I don't know how to proceed

[Booger]

So I went through the Unity tutorials.  I have a couple of human models modelled in Blender with walk and attack animations.  I import them in Unity and their animations work.  Then my brain stops.  What the heck do I do now?  This is my first time trying to make something in 3D.  These models were previously used as prerenders for my current main 2D project.

I don't mean what to do in a technical sense (there's plenty of Unity tutorials out there), but what do I do as far as making something simple but meaningful as a good first 3D attempt?

If we were talking about conventional game genres, this would mean I'll attempt to make something that's not an RPG, nor requires extensive simulation physics.  Maybe a simple virtual world to walk through.  But since I already have attack animations, I was thinking of a simple beat-em-up/brawler.

But what if I wanted to make a notgame?  Do notgames even have genres?  I was thinking of just having them walk around and talk to each other (One of my favorite past times is just to observe the patrol routes of NPCs in RPGs).  But then what?

What's the simplest type of notgame genre that I can create as practice?  Works such as The Path and Fatale seem heavily scripted to me (at least that was my impression).  I don't want to end up doing machinima (using a 3D engine to create a short film) either.

[ghostwheel]

It's like any art, you have to have some idea of what you want to say/create/evoke. No one can answer these things for you.

[Michaël Samyn]

Try to think of a situation. Not a story, not a sequence. But only a situation.
You can think of it as a painting, if you like. But then one in which everything is alive. Make the simulation pleasant and thorough. But be smart about it: stylize where you can. There's no need to imitate reality as such. The idea is to create an atmosphere.

I bet that while you're doing this, you'll get all sorts of ideas about the kinds of interactions and events that could be amusing in this situation.

[black snoopy]

But what if I wanted to make a notgame?  Do notgames even have genres?  I was thinking of just having them walk around and talk to each other (One of my favorite past times is just to observe the patrol routes of NPCs in RPGs).  But then what?

that's it! Weave bits of a story into the conversations ... you talk to people, you get little snippets. Maybe the people have different viewpoints regarding what happened in the story. And if the story is incomplete? Let the imagination of the player and the atmosphere of the world fill in the blanks. Them maybe create some kind of 'endgame' ... ie: if you interact with enough people you'll learn to go to a certain location where something happens that provides a conclusion of sorts to the story.

[Jeroen D. Stout]

If you want to make it a game not focussed on violence, like a brawler, the best thing I could advise you to do is not invent this wheel from scratch. Since it is your first, think of it as a sketch. I think derivation is most important at this point. Why not pick the thing which you are very familiar with, like a certain book or painting. Think about why this works so well for you; what is the sensation you get from it? It is a fast or a slow rhythm? How does it discuss characters and events? Think mostly about the details: how does it look at small things, like someone giving someone else a pat on the back?

Finding the way to get credible, life-like details, romantic-realism, in games is a very difficult thing. But the most difficult thing is finding something worthwhile to put in a game. So the question really is - what fascinates you, what have you seen described phenomenally well? And dare you reproduce that?

[Booger]

Thanks for the feedback.  I know exactly the atmosphere / feeling I want to portray, even though I don't really have much of a clue (or much care, really) for the mechanics.  Although I enlisted the help of a coder who has several toolsets to make things easier.  I consider myself more of a Director than an Artist (since I can't exactly make a beautiful 3D model or a painting on my own).  Nevertheless  I'm inspired a bit by the work of some teens who are able to collate free resources off the web and come up with something that transcends the sum of the parts -- in my case it's custom art and models which I would gladly pay for even if I weren't making a 'game'.