Welcome to State Of The Art, May 2018 edition! This monthly progress report is written by Frank DiCola and is focused entirely on how the game’s visuals have improved in the past month.
It’s hard to believe the past month was just 30 days – everything feels so long ago, from our hilarious April Fool’s Day post to my trip to PAX East. As we wrap up production on the game, I find we have more work to do, not less. Not what I expected, but Jack and I are up to the task!
Missed last month’s State of the Art? The April edition is right here.
SPOILER WARNING: This post contains screenshots, GIFs and videos of later sections of the game. If you want to experience them in all their majesty for the first time on your mobile device when the game launches, don’t read on!
More Gorgeous Menus
The GIF above is a little teaser of what I have for you in this update: two more Worlds have been polished and are now App-Store-ready. As I hinted at last time, I completed World 5 (the Hills) and World 6 (the Summit). Check out their Level Select menus! I know it seems weird to show these off, but I always love how they come out. It’s so cool for me to get an opportunity to visualize the game world from a different perspective. This 2D view allows you to appreciate the scale of Obe’s journey as he climbs to the top of a massive mountain towards the game’s end.
The Rainswept Hills
These two Worlds posed a unique challenge to me because they take place in the wilderness. Up until this point, I tried to stick with my modular tool-set for as much of the game’s artwork as possible. However, sometimes you just can’t do that. When it comes to mountains, valleys, and rocks, they demand a jagged unevenness that just can’t be achieved by cookie-cutter pieces. Every Level in this World has a custom ridge that is 100% unique!
Jack will kill me if I show off every Level in this World, so I’ll have to settle for my two favorites. Level 5-2 has always looked great, but now that it’s raining like hell the Level has really come to life:
Then, towards the end of the Hills, we transition to a snowier climate. Obe is getting to the top of the mountain. He sees a cottage at the edge of the cemetery where he can rest for the night. Here is the last Level in this World:
I love doing weather effects because they really challenge me to think of how every tiny thing in the scene ought to change. Leave a comment and let me know what you think of “the Hills!”
The Forgotten Castle at the Summit
Obe is making his way through a blizzard to a lonely, abandoned castle at the top of the mountain. Once again, I got the opportunity to polish the weather effects here and I think they look incredible. I can’t show off everything, so here’s a quick look at two different Levels.
The first is Level 6-1, “Pass.” Obe is making his way through the snow as he attempts to cross this old bridge. Thanks to Jack’s terrain setup, Obe will actually use different animations depending on what terrain he is standing on. Notice how he interacts differently with Buttons and bridges.
In the shadows, another kingdom is revealed. Are we looking into an alternate dimension? Perhaps the shadows are a window to the past? The future?
Level 6-4 takes place inside the castle. Now, a snowstorm rages outside as a lonely sentry patrols the entrance.
This World does some amazing things with shadows, so I don’t want to give too much of it away. It looks a million times better than where I left off a few months ago, so I appreciate the chance to come back and punch it up.
Next Up: Cutscenes, Cutscenes, Cutscenes
Rather than move on to the final World of the game, I’m going to take the next few weeks to animate the game’s remaining story cutscenes. World 7 needs a bit of love right now, so Jack is going to spruce it up a bit before I make my glorious return to polish. Cutscenes are tough because every minute of animation is roughly 40 hours of work ( ! ) so I’m going to be nerding out in my room for a few more months, it seems. Two of the cutscenes have been animated and shown off at festivals, but they need sound. The other eight have not been started, although their scripts were written long ago.
At some point I may enlist Alba and Noah to help me input the sounds into the animation, because I think we can cover more ground that way. But as far as character animation goes, it’s just me and the keyframes. Some people at PAX East asked me if I ever use motion-capture for these short films. The answer is: No way! We don’t have a crazy setup like that at Game Revenant (read: at my apartment or Jack’s apartment). It’s all animated by hand, baby.
Wish me luck as I make my descent into animation hell. See you next month!
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We hope you enjoyed this update about the game’s artwork. Have a question about aesthetics that wasn’t mentioned here? You can find out more about our game at WhereShadowsSlumber.com, ask us on Twitter (@GameRevenant), Facebook, itch.io, or Twitch, and feel free to email us directly at contact@GameRevenant.com.
Frank DiCola is the founder of Game Revenant and the artist for Where Shadows Slumber.
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