KYORA Dev Blog #3 - Environment Design

Hey everyone! Anders here, Art Director on KYORA. In our last dev blog, Felix kindly walked us through the world generation that builds the foundation of KYORA. Today I want to dig a little deeper and talk to you about what goes on top of that foundation: environment design!

Many of us on the team have had the pleasure of working on Core Keeper which means we’re pulling in all of our experience and learnings to KYORA’s design process. Our aim with KYORA is to create environments that aren’t just cool to look at, but are also an active part of the adventure; mechanically and narratively.

Exploration: Inviting Players to ‘Dig’

So, how do we fill an entirely destructible pixel world with mystery, adventure and life?

KYORA’s destructible environment poses a really interesting challenge when it comes to building a coherent, fun play space.

We want you to feel that ‘just a little deeper’ pull to keep exploring the tunnels and see what’s around the corner. Our generation system is designed to create that feeling naturally. Shaping multiple routes and letting interesting details peek out at the edge of your screen to spark curiosity. To support this, initial sketches are made to guide visual flow and atmosphere. This early stage is all about visual flow and generating a sense of adventure. Things like hazards and challenges are layered in during later passes, as we move toward the more ‘action’-focused parts of environment design.

This gives us a really fun challenge when developing KYORA: how do you balance a player’s freedom to alter the environment with our need to design and curate spaces?

Well, you build playgrounds.

We develop our scenes understanding that you will probably blast right through levels if you want to. At some point you'll want to rip them apart for resources, and you might not always enter from the pathways we, or the world generation, have laid out for you. Putting aside preciousness, we want these spaces to look and feel good to play around in first and foremost.

There’s been a recent social media trend where people make the thing exist first and then get to polishing it up, well that’s exactly what we’re doing here. Specific details are added later. The playground is there, we just need to make sure you understand that there are multiple ways to read and interact with it.

We also use this framework to build on creating environments that generate emotional connection. For example, our first biome, where you’ll be introduced into KYORA’s world, has an almost cozy, bright feeling with lush grass, rolling hills and Ghibli-esque clouds. The space feels safe and welcoming to allow us to contrast the late-game biomes, and give more gravitas to the idea of exploring outside of here.

Technically speaking…

The process of creating a fully-realised biome from blocky sketches varies from scene to scene and biome to biome. Scenes like the skull cave (below) were generated by our (awesome) engine tools using our artist’s silhouettes. This lets us see the scale of the scene in-game instantaneously, giving us more time to piece together the puzzle of level design before polishing the details and adding more depth.

Steam post image Skull test created by using the in-engine toolset

Some other areas are developed in a more modular way. Our artists have created what we call ‘tilestamps’ that can be used to put down more generic set pieces to later be tweaked and changed to fit the vibe we’re trying to achieve. It also means that we can easily adjust a scene without needing to redraw anything from scratch!

“But what does this mean for me???”

The great news is that these toolsets will be available in one form or another for you to try out in early access. Beyond the worldbuilding, narrative and scenes we’re building, we want you to have just as much fun and creative freedom as possible in KYORA. It’s going to be really exciting to see what you all build!

All Roads lead to Roam(ing)

Designing around destructible pixels is both our biggest challenge and our favourite part of the development process. How do you design a path when the player can just make their own? Well, resources suggest alternative routes. An open path might entice you to go your merry way down a tunnel without having to pull out your pickaxe, but you’ll probably miss all the precious resources along the way! Materials will mark spaces that can be excavated and who knows where. Maybe following them will bring you to unexpected outcomes…

Throw enough pixels at a wall and you might just make something beautiful

That’s a sneak peek into how we’re thinking about building the world of KYORA. It’s a process that blends art, tech, and a healthy respect for the chaos you will inevitably bring. We’re proud of the foundation we’re building and we’re excited to see what mark you leave on it.

Coming up

Following our reveal in the game awards we saw feedback and requests from the community about player visuals. Well, we are glad to say that we’re acting on it! In a future blog post we’re diving deep into character customisation. That blog post will be all about making your character truly feel like yours, from outfits to moustaches.

We are still working on the weapons and armour systems, but for now, here is a sneak peek of a half-naked player in action.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts. What kind of environments are you most excited to explore? Let us know in the comments or join our official KYORA Discord.

See you in the next one!

Anders