Underworld Ascendant
Join the Underworld Ascendant Official Discord!
On our server our community managers and developers are hanging out almost every day, although not always the same ones as we all need a little R&R now and then! You can come by for a little chat or just to check out our latest news. As a bonus, while you are there, sign up for our upcoming playtest opportunity.
Join us for exclusive news, talk to devs, and sign up for playtest opportunities:
https://discordapp.com/invite/underworldascendant
Underworld Ascendant Releasing September 2018
Become The Ascendant, a hero tasked with overcoming an incomprehensible challenge and saving The Stygian Abyss. You must combine clever problem-solving and adaptability to restore the world to its rightful state. Discover your unique playstyle - sneak past enemies using water arrows, go head-to-head in full blown combat, or manipulate the environment to your advantage with dynamic spells.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk0oZtHKWfU
The choice is yours. How will you play? Available on Steam September 2018.
Wishlist Today https://store.steampowered.com/app/692840/Underworld_Ascendant/
May 28 Weekly Update - Short but Sweet
Newsletter here & discussion here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/692840/discussions/0/1696048426805510024/
Content was lighter than it has been for the last few newsletters, but it was an important recap and introduction as we lead up to June and the Backer Alpha build. June 1 will be a big day for us in particular, so keep an eye out...
Last week we continued to work heads-down on polishing up a lot of systems, and this week is going to be similar. The animation team is really coming together to optimize our Puppetmaster system, as well as start adding in idles and more flexible animation states now that localized damage and physics are in play.
The skills and spells systems are also being checked over this week to make sure they're all qualified for Alpha, and the foundation is working as intended. QA has been working really hard to be as thorough as possible and ensure as many different scenarios are tested, but I'm sure we'll see some divergent gameplay on YouTube once the Backer Alpha is out :)
That's it for now, but there will definitely be more news by the end of this week! We're really excited for you guys to see what we've been working on, especially as lighting, level design, and the revised quest system is finally coming into play. This game is getting closer and closer to finished...
Want to chat with others about this update? Go here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/692840/discussions/0/1696048426817079381/
May 2018 Newsletter - E3 Prep, Resherak, & What's Next!
We’ve been heads-down this month working on a lot of important systems, art, audio, and UI among many other things for the game. We also have some exciting news to share!
Underworld Ascendant at E3 with Alienware and the Backer Alpha
We’re proud to announce that a segment of Underworld Ascendant will be available to play at Alienware’s booth at E3! Catch us anytime on the show floor from June 12 – June 14 and have a sneak peek at the Abyss…
In addition to this, EXPLORER backers and above ($50+) will receive access to the Backer Alpha build during E3 (official date to be finalized). Our current plan is for the Backer Alpha build to include all of the content and features in the E3 build and an updated version of the tutorial level (aka “un-training level”). More information on this will be emailed to EXPLORER backers and above the week before the Backer Alpha is live, so make sure to check your email!
Access to the Backer Alpha will be unlocked on your BackerKit’s Digital Downloads page: https://underworld-ascendant.backerkit.com/
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1392169869
Earlier this month, we were also in Los Angeles to present Underworld Ascendant for consideration for the 2018 Game Critics Awards!
Our publisher, 505 Games, put together an awesome setup for us, which is an opportunity for the judges to demo a number of games that will be shown at E3. Since there are so many games and it can be difficult for people to see them while also having meetings, this gives us an opportunity to showcase Underworld Ascendant for awards nomination consideration in advance of the show. The event went really well overall and we are keeping our fingers crossed!
Enter the Memoreum
We’ve received a ton of questions about the Memora system and how this ties into the narrative of the Stygian Abyss. What exactly has gone on in this world, and who can you trust?
In our February update, we mentioned how Memora can catalogue information by preserving memories, which has allowed Ishtass and his followers to share knowledge across generations of Lizard Men. As the Abyss has fallen deeper into ruin and becomes threatened by otherworldly forces, you will need to harness the power of the Memora to share what you’ve learned.
This is where Resherak comes in:
Resherak, one of the descendants of Ishtass’s teachings and one of the rare Gray Lizard Men, is the Keeper of the Memoreum in Marcaul. The Lizard Man society is built off of shared knowledge, and Marcaul has become a hub where trade and the exchange of knowledge is highly encouraged. Resherak will reward you for sharing Memora of your traversals into the Abyss, and can allow you to access Memora across time and space to peek into the tactics of previous (and future) adventurers.
You may need all the help you can spare to defeat Typhon…
SyFy Wire Exclusive: Typhon Concept
Speaking of Typhon, we also shared some concept art of Typhon, the Big Bad himself, in an exclusive interview with SyFy Wire.
You can read the interview and see the rest of the concept art image here: http://www.syfy.com/syfywire/underworld-ascendant-sneak-peek
What Lurks in the Abyss…
Since last year, we’ve slowly been teasing the monsters you can encounter in Underworld Ascendant. Need a refresher of what’s to come?
Ghosts, like the Eidolon and Lich, are ethereal creatures that can’t be attacked directly. The player must seek out and destroy their Animus (seen above), which won’t go down without a fight. The core of an Animus is extremely valuable and is used in quests where the player needs to alter the environment. Rare cores may even be able to slow the game’s degrading world state.
While an Eidolon is near, recently slain Skeletons can be resurrected to continue their patrol.
In addition to the hostile creatures in the Abyss, new and long-time fans can look forward to seeing some unusual variants in the ecology, food, and more appearing in The Stygian Abyss.
New Insider Blog!
A number of backers emailed us asking to hear about what it’s like to work as an indie, so this month’s Insider Blog describes distinctions that Will Teixeira, Lead Engineer, has noticed as he transitioned from a Triple-A studio to indie.
You can read it on our site here:https://otherside-e.com/wp/category/uainsiders/
The password is available here (for backers only!):https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant/posts/1901710
Last but not least, we have one final announcement:
WHAT’S NEXT? UNITE BERLIN!
Our Lead Level Designer Justin Pappas (who wrote last month’s insider blog about designing the basic training level of Underworld Ascendant) will be leading a Unity workshop about how to light levels for stealth gameplay in Breakout 2 on June 20, 2018 from 2:15 – 3:15pm CEST.
Click here for more information: https://unite.unity.com/2018/berlin#schedule We will update on our socials if the session is recorded for the public!
This month, we’ve been working closely with Unity on getting the most out of their engine, particularly focused on lighting our levels, and we couldn’t be happier! Here’s a sneak peek at an area you’ll encounter later in the game:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1394290047
That’s all for now! As always, if you want to check in on what we’re working on, we post a weekly update on what our goals for that week are and what’s next. If you haven’t made a Steam account, there’s still time to join us!
We also occasionally post WIP gifs and videos on our socials, so be sure to join our Steam community here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/692840/discussions/0/1696048426805510024/ or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!
Our next biggest news will be coming on June 1st, so stay tuned!
Cheers,
The Team at OtherSide
May 21 Weekly Update - E3 Judge's Day and Fire Arrows!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1392169869
On the dev side, Chris M is back from his vacation in Hawaii, and we're back to working on optimization and tightening up the levels you'll see for the Backer Alpha build. One of our awesome contract animators has also been improving our puppetmaster system for the AI, which has been leading to some really interesting environment interactions. (People tripping over crates you chuck at them in the dark is ALWAYS funny.) I believe we're also working on upgrading to Unity 2018 because there's a bug we've been struggling with for awhile that can apparently be remedied by upgrading, so while we have a breather, that's the first thing on Will's to-do list today.
Lots of big stuff in the works that we an't share about yet either, but once those are further along, you'll be the first to see it! ;)
Also, we finally got to share that .mp4 of using a fire arrow to set another object on fire!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1392178991
Next up, flarechess is going on vacation next week and won't be back until June 4, so there may not be a very fulfilling weekly update on the 28th. :( HOPEFULLY, you'll all be able to forgive us, since we're planning to post some content this week AND the week she's out to tie you all over... also, look forward to June! We'll have another big announcement coming then :D
May 7 Weekly Update
From last week's update, you know that we've been heads-down working on a build for E3, and that continues into this week.
We had a TON of new/revised art assets make their way into the game, and we just pushed: Old door on the left, new door on the right.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1381128819
What makes this change so remarkable is that it was JUST re-texturing the door. A new coat of paint really does make any car look years younger! :)
We've also continued to work on revising certain systems to fine tune gameplay like stealth, which as the Thief postmortem has indicated years ago, can take a long time. Now that localized damage and our new Puppetmaster are in for enemies, we're also making sure that melee combat up close and personal is readable and that you have more control over where and how you swing. I believe up until now, we've just had a placeholder light and heavy attack that only struck in 1 set motion with a sword, and we wanted to make sure that parrying felt right.
There is an insider blog released by Will Teixeira, our Lead Engineer! A few of you have asked about what it's like to work at an indie studio, so we wanted to share what that's like at OSE: https://otherside-e.com/wp/category/uainsiders/
That's it for now!
If you want to jump on over to our forum for more discussion, we have a thread open here:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/692840/discussions/0/1696046342871231891/
April 2018 Newsletter - Crafting an Immersive Sim, PAX East, & More!
Let’s dive in:
Underworld Ascendant at PAX East!
Before having people play the game, we showed off a new trailer for Underworld Ascendant featuring new footage and the incredible vocal talents of Stephen Russell (Cabirus) and Fryda Wolff (Aelita), who we featured in the last newsletter.
If you missed it, check it out here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkT0pZpdmEc
We threw everyone into the game’s first level to help them learn the underlying immersive sim elements of Underworld Ascendant.
As we’ve mentioned, we’ve been working hard to introduce players to the logic-based systems that make up the immersive sim in a way where we teach players to teach themselves — without direct hand-holding.
The opening level is a series of rooms that can be solved in multiple different ways — with some level of experimentation and thought. Internally, we’ve been calling it our “un-training level” level, because we’re attempting to break people of assumptions of how game worlds work in other games.
We’ve also trying to make it not feel like a tutorial level and just be fun on its own. So, that’s a big challenge! But we had more than a hundred people play it over the course of the show, and it garnered a lot of positive response and we gained some excellent feedback.
Many players were quick to pick up on familiar mechanics, and others had a fun time recognizing how real-life physics would matter in the game. For example, a number of players were surprised when they started to pay attention to the listed weights of objects that they were carrying, and finally started to piece together that heavier objects could not be thrown as far.
We also witnessed multiple solutions we’d never seen before. Just when we thought we knew all the possible answers to a problem, someone would come by and demonstrate a logical tactic that we hadn’t known was possible. Many solutions were born out of players testing the limits of the physics and, honestly, we couldn’t have been happier to witness them live!
Special shout-out to those who circled back to the room outside of their appointment time to give Underworld Ascendant another run through with an entirely different skillset and play style. We walked away from PAX East with an enormous amount of useful feedback on how to further refine the level further to make it more fun and the systems more responsive and intuitive to understand.
You can watch our B-roll of the training level here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7vk0oQ6ESg
The Latest Look at the Stygian Abyss
We released a new selection of screenshots along with our demo at PAX East, highlighting some of the new lighting changes we’ve been working on, and a sneak peek at an opportunistic Outcast targeting a Skeleton…
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1377072429
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1377074658
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1377076279
Here’s some press highlights from those who dove into the Abyss:
* Flickering Myth: Underworld Ascendant takes the immersive sim forward in what looks to be a malleable, intuitive experience and we have been able to touch on a mere sliver of what’s to come.
* GameInformer: Underworld Ascendant seems to be seeking to do more with its world than merely telling players to have at it, however, and is trying to be a game that uses its variety and openness to encourage replayability.
* The Sixth Axis: OtherSide are serious about not simply following the same path as Ultima Underworld, [but also] introduce plenty of new aspects that fans of both immersive sims, and RPGs, are going to find hugely compelling.
* GameSpot: Classic Hardcore RPG Gameplay Makes A Big Return In Underworld Ascendant
* Engadget: Underworld Ascendant that illustrates how the reborn dungeon crawler will work
* Rock Paper Shotgun: An RPG that drops you into a space and gives you freedom to explore and engage with the inhabitants with as few restrictions as possible. I want that.
* Destructoid: It’s time to put Underworld Ascendant back on my radar
Alienware Talks with Joe Fielder & Tim Stellmach
We also had the pleasure of being interviewed by Anna Maree from Alienware during PAX East.
Joe and Tim describe the basic premise of what you can expect from the game, and what goes into the design of a game based on highly emergent gameplay. Joe also walks through some elucidation on the magic system and examples of environmental manipulation, and we comment on future features not shown in released B-Roll.
You can watch the segment here on Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/247671462?t=05h20m55s
New Dev Diary: Crafting an Immersive Sim
We’ve also released the second installment in our popular Dev Diaries series, Crafting an Immersive Sim. In this episode, several members of the team — including lead engineer Will Teixeira, lead designer Tim Stellmach, and writer/director Joe Fielder — discuss the design points and mechanics that go into making an immersive sim game.
Dev Diary 2: Crafting an Immersive Sim:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpVdUIXYONA
And in case you missed it, Dev Diary 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE154jOMfR0
New Insider Blog: Designing for Emergent Gameplay
Ever wondered how the tutorial level was designed to accommodate for so many play styles?
Justin Pappas, our Lead Level Designer, gives us for an inside look as to how the tutorial level was crafted in this month’s insider blog! Building for multiple play styles can be challenging, but incredibly rewarding for players. (And we find a lot of bugs along the way!)
Those returning to the Abyss should be advised that some areas of the tutorial may look familiar… consider this a spoiler warning.
You can read it on our site here
https://otherside-e.com/wp/category/uainsiders/
The password is available here (for backers only!)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/othersidegames/underworld-ascendant/posts/1901710
What’s Next?
In May, we’re going to be heads-down and working hard on our next milestone as we prepare for E3. Following that milestone, we’ll have more news to share about the Backer Alpha build for EXPLORER tier Backers and above ($50+).
As always, if you want to check in on our progress, we post a weekly update on our forums detailing what our goals for that week are and what we’ve worked on. If you haven’t made a forum account, now is an exciting time to join us!
We also occasionally post WIP gifs on our socials, like our puppetmaster experimentations on the skeletons.
Be sure to join our Steam community to see some of the latest content between newsletters and let us know what kind of media you’d like to see from us next!
Cheers,
The Team at OtherSide
Want to chat more about this newsletter and update, hop on over the forum and join our discussion!
https://steamcommunity.com/app/692840/discussions/0/1696046342856609971/
Dev Diary #2: Crafting an Immersive Sim
Joe Fielder begins by telling us: “The improvisation engine is a series of interwoven systems that ensures that the game has plenty of variety and challenge for the player.”
The developers discuss how the player’s actions can affect levels, and how they many choices can lead to environmental and narrative consequences.
Interested in learning more? See more about crafting an immersive sim below.
https://youtu.be/HpVdUIXYONA
In case you haven't seen Dev Diary #1: The Vision of an Immersive Sim, check it out here:
https://youtu.be/gE154jOMfR0
🚨NEW UNDERWORLD ASCENDANT TRAILER🚨
We were recently at PAX East and showed off our new trailer and allowed some press and influencers to test the game. The feedback was amazing and quite helpful towards our next steps, but we don't want to spoil it here...
Are you ready prepared to venture into the Abyss? Check out new gameplay footage from:
https://youtu.be/7VLpl3-18fQ
PAX East 2018 Recap
We were pushing hard to make a stable PAX East build for press and influencers to get their hands on, and it would double as a good play test weekend for us. The level that the press were allowed to play will most likely be included and tweaked up for the Alpha backer build. Our Game Director Joe Fielder and Lead Designer Tim Stellmach were interviewed on Alienware live and talked a bit about the game and we showed off some new screenshots from the game. Last, but surely not least, Underworld Ascendant won an award from Marooners' Rock for Writer's Choice Award!
We had a fantastic time and received a lot of great feedback from players and we jotted down noteswhile watching the sessions. This week, we'll be incorporating some of those quick (and long-term) fixes, as well as preparing assets for our next big milestone: E3
If you missed out on the live Alienware interview you can view it on Twitch.tv here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/247671462?t=05h21m
Wishlist Underworld Ascendant Today!
Here are a few shots from our PAX East weekend.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1358865660
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1358869185
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1358871264
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1358872903
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1358876695