Visual Development Log - #1

Introduction

I’m not exactly sure how to introduce this log since, in reality, this is Development Log #7. I know it says #1, but that’s because the real 1 - 6 is on the official Discord. I guess I’ll start off with how Isometric World’s Demo has been progressing visually.

Completion of UI

A little over 2 months ago, I began work on a new UI update. The goal was to upgrade the old UI style to ones that match the new graphical assets on the game’s Steam page.

Before, the style was minimalistic with just hexagons and faux circuits.

In-Game UI v1

I’m sure it looks ok, but I know it could be better, and I was right!

August 5th, I finished the Major UI Update. All in-game UI styles ranging from images to animations have been touched up and polished! They look SO much better!

SPOILER WARNING

Development Log #7 Clip A - New UI Update!

Now THAT’S some UI! The best part is that with the update, the animations are reusable. This means that it won’t be hard at all to slap in UI elements whenever I need them!

There are also a lot more changes and additions that weren’t added in the clip. However, I think it’s best not to show them for now for the sake of keeping bigger parts of the content a surprise.

…And now for the stuff I can actually show and NOT spoil :D!

Upgrading Cole... Again

How It Began

Something I thought about doing while working on the Major UI Update was remodeling Cole again.

For those of you who aren’t filled in on who he is, he’s the main character in the game.

See the thing is with me, I try to give the best I can with my current experience and budget, which is 6-years and out of my own pocket.

I’m not at a high level of detail with models. Just to be clear, I mean photorealistic. That kind of stuff takes a lot more time than 6 years of self-taught modeling and animation.

I am, however, experienced enough to create optimized and visually pleasing models in low poly. Although low poly doesn’t seem as impressive as photorealism, the time it takes to make them is still a lot. More specifically, when creating fully rigged characters.

Cole v4 is an exception!

How It Went

You see, before I decided to fully remodel him, I created a mesh base of a sketch I made for the reference of Cole v4.

Reference Sketch

It didn’t take long to create the mesh base from the sketch. It did, however, take a little to fix some geometrical dents and n-gons.

To say it in familiar terms, it’s like having dents in your skin and oddly geometric birthmarks. Nothing wrong with having either just to be clear. However, in the 3D world, it’s a problem.

Something else that was a bit of a time consumer was changing the body from muscular to a little more… “fluffy” if that makes any sense. Pretty much an “anti-muscle” version.

Didn’t really take long though, just some scaling and edge adjustments here and there, and BAM… muscles be gone. Come to think of it, why say time consumer if it wasn’t really a big challenge. Wasn’t really a challenge either… maybe I should grab a dictionary after this. That is assuming the word’s not a limerick.

Hope I used the word correctly…

How It's Going

Anyway, yesterday (9/25/21) I finished creating Cole’s clothing and rig polishing. He’s now currently being animated!

The difference between v3 of his model and v4 is fairly significant. Besides his boost in detail and close appearance to the new reference, he’s definitely more versatile with expressions.

Development Log #7 Clip B - Cole v3 vs Cole v4!

Something I’m really fond of with the rig is that Cole actually has eyes instead of flat planes and cylinders. He even has a mouth I can animate which will give me the ability to lip-sync him to voice lines if I want to.

Speaking of voice lines…

Audio and Script Progress

Voice-Lines

A few days ago, thanks to the help of DatVoiceGuy on Twitter, the story and first-level introduction are officially complete!

Writing scripts for sections of the games is a task that takes a fair amount of time. To make sure the scene and dialogue work hand in hand, I have to take these factors into account:

• Does the scene match the progression of previous events?

• Do Cole’s tone and personality match the atmosphere?

• Do Cole’s lines match his personality?

• Does the progression of expression and tone flow naturally?

• Are there any logical errors that can break the scene?

• How will the scene be split between sequencing and player interaction?

These factors have to be satisfied before I make a script draft ready for recording.

Writing a section for the game isn’t the only task that takes time. Recording the lines themselves take time as well!

During recording, sometimes D and I run into tone translation and phonetic problems. What I mean is that sometimes a tone can be hard to describe due to it being specific. Thankfully though, D can translate my struggle to results that are worth every cent and second spent!

As for phonetics, some sentences can be somewhat challenging on the tongue. When that happens, I rephrase the sentence by removing a word entirely or replacing it with a synonym. This is rare but has some pretty great results.

Music

Voice lines aren’t the only audio assets that bring the game to life, Music has its own role to play as well!

Something to note is that while D gives Cole his voice, I do… pretty much everything else. Programming, Animation, Modeling, 2D Art, Music Composition, and so forth. Not complaining either by the way. I like having multiple skills since it gives me the chance to have more control over the final results.

Communication is not exactly my strong suit when it comes to teamwork. Teamwork isn’t something I’m best at either, but I manage.

Back to the topic of music, when I create a track, just like writing a script, I have important factors to keep in mind:

• What atmosphere does the track need to give?

• How does the song need to be composed in terms of layout?

• What is the balance between synthesizer and “organic” sounds?

• Does the track need to be rendered a certain way?

These are just for designing the tracks. The actual production takes a while since I have to do a lot of balancing and post-processing. Sometimes I may even have to do some sound design to create the “right” sound for the track.

What I find fun during production is playing with the parameters on my synths to evolve the sound.

The best example is the most recent audio preview I posted yesterday. The arp sequence, in the beginning, is a result of filter control, modulation, and reverb where applicable.

Translation: Like effects, numbers can be your best friends.

Isometric World: Frame of Mind - OST Preview!

I just left the video titled “OST Preview” since the real name of the song will be revealed in due time.

Another one of those things I can’t spoil without giving away too much until the game’s public. Just like the content to be seen in the Demo and Full game, I’m sure you’ll like what you see ;)!

TL;DR:

To summarize:

• Pretty shapes and colors

• New models and animations

• Voice line and story updates

• Music production progress

Hope you enjoyed reading the first public log. Some content and lines from Revue were removed during the translation here due to them being specific to the newsletter.

Revue and Discord work together, what I refer to as hybrid, to get logs out faster. If you want to get notified when get's published right away, you can subscribe to the newsletter, join the official Discord server, or follow the official Twitter.

Links for socials are on the Steam Page. As for Revue, here's the link: Revue Link

I recommend joining DIscord or following the official Twitter for frequent posts as Development Logs take a while to post since they require more content and detail than regular posts.

Until the next log!

• L