Project 245

Site for updates on my very first PC indie game.

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These two early renders are part of one of the rooms on the Sanctuary Island Age. It’s supposed to be a reference to Layers of Fear - specifically, the Painter’s workshop shown in that game, except cleaner and with less detail.

I thought of this because of how influential LoF’s storyline was in creating Sanctuary’s own plot. In-game, this room is where K’nehtis makes his paintings for the D’ni museum nearby. Right now the canvas is blank, but there will be something on it in the final products.

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These renders are an update on a previous post regarding a level based on a Myst clone called “Obsidian”. The environment shown here now follows it closely, but functions as a mine. For a while I considered also placing a huge robot in the middle, like the original game does, but I filed that away elsewhere for the equipment, and replaced it with a control tower mounted on metal girders, since it’s supposed to be viewing all four sections.

Models of the equipment are pending (due to concept stages), but one aspect of this can be seen in the third image, where buckets would travel along a suspended rail through a door embedded in one wall bearing a D’ni number four. In between the numbered walls will be equipment that refines the ore before dumping it into those buckets. A crusher, chemical bathing tanks, a fire-cooker, and a bucket elevator, specificially; similar to Gehn’s bookmaking setup in Riven.

Similarly, the second image, with the D’ni number one, is meant to be one of a four roads for D’ni mining vehicles which will enter tunnels under the arches beneath each numbered wall to extract ore inside. The red light at the top middle marks the main entrance to this room.

The last image is meant to be the door to an elevator which opens in response to your KI, much like in Gahreesen from Uru. The sign next to the door designates where it leads: “< Control room | Conveyor Hub >” though substitutions had to be made for D’ni text.

I’ve spent a lot of time on this particular level in a few days, and I look forward to continuing.

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These are some new renders for the updated D’ni museum, now meant to be a structure on the main Age. The central room is to be a dedicated exhibit to the Art and its elements, much like Gehn’s Gateroom on Riven. The last image will be where models of each of the five “Legacy Ages” will be shown, which have to be consulted for clues to access them. Note that the red one already has its model in place, being a simple maze.

If you examine the first two images, you may also notice the D’ni math machine here as well as a greeting sign nearby.

While simple, I look forward to expanding on this. Eyewitness Virtual Reality games helped in gaining the general architecture, with Victorian motifs.

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Further progress on Labyrinth Age. Been experimenting with lighting effects to gain the old retro style seen in the original Myst, along with the creepy aesthetics of the Basement Maze from the 7th Guest. As you go towards the center, the light colors change from white to yellow, followed by orange, then red.

Pardon the static, something’s not right with Blender’s rendering. Minor issue, fixable.

I WILL make a demo of this, and would appreciate testing when it’s out.

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New renders, with dimmed lighting for a creepier effect.

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The Labyrinth Age is a triangular maze shown in this nearly-complete top-down view. Designed as a prison Age, this is meant to keep people trapped in a dungeon with no (obvious) way out. The rings in the center must be rotated a certain way for the exit to be revealed, otherwise the hole in the middle leads back to the beginning. Gates will be inside certain parts of the Age, reducing backtracking. Occasionally, as in the 2nd image, there will also be maps marking where you are, and other features.

Each segment of the maze is lit in either white, yellow, orange, or red, signifying how close you are to the center, which may also help prevent players from being turned around.

Note that this particular Age is near the end-game, and will not be accessible until other ones have been solved.

(lamp model courtesy of Stugys on BlendSwap)

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This is a test render of a small puzzle to be encountered in the Labyrinth Age.

For those who don’t know, this machine is a direct reference to the recent game, “Please don’t touch anything”, right down to the shape of this console. However, this version has a bit more to it than that game, but that will be revealed at a later time.

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First work on another Age. These renders are first models of a geothermal power plant. It’s supposed to be based mostly on the launch bay for the Mazerunner in the Selenitic Age.

I had some fun designing the warning sign shown here, in a variation of the typical stick figure icon.

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I spent the entirety of a Sunday working on the hub Age, Sanctuary. While it’s far from done (ground needs real textures, correct lighting, etc.) I’d say it’s a great milestone.

Two things I’m particularly happy about are the distant, elevated study tower on the highest part of the island, and the cottage on the west side, shown at the bottom. It’s actually modeled on a suburban house I used to live in, although I intend to make it appear more Victorian in the future, inside and out, in order to fit with the typical D’ni aesthetics.

The only thing I’m really disappointed by is the greenhouse behind the clocktower. I went looking for stock textures of ornate stained glass online, and only came out with a couple that didn’t really fit what I imagined - ie: something more along the lines of the greenhouse in J’nanin. Hopefully that’ll be resolved sometime in the future.

Also note that some sides of this 6-sided clock tower are blank, while one of them has a human clock like on Myst Island (which I also alluded to by putting the Age’s name on the clock face). That’s because, although you can’t see it, three sides have human time, while the other 3 will potentially have a modified D’ni clock. And there will be a counterweight puzzle inside where most, if not all of them need to be reset in a certain number of moves.

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An update of the bar scene, with new textures, more rooms, and a complete shelving unit behind the bar. All that’s missing is the bottles and glasses to adorn it, and of course the puzzle.

Most of the assets used came from BlendSwap, and the textures from textures.com.

I’m about this particular map, and it’s nowhere near done yet!

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First render of the “Harmonic Bar”, set in the titular D’ni Age. The chairs and tables in the center area are assets from BlendSwap.com.

Chairs credited to “Sizzler”, tables by “DarthRevan”.

Next I’ll probably work on turning those thin rectangles by the wall into those huge wooden benches old pubs used to have, add some lights to the structure above the bar, and a puzzle back there as well..

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An updated sketch of the D'ni historical museum, here as an exhibit about the Art of Writing. Notice a model in the corner representing the Star Fissure and the Cleft. This might not be in the actual game, but it is related.

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This device is one of many that is meant to teach new players how to understand the D’ni number system; Set in a museum filled with other elements as a tutorial for new players.

See if you can solve the equation displayed here.

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The artist

It's a somewhat known fact that K'nehtis is a painter alongside his other talents, just as Moira likes making sculptures, and many examples are featured in a Gallery Age they wrote for humans. What crossed my mind recently was the idea of a stinger for the game's credits, of a painting that depicts how the game ended (1 out of 3 scenarios, not counting the bad ones).

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These are concept sketches for the Harmonic Age, one for the actual geode cave that holds the automated instruments, and the other of the interior of a D'ni pub and restaraunt, designed by K'nehtis at the height of his successful manufacturing career. This would normally be a typical hangout spot for D'ni guests, but at certain times of the day, people would flock to see the automated instruments set up just outside that stain glass barrier.

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These two sketches look at the first and third terminals of the command center. The first one controls the Mine, which digs up ore from inside the mountain it’s situated in. The place is abundant in 6 different ores (Aluminum, Titanium, Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold, Lead, and Silver), and mining devices dig these up to bring to the milling machine in the center. That then transfers them to refining tanks, which then get dumped into a train and sent to facility 2: the Smelter.

The third terminal monitors the factory, which as you can see is deivided into 4 subsections, selected by one of the four keys on the desk. Note that the touchpad here and above have icons, for “Scan”, “Lock/Unlock”, and “Reset”. Here, “Scan” is selected, and it’s detected a problem on the belt: A worker fell onto it and died. The on-screen text reads: “Alert: Obstruction! Foregin object must be removed before assembly. Init: Protocol 33.” “Protocol 33: Emergency override of mechanized unit in area” A worker fell onto the belt and died on impact while doing maintenance, and the system has to get the body off the belt before it can start.

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This place is where the top personnel of Invention handle the four facilities of the Age. They sit at a terminal that monitors and controls that facility, speaking to the crew inside through an intercom at that terminal. The buttons on each involve selector switches for the different areas of that facility, navigation buttons, a touchscreen with icons for certain functions, and a keyboard that the player doesn’t use. The 5 buttons below the microphones page different sections of the place.

Normally, this would allow instructions from the computer to be placed in minutes, making production very expedient. However, because you’re alone here, instead you have to go from one facility to the next and set them according to the instructions the computer gives you. The center screen will indicate whether you did so correctly or not.

The screenshot below shows where this place was inspired from. It’s actually another area in the point-and-click game Obsidian, which in that game was a sort of planetarium based on an alternate form of the four elements. The wall there would retract to show a starfield, which in Sanctuary would reveal the monitors.