DEVBLOG III

Since last June, we've released several demo updates, and attempted to launch our Kickstarter campaign. Unfortunately, it didn't pan out as we would have like, but that okay, we didn't count on any such luck to reach success, and we still welcome to the challenge of completing the game without it!

We're planning to release a new demo version again soon, featuring a lot of new updates that's more indicative of what the final game will look like, so you can stay tuned for that!

In the mean time, here's another devblog from yours truly, the project lead, Andrew:

Odyssey is a very text heavy game, it was the goal from the start to do as much as possible with the game's dialogue as possible, however, Odyssey is far more than just blocks of text thrown at the player, let's break it down even further.

I. What is a "Cutscene"?

A cutscene, at least in Odyssey is a time in the game where the player has control over nothing but the pace, or selection of dialogue. They have no ability to engage with the game's environment or menus. We sometimes also use the word "cinematic" nearly interchangeably with "cutscene", too.

So anytime the player doesn't have direct control is cutscene, sounds easy enough, what could go wrong? Depending on the cutscene, quite a bit could go wrong. It's important to realize that cinematics are not just a device for delivering information to the player, it's a vessel to help transport the player into the scene. At first, I was satisfied with just letting the dialogue play over a stylized box with a character portrait, as seen below, but in the long term, this deeply dissatisfied me.

It felt largely incomplete, and amateur, I was convinced I could do better. This led to the creation of two new "themes" for cutscenes. The first one was a "default" theme, which replaced the orange box with a sleekly outlined grey one, it is used in smaller cutscenes, ones often deemed "less important" than major scenes in the game. It works for informationals, like examining objects, or reading signs.

The second theme is largely referred to as "Cinematic Mode", and it offers a lot more range to a scene that first expected. As can be noted, when activated, it forms cinema style letterboxes on the screen, creating a film-like 16:9 aspect ratio. It colours in the speaker's name, which helps it stand out more, and uses less text space.

Cinematic Mode is a subtly altering the player's perspective of the world. Suddenly they are less aware of the cutscene itself, and this allows them to more easily enjoy the experience. Now that we have the player dialed in, it's time to let the theater do its job, but our work isn't finished; actually, it's only just begun.

II. Screenplay -- the Art of the Screen

It's not enough to dim the lights and make it look a movie, cinematics still need to engage the player, even if only a little bit at a time.

Movement and animation are my greatest tools for the job. I'm not satisfied letting talking heads do all the work, so move the characters around. Nearly all characters who show up in a cinematic also have their own "cinematic" animations, used for them. They often include gesturing, or sitting, things of that nature. We can also use the camera to animate the scene, as well. If the camera is still for too long, the scene often feels stagnant. The easiest way is to simply pan between the characters who are talking, but we can also pan around to objects or nice looking sets to keep things varied up.

Use the environment! We can animate till the end of the earth, but we have more than that! We have objects that move, like wind chimes, or we can light up some torches to create a more visually dynamic appearance! The braziers being lit brings a lot more depth than just being extinguished the whole time. Even better because the fire/light they emit is animated, giving even MORE movement to the scene!

Essentially, locomotion is key! Knowing how, when, and why to move a cinematic is key to success!

You must also remember that your game is a game, and "fun" needs to take precedence over your silly little story that's going win awards, I'm sure. You must strike a balance that the player will never catch on to. Cutscenes need to feel like the player has made progress.

As an example, I have prepared one of the game's level geometry, complete with its dialogue triggers, which are circled on the intended path the player must walk on.

As you can see, in a short period of time, we throw the player into three cutscene, which can be a bit tedious. The player is learning a lot of new information, and also encounters their first "mutant", which is enough for me to justify keeping it in the game. Afterwards, their free to roam, eventually moving along the targeted path. To guide the player (on the west side of the road), I originally placed another short dialogue. However noble my intentions were, I absolutely loathed playtesting the level and getting stopped for a fourth time after finally being allowed freedom. The character interaction is cute, but annoying to the player to be forced to stop all their momentum AGAIN to humour the characters.

tl;dr It had to go.

Don't be afraid to cut, cut, cut! If what you've added destroys the pacing, let it go, the game will be better for it in the long run!

III. Music & Sound -- a world in a world, in a world

Sound is probably our second most powerful tool. Some might argue that it's actually the most important tool of all, but I disagree in this scenario.

When creating a cinematic in Odyssey, sound and music are the final things to get added. When first imagining our world of cutscenes, cutscenes originally moved all on their own, in accordance to the line of dialogue. All dialogue is voiced, so there's no real need to read it. This led to the concept that all scenes important enough would have their own musical score attached to flow the scene even more. The inability to interact with the scene felt highly unnatural though, so it was quickly ditched for the current approach. However, that changed how music should be approached. Rather than relying on fully cinematic score to carry through, we now needed to account for players holding on certain text blurbs for a potentially infinite amount of time. Thus we needed to create musical loops that could continue the tone indefinitely. We prepared a large set of stingers that would play, and then wait for player to hit the next beat before carrying on with a loop of music. This helps set the tone, and then carry on the music as intended.

There are also many scenes that don't actually require music. Since we pay so much attention to the sound design of our game, we sometimes let the ambience, or action speak for itself. In all honesty, it is far more art than science, so I encourage you to find the best balance for your project.

If you're interested in what our recording sessions look like, you can check out even more behind the scenes right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgYyfxnuqV4&ab_channel=OdysseyofDremid'ir

IV. Conclusion

There's a lot more I could discuss about our cutscenes, but that gets more into the technical side, like how our game handles variables for scenes, such as having party member A, B, and C, as opposed to party member A, B, and D, but those variations really discuss themselves -- it's a challenge nonetheless.

To sum up, cutscenes are a powerful tool for a story based adventure RPG like ours! You must figure our how to optimize each scene, while keeping the player interested, and not going too overboard all at the same time. It's a very fine, underappreciated art!