Tag Archives: game development

State Of The Art – September 2017

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Welcome to State Of The Art, September 2017 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. Without further ado, let’s explore the major leaps forward we took in September!

 

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World 3, Aqueduct

This World has been started and is looking promising so far. It’s one of the easier ones on the list, since this World is mostly deep water and narrow pathways. Compared to some of the other ones I did this month, that’s a cakewalk.

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The Aqueduct is a cavernous waterway built by humans that Obe explores midway through his journey. The Levels here often make use of light sources that don’t come from Obe’s lantern.

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This World is not 100% finished – but nothing ever is, at this stage of the process. Jack is currently modifying a water plugin I downloaded from the Asset Store to work with our strange lighting system. There are also highly specific items I still need to model. That always gets left as the last thing…

 

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World 4, City

I’ve been looking forward to working on this World for a long time. I loved the cool mountain desert aesthetic we had in the Demo, and it’s a shame that didn’t make it into the final game. This is even cooler though – a pueblo style city in the middle of a sandstorm! What’s not to like? (Sandstorm sold separately)

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Creating these detailed environments takes time. As I sat down to write this, I realized that 3 of the 5 Levels in the City aren’t even in good condition to show the public! While every Level in this World is functional and the art has been started, very few of them are complete.

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Get out of there, Obe! Nothing good ever happens in alleyways…

This World tells a complex story in a short amount of time, and a lot of highly specific artwork is still in the works. Look out for those missing Levels in a future update, and accept my apologies. I spread myself quite thin this month in order to cover a lot of ground quickly.

 

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World 5, Hills

I really stretched myself this month by going even further and starting World 5, the Hills. I hadn’t originally planned on doing this, but I got artist’s block on the City and decided to move on. This is usually a good idea – by the time I return to my previous work, I’ve had some kind of epiphany for what to do.

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The Hills are modeled after the dreary cliffs of Ireland. We’ve decided to make this like one long graveyard, with mechanics to match: little tombstones that turn into ghosts when they’re covered in shadow. By the time you shine a light on them again, they turn back into tombstones… but they’ve moved. I think you can get an idea of how puzzles might work here. This is our own twist on the Boos from Super Mario, which behaved differently depending on whether Mario was looking at them.

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The Hills require a ton of very specific modeling to complete, and have proven really challenging so far. I prefer to use modular tool kits because you get more mileage out of them. Even so, you can’t argue with the results! I threw out the aesthetic seen in the Level above because it was too formulaic. It obviously made use of one piece over and over again and I got sick of looking at it. Now the Levels in this World will all look more like the image below.

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This is now my favorite Level in the game. I hope you can see why! (And it’s not even done, I still need to add little grass bunches)

 

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World 6, Summit

Since I was feeling insane this month, I actually got started on World 6, Summit. This is basically the top of a snowy mountain. It’s really not done yet – you could hardly call it “started”. I don’t even have any screenshots to show you! But maybe you can get a sense of what they’ll look like based on my Concept Art drawings of Jack’s finished prototype Levels.

Obe ventures out into the freezing cold. He’s completely alone… except for the ghosts of the damned! (Ghosts of the Damned sold separately)

 

 

Don’t Expect Much From October

I apologize for the lack of video this time around. I usually like to keep myself to the high standard of showing footage of the game instead of screenshots. (Video is harder to fake, which means I have to own up to failures in the game’s visuals.) This time around I took the easy way out, since I’m leaving today to go on a crazy week-long business trip. Speaking of that…

September marks one of the greatest leaps forward the game has taken aesthetically so far. To be honest, I was overcompensating for the fact that October is going to be a slow month. Because of this trip (and another during the middle of this month), I won’t have as much time as I normally do to make artwork.

In a perfect world, I would finish World 6 and 7 before we get to November, but I doubt it. Between Unite 2017, IndieCade 2017, and the Mobile Games Forum, I’m missing an entire 2 weeks of work this month. That’s insane! At least you get to hear my thoughts on the shows in next week’s blog post… [ ^_^]!

Just warning you not to get too excited. See you at the start of November for another recap!

 

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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.

We Got Interviewed By TechRaptor!

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This is so exciting – we can finally show off something that’s been in the works for a few weeks now. Since PlayNYC, Robert Adams at TechRaptor has been hard at work on an interview we did in the week leading up to the event.

In it, we discuss the origins of Game Revenant, my tragic corporate backstory, the game’s art direction, our progress over the past two years, mobile vs Steam, VR, release dates, price, and why Jack is our hero.

FULL LINK: https://techraptor.net/content/play-nyc-2017-a-conversation-with-frank-dicola-about-where-shadows-slumber

Check out the full article here! We’ll return to our usual blogging schedule next week, but this was too cool not to share.

 

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Are you a member of the media? If you’d like to interview the developers, reach out to us directly! 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.

State Of The Art – August 2017

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Welcome to State Of The Art, August 2017 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. Without further ado, let’s explore the major leaps forward we took in August!

 

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Obe’s Feline “Friends”

This part of the update is directly tied to the cutscene discussed below, but I wanted to give it special attention just because I like how they turned out. I modeled some cats! They really only appear during a few short cutscenes during the game, but making each one took quite a long time. Here’s the Leopard:

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The spots on his coat came out way better than expected, although the top of the head is a bit off.

And the Lion:

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The way his mane frames his face gets me every time!

I especially like the Lion’s mane. It was a struggle to get it to look as simple as it does. I kept making overly detailed 3D hair but it just looked wrong. At one point I considered using Cloth to simulate a glorious flowing mane, but I knew Jack would probably kill me so I backed off. I ended up going with a simple cylinder with a rotated back and it just looked right as soon as I saw it. I stepped out of my comfort zone and ended up with something super cool! Throw on Jack’s shader and voila – a glorious, friendly* Lion.

Astute observers will notice a few things about these models. For simplicity, they’re actually using the humanoid torso + limbs combo that Obe uses! But the reuse doesn’t end there. The Leopard and the Lion both have the same Head model, just with a different texture. The Lion’s mane does even more to differentiate them. A+ if you noticed this without me telling you!

* Watch the cutscene.

 

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World 2 (River)

The River World took a giant leap forward during the month of August. I’d show you a bunch of screenshots, but I made a pledge last month to show more videos of the game in action instead of just screenshots. This is part of pushing ourselves to be better – if the game doesn’t look good in video format, we need to work harder! You’ll notice of course that there’s still no sound, but we’re working on that.

 

The core pillars of the River’s design are its gross yellow water, jet black dirt, log wall structures, and rickety boardwalks. There’s a really cool interplay here between the water and the black foliage – it makes it look like more things are in shadow than there really are. I love how the trees look, stretching out into the water / sky. This is one of my favorite Worlds!

Enjoy the highlight reel of all five Levels in World 2, above. Don’t worry – there’s no spoilers for puzzle solutions, just a walking tour of what each Level looks like.

 

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“Wardens” – The First Cutscene

You walk through the forest, alone and lost. You come to an intersection… which path to take? Suddenly, a Lion appears from behind the shadowy veil. To your left, a Wolf! As they bear down on you, you wonder if they are friend or foe. And what’s that sound behind you?

This cutscene is not quite 100% finished yet, but I’ve reached the point where it’s time to leave it and move on. I’m going to throw some facial animations in there, but I’d like those to coincide with sounds (roaring, laughing, screaming) so I’m avoiding it for now. Of course, as a final pass, we’ll need to add sound effects.

There are also minor touch-ups to his clothing that I need to do. I didn’t have to animate his robe or his chasuble, which was a godsend. But with automated animation comes other issues… notice how his clothing clips through his body and the ground sometimes. It’s possible to fix this – and it’s possible it won’t even be noticeable on an iPhone – but it’s one of those things you need to leave until the end of the project. Focusing all my energy on it now means neglecting the rest of the work on my plate, so it’s not an option.

 

Enjoy the cutscene (above) and look forward to a 100% version later, with sound!

 

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What To Expect From September

This coming month, my first task is going to be World 3 – the Aqueduct. We’re pretty much going chronologically here, so that’s next. I’d also love to move on to World 4 – the City. The City has been started, so one Level is already basically done. Getting those two Worlds finished would be awesome! Time will tell.

I’m satisfied with how I animated the Wardens cutscene, which means I might take a break from cutscenes for now. I really just wanted to get that first proof-of-life cutscene done so our audio crew can have something to work on as a reference for how cutscenes work.

Speaking of audio, that will also be my focus this month. I won’t be working on audio per se, but I’ll be paving the way for an audio person to come in and start adding stuff. That means some light scripting and a lot of brainstorming. It’s not visual, but it counts as “aesthetic”. Maybe I should rename this monthly post State of the Aesthetic? Is greater accuracy worth wasting one of the greatest puns of all time? Surely not…

 

See you again in October!

 

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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.

In The News – Beginning Publicity

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If you’ve been a regular reader of this Tuesday blog post, you’ve probably noticed a shift in our marketing strategy in the past few weeks. This space used to be reserved for an inside look at what it’s like to be an indie developer working on this game – of late, we’ve been using it more for shorter updates about the game itself.

The game is speeding along like a runaway train, and although we have tons of work to do, it’s important to begin a crucial step in the development process: publicity! There’s no point in working hard to release a game that no one knows about. Expect to see Jack and yours truly on more podcasts, gaming websites, and YouTube shows going forward.

It’s not just that we love to hear ourselves talk. (Okay, a little bit) Publicity is an important part of creating a game. Don’t call us sellouts just yet! In the spirit of total honesty, here’s some articles that have been written about us in the past few weeks, mostly surrounding the hubbub about Play NYC.

 

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Nerdier Tides

Thanks to Cecile Pauling of Nerdier Tides for writing this quick recap of Where Shadows Slumber! Cecile played our demo (multiple times, [0_0 ]) and the development build we showed off at Play NYC. I especially enjoyed this bit:

“Walking home at night, you’re always worried about the shadows that lurk near you. You never know what it is, but what if it’s the path you’ve been looking for all along?”

Full article here: https://nerdiertides.com/2017/08/25/whereshadowsslumber/

 

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TechRaptor

Robert Adams of TechRaptor attended the show and we reached out to him beforehand. We actually did a long-form interview with him that’s coming out pretty soon. To tide you over, check out his full recap of Play NYC, below!

Full article here: https://techraptor.net/content/play-nyc-2017-recap

 

Contact Us For An Interview!

Okay, now for the REAL reason for this blog post. Do you have a podcast? A gaming website? A YouTube channel about gaming? Perhaps you have a blog where you talk about games, iOS apps or Android stuff? We’d love to be on your website. We really do need all the help we can get to advertise the game. In return, we’ll give you juicy details about what it’s like to develop an indie game. We may even reveal the secret of Grongus? If you ask nicely…

The best way to contact me is contact@GameRevenant.com, and we can set up a Skype interview, phone call, or long distance shouting interview. (Sound carries across water, so this works better than expected.)

 

Expect more short form updates like this in the future. As we ramp up development and publicity, we’re trying to focus more on working on the game itself rather than long blog posts. If we missed something important that you wanted us to address, just find us online and ask! Details below.

See you next week!

 

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Looking to write an article about Where Shadows Slumber? You can contact us directly at WhereShadowsSlumber.com, talk to 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.