Underworld Ascendant Update #18: Now Entering Full Production
Underworld Ascendant Update #18: Now Entering Full Production
Game News - posted by Infinitron on Tue 12 January 2016, 00:26:02
Tags: Chris Siegel; OtherSide Entertainment; Underworld AscendantThe first Underworld Ascendant update for 2016 announces that the game is now entering full production. Chris Siegel explains:
In 2015, we were successful at our first Kickstarter, assembling the core team, and erecting all the scaffolding that games are built upon. The groundwork for the key systems are in place: character building, magic, movement, and combat. We've also tackled the pre-production for the narrative and key characters, the three factions and denizens of the deep you'll encounter, the lay of the Stygian Abyss, and the other fantasy world design elements that go into The Underworld.
As the New Year begins, we're busy making the transition to full production. The focus shifts to building out all the game play elements. Right now, we're barreling along on two tracks: art and design.
Our designers are heads down prototyping the quest and narrative systems, building out character skills, and working out how to create spaces that take advantage of those skills. We've even started coming to grips with the major characters in the game and the main plot points.
It's fun to see a team switch gears from "Wouldn't it be cool?" to "We all agree that is cool. Let's build it and prove it!" Seeing an idea on paper isn't nearly as awesome as seeing it the game engine. One of the most rewarding things as a producer is being the guy who gets the first look at everything. It's like opening presents every morning when we reach this point in development. From something simple like getting a new shader for stalactites to testing out wall-running and ground-sliding for the first time, it's never boring.
The other track is art. After Nate Wells joined us as Studio Art Director late last year, we revisited the look for the game and decided to evolve to something that would be more distinctive. Something that captured the vibe of an old school dungeon crawl, but at the same time brought something new to the genre. Nate arrived at what he terms an "authored" art style, where The Stygian Abyss looks as if it were crafted by mages of yore who more-or-less terraformed the environment by their mighty mystical hands. The art team is busy working on the evolved look. A couple of sneak peeks are shown here, but we should have a playable build with the new look to share soon enough.
Things are going to get even busier for us as we transition to full production; but it's a good kind of busy where we're firing on all cylinders and where we'll have more to share with you each month going forward.
With the game's small team becoming ever busier, update frequency will be dropping down to once every three weeks for the foreseeable future. According to a forum post by Chris, they're expecting to hit pre-alpha stage in the second quarter of this year.As the New Year begins, we're busy making the transition to full production. The focus shifts to building out all the game play elements. Right now, we're barreling along on two tracks: art and design.
Our designers are heads down prototyping the quest and narrative systems, building out character skills, and working out how to create spaces that take advantage of those skills. We've even started coming to grips with the major characters in the game and the main plot points.
It's fun to see a team switch gears from "Wouldn't it be cool?" to "We all agree that is cool. Let's build it and prove it!" Seeing an idea on paper isn't nearly as awesome as seeing it the game engine. One of the most rewarding things as a producer is being the guy who gets the first look at everything. It's like opening presents every morning when we reach this point in development. From something simple like getting a new shader for stalactites to testing out wall-running and ground-sliding for the first time, it's never boring.
The other track is art. After Nate Wells joined us as Studio Art Director late last year, we revisited the look for the game and decided to evolve to something that would be more distinctive. Something that captured the vibe of an old school dungeon crawl, but at the same time brought something new to the genre. Nate arrived at what he terms an "authored" art style, where The Stygian Abyss looks as if it were crafted by mages of yore who more-or-less terraformed the environment by their mighty mystical hands. The art team is busy working on the evolved look. A couple of sneak peeks are shown here, but we should have a playable build with the new look to share soon enough.
Things are going to get even busier for us as we transition to full production; but it's a good kind of busy where we're firing on all cylinders and where we'll have more to share with you each month going forward.
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