KickStarter BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION - isometric post-apocalyptic adventure from STASIS developer

[V_K]

I'd prefere a pile of skulls of EA executives.

 

[CyberWhale]

A troll standing on a base of Todd Howard's skull could be pretty cool.

Fixed.

nah, have a pile of skulls but then off to the side have a skeleton sitting on a skeleton horse in a DLC armor, that's Tod Howard

While we're fixing each other...

 

[DeepOcean]

Just place a troll on the place of the space marine and add pink hair to the demons and it would be perfect.

 

[HoboForEternity]

Thats ms paint not photoshop

 

[Pyke]

Troll statue, supporting a giant d20 atlas style

"codex shrugged"

shitty photoshop version

I really like that idea.

 

[Pyke]

A small taste of the next backer update:

http://desolationgame.com/megaimage1/

And we have some really cool news to announce. :D

 

[HoboForEternity]

oo pretty

 

[agris]

A small taste of the next backer update:

http://desolationgame.com/megaimage1/

And we have some really cool news to announce. :D

That looks great man! I like how the blood appears to be acidic and has etched holes in the limestone-ish rock. That look - of liquid collecting in erroded spots of rock, is very particular. How did you model it to look so natural?

I'm very familiar with the look because i've done a lot of hiking in central texas, where we have a ton of limestone on the surface. limestone is easily eroded and water will pool into it just like your bloody water in the teaser picture. https://www.google.com/search?q=texas+limestone+water&source=lnms&tbm=isch

 

[Pyke]

A small taste of the next backer update:

http://desolationgame.com/megaimage1/

And we have some really cool news to announce. :D

That looks great man! I like how the blood appears to be acidic and has etched holes in the limestone-ish rock. That look - of liquid collecting in erroded spots of rock, is very particular. How did you model it to look so natural?

I'm very familiar with the look because i've done a lot of hiking in central texas, where we have a ton of limestone on the surface. limestone is easily eroded and water will pool into it just like your bloody water in the teaser picture. https://www.google.com/search?q=texas+limestone+water&source=lnms&tbm=isch

Thanks mate! Its actually a pretty easy process, although I did have a bit a time to figure out the best way to do it.

I took this texture:

and created a high contrast map that I used as a DISPLACEMENT MAP:

Then the blood etched into the rocks is done as a flat plane that sits 'inside' the displaced geometry. So its quite literally pooling inside the darker parts - and getting and reflections or refraction from the surrounding geometry.

 

[agris]

Pyke awesome, is that rock indigenous to SA? Do you know what it's called?

 

[Pyke]

That particular texture isnt from an SA place, but we do have very similar erosion happen here close to the beach where the salt eats away at the rocks. I think its a relatively common occurrence in places that have rock pools - and this area is very close to an oceanfront.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/project...n-isometric-post-apocalyptic-ad/posts/2117415

Video Update - February 2018, Announcing Mick Gordon!

MICK GORDON
Award-winning composer, Mick Gordon, will use his broad experience to tell Beautiful Desolation’s auditory story. We’re thrilled to have such a talent translate our ideas into a sound unique to this game universe.

To many he needs no introduction, as Mick has score titles such as DOOM, Wolfenstein: The New Order and Microsoft’s Killer Instinct reboot under his belt (we said award-winning, right?!); so every note and precisely placed chord will draw you in.

His use of both traditional and modern techniques, and sometimes unconventional musical pairings, matches Desolation’s tribalpunk clash of old and new.

Collaborating with an experienced and passionate artist, who considers the role of the game’s music as a translation of its environment, allows for us to the convey ideas, emotions and backstory for each track.

This way Mick fully appreciates and applies this from the outset to create his own musical vision.

We are thrilled to work with this legend!

You can find out about Mick on his site: http://mick-gordon.com/ and follow his Twitter here: https://twitter.com/mick_gordon and his Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/mick_gordon/?hl=en


More details at http://mick-gordon.com/ (Trademarks referenced herein are the properties of their respective owners)


A YEAR HAS PASSED!
It’s been a year since the counter stopped on Beautiful Desolation’s Kickstarter campaign...

That’s when the tough decisions begin!

Should we use the programming and setup from CAYNE, and merely add graphics for each new scene? Or should we innovate further? Well, after seeing (and playing) Pillars of Eternity we knew that the CAYNE system wouldn’t cut it! So began our mission to rework what we had done and rethink how to make this game incredible.

CAYNE and STASIS were focused on smaller, claustrophobic interior environments. Beautiful Desolation needs space to traverse - instead single rooms, we’re designing and building sizeable areas to explore.

We assessed what we had and examined how this would be feasible, or even possible, with a three-man team. Thankfully with the power of Unity, we were able to rapidly build up the new Desolation framework. It wasn’t long before Mark was running through large expanses with a camera that tracked him perfectly in a beautiful African landscape. The addition of parallax, fog and special effects has made the experience rather unique.

Now that the game mechanics and systems are locked in, the localities are growing fast and furiously and we are almost exclusively adding content and building puzzles.

Experience a scene in Beautiful Desolation:
Click here to explore the Overpass in Milkbush.


CLICK HERE TO PAN AND ZOOM THE OVERPASS


We are heading to GDC in March, so until the next update - take care!
Chris

https://twitter.com/StasisGame

https://www.facebook.com/desolationadventure/

http://www.desolationgame.com

P.S.

There’s no doubt (after mentioning it a few times on this update) that we’re inspired by this classic game, which encompasses the feeling of exploration, conversing with alien races and discovering secrets so well. We hope to bottle and sell a bit of this nostalgia and design into Beautiful Desolation!

As a tribute to Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford and their game series, Star Control, we created some fan art which you can grab freely here:

https://i.imgur.com/GKdL0wi.jpg


CLICK FOR 4K

 

[HoboForEternity]

Damn infinitron is so fast i literally got my email 9 minutes ago.

 

[Dreed]

Mick has score titles such as DOOM, Wolfenstein: The New Order

 

[HoboForEternity]

How much a AAA blockbuster composer cost? Seems like alot of money and there are probably tons of talented cheaper artists out there.

Unless this is a marketing move, having a big-ish name can get you more media exposure/mention.

Pyke

 

[agris]

Hey Pyke nice update man!

The world looks great, as does the UI. I have two squabbles though.

The first is that one part of the full UI looks a bit too squeaky-clean for a game with the word "Desolation" in it.

The clean panels around this log look out of place to my eye - is the upper-left L piece supposed to be plastic? Maybe have some discoloration and slight flow, characteristic of bakelite that's gotten too warm in the sun?



The 2nd is the UNITY scene transition / interaction icons that I see you've got your own version of.

You mentioned playing PoE and it being an inspiration, but please don't take these zone/interact icons as inspiration from it (nor the writing...). They definitely help a player get their bearings, but they take you out of the world immediately. If you have a tab-to-highlight feature, I suggest making the icons show upon pressing it, rather than have them on by default at all times. If you don't see my point, go to your smallest map with multiple exit points close to each other. Or in PoE. How "good" does it look to have this cluster of zone-transition icons, especially when there's other interact icons jumbled in as well? Put that shit on tab-to-see and you preserve the look of the game and the player's agency, less they tap the keyboard.

 

[Tom Selleck]

Hmm. Doom has good music, but his Prey score was particularly bad/unmemorable except for that opening credits song which is (100 emoji) (fire emoji) (eggplant emoji) (jizz emoji)

 

[Pyke]

Marks equipment is all new - but will age as we move through the game. Honestly the interface is in constant flux, so Ill certainly have another look at it before release!
The icons only turn on when Mark is close enough to them - the proximity of the appearance is something we are tweaking to avoid the 'LOOK AT ALL THE ICONS!' issues that some games have. But yeah - its all in flux, and nothing is sacred!

 

[Pyke]

Hmm. Doom has good music, but his Prey score was particularly bad/unmemorable except for that opening credits song which is (100 emoji) (fire emoji) (eggplant emoji) (jizz emoji)

I love the Prey OST! The Wolfenstein one is also right at the top of my list (granted Im a little biased).
The reason I love Micks stuff is that he isnt afraid to experiment with strange and unusual instruments and sounds - something we are taking advantage of! Hell - he has a flute made out of a human thigh bone in his collection of instruments...that alone is worth it!

 

[HoboForEternity]

Hmm. Doom has good music, but his Prey score was particularly bad/unmemorable except for that opening credits song which is (100 emoji) (fire emoji) (eggplant emoji) (jizz emoji)

I love the Prey OST! The Wolfenstein one is also right at the top of my list (granted Im a little biased).
The reason I love Micks stuff is that he isnt afraid to experiment with strange and unusual instruments and sounds - something we are taking advantage of! Hell - he has a flute made out of a human thigh bone in his collection of instruments...that alone is worth it!

where can you sign up to make your bones into a musical instrument when you die? Maybe they can make a bagpipe with my massive gut.

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Oh wow, nice job landing Mick Gordon. His work on the new Wolfensteins and Killer Instinct reboot was stellar.

 

[Abu Antar]

 

[Pyke]

If you want I can write a word for you and you can try to decipher it..

 

[Pyke]

RPG Codex
Doesn't scale to your level