Hey everyone,

Since I've been working on remaking Anna/Josef's apartment in 3D for the last couple of days with the goal to replace the backgrounds in-game as a mod just for fun, I ran across plenty of inconsistencies with the backgrounds themselves, but I'm specifically trying to figure out how all of the rooms fit together. At the moment, there are 2 rooms I'm aware of that has their locations confirmed in the game, but the rest is still unknown to me.

I tried to use the sunlight as a reference for understanding the direction the rooms face, this makes the apartment practically impossible in terms of its layout (one of the inconsistencies). So I've been chipping away at trying to piece together how all of the rooms would fit together, as this would allow me to render sunlight/shadows and general scenery in the right place for the windowed rooms. So instead, I'm trying to use the location of the doors in the rooms as a potential reference point to attach them to the hallways, both 1st and 2nd floor. Though the swimming pool area and the office is still an enigma.

That said, there are plenty of things we as players don't see, so there is likely a lot missing or incorrect with the floor plan due to this fact, so while this seems to work relatively reliably, I'm still mostly guessing where they all fit.

What do you think? Any insight or ideas of where you think the rooms might be located, let me know. The above floor plan is mostly guessing and nothing is set in stone.

I did however already do a few experimental renders to replace the backgrounds in-game (rooms containing no windows based on the original images in-game), below are a few preview images of some of the backgrounds. No color grading has been added yet for the "lofi" aesthetic though (lots of purples, pinks and blue hues are missing), and still working on getting the right stylized look in 3D inside of Blender.

But for those who are curious, here are some pretty rough previews:

Multiple iterations before I've gotten to the current look of the stylization in 3D, trying to match the style of the characters, with the exception being that they aren't "pixel art" due to resolution. I've always favored photo realism, so trying to not head the overly detailed route is hard. Lol

Built the hallway first with all of the current event types, each of which built from the standard hallway layout. Stylized v1.0 and v2.0 had more dramatic lighting for the hallways, especially halloween and Valentine's day, but looked less stylized and more leaning into realistic territory. Though to be fair, many backgrounds border on the "realistic" look, such as the bathroom, and a few other scenes in the game, but I digress. I'm trying to avoid that, and its hard, my inner photo realism obsessed fanatic wants to make it all photo realistic. xD

By far the most work, I'll have nightmares about making clothing on hangers for months after this. Lol Not as dark and (dare I say) romantic lighting as the original one (yet). But trying to match the original image's layout and angle as best as possible.

I've also given Josef's car an upgrade. Figured, since he is...err "was" a CEO, he should have a car to look the part, yelling "I work for a Mob Boss" basically, instead of what appeared to be either a Ferrari or a pretty generic looking sports car, instead, opting for the "Luxury" route to match the luxury apartment they live in, still has 4 seats for the fam to fit. Still need to figure out how to replace the sprites for the other two cars as they don't properly replace like the backgrounds do, keeping their original transparency for some odd reason. But that is a future me problem. Lmao

Upstairs hallway was built off of the 1st floor's hallway, retaining the same style (mostly), but trying to steer clear of the "Hospital" look the original "Upstairs" gave me. Or maybe that was the original intent because we're all insane. Or maybe all of this game is happening inside of Anna's head, and we're actually stuck in an insane asylum. xD

Excuse the pretty girl standing in the way, finally the last room as of right now (technically), the kitchen. All of the current rooms didn't contain any windows as I'm trying to figure out the floor plan of the apartment and be able to create a consistent lighting style for the rooms. Once I figure out how to replace things with Alpha transparency properly, have an idea of how the apartment is laid out, I'll be able to replace the other rooms.

As a bonus (and an excuse to work on vehicles), I also made Himari's dealership.

Let me know your thoughts on the layout of the Apartment, once that is settled, I would be able to make the rest of the rooms, and hopefully keep a consistent look for all of the apartment.

To Arvus, keep up the awesome work, been having a blast with a game genre I never gave a 2nd thought of.