Concise Development Diary #2

Even if the release is not quite around the corner yet, I'm happy to say that I'm roughly 75% done with the locations for EMPTY SHELL 2 : )

Now, even once I reach 100% of this, there will still be other things left to do, but I'm trying to focus on this task because I consider it by far the longest one, especially when it comes to environment design.

Every single container, shelf, barrel, cable on the floor, squeaking ventilation fan, rock in a field, every object the volunteers will encounter during their mission is placed by hand, and I'll admit that sometimes I probably spend way too much time deciding whether a metal container works well in a certain spot or if it would look better 0.24 units to the right!

My wrist is not particularly happy about this : (

It would actually be possible to script various things to speed up the process, but the result wouldn't be that vertex-by-vertex hand-made kind of game I'd really like to deliver to you as soon as possible : )

As a side note, I'm actually considering developing a system to generate fully procedural secondary areas (and quests) to be added on top of the handcrafted ones, but that's something I'll think about once the game is complete, just to understand if and how more "generic" environments could actually add value and blend well with the rest of the locations.

In any case, the volunteers won't be forced to explore all the locations to finish the game. Many will be optional, but they'll lead to interesting side quests, valuable loot, and the discovery of more details about the island's current situation, the past... and the future.

That said, I leave you with a short gif of some new areas the volunteers will have to explore to complete their new, long, terrifying mission, that will lead them through old abandoned control rooms, cold, narrow, crumbling corridors, somehow still functioning industrial areas whose purpose has been lost over the decades, and strange structures of unknown function.

Speak soon, volunteers.