Month: October 2015

We are attempting to blend a 2D and 3D experience with Everend. What I mean by this is the game looks like a 2D side scroller and for the most part plays like one; however, the character has full 3D motion in the world. The game starts with the player lost deep in a cave. They will travel through several levels solving puzzles and avoiding obstacles on their journey to the surface. The puzzles are based around a core set of mechanics, namely, fire, water and flight. The player has the normal set of abilities like jumping, swimming and interacting with objects in the level.

Flight, or gliding in this case, plays an important role in many of the puzzles. Not only is it a fun way of getting around in the levels, it can also be used to reach far off ledges and in some cases players can get a boost of speed or height using an updraft.

Fire can be used to boost the players gliding, scare off other creatures and can, of course, be used to light your path. However, the player must use their torches sparingly as they only last a short while and can sometimes be difficult to find. Fire can also be used to burn through roots and dead plants to reveal secret paths or shortcuts.

Water and caves are a dangerous combination; in Everend its dark depths contain strange glowing fish and other, more dangerous, creatures. To progress in the level the player may have to swim long distances while avoiding falling prey to hidden eel’s that make the dark water ever more dangerous. Sometimes water may be too deep or too shallow and the player will have to drain or fill a room to progress.

The player will run into other creatures as well. Animals that are used to the dark cave will be frightened by fire. The player will run into moles that are not inherently dangerous, but will attack if you get too close. They can be frightened into a corner with a torch where they will dig their way through the wall if possible. The player will also have to deal with bats that will hinder the player’s ability to glide by continuously crashing into them. The bats can be frightened in a similar manner to the moles, though they may need a little more fire to fully disperse.

-Logan, Strix Game Studio

In Everend, there are two major characters that drive the experience of the game: the lost owl and the cave in which said owl must escape from. These two opposing forces are then glued together by the secondary characters such as the cave dwellers, the cave artifacts and its somber history.  There’s a lot of moving parts that demand good art, but most importantly consistent art through all phases of the game. Sprint 01 just wrapped up last week and the intensity has revved up to a new gear as we head into Sprint 02! In between the sprints, myself and Emily, the two main concept artists, went to work on the little raptor and the cave.

My rendition of the owl leaned towards a naturalistic appearance. Its form is rounded and acute to preserve the idea of its innocence and vulnerability as an underdog in a monstrosity of an environment.

Emily’s rendition of the owl offered an anthropomorphic visage that reflected the character as older and taller, one that is embraced in confidence with a demeanor to practice heroism.

As it turns out, my owl concept appeared too much like an infant and Emily’s too mature. The solution: Goldilocks. Meet the two halfway until it’s just right. The majority of the team preferred the humanistic qualities as master over the naturalistic ones captured by Emily’s design. Taking that concept, we enlarged the head and shrunk its body until we were satisfied with its new size. The texture and color of the little creature is still pending. Hopefully by the end of Sprint 02, that will be finalized.

With the owl making its way down the creation pipeline, the environments were shaping up as well. Much like with the bird, Emily and I did varying designs on the look and feel of the cave as well as the organic and inorganic presences that might call this place home. In the end, we went for a style similar to Ori and the Blind Forest, Summoner’s Rift and DotA.

My initial environment design called for cooler, muted colors with a strong emphasis on lighting to provoke a mood for the player. We talked about having a light source within the cave and proposed illuminating fungi as such.

The textures that Emily created has a planar presence that are flat and simple, which will ease our modeling work.  We decided to go with the look of Emily’s concept while establishing the lighting of mine.

Besides rocks and shrooms, other things exist within the cave. Creatures such as bats, moles, eels and fish dwell within the darkness of the caverns.

For the temple asset, I created the geometry in Autodesk Maya to ensure a correct perspective. With that, I went and painted over the model in Photoshop using the shape to capture the form of the statue. Once the form was realized, I went and painted rocks around the monument and added a design on the open wings to contrast from the overall planar build.

To finish it off, I added glowing minerals into the wings to conjure attention from the wanderers who pass by. I also painted a front view of the wing detail to aid in the 3-D modeling process. A complete set of orthographic views will be painted for the wing soon.

Most of the concept art to establish the visual identity of Everend has been made but as we move on to the next sprints and onto creating the 3-D assets, our journey, much like our brave, young owl, has just begun! There’s still much to conceptualize, more all-nighters and so much for you all to see!

We have a new post every Wednesday, so please check it out for updates. The Strix team and I are working very hard on this fantastic project and we can’t wait to show you more of our progress in the coming weeks!

-Hue, Strix Game Studio

The whole team is hard at work on Everend as we enter into our fourth week of development. Coming out of the first sprint, which ended earlier this week, we have made a lot of progress on Everend as a whole. We created a prototype showcasing some of the mechanics that we have already implemented into the game, including character movement, water physics, lighting, sound, simple AI, and the way the in-game camera moves. .

Although the prototype was a big part of the sprint, there was still plenty other work that was done during this time. This included:

• Expanding on the narrative
• Refining the game-play
• Figuring out how the animations will look
• Design of the first level
• Art concepts for other NPC characters
• Deciding on an art style that everyone is comfortable with

Aside from just making the game itself, we also would like to spread the word of Everend for everyone to follow and watch our progress as we create this adventure. That is why during these last couple weeks, a multitude of social media sites have been created to help expand the amount of people exposed to Everend.

We want people to look forward to playing our game as it is very rewarding to see how everyone reacts to it. We hope you keep following us as we make this journey and we hope that you will enjoy Everend as much as we already do.

-Tyler, Strix Game Studio

Now that you know a bit about what Everend is, it’s time you meet the people of Strix Game Studios. This team consists of 12 senior Game Design students from the University of Wisconsin Stout, with an even split between 3D artists and programmers. There may be other people contributing to other aspects of Everend, such as sound/music, but they will be credited and mentioned as they appear. So without further ado, here are the members of Strix Game Studios (in alphabetical order by last name).

William Brereton is programming lead and will be working on enemy mechanics, any physics related tasks, and managing the programming team.
Mitch Clayton is the design lead, on the art team and design, and will be working on gameplay design, environment art and managing the design team.
Daniel Craig is a programmer that will be working on lighting, and any physics related tasks.
Megan Daniels is an artist and on the design team. She will be working on narrative and PR for the game.
Gabe Deyo is a programmer and will be working on the camera controls of the game and also be in charge of quality assurance.
Emily Dillhunt is the art lead of the team will be working with textures, sculpting and shaders as needed for the game and she will also be managing the art team.
Phoenix Hendricks is a programmer and on the design team. He will be working on sound to put in the game and putting sound in the game.
Alex Knutson is an artist and on the design team. He will be working on level design and animation.
Logan Larson is a programmer and on the design team. He will be working with shaders, the main character mechanics, and gameplay design.
Zack Pasterski is an artist and on the design team. He will be working on level design and environment art.
Hue Vang is an artist and on the design team. He will be working on animation, sculpting, and narrative.
Tyler Walvort is a programmer and on the design team. He will be working with any environment physics and the main character mechanics.

Who We Are as a Team

Each of the team member descriptions cannot hope to include everything that each team member will contribute to Everend, but at least now you have some idea of what each member has strengths in or has interest in. As a team we have attempted to let each member do something they are interested in or have more experience with. With that we are attempting to keep our team more content and also able to get experience with what they would prefer to work with. Together all 12 members of this team make a good combination of skillsets and by collaborating well, we can accomplish a lot. All 12 of us make up Strix Game Studios, and together we can make Everend to be the game that we want it to be through our hard work and dedication.

-William, from Strix Game Studio