Ideas to make game worlds more coherent and atmospheric
Try to get a feeling for "standing" in the world as player, while making it (Sauerbraten/Tesseract does this really well)
Pick up a laptop and go to the kind of places you make for the game
Try to understand how things work together and keep it in mind while making the world (e.g. species in nature; how did the hole get in the roof; why is this thing here and what is it doing?)
Have animals/NPC not only interact with player, but have a life on their own
Possible experiment: capture all 3D models (using photogrammetry) and Sounds on one spot -> create a digital representation of it, that comes very close to the original
Implement findings from Geology, Biology, Physics, Architecture, etc when making game worlds (e.g. erosion, earth history, species behavior)
Connect the gameworld to the narrative & game design (e.g. with color, light, elements, composition)
Besides understanding how things work, experience/knowledge in Color Theory, Composition and Light (Drawing Fundamentals) is immensely helpful
Travel to places, make experiences & studies, try to understand how a place feels and works
Make game worlds, ship them. Gather feedback and criticism of players.
