types of Japanese habitats: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSr9akyakAAwyO0?format=jpg&name=medium
Watch: Shinkai Makoto's Your Name (2016), Weathering with You (2019), and especially Suzume (2022) which has urban, suburban, and rural settings, all in one film. Also, the "72 Seasons" from YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHPy7r2RDVE), Tokyo Through Makoto Shinkai's Eyes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGDxkIXKQ3Q), Makoto Shinkai's Impossible Skies (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5TqfZlYzaE).
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Michael Reese
라해변: This is excellent and really provides us with some great context! Thank you so much!!
chris.bauer286
Michael Reese: Would love to see those kind of more rural one family homes, maybe stuff like fishing village buildings, stuff like more rural trainstations & bus stations
Please don't make this a "Tokyo" type kit
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Michael Reese
chris.bauer286: Hey Chris! There is definitely room for both for sure! We have been doing a lot more 'urban' kits to accompany our larger city kits. Our latest Havana Nights kit is a great example of this. The Japanese neighborhood is a excellent idea. I am actually thinking that potentially having a rural kit by itself would be good in the future as there is a big difference between Tokyo, the suburbs, and the rural areas.
Cjcool
Yes, I think this would be a vibrant kit that introduce a new way for devs to access anime style kits.
chris.bauer286
yes please, would be great to have a mix between modern buildings and some older "shrine type" buildings, maybe even add a small shrine