the Journey Down development blog

[Anian]

At 0:05 (when the character pulls his knee up to step on the door) it looks weird. Right around the top of the bat, something weird happens to the leg area that's just behind the bat. It's no big deal, really hard to notice.

It looks good, looking forward to seeing the textures and what I'm guessing is supposed to be cel shaded renderings.

[theo]

Hey anian thanks for the feedback. I hadn't noticed that little leg-glitch, I'll nag Henrik about it As for textures, I think we're going almost 100% texture free, we will however do some form of cel shading, how exactly that turns out is still up to the gods though. Stay tuned, I say.

We've just updated the devblog with a little sneak peek at the Dockmaster's voice. Click his non-rendered portrait to check it out over at the slxgames website:



As always, feedback is mucho appreciato. 

[Igor Hardy]

Quick question: Do you intend for the eyes, mouths and other bodily orifices to remain pitch black? I think the characters might look more alive with some "inner light" coming from "behind the masks" (so to speak).

[theo]

That's actually still sort of unspecified. All I know is that I want them all to follow the same look, whatever path I may choose. I agree that the pitch black look does kill off quite a lot of potential emotion. In short: We'll see:)

[Armageddon]

I was expecting a more old man croaky type voice.

[theo]

Armageddon: Heh, well I'm afraid you won't always get what you expect in the HD version, let's just hope we come close enough to keep everyone happy:)

Here's another new screenie from the devblog. I'm happily painting away on the new room backdrops while Henrik keeps playing around with our rendering pipeline. Mathias has started scratching his head delving into the spaghetti code of the AGS engine, and Markus is, well, busy with other things.  8)'



Man I'd love to give Bwana unique frames in here sort of squeezing his body together against the cold. What a truly bad idea.  :

[Armageddon]

NEW BACKGROUNDS!

I don't remember that room in the game, so it is new?

[Stupot]

The freezer room is one of what I think will end up being five separate completely new rooms for the HD version of the Journey Down.

[theo]

Mostly keeping to myself here but thought I should drop a quick line and mention that stuff is moving along nicely on the Journey Down HD project. Here's one of the more recent pictures I've been working on. It's the updated version of the Gas n charter interior. Hope you like it! I did quite a lot of changes to it, all for the better if you ask me.



This is the only room in the game that has gone through such a hefty rehaul. Most other rooms have just been cleaned up, but with this one I even changed the camera's angle. Madness!

Your positive comments are as always, appreciated and your gripey ones are (as is my tradition) ignored!

In other news I have recently become a father and am spending most of my sapient time changing diapers. I'm already seeing a shift in pooping-patterns which allow me more time for drawing though, so maybe this whole father business isn't so cataclysmic to my work on the JD as I thought it would be.

[Joseph DiPerla]

I love everything about this so far! Keep it up.

[Armageddon]

Mostly keeping to myself here but thought I should drop a quick line and mention that stuff is moving along nicely on the Journey Down HD project. Here's one of the more recent pictures I've been working on. It's the updated version of the Gas n charter interior. Hope you like it! I did quite a lot of changes to it, all for the better if you ask me.



This is the only room in the game that has gone through such a hefty rehaul. Most other rooms have just been cleaned up, but with this one I even changed the camera's angle. Madness!

Your positive comments are as always, appreciated and your gripey ones are (as is my tradition) ignored!

In other news I have recently become a father and am spending most of my sapient time changing diapers. I'm already seeing a shift in pooping-patterns which allow me more time for drawing though, so maybe this whole father business isn't so cataclysmic to my work on the JD as I thought it would be.

Congratulations man!

As for the background I'm not really a huge fan of the plants. And the lighting looks more yellow than the original. I'm glad you shifted the perspective, I spent at least 10 minutes trying to leave this room because I couldn't find that door. Also the fan looks way more detailed than the rest of the room.

[Crimson Wizard]

I want to say I am very glad you are making a hires version. I remember that characters looked not very good (too much pixelated) on some scenes where strong scaling was applied to them. Also hires suits better for your drawing style.

There's one guy around here, known as Pinback, who draws amazing steampunkish art; I really hope he will follow your example  

Not sure about 3d characters though... but we'll see.

[theo]

Joseph DiPerla: Thank you. Your encouragement is appreciated!

Armageddon: The "leave room at bottom of screen" issue you mention is one of the key reasons why I detest one point perspective rooms. Thanks for agreeing with me here! As for yellow, yes, this version is brighter than the original, and hence, more yellow. The old version of the interior was a lot darker and gloomier, especially at the back. I wanted more of a "home sweet home" feeling, so I added more warmth. As for the plants, I agree, they could use a brush up some day if time permits.

Crimson Wizard: Yeah, I too would like to see Pinback, and another couple of artists around here, go all high res suicidal like me:) As for 3d characters.... the first person I gotta convince is myself.

If anyone is interested, I just posted a preview of Bwana's voice over at the dev-blog! Please check it out and leave some feedback! Your opinion is asked for!

[theo]

Aaaand today we posted a sample of what Kito sounds like. Please head on over to the devblog and check it out!

[Chicky]

Love the voice samples Theo, great casting!

[theo]

Thanks Chicky, appreciate it! We've spent A LOT of time finding the right actors for the job. I'm incredibly happy to have landed with such a competent team. They are delivering way beyond my expectations. Glad you like the sound of 'em.

[markbilly]

Just read through a couple of months worth of the dev blog - I've been out of the AGS loop for while - and I have to say this is coming along BRILLIANTLY. I love the 3D animation work you've done.

[theo]

Thanks Markbilly! Glad you find the blog interesting, we're doing our best at keeping it updated and at least pseudo relevant   

We've updated the blog today actually with a sneak peek of the voice of Lina. Check it out and tell us what you think!

[Armageddon]

I've gotta say, I'm very impressed with that Bwana model. I know it's not finished but here are a few nit picking things I noticed.

-His hair isn't exactly looking right at the top, and it doesn't curve around.

-His torso looks too strong, and it looks like it's from Nord.

-Pants cuffs at the bottom are too thick.

-Doesn't have a curve to him.

-Doesn't look as tall and fore head is less bulging.

I love the shoes, and didn't even notice the pocket was on the wrong side.

[mode7]

Just noticed the models and I must say its amazing how well the 3d Bwana resembles the 2D one. Way to go!