Yesterday, yesterday

So, as a couple of you most likely currently know, Monday, yesterday, was our first main Milestone date. Here's the description of the occasion in the schedule:

Showcases basic player movement and early environmental effects, esp. grass expanding

So that was our aim. Have the engine worked into the level editor so that we can run about, jump around, and grow grass, man.

That almost certainly sounds pretty straightforward, and in the grand scheme of game design and style, I'd venture to say that it is. But easy does not usually equal effortless. In our case, straightforward equals hard. Challenging also equals challenging. And so does medium. Generally every thing is quite difficult. Here's a appear at every thing that went into getting able to run around and grow grass:

22 hand drawn things like these

20 hand drawn frames of this

27 beautifully animated growth frames of this.

And that's only the art that created it by way of our scrutiny. We have piles of assets and character art that just did not make the cut.

And then, that's just the art. On the coding side of items, we're talking a from scratch engine, like a gloriously simple and easy-to-use level editor, animator, and method test tool. The point is a beaut. I remember a long time ago seeking at a video of a Braid level getting built and I thought: nicely, that is outside our budget. And then Matt blew me away with his tool. It is really one thing. You'll get to see it in action fairly soon (tomorrow, the day after?).

This is seriously obtaining thrilling. I am just so more than-the-freakin-moon about how beautiful the game appears and how smoothly it runs. From here, I feel, items are only going to get more and much more impressive!

Stay tuned absolutely everyone!