After a huge spatial disaster, a space rocket with exploration equipment on board crashes onto the surface of an unknown planet. As the entire load of the rocket is scattered on the planet, one of the rovers happen to be fully operational after the crash. In Ombrage, the player controls this very rover and is given the ability to move around these foreign lands.
The main particularity of this exploration robot on wheels, is that it can equip different modules (2 different modules at once) which will substantially change the way it moves and the paths it may take while exploring.
As he drives around, the player will sometimes encounter broken rovers, destroyed in the crash. Luckily, some parts will still be usable, like its modules. Looting broken rovers to adapt his own to a particular situation will be essential for the player.
He will need to keep an eye on his energy level. The vehicle uses solar energy to charge up its batteries. Staying in the shadows for too long will result in a dead battery. And a rover with a dead battery, is a dead rover.
Soon enough in the game, the player will also encounter different types of foreign structures that will greatly trigger his curiosity. As he drives around some of them, they will begin to react to the player’s movements and actions. Also he will need to learn and understand the links between these unknown architectures so he can keep exploring, always further.
The world of ombrage is set on a desertic planet. We wanted to create a huge environment for the player to explore among sand dunes, rocks, canyons and unknown pieces of architecture. Warm colors helped us to bring this desertic environment to life, with a strong contrast brought by a colder blue/green sky inspired by games like Journey or movies like Mad Max Fury Road.
Ombrage is more of a peaceful experience. Even though the solar energy keeps the player in a constant alert state, we wanted to give a very smooth and calm feeling to the whole game.
UI is present, but rather discreet. We really wanted to give more space on screen to the landscapes the players drives through to make the experience as immersive as possible.
If you want to appreciate this #screenshotsaturday in 4K here is a link of the original picture:
https://goo.gl/rsCI5P