Introduction

My name is Paul Harden and I'm the Art Lead on this project! This writing is meant to be a general introductory post about the formation of some of the design and aesthetic ideas for Whispering Abyss, some of the initial concepts from brainstorming, as well as some of the technical methodology. The first few sets of goals revolved around solidifying a certain overall style or look of the game, which is still somewhat of an ongoing process. We spent the first week or so collecting images and curating categorized moodboards for the pillars of our Character, Environment, Enemies and Items.

My task specifically was put some research into a feasible and attractive art style that was going to be technically viable for our programmers and cohesively frame our game world feel and narrative. Some artists and myself went through a number of tutorials recreating very specific looks from existing titles. While some of it might've been a little more technically-dazzling, using a certain cel-shaded style gives the game that old console look. Below are some renders of simple found assets with this effect applied. The slight muddying and smudging of the colors allows us to paint or texture loosely and still have a unique effect on objects and motion.

Environment

I also worked with the programmers to create this simple brick wall room that is randomly generated at runtime, a staple of the roguelite. I used Blender and created a brick wall generator that works with most shapes, but we stuck with something square and even geometrically for now. I created wall pieces that spawn in when there is not a room adjacent, and disappear when there is, and this is where some type of doorway structure will go to connect the rooms. Implementing the room model into the logic of the random room generation was super simple and is so far pretty stable at even hundreds of rooms. Eventually, we'd like other elements of the game to have some form of randomness as well, like where chests might show up, the exit or boss room, and what kind of enemies might spawn in what rooms. I think a stretch goal would also be to break the uniformity amongst the rooms and do much more organically shaped spaces since these are cavernous/dungeon-like areas.

Enemies

I also helped concept some enemy types and created what might be some form of recurring enemy or environmental hazard. This tentacle creature is part of our "Corrupted" aspect of the world and the dangers that exist down in this Abyss. This might spawn from cracks in the floor or walls, and can easily be reskinned to reflect a number of element archetypes. The modeling was super simple as was the bone structure and rig for animating. The texture was a quick and loose paint right on the model in Blender and baked as a single image. This was also pretty simple to implement a model, it's texture, and animations into Unity once all the pieces were together. The process for making it was decently easy and relatively quick and every part is editable and replaceable at any time. We like the idea of the structure of the models being lower-resolution, but the texture/shader combination being a lot of the artistic value of objects, characters and scenery.

Items

While testing the shaders and the overall look of everything I wanted to see more objects with this effect. Items may drop from chests in this game, also classically akin to the roguelite, so I modeled, texture painted, and imported this chest in the same fashion as the tentacle. As the development process continues, we'll have a clearer need for more things and the places they'll occupy. I plan to keep updating and tweaking all of these smaller components until we hone in on the look and feel that can really compliment our creepy, but action-packed narrative and gameplay designs.