As well as developing our dinosaurs and playable characters, our 3D artists have also been busy dressing up Deathground’s environments in-engine. Since our February update ‘Levelling the Playing Field’, the world has started to come alive. Let’s take a look outside. But first, dim the lights.
Moonlight peeking through the dense jungle.
Have we told you that Deathground will be in a night-time setting? It can be difficult for humans to see in the dark and that will be no different for you as a player in Deathground.
Of course, we’re not suggesting that you’ll be playing blindly through the dark. It just might feel like it at times. There’ll be lamps lining some pathways, there may even be firelight. You’ll have a torch as well as moonlight, should your game objectives lead you to venture outside.
A lamp-lit pathway cutting through the jungle terrain.
There’s a lot of detail hidden beneath the darkness, especially in this dense jungle, now teeming with life and art textures. From the mud and dirt in the terrain to the peculiar plants sprouting up from the embankments or dangling down from high trees. There’s life beyond the fauna that will surround you. Some of you may even spot plantlife from a different time.
We’ve planted Gnetophyta and Asteroxylon, from the Cretaceous period, in Deathground’s terrain.
Waterfalls and rivers will also carve through Deathground.
Regardless of whether you’re surviving indoors or out in the elements, we’re crafting a dark map for you to play in. When you’re in the darkest areas of Deathground, you may not always see what’s coming and you’ll most certainly never be alone.
Remember that dino texture teaser we gave you last month? Well, here are a couple more teasers to keep you going. This time, a shadow and silhouette of our feathered Utahraptor in Deathground.
The silhouette of a feathered Utahraptor in the distance…
An approaching shadow of a Utahraptor coming around the corner…
Until next time... Keep an eye out for more 3D art teasers dropping on our social media channels over this month. Join our community on Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok and help spread the future chaos. If you haven’t wishlisted Deathground already and like our monthly dev updates on our progress, please wishlist! We really appreciate the support while we develop this beast of a game.
- Jaw Drop Games -
Run, Definitely Run
As you may have learned in our ‘Animating the Utahraptor’ dev update in March, we’ve been delving deep into what happens if you’re caught by our savvy dinosaurs. The consequences can be dire. And for all of you survival-horror fans, we want the experience to be as thrilling and terrifying as possible when those moments arrive.
Dinner-time The rule of “Don’t play with your food” does not apply to Deathground’s dinosaurs. Here are a couple more work-in-progress animations of what our Utahraptor could behave like if you dare to freeze in a moment of panic…
WIP animations of our Utahraptor’s killing players with just one bite.
As you can see, it’ll take just one Utahraptor to kill a player. They’re strong enough to lift you off of the ground, bite your head off and then some. Their powerful legs mean they can launch into their attacks too.
P.S. Don’t be alarmed by the mannequin body you can see as the stand-in character. Deathground’s character classes are being developed too and starting to shape up.
Critical critters While some dinosaurs are heavy hitters, our Compys are small and agile. Their tiny size means that these pesky creatures can find you in smaller spaces. They also flock together. So, if you come across one Compy in Deathground, expect more to immediately follow.
Here they are scenting for prey and trotting after it. Do you think that you could escape their speedy advances?
WIP animations of our Compy in idle mode and on the move.
Until next time... As we’ve mentioned in other dev updates, our dino skins and textures are still to be revealed. Last year, we also told you that our dinos will be feathered and we know you've been waiting to see them since. Unlike the textured versions or concepts, we're going to reveal them in all their glory, in-engine immersed in the environment very soon. For now, here's a little teaser silhouette of how our Utahraptor is looking.
Silhouette of our Utahraptor model dressed in their feathered texture.
We wish we could show you more! Keep an eye out for the full reveal in a future update. In the meantime, if you’d like to dive into a discussion about any of our dino updates, head over to the 🦖│dinosaurs channel in our Discord server, or simply leave us a comment here.
Don’t forget, you can join our community on Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok. We really appreciate the support while we develop this beast of a game! - Jaw Drop Games -
Character building
I think we all agree that the stars of the show are going to be the dinosaurs. But apart from what you’ve seen in our prototype trailers, we haven’t really told you much about the character classes that you can play as in Deathground.
Deathground will have three core character classes to choose from. Each brings something unique to the table and represents different gameplay strategies:
Donald the Survivalist defends
Vic the Scout explores
Advik the Engineer manipulates the world
Within each class, we’ve been working on two different tactical outfit options (skins) for you to select from in the lobby before entering Deathground. It’s up to you and your squad on what strategies you’ll try and with what combination of special abilities. And if you decide to play solo, you have 6 different options to play around with. Let’s meet the gang.
Concept Artwork - Deathground’s character class line up art with their unique abilities.
The Survivalist With a background in animal behaviouralism, this class is all about defending against Deathground’s dangerous dinos. You can choose to play Donald in either his ‘Rifleman’ tactical suit or in the ‘Pheromone Master’ alternative. As the ‘Rifleman’, you’re capable of using a high-calibre weapon for precision defensive shooting. Whereas the ‘Pheromone Master’ arms you with scent grenades to distract deadly dinos away from the area. As the shield of the squad, both options will allow you to help protect the group.
Textured models of The Survivalist’s special items - Rifleman’s high calibre rifle and the Pheromone Master’s scent grenades.
The Scout While the Survivalist can help defend you in tricky situations, the Scout can help you avoid them by detecting what dangers are ahead or around you. This class is an expert in exploring and not being easily seen in the wild. As the rogue of the group, choosing to play in the ‘Motion Detector’ tactical suit or the ‘Super Quiet Step’ alternative both have their own benefits. The ‘Motion Detector’ tool is handy for sensing approaching danger. while the ‘Super Quiet Step’ suit allows you to move without a sound. Either option can help improve your level of sneak.
Textured model of The Scout’s motion detector special item. Concept sketch of The Scout’s Super Quiet Step tactical suit trousers.
The Engineer As an inventor, the Engineer is easily crowned the problem solver of the squad. This class is all about manipulating the world electronically or by physical means. You can play in either the ‘Hacker’ tactical suit or the ‘Pyrotechnic’ alternative. Playing in the ‘Hacker’ skin gives you the capability of hacking into the security system to open doors and passageways. Whereas the ‘Pyrotechnic’ gives you access to a dual system flamethrower, making you capable of creating and extinguishing a fire. Whichever skin you choose to use, either will help you find an escape route.
Textured models of The Engineer’s special items - Hacker’s Hacking Device and the Pyrotechnic’s flamethrower.
Until next time... Thanks for checking in! We know this is just a teaser for now. But we hope the extra insight will help you start thinking about tactics. Right now, our PC models are being textured and item handling is being animated. So, there are plenty more dev updates to come. If you want to chat in real-time about their unique abilities, head over to 🏋│character-classes channel in our Discord, or simply leave us a comment here.
Q: Are you drawn to a certain character class already? If so, which tactical suit would you try playing in first?
Don’t forget, you can join our community on Discord, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and tweet about us on Twitter. We really appreciate the support while we develop this beast of a game!
- Jaw Drop Games -
Here comes trouble
In our March update, we showed you how our Utahraptor locomotives were looking. But we know the star of the show for many of you is the T-Rex. So, here’s a glimpse of what’s been going on behind the scenes.
With all of our dino models rigged up, it’s the T-Rex’s turn for some animation attention. Right now, our animators are working through every detail of their different behaviours. From how their body moves to how their facial expressions shift from one state to another. Here’s how this beast is shaping up while on the go. With the SFX, music and darkened atmosphere, it will really feel like a chilling experience.
Above: Technical animation WIP - the first steps of Deathground’s T-Rex
Running speeds are also being defined within our game design and we’re working on getting this big dino moving at pace!
Q: Can you imagine being chased down by this creature?
And if the sight of our T-Rex won’t get your heart racing, hearing the roars and rumbles shuddering from the distance definitely will! Our Audio Director is having a field day balancing all of the different SFX with Deathground right now and we can’t wait to share more dev updates about that in the future.
Until next time... Thanks for checking in! Don’t forget, skins and textures are still to be revealed. The imagery above is simply more animation work in progress that we wanted to share with you! Like we’ve said before, we love hearing from you after putting our progress out there.
Don’t forget, you can join our community on Discord, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and tweet about us on Twitter. We really appreciate the support while we develop this beast of a game!
- Jaw Drop Games -
Animating the Utahraptor
As many of you will already know, the dinosaurs that we showcased in our teaser trailer were placeholder pre-alpha assets. We used these assets to pitch our game on Kickstarter and had always planned to implement our own designs.
Since then, Deathground’s four dinosaurs (Utahraptor, Compsognathus, Allosaurus and T-Rex) have been concepted, modelled and rigged by our talented team of artists and animators. We’re currently animating these beautiful beasts, but every day we see these creatures coming to life more and more. From the dev perspective, it’s pretty thrilling!
While they’re not fully dressed in their textures and tones, which you’d see in-game, we wanted to show you some animation progress of Deathground’s Utahraptor. From our first pass at animating them walk while in a neutral position, to making these hellions move more menacingly while searching for their prey.
N.B The below GIFs are not the final looks or animations, simply work in progress.
From our first locomotive animation experiment ...to our latest
Here’s the scenario. You’ve just managed to run away from a Utahraptor and while they chased you, you’ve managed to hide. Can you imagine peeking out from your hiding spot or through the thick jungle-like foliage to see this beast still hunting for you?
On that note, we’ve also been experimenting with different ways that they can remove you from different hiding places. Here’s just one example of this work in progress …
Q: Do you think you could survive the search?
Until next time... Thanks for checking in! We love hearing from you after putting our progress out there. Don’t forget, you can join our community on Discord, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and tweet about us on Twitter. We really appreciate the support while we develop this beast of a game!
- Jaw Drop Games -
Levelling the playing field
While our Tech team tenaciously work on the dino AI and game build, let’s get into the level design of Deathground.
Introducing our Level Designer You would have already met Morgan, plus some of our other devs behind Deathground, during our AMA last summer. Morgan spent a lot of time over 2021 laying down the foundations of Deathground’s map. Thanks to all of her efforts early on, we as a team very quickly had a great grasp on what the base map was going to look like. It was amazing to see the first jigsaw puzzle pieces in place, and with Phoebe’s (Environment Concept Artist) artwork, we could feel the world of Deathground coming to life.
Then over several months, Deathground transformed from its blockout “green blob” phase to the first import of terrain, alongside the blockout imported over the top. Check out the different phases in the GIF below.
Comparing the different phases of level design over last year’s development
With the buildings and thick foliage in place, she continued to tweak the terrain while mapping out the playable area that you’ll be running around through. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Morgan is building a labyrinth of passageways for you, some you won’t be able to see from a lookout spot...
A sneak peek underground on one of the blocked out playable areas
Building to scale As you can see, routes throughout Deathground will vary in size. As soon as Morgan was able to get her hands on the new and improved dino models, she started adapting the building structure according to their sizes. One of the many unique challenges has been on making sure it would be realistic for certain dinosaurs to move through different parts of the map. As problem-solving goes for a Level Designer, that's a pretty fun one to have! Wouldn’t you agree? On many occasions, we would enjoy listening to Morgan’s ‘out loud thinking’ work-style, while she’d demonstrate what she’s working on.
Morgan has designed a lot of great levels by considering both the different gameplay scenarios and the player’s perspective. There’ll be a lot of intense gameplay moments to come, thanks to her consideration on the level design. Think about those future corridors that you’ll be trying to outrun the dino’s through. The tighter spaces that you thought were only small enough for just you. Or that passageway you thought the larger dinos couldn’t charge through after you… Cheers for the future terror, Morgan!
Current development As all of the major buildings have been blocked out throughout pre-production, Morgan continues to finesse the level design. Now collaborating with our 3D Artists, the structures will be adjusted to fit the assets that they’re creating for the interior and exterior spaces of Deathground. You can already see some of the development of the exterior from the images below.
Comparing the different phases of level design over last year’s development on just one area of Deathground
Q: When in-game, would you like to look over the world of Deathground from vantage and viewpoints?
Let us know in the comments and discussions area.
Until next time... Thanks for checking in! Don’t forget, you can join our community on Discord, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and tweet about us on Twitter.
- Jaw Drop Games -
Stepping Outside
Happy New Year, everyone! We are back behind screens and diving deep into Deathground development once more. Let’s get this year rolling with the first update of 2022. First stop, we have a little more concept art to show you.
Last year, our Art team had been experimenting with different shapes and structures for the buildings that you’ll discover in-game. Here’s a little flavour on how our concept artists have been considering the architecture.
Environment Concept Artwork - when an artist tests out a variety of ideas at once…
While some of the featuring styles may have more mystery behind them, other elements of Deathground’s architecture will show strong, geometric shapes in the Brutalist style. We don’t want to spoil the fun of your first playthrough. So, we’ll cut the details short there. But if you’re looking for a word of advice for future gameplay, don’t be fooled by these mentioned themes of strength and stability. You will still have to survive the patrolling dinosaurs, regardless of whether you’re inside or outside!
In our November News, we showed you a little of what our art team had created from inside some of Deathground’s buildings. Working from lore written by our Game Designers and Narrative Designer, these Earth-bound environments have also taken shape outside, in both 2D and 3D form over recent months. Like this cliff-side area as one example.
Environment Concept Art of an exterior area within Deathground
From these environment concepts, our 3D artists have been able to work into the finer details in-engine. Inspired by the lift you can see in the first concept artwork (above), here’s a sneak peek at a funicular lift our 3D artists have been building. We’re only giving you a mere glimpse, but you may spot that we’ve got some other buildings blocked out and on the go too.
A sneak peek at the level design and 3D artwork on the funicular lift
But don’t worry, not all areas of Deathground will be so militant, doom and gloom. Maybe you’ll come across more remote, rural and relaxing areas? Like this one.
A nice place to take a walk…maybe.
Somewhere you can take a relaxing stroll through, pick up some fresh produce, pet the local wildlife or take a moment to stop and smell the blood-soaked roses of Deathground... Just joking, there will be no roses in Deathground. Stroll and pet at your own risk.
Anyway, what we’re trying to say is that we’re building a lot of 3D terrain for you to run and (attempt to) survive in. We hope some of our concept art has helped paint a better picture of what’s coming. Just remember, this doesn’t even scratch the surface…
Until next time... Thanks for stopping by. Don’t forget, you can join our community on Discord, like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and tweet about us on Twitter.
- Jaw Drop Games -
Wrapping up 2021
It’s without a doubt that this year has been packed full of awesome development from our team. We’ll be unloading more visual updates for you next year so that you can see more behind the scenes of Deathground’s development. But before we dive into that, our studio directors have been reflecting on what our devs and the studio have achieved over 2021. Here’s a little insight.
Onboarding more talent
It’s not a secret that our team has grown since the original lineup for our Kickstarter launch. When we secured a publishing deal, it helped us bring in more hands on deck. Our tenacious team of artists, animators, coders, programmers has grown tremendously. So, it’s no surprise that when we asked our Studio Head and Development Director what their favourite task has been over the past year it was this - “onboarding tons of new talent!”
Seeing what our team can do
We’re aiming for Deathground to feel and look devastatingly deadly. While our art team has been devising new 3D visualisations to immerse you into the game, our tech team has been forging movement and life into these scenes.
We’ll be sharing more of the studio’s work next year. But you would have seen a couple of Bobby (Rebholz’s) Utahraptor concept sketches in our October news as a little appetiser already. It’s no surprise that the team were excited to see Damian Guimoneau onboarded as our Creature Modeller earlier this year, to bring Bobby’s concepts to life.
In case you missed it, you can see a sneak peek of our core dinosaurs in their model form in our August news.
When we asked what our director’s favourite WIP (work in progress) updates had been from this year, they couldn’t help but marvel at the dinosaur progression, in comparison to our Kickstarter pre-alpha placeholders. From Deathground’s creature concepts transitioning from sketch to model, then seeing them start to become animated.
A sneak peek at Deathground’s Compsognathus concept and model
An early technical animation WIP of Deathground’s Utahraptor screaming
Overcoming challenges
As a survival-horror game, with AI dinosaurs as the star feature, the pressure has been on to deliver a killer line-up of dinos. But it’s positive pressure. Deathground is very much a passion project that we are perfecting and tweaking every day. When we asked our directors what they thought the biggest challenge for the team has been, it was the same answer across the board. You guessed it. Dinosaurs.
Naturally, building this game has been, and will continue to be hard work. As you may know first-hand as a fellow developer or appreciate as a gamer, translating lore into game design is tricky. But all the challenges will be worth it!
Looking ahead
While we’re wrapping up our tasks before the end of the year, we’re pretty hyped to jump straight into January’s checklist. So, what are our directors looking forward to?
We’re immensely proud of how Deathground is shaping up to be. Just remember, everything you’ve seen above is still work in progress and not to be taken as final! As you can now imagine, we have a plethora of behind-the-scenes goodness coming your way over next year. Keep a lookout in our news section, we’ll continue to post an update on the first Friday of every month.
Until then... We hope you enjoy the festive season and have a Happy New Year. Thank you for your continued support!
