THRESHOLD DEMO OUT NOW.
🔥 A 5-10min experience.
🔥 A small and unique story about a character that isn't playable in the Main Game.
🔥 A taste of the mood and environments of the game.
🔥 Unique dialogues and events.
🔥 One Inventory interaction from the main game.
NEW: Rockstar Games is asking all of its employees to return to the office five days a week starting in April for security and productivity reasons as they enter the final stretch of development on Grand Theft Auto VI. (Employees are not thrilled.)
That is absolutely refreshing to see this take.
YES, designing a game should not only be a matter of rational decisions all along the course of development, gut feeling, mood, vibes, THAT is the thing that resonates with players.
People are not machines, they deserve better.
Unreal Engine 5.2 has been released, I tried to use the new PCG framework to generate cliffs by simple shapes, maybe level artists would be interested in it?
#gamedev
#3dart
#UE5
There's a special trait specific to Slav culture that reflects on its game developers and I love it.
They are EXTREMELY good at making the player deal with the idea of scarcity and loss. 🧶
New game goes trending...
Its Developer "This is what happens when you let us make the games we want to make, we hope it's gonna inspire the whole Indust.."
Every other Publisher: "See that new trend? Can you just make this but with our IP?"
Announcing: THRESHOLD.
Put your headset on. Pick your country and start your shift.
I have zero support from a Publisher so I appreciate all the help you can give me to spread the word! 🩷
Wishlist in thread.
I've read a lot of mockery on how Creative Meetings are about to be "So I've played Elden Ring and..." in the next months.
Idk why, I'm absolutely down for every discussion on how they managed to make a not-bland Open World game.
I hope that EVERY studio will get those meetings
I have to admit that the MOOD is one of my first criteria for trying a game out.
It's a bit weird because it doesn't sound like a credible one compared to gameplay, but when you think about it, I do believe that it is at the core of everything.
A thought to all CDPR little hands that did their best and struggled for it.
We were close to that feeling with Dishonored 2 at launch and it was really harsh to endure.
Blaming them is blaming the wrong ones. Blame the economic model, the stock markets, the top management...
@finaldefect
Obviously it depends on your game but I would recommend to be very warry of using the head as the point of detection for NPCs, especially if that's where the camera is. It means you wouldn't be able to lean or take information without being seen.
Also the reason why the weapon's reticle was placed lower than the center of the screen, to encourage people to look up. 😁 Level Design works even better when being greatly supported by Game Design!
Love the level design in Prey 2017! The choices to move through the different rooms picking your own play style. Looking up is definitely beneficial in this game to find some great stuff. The machine, stains and light is a great way to attract players to use the vent opening
We had that constraint in DEATHLOOP too and it was a real challenge for the concert area where I wanted the Musicians to be protected by sealed Glass Bubbles. We had to work on the shapes and angles to make sure you wouldn't be able to align both Bubbles' glass windows.
Fun fact: Most games try to avoid transparencies because it can tank performance and lead to render issues with effects.
The common solution? Really thin dithering! The jar on the left is using dithering while the jar on the right is actually transparent.
🧵(1/2)
In case you didn't know this fun fact:
Dishonored 2 and Titanfall 2 which released within less than two weeks apart from each other featured the exact same level mechanic where you switch of temporality with a special device.
Sometimes, coincidences are something.
I think I may have a clue on why Immersive Sims levels often receive praises on how they are being built.
Maybe it will kick open doors for some but I think it can be interesting to some!
My sister is thinking about shifting towards a Game Dev career, but she has no xp yet and if afraid she's too old for it now (26).
I need your stories to let her know that she can do it! ❤️
I think Bioshock Infinite's debatable flaws made us all overlook how special the architecture and mood of the game were.
Because they were. You don't see that stuff so often.
Everyone, if you want to thank in person the Level Designer behind The Clockwork Mansion of Dishonored 2, The Bank Job of Dishonored Death of the Outsider and many more..
You can! She's on Twitter, and she definitely deserves more credit for her incredible work!
@DanaENight
🥰
In a game world far far away from player's camera... A special kind of horror is surging. LODs.
Here are some screenshots of terrifying eyeless NPC LODs from Dishonored 2 that I got the chance to capture back in the days.
1/ Elden Ring has this very special thing that puts my Western Developer mind to high questioning:
Player is deeply TRUSTED.
IMO, It's been a long time most of our Western culture took a step back from such basic values, especially in Open Worlds.
Personal thoughts in thread!
One of the perks of living in America is to get to know what an actual "realistic death animation" by gunshot is supposed to look like.
How could we possibly compete?
Things rightly mentioned in the replies:
• A visually dense game can still be great. It's up to the devs to find smart ways to solve the potential inherent issues.
• A tool like this is very impressive and will provide a lot of creative power to many, which is nice.
Most underrated game feature :
Dev commentary while playing, when entering specific areas or looking at specific things. Valve keeps doing it marvelously. Showing the way.
Once during Dishonored 2 development, our Lead GPP misclicked and removed the name of each and every bug from the whole database.
Then he did a CTRL+Z and the whole studio servers crashed creating countless other issues.
We were then out of work for the day.
Bless the backups.
I remember finding this "NPC ragdolling in stairs" bug on a pretty late stage of development, the team loved it and GD decided to support it while reducing its frequency.
@lorancou
might know more about this as he was the one who "fixed" it IIRC.
Signed an agreement with Crytek to work, publish and SELL my own personal game. 🥳
Love that company for the trust that it gives to its employees. Really liberating.
Be like Crytek.
James Bond Nightfire.
It pains me for how much this game is being overlooked when you see that the "classic" title is being given to Goldeneye. Nothing but a joke.
Go play that game already and see how much you can raise your standards on the meaning of "classic".
It seems that the "Line of sights Tweets" are having a comeback.
Please, be very careful about those posts as they often over-simplify what Level Design is about.
It leads new devs into false directions and tends to make them think it should be their main concern.
I mainly have 2 games in mind: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and (you guessed it) Pathologic. All made either by Ukrainian teams or Russian ones.
In those games, you are very much dependent on the tiniest piece of garbage you can find in order to just live another day.
On the 1st of June, Crytek will be my new home as a Senior Level Designer. 😊
The projects are great and the teams that I met in interviews were absolutely lovely. Very confident about that one. ❤️
Companies taking those short-term decisions will one day pay for this.
Breaking players and workers trust is one of the worst things that can be done.
History is watching.
Thought about something today.
The way our cultural specificities may alter the way we make games.
How European Levels and an American Levels differentiate from each other...
I found a video of a prototype I made while I was still at Arkane. It led to nowhere eventually. I would have called it: THE LICK or THE LAST FROMAGE.
You're in charge of water-cleaning the last fromage on Earth, exposed to the richest people in the world, lining-up to lick it.
You can sometimes hear that Slavs have the "Cult of Suffering", making hardships a way of life.
From what I gathered, it's really more a matter of:
Coping ; taking the losses, accepting them, enjoying the little joys and wins. Accepting that you won't control everything.
Westerners are usually very reluctant to push the player into difficult choices or take some control from them on the turn of events. Everything is carefully crafted for nothing to fuck-up too much.
It's impressive and badass but you'll just do as you're told.
From a developer who's worked on Dishonored, Deathloop, and Crysis 4 comes the demo for Threshold, a survival horror game about an infinitely running train - and it's your job to keep it going
It is still incredibly pretty.
Nuts how you end-up tunneling on something when working on a game, at release I remember me being like "Wow, how can those streamers find that vista beautiful, there's this thing that isn't right and that too.."
QA really is tough.
One of the things I think we really nailed on "DEATHLOOP" was the amount of little things populating the world, bringing life to the Environment, making it more entertaining and credible.
In the next days I'm gonna post tiny things I've put into Updaam's busy streets.
When entering a new studio, you aren't supposed to know everything.
It will take days or weeks to put you on track with the processes, the people and the game.
Chill out, you aren't a machine and the teams knows it.
If you wanna know how to get the best Concept Artists on the planet, do as Arkane Lyon:
Just have a look at
@EcoleEmileCohl
's students and hire them.
That is exactly what Arkane Lyon did for 20 years.
Video Games Splash Screens disrespecting your ears, a Thread.
Starting with former Arkane (obv) Splash screen on Dishonored.
(to get the full experience, volume at maximum is mandatory)
Pathologic and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will put you in the difficult position of constantly having to trade one cruelly needed item for another.
In both of those games, you have to progress the story but also.... Stay hydrated, Eat, Avoid contamination, Sleep, Manage your stamina...
The Hitman series, and Blood Money in particular, is filled with those:
• Paris Opera.
• New Orleans Carnival.
• The fucking White House.
Cultural landmarks bearing so much resonance on the power that is wielded within them.
Small Level Design Thread about what feels like something expected to create a good Level Design but is not necessarily.
Mostly for students, may kick open doors to other devs.
I'm open to discussion on those points! 😊
#gamedev
#leveldesign
#tips
#Thread
[1/9]
Dishonored's palaces filled with all the most powerful people of the Empire. Big empty rooms with no one to Stealth kill, no unnecessary set of patrols.
Lots of breather space showing how powerful the institutions are, they don't even require gazillions of guards.
We've been experimenting many games prior to Deathloop's production. We had like 2-3 weeks and daily meetings to discuss the features and setpieces of those games:
Dark Souls 3
Ghost Recon Wildlands
The Division
Homefront: The Revolution
Destiny 2
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor
IMO the best Stealth games are the ones that make you infiltrate the holy of holies places.
Just going through series of bases/camps with no history detaches me a lot. I feel less compelled because their relations to the stakes are usually thin, weak.
On the contrary...
We've been working very hard on that game for many years, and it all comes down to these launch days.
It's such a joy to see y'all having fun or soon to be.
That's why we do what we do. ❤️
Managing to sneak into landmarks filled with the weight of History whether they existed or not makes a strong difference.
These are not just random and replaceable locations but intricate parts of a credible world and you're the one breaking into them. Strong power fantasy.
I wish the LGBTQIA+ stickers of Pacific Drive would only appear after the 2 hour playing mark to ruin the day of those who would have refunded it for that reason. 🤞
People are starting to mention that they liked the demo.
It's great because I kinda removed the best parts of the game for that Demo and it felt like it wouldn't be enough.
So, brace yourselves, the game is full of cool/unexpected/never seen before things! 😇
THRESHOLD DEMO OUT NOW.
🔥 A 5-10min experience.
🔥 A small and unique story about a character that isn't playable in the Main Game.
🔥 A taste of the mood and environments of the game.
🔥 Unique dialogues and events.
🔥 One Inventory interaction from the main game.
On top of that you've got the living plague of Pathologic and the Anomalies, Radiation pockets and Psy creatures of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
Stale air, an almost invisible threat being quite reminiscent of the radiations that happened in Prypiat.
The world wants you dead, gotta cope.
One more time:
A studio won't blacklist you for applying.
Whether you're what they need or not at the time you send the application, you are not blacklisted or seen as an awful candidate.
No studio is too good for you, as long as you meet their philosophy and processes.
Then there's also the question of Power:
Assassin's Creed II - Vatican.
You're at the center of the Political superpower that the Vatican was at that time. Yet unseen. You're above what's above the world. How cool is that?
Assassin's Creed has always been great with that.
It makes a very compelling gameplay basis. Sure you have long term goals, but they are very much conditioned to constant day to day surviving efforts until you get to these goals.
So my main work on "DEATHLOOP" was on Updaam - Noon and Afternoon.
@DanaENight
then
@Galiegor
were in charge of Updaam Morning and Evening.
We worked with two lovely Level Artists: Gregoire Neyrand and David Di Giacomo.
@Keranouille
was Lighting Artist on that map.
You also have to deal with many factions, often at odds with each other (S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) pleasing one making you cut ties with another (and I mean radically, they'll try to kill you).
Pathologic tells the story of townsmen and steppe people, conflicting. And YOU in the middle.
Hello! I'm Julien, making levels at Arkane Studios since a few years now.
Here are the principal maps I had the responsibility to bring to the world for Arkane Lyon games.
I also love making tiny stupid systems for people to enjoy.
*pins tweet*