#vacant sky

[arashizus]

this is my endless despair btw

[starry-plum]

Naora voice: Look at me I'm Naora I'm the best character in this whole damned series and nobody knows anything about me @faisdm tfw it's four in the morning and you don't own a single article of Naora's outfit but you're gonna closet cosplay her because #yougotta

[katemakesgames]

Vacant Sky Awakening menu portraits. Naora (top right) is the latest one, since she joins the party last, so the three Orkans were obviously the priority since they’re in the game from the very start. Since Naora was done last, of course she’s my favourite one, because like most artists I consider my latest work better than my old work!

So, the menu portraits here are laden with Symbolism, and no, that wasn’t inspired by Dragon Age Inquisition’s Tarot cards, I started making these before that game was out and was surprised by their similar approach! I wanted to use painting for these rather than cel-shading like the dialogue portraits for two reasons: 1. We already had battle portraits for enemies painted by Anna from back when the planned battle system was 2D that we decided could be used for turn order and journals and stuff, and I wanted to at least have a look that’d feel cohesive (Anna actually taught me to paint, so we have similar styles which helps), and 2. I feel like it’s hard to get a really impressive look for a single illustration with cel shading compared to painting.

Each character in the game, we came up with a list of symbols and ideas and words we’d associate with them. In gameplay terms, each character has a “nature” word that describes what trait gives them power. I think my favourite one is Sarian’s nature of “Subversion”, which I depicted by inverting the portrait so that she’s head-down, which of course also works because Sarian’s weak legs give her trouble walking and she’s associated with heraldric snakes as her family symbol, so a lying down pose worked really well. With an English Lit degree, I’m trained in analysing things to look for symbolism and dissecting texts and images for meaning, so being the one putting that stuff in there for other people is fun! Everything from the poses to the expressions to the things surrounding the characters here is meaningful in some way.

I really hope somebody completes the game and goes back to look at these portraits later in the series and goes “Ohhhhh you sneaky sneaks, I get it!”

[faisdm]

Behind the Scenes: Serious pro games development/ Best Halloween costume idea ever

Kate(felicitousArtisan): Pff accidentally put a bumped specular shader on and the flat colour map...

Kate(felicitousArtisan): http://gyazo.com/2e9e022d08b5edd789a3218039f8fa84

Kate(felicitousArtisan): shitty halloween costume Korelli

Julia: hahahaha

Julia: That fabric looks so cheap!

Kate(felicitousArtisan): yeah!

Kate(felicitousArtisan): Doesn't it look like that cheap halloween costume/cosplay fabric people use!?

Julia: Yes, definitely! I was just thinking that's Korelli doing a shitty cosplay of herself.

Kate(felicitousArtisan): HAHAHA

Kate(felicitousArtisan): WOW now that's the peak of Irony

Kate(felicitousArtisan): making like... your favourite outfit, only do it with like.. that cheap shiny fabric and make it kinda poorly fitted

Julia: hahahaha yes

Kate(felicitousArtisan): Then you get a cheap wig and try to make it look kinda like your hair

Julia: yes perfect

Kate(felicitousArtisan): make copies of any accessories you usually wear from cardboard, duct tape and fimo

[bishopmyers]

Ruminations on Contention

I've been doing a lot of soul-searching with regards to Contention these past few months. I've been vaguely dissatisfied with my current drafts of Q, even though it's a categorical improvement over the original. I've been feeling discouraged; there's a sort of muddiness, of meandering around without getting to the heart of the story.

Over the course of the past few years, I've come to realize that it's more than just the technical details of the writing and storytelling that need to be improved, but that Contention doesn't really have a clear idea of what it's about. It has themes and it has motifs but it never really embraces its own heart. So I've been trying to find that heart.

After a lot of agonizing and re-outlining and brainstorming with others on the team, I think I've finally found the heart of the story. Now that I've realized what it is, it stuns me that I never reached this realization sooner because it seems so obvious.

I think one major failing of the original Vacant Sky is that the team was filled with people who always liked my ideas. I had plenty of encouragement, but no one ever second-guessed me on a fundamental level. Sure, there were disagreements about specific events or lines of dialog but no one ever sat me down and said "Look, there's no thematic cohesion between Act I, Act II, and Act III."

Now that I have people who do question my ideas, I've gotten better at questioning myself. My lack of self-awareness nearly cost me a lot on VSA and it was merely good fortune that we spotted a crucial problem with the story before we called the game done. I'm going to be more cautious going forward, and get more feedback early on when I start something new.

In light of this discovery, I'm going to be throwing away everything I've written for Q and starting over again. It's a little disheartening since I like a lot of what I've written, but I only like it superficially. The soul that I've been looking for just isn't there. But I've learned a lot from what I've written so far, and so there's something liberating about throwing it all away and knowing that the next draft will be an improvement, unconstrained by the mistakes I made before.

I'm not ready to start over just yet. I need to do a lot more thinking and I need to seek out new inspiration.

But first, I have another Act IA ending to write...

[bishopmyers]

Vacant Sky Awakening demo to be playable at LICAF!

A demo of Vacant Sky Awakening will be playable this weekend at the Lakes International Comic Art Festival! This is the first time the game will be seen in a playable state since the Kickstarter. S...

BOOM

Come check it out!

[bishopmyers]

The Tamillan Highlands is located southwest of the city of Acacia. Several key trade routes run through it, one of which Dakura’s company will follow on their journey south from Viadahn. As it connects Acacia to Ghallice, the Dysian Empire, and the rest of the Orkan domain, the highlands will be a frequently-visited area that functions as the game’s overworld.

[bishopmyers]

Awakening Wednesday: Maladorr Manor

Bishop here with this week's update! This time, I've got some new screenshots to show off, showing the current state of Maladorr Manor. The Maladorr estate is a returning location which was a (rath...

Finally, some actually recent screenshots! This week's update focuses on Maladorr Manor.