EDIT – Much of the information pertaining to the game in this post is outdated now. The game has been evolving and its not the same as it was at the time this was written. The vitality bars have been removed. The inventory menu has been redesigned.
I’m a subscriber to the up-and-coming idea that games have potential to invoke a much broader range of emotions than what we’ve been seeing so far. Jenova Chen has pointed this out very eloquently in a number of interviews and talks. One emotion that I’m consciously trying to procure in Eastshade is safety. I think this medium is particularly suited to do this effectively, since in a game, one must overcome danger themselves, rather than sit back and watch events unfold as in a book or movie. In traditional RPGs, I love the feeling of returning to the safety of an inn after surviving a treacherous dungeon.
To effectively create that wonderful feeling of safety, there has to be some danger. While there are no hostile AI in Eastshade, the world itself is as dangerous as it is beautiful. You have to pay attention to your malady, cold, exhaustion and hunger, and as you travel, you’ll deal with “conditions” that the environment will inflict on you. Jumping in water will make you wet for some time, which makes you colder. Walking without boots in rocky tide pools will give you a deep cut, which continues to affect your Malady bar until you bandage it. The tent pictured above, safely perched on a seaside bluff, restores the players exhaustion, and the fire keeps them warm.
Of late, I’ve been working on inventory systems and GUI. On the left is your stuff and on the right are the schematics you’ve acquired (crafting recipes). At the bottom are your vitality bars. The lovely icon art is being made by my girlfriend, Jaclyn. She’s an artist as well. Our avatar is doing pretty good at the moment. On each side of the vitality bars are equipment slots. You won’t be able to equip an acorn (as indicated in the image), because I tried equipping one in real life today and it had little effect. For some reason I thought it would give me resistance to poison. Provided you’ve the schematic and the necessary materials, you’ll be able to create vehicles (a means of travel) and gear (protection from some of the “conditions” the environment will give you). Items will be sprinkled throughout the world, but the schematics will be particularly valuable, and will primarily be acquired by reaching new places. I have a novel idea for the way which rewards are delivered but for moment I don’t want to talk about it until I’ve actually tried implementing it. I will say that whatever this delivery method ends up being, it definitely won’t be a loot chest.
As a follow on from my other comment, I just read that you worked as an artist on Second Son. Great work on that btw!!
Those graphics are some of the best that I’ve ever seen! Have you taken inspiration from Jonathan Blow’s ‘The Witness’ by any chance? I 100% agree with Jenova Chen’s notion that games can be very powerful when created in this way. I will definitely be buying this game! Hopefully when the PS4 has a larger install base we’ll see a port over there? I can see this becoming a cult classic for sure.
I’m so glad you think so! I can’t say the Witness is an inspiration to me artistically, though I am very interested to play it. I’d love to do a PS4 version, and user base is plenty large enough already. At the moment, I’m not thinking about release, as I’m consumed only by trying to make a cool game.
It’s refreshing to hear an attitude like that when so many indie devs (naming no names) focus on money. Good Luck!
I just discovered this (through a thread about Nimian Legends) – it looks AMAZING and the gameplay sounds good too. I hope it is, or at least can be , difficult! Just wondering: what platform(s) will it be released on, or is it too early to say?
Thanks Isaac! For platforms PC at the very least. Mac and Linux should be pretty easy too since I’m using Unity. I’d like to get it on ps4 and/or xbone if I could, but I haven’t looked much into that yet.
This has to be my most anticipated game.
I can’t even tell you how wonderful that is to hear. Its extremely motivating.
The artwork is just beautiful! Are you using any/many Unity plugins for this project? Also, are you an experienced game creator? I’d find it hard to imagine you’re new to this, producing such quality visuals. Would be great to read a bit about your background. :-)
You have my utmost admiration!
Thanks for the interest CJ! Before dedicating my full-time to Eastshade, I was an environment artist at Sucker Punch Productions working on Infamous: Second Son. I had jobs at two other studios before that. I’m experienced in making game art, but I wouldn’t say I’m experienced in the other parts of game dev. I’m learning a lot about programming as I make Eastshade. Indeed, I utilize a ton of things from the asset store. Shadow Softener and Shader Forge are among the visual ones. I plan on doing a post dedicated to all the tools and plugins I’m using. You can subscribe to email updates on the home page to make sure you don’t miss it!
Wow! That interface is clean and the illustration is beautiful. I love the blurred background behind it, too; does the background continue to move (while blurred) behind it or is the game paused? Will carried weight be a concern for players? What does the ingredient list look like for a schematic?
So many questions!
Thank you! Yeah the game doesn’t pause when your in the inventory so you can see the vegetables blowing in the wind back there. I’m unsure if weight will be a concern, but the plan is to not let the play put shelters and vehicles in their inventory. They can salvage them back into materials (some materials will be lost) or carry them around in other vehicles. In any case the data for inventory weight is in the code in case I want to use it. I took a screenshot if you want to see what schematic ingredient list looks like: http://i.imgur.com/Lkj3Y35.jpg
Looks sharp! I really like it, thank you for posting the extra picture. I can understand why you’re uncertain about weight, it adds a great deal of complexity. It does make the player make hard choices, though! It’d be interesting if there were two separate game play modes; weight could be included in the more difficult.
One small thing: you have a misspelling (‘nontheless’ should be ‘nonetheless’) in the descriptive text for the Tent.
Oh snap! Thanks, man. I’m glad you let me know.
Oh yeah and I should mention that I didn’t draw the icons. My girlfriend did. She’s an artist too!