What changed
0 fixes1 addition3 changes0 removals
changedSo Elsie has a bunch of procedurally-generated levels. Walk us through the process for procedural generation?At the start, when I tried to generate a whole stage, it took so much effort to make platforming challenges that felt natural and placing enemies in places to give players appropriate obstacles. It was challenging to generate something that always felt right to the player so I had to get another solution. I landed on a hybrid solution of hand-crafted the rooms themselves with some randomness inside the rooms then procedurally stitching rooms together to create the whole stage. This approach gave me enough control for the moment to moment while giving players a little bit of a refresh after each death.
changedWhat were some of the big challenges during development?Pedro: Like most indie teams, we have been faced with, what's probably the most common challenge, funding! For around 6 years, we have worked on Elsie part-time completely self-funded. We also had to deal with a revolving door of team members, making it difficult to keep the same style and quality throughout the project, particularly in the art. We are extremely grateful to Playtonic for publishing the game, and assisting with development funds to get the game out the door, and helping us maintain the same team 'til the end of production.
addedWhat inspired the cyberpunk setting?Pedro: Elsie was always somewhat cyberpunk-ish since its inception, but we took a hard shift into the current cyberpunk style when I came onto the project around 2018. The project received a major overhaul, which included this new vibrant, neon, flashy aesthetic. We wanted something that caught the eye at a glance and intrigued folks to check it out further!
changedWhat was the design process for the various world biomes?Pedro: Being old-school game lovers, we definitely stayed in the traditional "elemental" biomes, but wanted to give them some flare artistically. The first environment we designed was the Eclipse Skyport. It was meant to be the "wind" biome, but we shifted away from "wind" or "air" and just more towards a "sky" vibe, where there was a machine that lifted the city underneath into the sky. We've got the usual suspects of fire, nature, ice, and lightning as well, but each with their own distinct feel, style, enemies, and music to really immerse you into the level!
Elsie changes
changedAt the start, when I tried to generate a whole stage, it took so much effort to make platforming challenges that felt natural and placing enemies in places to give players appropriate obstacles. It was challenging to generate something that always felt right to the player so I had to get another solution. I landed on a hybrid solution of hand-crafted the rooms themselves with some randomness inside the rooms then procedurally stitching rooms together to create the whole stage. This approach gave me enough control for the moment to moment while giving players a little bit of a refresh after each death.
changedPedro: Like most indie teams, we have been faced with, what's probably the most common challenge, funding! For around 6 years, we have worked on Elsie part-time completely self-funded. We also had to deal with a revolving door of team members, making it difficult to keep the same style and quality throughout the project, particularly in the art. We are extremely grateful to Playtonic for publishing the game, and assisting with development funds to get the game out the door, and helping us maintain the same team 'til the end of production.
addedPedro: Elsie was always somewhat cyberpunk-ish since its inception, but we took a hard shift into the current cyberpunk style when I came onto the project around 2018. The project received a major overhaul, which included this new vibrant, neon, flashy aesthetic. We wanted something that caught the eye at a glance and intrigued folks to check it out further!
changedPedro: Being old-school game lovers, we definitely stayed in the traditional "elemental" biomes, but wanted to give them some flare artistically. The first environment we designed was the Eclipse Skyport. It was meant to be the "wind" biome, but we shifted away from "wind" or "air" and just more towards a "sky" vibe, where there was a machine that lifted the city underneath into the sky. We've got the usual suspects of fire, nature, ice, and lightning as well, but each with their own distinct feel, style, enemies, and music to really immerse you into the level!
Sup folks! As we draw closer to our next exciting announcement for Elsie, we wanted to throw some questions at the Knight Shift team about game development and how Elsie came running and gunning into the world!
Check it out!
What inspired you to create Elsie?
Alex: When I started my journey to become an indie game dev, it was a daunting and challenging path. The initial steps were pretty difficult, filled with lots of uncertainty. To make the journey more enjoyable and sustainable, I decided to create a game inspired by some of my all-time favorites from my childhood, such as Super Metroid and the Mega Man X series!
So Elsie has a bunch of procedurally-generated levels. Walk us through the process for procedural generation?
Alex: Procedural generation is pretty simple, it's just generating an output based on some rules. The hard part is learning and iterating through those rules. I spent many months testing different variations for our levels until I found a good fit. I went for overly complex generation to simple rules and over time I landed on keeping it rather simple and focusing on the more hand-crafted experiences.
At the start, when I tried to generate a whole stage, it took so much effort to make platforming challenges that felt natural and placing enemies in places to give players appropriate obstacles. It was challenging to generate something that always felt right to the player so I had to get another solution. I landed on a hybrid solution of hand-crafted the rooms themselves with some randomness inside the rooms then procedurally stitching rooms together to create the whole stage. This approach gave me enough control for the moment to moment while giving players a little bit of a refresh after each death.
What were some of the big challenges during development?
Pedro: Like most indie teams, we have been faced with, what's probably the most common challenge, funding! For around 6 years, we have worked on Elsie part-time completely self-funded. We also had to deal with a revolving door of team members, making it difficult to keep the same style and quality throughout the project, particularly in the art. We are extremely grateful to Playtonic for publishing the game, and assisting with development funds to get the game out the door, and helping us maintain the same team 'til the end of production.
What inspired the cyberpunk setting?
Pedro: Elsie was always somewhat cyberpunk-ish since its inception, but we took a hard shift into the current cyberpunk style when I came onto the project around 2018. The project received a major overhaul, which included this new vibrant, neon, flashy aesthetic. We wanted something that caught the eye at a glance and intrigued folks to check it out further!
What was the design process for the various world biomes?
Pedro: Being old-school game lovers, we definitely stayed in the traditional "elemental" biomes, but wanted to give them some flare artistically. The first environment we designed was the Eclipse Skyport. It was meant to be the "wind" biome, but we shifted away from "wind" or "air" and just more towards a "sky" vibe, where there was a machine that lifted the city underneath into the sky. We've got the usual suspects of fire, nature, ice, and lightning as well, but each with their own distinct feel, style, enemies, and music to really immerse you into the level!
Eric, how did you decide what music would fit the game's aesthetic?
Eric: For Elsie, I started by
