Hello all,
So to start off, we have come to realize that we simply don't need two monthly updates - we prefer beefier updates which cover a greater span of time and know you will too. Quality over quantity.
Now we have some really fun news to share with you guys:
Adventures in Game Development
This past week we have release two chapters of AiGD! We split up what was just 34 because there was just so much stuff to talk about. Some of it you heard in our last KS update and some of it is brand new! We have a special guest this time around, Tulio Gonçalves(The former president of Watermelon Games and now President of 2Dream). He has been helping us with a few things we will mention later in the updat
e!
Music
Progress
Jeremy had a productive November. His work included:
- Eryn's theme
- Death theme
- Region intro / cutscene themes
- Church theme
- Over 20 sound effects
- Broke ground on the Museum theme
A Deep Dive Into Chiptunes
Tulio and Jeremy had a one-and-half hour chiptunes deep dive session where Tulio did a demonstration of the various technologies and techniques Watermelon employed for projects like Pier Solar.
In addition, Jeremy decided that he would like to take advantage of the hard work that has already been done by the OCRemix Team and Impact Soundworks in the realm of chiptunes sampling and purchased the highly acclaimed Super Audio Cart - a VST plugin which faithfully reproduces the sounds of the SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, Atari and other monolithic systems which defined their generations.
This two-pronged approach to chiptunes will open a new frontier for ES audio, allowing Jeremy to get the most out of ES’s unique soundscape of chiptunes, 80s and modern synth, and orchestral influences.
ESTk Improvements, Documentation, and EVMU
Falco gave some love to the game designers this iteration - there are now custom methods on things like the camera object that will allow for complex panning, shake, and other features. In addition, he has been hard at work on documenting functions like these so that our current, and future game design engineers can employ a self-learning stratgey with respect to learning our toolkit and engine.
In addition to his work with Jeremy on the authentic chiptune sound, Tulio is also assisting Falco to improve our VMU functionality. For the details of the strides Falco and Tulio are making together make sure to check AiGD Chapter 35!
New Characters, NPCs, and A New Biome
Patryk has been hard at work this month getting us a bunch of new assets to show off this month. We have two new characters, Alexios and Rand, as well as some NPC skins and a whole new biome!
Rand is a passionate scholar. But he is a self-destructive, emotional trainwreck. His natural brilliance and talent in his field is in sharp contrast to his lifestyle of excess. Much of the time he is teaching and researching under the influence, as he tends to be drawn to the excitement of drinks, parties, and women. Through his sarcasm and witty banter, he is able to portray the image of a man who is cool and in control, although this facade does not necessarily reflect his internal state of mind.
Alexios is a cold, war-hardened badass. He is blunt, honest, and particularly rude to others. He has no remaining desire to socialize or feel close to others and treats them accordingly. He is a man on a mission.
This boat may look like it is 3D but it’s all smoke and mirrors done by Patrick with clever usage of layers and skeletal animation.
Seaside town is a small, laid back village along the coast of a major body of water, inhabited mostly by fishermen. We are going for a more peaceful, Chrono Cross-y kind of island vibe here, as kind of a brief respite from the dark tone and themes of Elysian Shadows in the middle of the game. Standing in stark contrast to the town itself is the ancient underwater ruins system the player must explore to progress the storyline. We’re toying with Wind Waker-style sailboat gameplay mechanics for this biome.
Stream Schedule
We are re-implementing our stream schedule! Patryk will be streaming every Tuesday and Brandon will be streaming every Sunday! The team will still be streaming every other Sunday as we said before. This will be a really fun way to interact with you all and we are really excited to get back into it! Come follow us if you haven't already!
www.twitch.tv/elysianshadowsdev
With the holidays coming up our next update isn't going to be until January. We are hard at work getting some gameplay mechanics in place for the next update. We hope you all have Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!
-The ES Team
