Hello guys! May is already over and it is time for us to update you about the development of Othercide. We decided to focus on special effects from the game that Simon, our FX artist, creates for various actions.
Ideas and Pre-production
Some actions of the Daughters and enemies from the game have to be paired with gorgeous special effects. For each action, we ask Simon to make some FX and this process can be quite long.
First, he has to think about what it should look like. Through this conceptualization, he makes use of his knowledge to adapt it to each character, action and general mood of the game.
It is important to watch a lot of movies and play different video games to get inspiration. But it can also come from things that don't have any FX such as sculptures, and basically art in all its forms. For one of the special effects he made in May, he took inspiration from lightning-throwing ennemies that appear in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice.
He then find a global shape for the FX that can be easily recognizable so each FX is different from one another. He also defines its colors, this step being surprisingly complicated even though the game is in black and white.
Each FX has to stand out from the level colors so he has to choose different tones and shades. As a quick note, black and white are used for enemies in the game while red and white are used for the Daughters.
Creation and Techniques
As Simon said, there is no miracle recipe. In fact, he has to use and assemble many techniques to create FX such as drawing, 2D, 3D, programming, fluid simulation techniques, shader...
With Shuriken in Unity, he starts by creating shaders and defining how the effect and particles will behave. This tool allows him to make the global shape of the FX.
One FX can be made from different effects and particles. In here, we have the smoke, the white line on the floor, the particles ejected (sparks, water drops...) and more.
Finally, after the FX was validated by our Art Director Alexandre, Simon uses Timeline in Unity to decide when to trigger the effect for each character. Phew, it's done!
That's it for today, we hope you liked these work in progress FX! June is going to be another busy month and we can't wait to share new updates with you again. Stay tuned!
Announcement: Partnership with Focus Home Interactive!
Something lurks in the Dark Corner… Could it be an announcement?
As some of you already noticed, we have partnered up with Focus Home Interactive. And yes, it’s to publish Othercide!
This partnership will allow us to go further with the game now that we have an increased scope and budget for development to build the challenging and gruesome gaming experience we have always dreamed of! It also means that we won’t release Othercide this year – rather than going into Early Access, we will be fully developing the game and releasing some time during 2020.
“We are very excited to invite Focus Home Interactive to follow us on the dark and twisted journey that is Othercide! With their experience and knowledge of the video game industry, we will push the boundaries and break the rules of the tactical genre!”– Anders Larsson, CEO and Creative Director of Lightbulb Crew.
“We're delighted to join with the talented and passionate team at Lightbulb for the release of Othercide. It is a unique game with an incredible style and great gameplay. We cannot wait to see how our partnership can help the game meet its creative potential as we head into 2020. You're in for a treat!” – Dessil Basmadjian, Creative Director at Focus Home Interactive.
Thank you, folks, for the unbelievable love we received. Your support means a lot to us and this partnership with Focus won’t be changing how we talk to our community - we are looking forward to showing you more of Othercide in the coming months, so stay tuned!
Don’t forget to follow us on:
Facebook: facebook.com/othercide/
Twitter: twitter.com/OthercideGame
Instagram: instagram.com/othercidegame/
And wishlist our game on Steam! store.steampowered.com/app/798490/Othercide/
Cheers,
Lightbulb Crew
Othercide at GDC: a great experience!
From March 18-22, we were in San Francisco to attend GDC and show Othercide to journalists from all around the world. No need to say it was an incredible experience!
We had the chance to pitch the game at Game Connection and GDC in front of an audience and compete against other great indie games (congrats to Flux Games for winning with Talaka!). Getting feedback from passionate players helps us see how to make Othercide the best game it can be.
But more importantly, we released a brand new trailer for the game, showing you the dynamic turn-based combat system set in a dark and corrupted dimension beyond our reality. You can see how our female warriors fight against nightmarish creatures to save humanity!
Overall, we had an opportunity to meet great people, talk to some amazing and insightful journalists and share our progress with them. We quote Andy Chalk of PC Gamer: “The game's red-slashed greyscale visual style is striking, but the combat is what it's all about. Unique character abilities and the "Initiative Sequence System" will enable players to interrupt incoming attacks, set up delayed actions that will occur later in the turn, and respond to enemy threats based on reaction skills. “
We would also like to take a moment and reflect on the article by Spencer Legacy from MonsterVine who best described our hardcore gameplay:
“You should definitely choose your playstyle wisely though, as Othercide features good old-fashioned permadeath. If a unit dies, they’re gone for good, so you’ve got to be careful. This kind of punishment really keeps you on your toes, as I was for the entire demo.” – thanks Spencer!
And of course, we had a great opportunity to meet some of our followers who came by our stand, played Othercide demo and had a good laugh with our team! Thank you all for being a part of our community!
We hope we will have the chance to attend other great events to showcase the game this year!
In the meantime, don't forget to follow us on social media to follow the development of the game and wishlist our game on Steam to support us.
Cheers!
Steam Page Community Translation
Hello my dear,
We are asking for your help with the translation of the Othercide Steam Page. We are primarily interested in help from community to translate:
However, any other languages available on Steam that you would like to help translate we would be very grateful for it.
You can find the Google Docs Folder with our original text in English and the translation we have now (and make any changes + add missing paragraphs) here:
You can choose the Documents of the language you want to translate, open it in Google Docs and edit directly. Please use BLUE color for any changes you make and any texts you add.
Please translate only if you are fluent in the language you choose. 😊
Big thank you to all those who help with the translations from the Othercide Team!
Cheers,
LIGHTBULB CREW
New Dev Blog: THE SPIRIT SHOOTER: THE SOULSLINGER’S CLASS IN OTHERCIDE
”There are three distinct archetypes within the Daughters of Othercide, each one of them their own strengths and weaknesses. Let’s concentrate on our esoteric desperado: the Soulslinger. Nizar, Alex, here you go again!
Nizar and Alexandre, Game Designer and Art Director on Othercide
A Bullet In Between Their Eyes Alex: Within the three classes we have in Othercide, the Soulslinger is by far my favorite; and I am not saying this because I am an absolute fan of Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series! (Well okay, it does play a part in my subjectivity…).
She has the full panoply of a “western spaghetti movie” design, but with an additional flavor coming from the lore. The Soulslinger is a sharp shooter, mastering a pair of heavy pistols, but also a mystic manipulator which enchants her weapons with spirits and ethereal essence, in order to master the deadliest effects.
THE RAZOR’S EDGE: THE BLADEMASTER’S CLASS IN OTHERCIDE
There are three distinct archetypes within the Daughters of Othercide, each one of them with their own strengths and weaknesses. Today let's take a better look at our monster slayer: the Blademaster.
Nizar and Alexandre, Game Designer and Art Director on Othercide
Lonely Blade In Darkness
Nizar: As Game Designers, we were at the origin of the Blademaster conception. Early in the development process, it appeared to be clear that we wanted a triumvirat of Daughters. To increase players’ strategic decision making, each daughter must have unique strengths and weaknesses: we didn’t want to create subtle variation of a single archetype.
Alex: Creating a class in Othercide is a crucial step: in addition of being the main characters of our players, each class must represent a clear function gameplay wise as well as follow the guidelines of our art direction. Building our classes was a long ongoing process, with a lot of iterations and questioning!
In my point of view – and this is applicable in multiple situations – a character rises from a couple of strong ideas. Those main “impulsions” don’t need to be very original, but must be clear and definitive, so that they can resonate along the creative process.
Read more on our website: https://www.othercidegame.com/blademaster-class-othercide/
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Crafting the Dark Corner for Othercide
This week, meet our Environment Artists!
David and Yves, our Lead and Environment Artists on Othercide, are thrilled to show you how they created some environments for the Dark Corner!
Learn more about their journey, from research and historical investigation to their production pipeline and inspiration to create Othercide's distinctive atmosphere.
Discover exclusive assets we haven't shared yet with the community and how it is like to be an Environment Artist on Othercide. We are excited to share our work with you!
As we set out into 2019, we have an exciting and challenging year behind us. 2018 saw the concept of Othercide really takes form and turns into this magical thing we are all nursing to its completion right now. But it was far from easy!
Anders Larsson, Creative Director on Othercide
We started working on what has now become Othercide already back in 2016, together with a few members of the team. Initially we started out with the question: how we could make a tactical game where the characters would take on their own stories.
We were a fair bit along in the negotiations with a publisher around this project before they ended, and we set out with pre-production in the fall of 2017. Back then we were calling the project “Band of Hunters”, with the setting being a dark version of current Paris. As the pre-production continued, we were forced to deal with the limits of budget and team, which together with a strong drive from Alexandre in terms of Art Direction and world creation ended up delivering us into the dark corner in a parallel dimension, and the name Othercide.
Game design wise, we needed to strengthen the concept. The dynamic aspects of the tactical game we had brought were not yet clear enough so after lots of thought and iterations, we finally came up with a sort of turn-based system, but with no actual turns, only a time-line in which the actions played out. This was one of those moments when suddenly the parts of the game design that were logically difficult became obvious, and the dynamic aspect of the game became front and center. That was when the Initiative Sequence System was born.
At that point, the energy of team was tangible. Full of confidence in our game design concept we started iterating and…well you know how it is, it’s not that simple. The summer period was coming, but stress was high on the team shoulders as we decided to go out of the blue and officially announce our game, and big time: at Gamescom!
We only had a couple of weeks and worked very hard to deliver a compelling proof of concept.
With shaking hands at first, we multiplied meetings with press and partners, met lots of amazing people (special thanks to our lovely neighbors the Robot Gentleman and Raw Fury). We had such a great time and when the first previews came up, we were super happy! Feedback were positive, press was interested by our game and told us they want to see more soon!
2019 ahead looks to be an incredibly interesting year. The team is strong, and we are excited of the response we get from players and partners we are showing the game to. There remains an enormous amount of work to get Othercide to be the fantastic game we know it can be, but we are full of energy. With the support of everyone interested in Othercide we are certain we will be able to do it!
A Horror Game: Giving Birth To "The Child"
Developing a horror game is a tricky challenge. You need to have proper characters and story. Therefore, this week I wanted to share a little bit about Othercide lore and background story through one of our main protagonists : The Child.
Alexandre Chaudret, Art Director on Othercide
There is no great confrontation without a powerful antagonist. It was therefore crucial for Othercide to get a strong and meaningful opponent, a creature that will be the reflection of our twisted universe. Indeed, there is no Batman without the Joker, you see what I mean?
I personally feel that the frightening monsters feed from our own inner demons, from the instincts and thoughts we can’t control, held in a « dark corner » of our mind…
Once we decided to give Othercide a « horror game » flavour, we knew it was time to grab our shovel, find the creepiest and darkest graveyards in the past of our artists, and start digging. That’s where we found the Child.
The Others feed and grow from human feelings… One of them chose a poor, tortured and lonely creature, a scratched figure and worst echo of mankind’s cruelty, to become his host, his vector… The Child’s pain provides an inexhaustible stream of energy for the entity who wants to shatter Reality…
The Child’s story is struck by disease, sickness, confinement, madness creativity, injustice, and forbidden love… a story that dies ultimately in a long and passionate scream of anger against the world that made him suffer so much. From his Dark Corner in between consciousness and unconsciousness, he shapes and sculpts the legions of nightmarish creatures that haunt the realms of Othercide, and the grid of our horror tactical game.
« Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win. »
Stephen King
That said, like everything existing in Othercide, there are two faces in the same mirror. Thus, the Child is a representation of what we try to accomplish in our project. A contrast between the fragile figure of a tortured infant and the unutterable horror within his incredible powers, a link between the tragic lore he endured and the emergent narrative that will be disseminated through environments, creatures, sound design and music.
Is The Child the final – and terrible – key that opens the gateway for the Suffering Other? Or just a poor victim of the incredible cruelty of mankind? In any case, some answers will appear during your last stand to prevent reality from shattering. Will you be able to do the necessary sacrifices for a greater cause…? Or will you face your own inner demons?
Take our hands, follow the path behind the mirror… Don’t worry if it is a bit dark, my dear, don’t worry if it is a bit cold and pay attention to the nibbling scratches and off-key lullabies you hear down here…
You are in the Child’s lair now… And what lays here feeds from your nightmares.
Gamescom Trailer: Making of
Last week, fresh up to speed and back to work, we mentioned going to Gamescom to present a first peek of Othercide to the press. This week I wanted to share a little bit about how we made Othercide trailer we used at Gamescom.
Anders Larsson, Creative Director on Othercide
In Othercide Gamescom trailer we are trying to achieve two things, communicate hints and ideas about the world of the game, as well as showing that Othercide is a tactical turn-based game. In the end we want people to want to dream about both the unique world we have developed and the experience of playing the game!
For the trailer we are relying on the characters and scenes produced for the game. We start off with a dark screen and a calm voice (of whom?), in order to pull the viewer into the mood of the world and the video. Then we come into a great set piece built up by our 3D modeler, Antoine, and our lead animator, Jérôme.
Editing our trailer
By first focusing on the face of the Gunslinger, we tried to build up more tension to prepare for the overall scene that gets revealed. This scene shows both how the characters in the game co-operate against monsters that look really dangerous, but also that these are not your regular monsters!
As the face is broken up like a mirror, we are giving a little glimpse about other threatening silhouettes. Don’t forget that, in Othercide, everything is connected and has a meaning…
Finally we wanted to tease you what it would be like to play Othercide even if it’s still early in our development.
For that we used snapshots from inside the game, trying to highlight the uniqueness of what we are trying to achieve.
We started by showing a quick zoom-in over the City, and then dive into the battlefield to show you what kind of tactical turn-based the game is. That’s why we left the user interface (UI) in place at the begining , so you have a glimpse of our Initiative Sequence System. Obviously the UI will evolve so we didn’t want to stay too focus on it (plus UI is usually not the sexiest part of a game).
Our User Interface
One key thing we hint at is how the Initiative Sequence System works (the bar in the bottom of the screen), where you see that the players planned action will force the enemy to delay until later.
To conclude the trailer, we decided to show some badass attacks you can trigger so you can feel our intentions to create dynamics in every fight in order to deliver a compelling gaming experience for a tactical turn-based game.
We hope the Othercide Gamescom Trailer got you both imagining the world of the game and what it would be like playing it!
