Evolution of ‘Phantaruk’ was an interesting experience. It turned out that the final vision of the game.Despite appearance of newwe know what we stand on.
Firstly, I would like to tell you about evolution of graphics. At the beginning, we wanted to make a 3D game based only on pixel art. Shortly after, we faced various issues, e.g. we wanted to show a little element (let’s say batteries) but the number of pixels per dimension unit was too small to Some time later, we decided to improve the graphical style and add more pixels. It turned out pretty cool (see: the picture below) but it still wasn’t it. Finally, we left pixel art and choosed realistic style.
Of course, difficulty in presenting some of the elements wasn’t the main problem. We decided for this step mostly because we want to have the biggest possible immersion. We want the player to empthise with the main protagonist.
Below, you can see a screen with the progress of changes in graphics of Phantaruk.
Second issue, more important than how the game looks. is mechanics. We implemented changes, some of are:
- Half-open world. Of course, it’s hard to call a closed spaceship ‘an open world’ but now you will be able to get to every part of the ship almost without limitations. You can go anywhere if you find out how to get to another section.
- A story won’t lead the gameplay, it will be just a background. You won’t have to dig in to end the game but it will be helpful in many situations.
- Focusing on survival. No light in range and no batteries in inventory? A monster treads on our heels and door is not open yet? Somebody must have not read the audiologs carefully.
- Coop and VR support. We decided to create a cooperation mode for two players and allow using VR googles in the game.
Some additional info:
- We changed sites where info about the game can be found (phantaruk.com, indiedb/phantaruk),
- We rebuilt the forum to be friendlier to new-users (phantaruk.com/forum)
- We finished the prototype and currently we have 60% of elements of the game complete.
That’s all for now.
See you next time.And don’t forget to like us here: www.facebook.com/phantaruk
