Make a mesh.
Make a surface in the mesh.
Add polygons to that surface. For example, quads with a masked image on them that represents a member of the crowd.
At runtime, if desired, move selected vertices around to make the quads move about within the mesh, which makes the quads appear to move about within the world as if they are individual entities.
Optionally, clear and re-add triangles in mesh each frame after sorting them by distance. Only neccessary if using alpha mapping rather than masking, and not neccessary for a crowd that doesn't move at all if the camera stays in the field with the crowd surroudning it and you have ordered the polygons right in the first place. (Farthest from center of field first.)
Make a surface in the mesh.
Add polygons to that surface. For example, quads with a masked image on them that represents a member of the crowd.
At runtime, if desired, move selected vertices around to make the quads move about within the mesh, which makes the quads appear to move about within the world as if they are individual entities.
Optionally, clear and re-add triangles in mesh each frame after sorting them by distance. Only neccessary if using alpha mapping rather than masking, and not neccessary for a crowd that doesn't move at all if the camera stays in the field with the crowd surroudning it and you have ordered the polygons right in the first place. (Farthest from center of field first.)