Eye For Games February 2015

Eye For Games is about game design and development • • www.eyeforgames.com FEBRUARY 2015

NEVER GONE hippie games

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EFG magazine February 2015 art director

coVer design

edition support

Rai Sewgobind

Game: Never Gone

Moondrop

Developer: Hippie Games

copY editor

Max Simard-Poirier

Rémy van den Wijngaart Tom Schoen

Tiny Red Camel Krillbite

Jerry Kline Writers & contributors

Wispfire

Eye For Games is a platform about game design and development where students, young professionals and developers can network and connect. By looking from different perspectives we provide inspiring, motivating and educative content.

Stardust Galaxy Warriors Hippie Games

Shining Rock Software CD Projekt RED

Red Barrels Games Brotherhood

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NEVER GONE in-depth - boss design

24

THE WITCHER 3 i n - d e p t h - c r e at u r e d e s i g n

8

18

casual connect highlights

then and now, banished

into EFG

then & now

28

34

Jonathan Wachoru

environment - area design, stasis

interview - music & sound

in-depth

BLOGS

38

into EFG

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into EFG

highlights A few weeks ago I attended Casual Connect in Amsterdam - a convention mainly focusing on casual games on the mobile platform. However, they also host the IndiePrize, which has its own area on the floor where many independent developers can showcase their game for mobile and pc.

This time I did not attend as just a member of the press, but as a Critics Judge as well. I did not know how this experience would go, but I ended up really liking having a “main mission” on the show floor. Of course, when I bumped into a developer that would fit the concept of EFG I still had my press talk.

Iʼm so positive about this experience that Iʼm considering being a judge next year!

Hereʼs an image highlight version of a few interesting games Iʼve played at Casual Connect. These will definitely get a full article in the near future.

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AMPHORA

HERALD

SHRUG

ISL AND

AMONG

THE

SLEEP

STARDUST

GAL AXY

WARRIORS

in depth

NEVER GONE

B O S S

D E S I G N

Hi there! My name is Felix Xie, Iʼm the founder and art director of Hippie Game. To my left is Ma Xiaolong. Heʼs specialized in 3D modeling. To my right is Huang Liping, our concept designer.

Basically, we three together make sure that the final presentation of characters in Never Gone are the way they should be.

i n s p i r at i o n We have done some research for the game in order to create an exciting and convincing world. And to better present the characters and bosses in the world to our players, we have

absorbed lots of elements from religions (both Western and Eastern), legends (vampire and non-vampire), aliens from other video games, beasts from our real world, and even rock

bands. For example, we are all big fans of Diablo, Castlevania, and Onimusha, and we have learned a lot from the famous designers/developers such as Kojima Ayami, Keiji Inafune and Gerald Brom, etc..

aMount oF bosses The truth is, we didnʼt have any specific guideline for how many bosses would be in the game. We created a gothic world according to our own imagination, and as time goes on,

the world itself gets more and more vivid in our minds. As you can see, there will be some creatures which would naturally fit in this world: skeletons and bats, for example. And from time to time, we would find characters or creatures which fit in this world and story;

then we would discuss and polish on the concept and see if we could create something exciting. However, this is not a traditional vampire world, it is a fantasy world created by

14

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in depth

non-traditional Chinese developers. We set no limits for our imagination. So, it is also natural

for you to spot something different in Never Gone. The line between bosses and soldiers is kind of blurred now. Currently, we have completed fifteen bosses. And we keep having new ideas, so, there will be more exciting new bosses.

storYLine We do have a storyline, but we are not just going to tell ʻaʼ story. Those characters, monsters,

and bosses are residents of the world we are trying to create; itʼs only natural that they have their own lives and stories. They meet the players in their own journey, and the players can get

to know them better if the players found them interesting. So, with this structure, we can add a boss once any of us has a creative idea or story.

Take this “Skeleton Rider” (English name not fixed yet) as an example. He was a general whose

whole legion was annihilated in a great battle. He refuses to accept this fiasco and stubbornly guards the debris of the battle field to protect the honor of his fallen soldiers and himself.

When our main characters needs to cross his domain, you know that there will be a fight.

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“We didn’t have any specific guideline for how many bosses would be in the game.”

in depth

uniQue bosses Concept design, appearance, movements, skills, voices, etc.; there are lots of things we can use to

make each boss unique. For example we have this “Swarm Queen,” a insectoid boss who is quite sinister and distinctive. She has two forms, one is to stand with two giant feet like a normal human

and the other is to crawl like an insect. We do not wish to create something to disgust some of our

players. She was basically a normal human in the beginning, but for some reason her ill mind got further twisted and a certain part of her ego became visualized. So, she is actually a materialized ego, or you can consider her a part of humanity we wish to further discuss with our players.

scrapped designs Here is one of the boss designs we have scrapped. Not just Huang Liping, we all love this design. But

when Ma Xiaolong finished the 3D model of this boss, we realized that there are two big problems we cannot solve.

First thing is that I spent a very long time designing and modifying her movements and skills. Her

movements should be a hybrid of a snake and fish as you can see, but I just couldnʼt finish it at a level I could be satisfied. Second thing is her texture. This boss has a lot of different features varying from human, snake, and fish. We tried a lot of textures to match her final appearance with our original design. But we also found it too difficult to be done at a satisfying level.

So, we think that maybe we need more time and experience for this design and hope we could solve the problems later.

FaVo r i t e b o s s d e s i g n ?

At the very early stage of our game, Ma Xiaolong claimed that it would be awesome to have a “Skeleton Rider” in our game. Everyone agreed and we started to exchange ideas about it. So, itʼs

actually the first boss we have designed together as a team. And we spare no effort in this boss to make him as cool as we want. This boss may not be perfect, but I just love him and the experience of bringing him to life – from a vague idea to a real epic boss fight.

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then and now

“Shining Rock Software has only a single developer doing all the software development, artwork, and audio. My goal is to make simple and fun games for people to enjoy, similar to the enjoyment I got from playing shareware games back in the 1990s.”

- Luke Hodorowicz, from the Shining Rock Softwareʼs “About” section

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then and now

A Surprising Launch Released on February 18th, 2014, Banished was a game that

came out of nowhere to take everyone by surprise. Imagine Sim

City set in the Middle Ages and you have Banished. Your goal is

THEN •

Released: February 18, 2014

or outside intruders. However, winter brings the seasonal threat of

•

Developer: Shining Rock Software

never ends. In Banished, you simply build a medieval village and

•

simply to survive. Your population faces no threats from combat hypothermia, and starvation is a constant, year-round threat that

(Luke Hodorowicz) Platform: Windows PC

hope to survive, if not thrive.

Within the first few days of release, word of mouth had spread

and Banished was sitting at the top of the Steam sales charts. For a debut title from an indie developer, Banished has been getting a

lot of attention. But the current version as it exists now has come a long when from its initial 1.0 release.

Putting Out Fires The first big update to Banished came in the form of version 1.0.2.

This was a massive bug fixing patch. In the previous release of the game, save files could potentially get corrupted. This new update forced save games to check for truncation and CRC (cyclic

NOW •

released?

reduncancy check) validation, preventing corrupted save files.

May 28, 2014

Other major improvements mostly involved changes to the

•

in the game is fire, which can break out and destroy buildings.

•

villagersʼ artificial intelligence (A.I.). One of the disasters present

When did the new content got

What was this new content about?

Bug patches and fixes What more did the new content bring

Villagers were designed to fight the fires, but their A.I. in the

to the audience?

a fire. Citizens were also more persistent in their fire fighting,

disasters in tutorials, grammatical

would now only search for water within the immediate area of a

save files to be corrupted, and many

original release was lacking. Up to fifty citizens could now fight

Major changes included disabling

only stopping in the event of major events such as death. Citizens

text changes, fixing a bug that caused

fire, as opposed to wandering long distances to find water.

new A.I. changes

Other bug fixes included patching it so that foresters would no longer cut down orchards and affect food production, a bug fix that

prevented auto-purchasing of goods to overfill a townʼs trading post, fixing it so that citizens will always be warm when eating at home, and some other minor changes. Version 1.0.2 added a ton

of stability and bug fixes to the game, improving the overall user experience in terms of both gameplay and performance.

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then and now

Refining the Game Version 1.0.3 wasnʼt as big a change as patch 1.0.2, but it was a necessary patch for the game.

The sole gameplay change was an A.I. improvement to citizens.

NOW •

Citizens without jobs would willingly work any job on the map.

Generally they would stay near their workplace if possible, unless

released?

June 20, 2014

work to be done had been left unfinished for months.

•

Performance wise, the game was also patched to fix a brief pause

•

that would happen when the citizens were assigned to new professions. This removed the momentarily lag altogether.

From a user interface perspective, the option of scaling status icons was enabled, allowing players to customize the scale of the on screen icons.

The remaining changes were all bug fixes. One serious fix was that a bug would occassionally cause the game to crash if two

buildings happened to overlap. Another bug would occassionally

cause large cities to randomly unassign workers from their existing professions. In the initial release of the game players could build

multiple pastures, and split herds and livestock between different

pastures. Prior to version 1.0.3 splitting herds could cause smaller

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When did the new content got

What was this new content about?

Various bug fixes What more did the new content bring to the audience?

Improvement to citizens’ A.I. and the option to scale UI icons

then and now

pastures to become overfull. While not the only bug fixes to arrive,

these were arguably the most important fixes when it came to improving gameplay.

Although the 1.0.3 patch did not have as many sweeping changes as its predecessor, it was a welcome change from the community.

Mod Support and the future of Banished On September 26th 2014, Steam Workshop mod support was released, allowing players to mod the game. Currently patch 1.0.4 is still in beta.

NOW •

released?

In addition to the expected mods such as new buildings and

decorative items, fans have taken it upon themselves to translate

September 26, 2014

the game into languages other than English, such as German,

•

popularity worldwide, which is a win-win situation for Shining

•

French, and Japanese. This can only help Banished increase in

When did the new content got

What was this new content about?

Steam Workshop mod support beta How did the audience received the

Rock Software.

new content?

Itʼs still early in mod support, so itʼs hard to determine exactly how

new buildings to the game, as well

popular the 1.0.4 patch will be with the community. Yet despite

Modders have already started adding as new languages

its early stage, version 1.0.4 appears to be the most talked about improvement since the 1.0.2 patch.

author’s perspectiVe For a game made entirely by one person, Banished is an incredible accomplishment. While itʼs far from a perfect game, the medieval setting

combined with the hooks of a city building sim make Banished unique

in the city-sim genre. With development ongoing, and mod support now available, Banished looks to have a long life ahead of it. For a debut

game from an indie developer, Banished is a great accomplishment. Itʼs

something Iʼve sunk plenty of time into and look forward to playing well into the future.

by Jerry Kline

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funfact

The development of Space Invaders took about a year and was made by one man only.

•• FunFact

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into EFG

Don’t miss these episodes! episode #1 Introduction episode. Meet the hosts!

LISTEN NOW

episode #2 A general look back to 2014 and what the game industry will bring in 2015.

LISTEN NOW

episode #3 coming soon...

This episode will follow the regular schedule.

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23

in depth

Creature Design in The Witcher 3 A quick look to how concept artist Marek Madej designed the bestiary of The Witcher 3.

Hi my name is Marek Madej. Iʼm working with CD PROJEKT RED as a Concept Artist.

Inspiration Of course the main inspiration was nature: animals, all kinds of them. The next big inspiration was the Slavic mythology. Sometimes we took our inspirations

even from other mythologies. A few times during the creature design we used “Slavic Bestiary,” a book by polish author Paweł Zych.

Design One of the basic things that we kept in mind when designing the characters was if nature would even be able to create them. We would ask ourselves the

question, “Can they even function if they were living in a real world?”. Of course, itʼs a fantasy game so sometimes it was hard to follow this path, especially when magic is involved. In those cases we thought the most important feature is the myth and the birth origins of the creature. For example, in the case of the

“noonwraith” these are the clothes remains; they suggest us that the she died just before her wedding (or even during it). Sometimes our creatures may look like caricatures, but only because they were pictured that way on the old prints.

We did our best to recreate this atmosphere.

We wanted every monster to have a very distinct characteristic or something unique. Iʼm not talking just about the general look but also their attributes or

belongings. Of course, sometimes it was hard or not possible. In most cases, because of the fact that some of them appear in large groups, the creatures

should be similar. Of course, we have a lot of classic monsters that you may have seen before, but we tried to make them in a not-so-classic way. A perfect example may be the Griffin or Cyclops.

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in depth

Every monster design had to match the atmosphere of the game.

Sometimes it happened that we were trying to make the monster so scary that in the end it looked like it came from a horror movie, not a fantasy game. Every

monster design had to match the atmosphere of the game. And we are talking about a very specific atmosphere, created in the big open fantasy world. Not everything would fit the whole concept of the game.

As always the biggest challenge were the humanoid creatures. Itʼs a bit tricky to not make them look like a man in a costume. Also, the basic question I was

asking myself was, “How do I make a monster Iʼm working on so special? How do I make him look different than every other creature before? In most cases we did something very unique, in some just unique.”

Favorite creature I have been working on many monster designs and itʼs hard to pick one, but from all of them the one I remember the best was the Frozen Giant. Maybe

because it was one of the first I was working on. Or maybe because his design was very challenging and it took me a pretty long time. Even after all those

characters I designed since I finished the Frozen Giant design, Iʼm still so proud of the final effect (and that happens not so often in my case). All that together makes me so attached to him.

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interview

INTERVIEW WITH

Jonathan Wachoru lead sound designer at Game On Audio

by Max Simard-Poirier

Red Barrels Games definitely made a mark in the industry and especially in the survival horror genre in 2013. Their game Outlast was critically acclaimed and became to some the new benchmark for the genre. I wanted to get in touch with the man behind the curtain and see who was responsible for such a thrilling sound experience. Here is an interview with Jonathan Wachoru, lead sound designer at Game On Audio in Montreal.

t h e s ta r t Maximilien SimardPoirier: Hello Jonathan, for starters can you talk to us about your background and how you came to be a sound designer for video games?

Jonathan Wachoru: Iʼm a bit of a neophyte in the industry. I had the chance to get to where I am in

Montreal and at GameOn audio after coming here from France and upon my arrival, following a master

could definitely be something somewhere that would fit my interests. Before getting into games, I did about

2 years of general sound work for commercials and music in Paris. Paris being the city that it is, there are a lot less studios there than in Montreal, Los Angeles,

and Tokyo. So after a while this master class comes up and I thought it was time to move.

class in audio design for video games. My formal

The master class was truly insightful and gave me the

audio. After which I started working in live sound as

was also chaperoned by industry veterans like Samuel

knowledge comes from a 3 year technical degree in a basic technician. I did not feel comfortable in that line of work. I was always interested and passionate

about games and also music, and I thought that there

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tools I needed to get started in the gaming industry. It

Girardin from GameOn Audio, Karl Lamoureux at

Ubisoft Montreal, Simon Ashby from AudioKinetic, and Francois Lafleur from EA Montreal. Getting to

interview

meet these people and be part of the learning process

on the spot back in the day. The game industry is still

invaluable for me in the industry. After a while you

35 to 40 years old. I donʼt think they will be looking

with them and getting first hand knowledge was get deeper and deeper into the industry and then it

happens. I got in good relations with Ubisoft Montreal

and GameOn. In the end I chose GameOn because the indie vibe as well as the smaller team aspect was more interesting to me.

a “young” industry, most of the veterans are around at what school you went to when they are looking at your application. I think “who you are” and “how you got to where you are” is more important to them.

the gaMe

MSP: How did you end up getting the gig for the soundtrack of Outlast?

MSP: How much original material had to be

JW: Because of my recording background GameOn

recorded? What would be the ratio of Original vs

Liberation and Far Cry to name a few. I also did

JW: I donʼt think I could say that it was 50/50. Iʼd

game trailer work when GameOn needed it. One day

reworked from a commercial sound bank. As for

put me in recording sessions for Assassinʼs Creed

sound bank sources on Outlast?

location sound for motion capture. I also did a lot of

say it was more around 60/40, 60% being sound I

Sam Girardin, the owner, came to me offering the job

for the sound design of Outlast. I had manifested my

interest in horror during my interview with them; they saw fit to put me on the project.

MSP: Apart from your personal experience through school, what is your opinion on getting work in the industry? Do you think school is a viable option or do you think that a different path might be preferable?

JW: I think that if I did not go to school in audio for a certain time period I would have had the artistic and

technical know how to tackle interactivity in games.

original sounds most of them were a month of work I

did when I went back to France during the production of the game. I took with me a Holophone Microphone

(5.1) that GameOn recently purchased and headed to an old French farmhouse that my girlfriend owned. I had a huge “shopping list” of sounds I needed that I made before leaving Montreal. Creaking doors,

heavy table hitting the floor, noisy floorboards, etc.

So I came back to Montreal with all these recordings

and used a lot of them. Some sounds were from other sources I recorded. For example, when youʼre walking in the air ducts, those sound were from my oven.

I donʼt think however that current school programs

MSP: Did you work closely with composer Samuel

and good to get the knowledge and culture you need

JW: Of course, I was always in contact with Sam.

you the job.

MSP: How did you guys coordinate on the different

Iʼm not certain it speeds up the process enough to say

parts and decide where it would be more music

my master class we were ten students. Only 3-4 in the

JW: It was almost like that without actually being like

not necessarily the best ones who get the jobs. The

of approach. In the end we were sharing sounds

are adequate to get jobs in the industry. Itʼs all well to create, but when it gets down to it, it does not get

Laflamme on the project?

parts of the project? Did you guys separate certain

that itʼs a viable solution. For example, when I followed

than sound design?

end got a job in the industry. Some are lucky, and itʼs

that. In the beginning we were going for that kind

people who hire the juniors are people who learned

and events. I ended up working in scare jumps with

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29

interview

musical elements and he created music with sounds I

minimal approach to the ambiences. They didnʼt want

think my ambiences would be getting weird because

drone that screams out “Youʼre feeling scared right

had created. You would listen to the soundtrack and

of a drone that would come in, but itʼs not actually a drone. Itʼs violins that I modified to be incorporated

in the soundscape. We had a very good relationship

in that way, building on each othersʼ material. Sam

thought at some point that the music should be more

minimal in certain parts. More than one time, Sam went to the guys at Red Barrels and told them that we had to stop putting music at certain places; the game needed in certain parts to let the ambience breathe.

The composer himself was requesting to have less music to leave more space and for musical/designed

events. Thereʼs a lot of stuff one would think I did, and he did, and vice versa. It was a very cool experience and collaboration.

a guy who fell asleep on his synth to create a large now, ouuuhhhhh.” The best way to scare people in a horror game or even in a Hollywood movie is to create a soundscape that is possible. To create an unreal

situation to scare the player you have to make him

believe that it is real, thatʼs the best way to make him “freak out.” In a real world, gutters have water trickling

down from them, air ducts have air passing through them, radiators crack and resonate, and ceiling fans

whoosh back and forth. So I took all these elements

and tried to figure out which one of these elements could work and be scary. Ceiling fans have a pulse

that could easily be attributed to a beating heart for

example. So itʼs all about creating life through sound, making the player feel like heʼs not alone.

MSP: Ambiences are great! Can you talk to us about

MSP: Did you work closely with Red Barrels? Or did

your design approach?

most of the comments pass through someone else

JW: I spent at least 50 percent energy working on the

before getting to you?

have great ambiences. Rich and discreet ambiences,

(laughing). I was sitting right next to them. I was “in

ambiences of the game. To me, a horror game had to

JW: It would say it was a lot simpler than that

so not just a room tone with a light “buzzing”

the field” with them as their interlocutor. My workflow

overhead. It was about having stuff happening even if the character stopped moving. There is stuff happening everywhere, mostly not even in view.

The guys at Red Barrels wanted a more realistic and

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was split between GameOn and Red Barrels. So if I needed to create sound effects or retrieve elements I had recorded to go with new elements they were making at Red Barrels I would head on over to

interview

important part of the game. In the end they didnʼt really care what sound I put in the game; they cared if

“They would trust me on my comments and I could never thank them enough for giving me this opportunity.”

it worked: “Am I scared?,” “Do I feel in danger?,” “Do I feel the need to run when I hear the music starting?”

MSP: How early were you brought on the as sound designer for the project?

JW: I donʼt know exactly where they were when I was brought on to the project, they had a pre-production phase of course but I came in during the development phase. The script and story existed already, but I was

brought in at a time where the game did not even exist yet. I actually came on to the project on the

first ever trailer. It was only after the success of the trailer that the game production started. The game GameOn. I would stay at Red Barrels if I had to do

some integration, debugging, passing, integrating music that Sam had delivered and etc. So if I had to communicate with the people working on the game, I would just get up from my chair or simply tap Phillipe

had to sound the same as the actual trailer, as much as possible. So what I created “linearly” on the trailer, I had to recreate interactively in the game. So I was brought on fairly early on the project.

(Morin) on the shoulder and ask my question or just

the sound designer

Depending on the workload I would do 2 day at one

MSP: What is your opinion on commercial sound

and another at GameOn, etc.

JW: Iʼm all for commercial sound banks; what Iʼm

MSP: Did you feel that sound was an important

dragging and dropping sounds as is. To me, the use

to talk about certain parts that needed attention.

place 3 at the other, or even one week at Red Barrels

part of the design process of Outlast?

JW: Itʼs a horror game, so itʼs mostly based on

passing and the rhythm of the game. I will play the game differently than you would and same goes for anyone. Some would play slower and some faster.

So I had quite a talks with the guys at Red Barrels to

slow them down a little and talk to them about the pacing. They know their game, but to me the player

experience was different; he wonʼt see it like you do.

So I often suggested changes in pacing, speed, etc.

It was very flattering because they would trust me on

my comments and I could never thank them enough for giving me this opportunity. Making suggestions

banks. Do you use them? against is the use of commercial sound banks by just behind commercial sound banks is to create something unique out of something that already exists. A lot

of sound designers out there just drag and drop on there a sound on their timeline and “There, I created

a sound.” Itʼs all about getting specific elements that you need in each sound to reconstruct them as the sound that you need. I donʼt like to process the hell out of a sound that already exists just to make it unrecognizable. I think there are people who create

commercial sound banks for a living and in the end will probably get better sounds than me quickly recording something with my handheld recorder.

to industry veterans like the guys at Red Barrels and

Take a door sound in Outlast for example. One door

to say makes you very happy. Sound brings a very

pre-existing door sounds. Itʼs about taking what you

having them listen and be interested by what I had

could be made up of five different parts of different

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interview

have in your head “a heavy door that goes “shlang”

or Pyramix. I seem have a love/hate relationship with

creaking hinges.” This door exists in your mind and

of plugins; I prefer to work with only a few tools that

and not too “schlok” with a metallic sound and

maybe somewhere in the world, but I will not find it, at least not in time.

MSP: I donʼt know if your feel the same way but there seems to be among certain sound designers, mostly the ones that are starting out, that collaborating or sharing info would jeopardize their chance of getting “the” job or any job for that matter.

JW: Itʼs almost silly. I have friends who work at Ubisoft, Warner, or even other big studios and we are

all part of the same industry. But there are some in

Pro Tools but I canʼt work without it. Iʼm not a big fan

I know very well rather than have a lot of plugins. A

lot of sound designers I know or even some I work

with have all the latest plugins. In the end they donʼt really use any of them because they have so many. I prefer to have one good compressor that works well, one good EQ (waves mostly), a good reverb, and a few creative things like GRMTools. I work also with sound toys, particularly the tremolator, decapitator,

and crystallizer. So just Pro Tools with a few good

plugins is all I need. For synths I use Absynth a lot; I love it. And of course my handheld recorder.

this industry who keep everything for themselves. In

MSP: What do you use as a handheld recorder?

things worked out on the different projects we are

great shotgun mic and the whole kit. But even Outlast

our case, we try to exchange info about how certain

JW: Tascam Dr100. Itʼs complete crap. I could have a

on. “I canʼt get this to work” or “I had trouble getting

was done in large part with a handheld recorder like

But there are always going to be the one who will be a

machine (laughing). If I didnʼt tell you, you probably

this to happen” are the kind of things we talk about. brick wall of sorts and keep everything egoistically for

themselves out of fear of having someone else make a “better game than his.” But of course there are always

rules that complicate things for sharing certain kinds of info, but we could debate this subject forever.

MSP: Is there a piece of gear or software that you canʼt live without?

JW: I canʼt live without Pro Tools. I donʼt consider

myself a “Pro Tools addict” because it has its issues, but I never was comfortable in Logic, Cubase, Nuendo,

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this. I did all the Foley work in the game with this little would not have noticed. No Foley at all was recorded

in a studio, it was all me with my Tascam in my apartment. One leather jacket, the jeans Iʼm wearing

right now, and a few floor sounds was all I needed.

Just to say that itʼs possible to create something good

with basic equipment like this. Nothing was done in a professional studio except the voices; absolutely nothing.

We would like to thank Jonathan Wachoru for doing this great interview!

into EFG

Participate

in our June one-topic edition!

Send us your in-game particles!

This year our June issue will be about one topic only related to game design and development. You can participate in this edition by sending us your own design.

What do I need to send?

This issue will be about in-game particles, meaning that we are looking for designs used for animation. Think about the fire, clouds, water effects, electricity effects, etc.

Though you are not limited to how much you send of each particle, we will set a basic guideline of: • 3-8 different particles • 1-8 versions of the particle

Please note that we have limited placements available!

Deadline: April 30rd Send this to: submit@eyeforgames.com State your name, developer, game, and the website.

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in depth

DETAILED ENVIRONMENT AND AREA DESIGN IN STASIS We’ve talked to Christopher Bischoff, who is the designer and creator of STASIS, about the impressive detailed environment designs in this 2D isometric sci-fi/horror game.

My name is Christopher Bischoff and I am the designer and creator of STASIS.

Idea & Inspiration STASIS started off as a spare time project - a homage to the science fiction films and worlds that I love! Everything from Event Horizon to Alien has its finger prints in the world of STASIS.

For research I watched films, letʼs plays, and tried to immerse myself in the design and art of the (underrepresented!) science-fiction/horror. I still find myself inspired by certain pieces of art.

The planning process for the game took around a year while I was learning the tools. The entire

game was designed on paper first, and had a very comprehensive design document. When it came to creating the artwork, I did make certain to give myself enough creative freedom to

experiment with things that may have worked better than others - always trying to keep the art fresh and exciting!

Environment design The Groomlake (the setting of STASIS) is a huge ship. The player will move through incomplete construction areas, overgrown hydroponics labs, and vast medical research facilities.

I think that with 2D pre-rendered art you can get a huge amount of detail into the scenes. Itʼs important that the spaces feel lived in - that they are areas that the player will feel the need to explore, to find out where each and every item is. The highly detailed world will promote exploration - a very important part of adventure games.

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in depth

Isometric graphics do pose many unique challenges with level design. In a first person view you can do a lot to show scale that is very difficult with an isometric camera. The extreme detail can also cause the areas to be very muddy and difficult to read. Lighting

plays a very big part in trying to draw a personʼs attention to an area without being

too obvious about it. Itʼs a fine line to walk - being subtle with where to look, but encouraging exploration.

The atmosphere of each room needed to be unique. Sound design is a huge part of that, but for each aspect of the sound design there had to be visual cues as well. An

empty room couldnʼt have the sound design of computers humming, and flickering lights needed to have a sound coming from them. Each room also should be an exciting new place to explore - a reward to the player for moving on in the game and the story.

I treated each area as realistically as possible. If a computer was on, it should have had

something on its screen. Static displays need to light up the areas around them. Doors that havenʼt opened in a while should have dust fall off of them. It became a case of trying to put as many small details in as possible without making those added pieces feel unnecessary to tell the story.

Scrapped areas Some areas were cut down and moved into different places of the story. I did have some

sections of the game that took place outside the ship (in space) in early drafts of the story. I would have loved to keep them in the game, but as the story progressed and became more grounded in reality, those areas became superfluous.

It really becomes a balancing act between what is needed to drive the player along, and

what is there for an artistʼs ego! Sometimes having an area thatʼs “cool” is a good thing.

Other times you need to edit yourself and know when something just isnʼt needed.

Each area of the game has a unique color palette, and each room inside those areas has been created with a lot of care and attention to detail. Every streak of blood has a story!

Challenge The most difficult aspect is making the areas that you interact with large enough to see whatʼs going on. In an adventure game the player picks up many small items and objects. In STASIS, because of the chosen view, I canʼt have items that are too small, or objects that are too large.

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in depth

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blog

BLOGS Game related blogs from all over the world!

Inventory System and Level Design In years past Iʼve done my share of level design

while building mods for various first person shooter

games from Wolfenstein to Unreal Tournament, but

working in Unity is a bit of a different animal. While

Unity has a great scene editor itʼs a bit nebulous on itʼs approach to first person interior levels given

itʼs not a BSP centric level system. For those coming with previous experience using level design tools this can be a bit of a curve.

While there are some great tools on the Unity Asset

Store I, unfortunately, donʼt have the funds to spend so am left to use the tools already at my disposal.

After doing some research Iʼve decided to work on the core level architecture in 3DSMax. Iʼve done a bit

of level design in 3DSMax previously, but not quite like what we need for Cave In.

....read more: http://caveingame.com/inventorysystem-level-design/

h t t p : / / c aV e i n g a M e . c o M /

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Tim Pelham

blog

Scott Rogers Scott Rogers has been designing video games for over 20 years and is the

author of Level Up! The Guide To Great

Video Game Design

h t t p : / / W W W. M r b o s s d e s i g n . c o M

Joost van Dongen This blog is about random interesting

things I learn while creating things (usually design, art, code and music for games, and often for Ronimo Games).

h t t p : / / J o o s t d e V b L o g . b L o g s p o t. c o M

Onikira Art Blog A developer始s blog: Onikira is a 2D, sidescrolling

beat

驶em

game

focused

on

dynamic and visceral combat in a feudal Japanese setting.

http://honourboundgaMe.tuMbLr.coM/

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