SUBSEQUENTED - 3D Sci-Fi Point&Click Adventure

jakub

Hi, this is Jakub from Prague!

I've been working and learning hard over the last year and I am happy to introduce to you my project called SUBSEQUENTED.

It's 3D sci-fi point&click adventure focused on gradually uncovering the story, exploring the world, searching/using objects, solving logic puzzles and talking with NPC's. It's developed in Unity engine with Adventure Creator plugin which is amazing tool by the way (thanks Chris)!

I have a fully playable build now but there is still lot of work in front of me.
I want to release the demo version this winter.

Here are some screens from the development of the ladies toilets, because as everybody knows, every sci-fi point&click adventure has its own toilets. Next screens will follow!

And here is the webpage of SUBSEQUENTED: http://www.subsequentedgame.com/

Description: As the main female character Lensen Vicky - geneticist employed at the research facility - you have to go on a very long and difficult journey leading to rescue your brother, the last surviving member of your family.

Journey so long that you might not survive to witness its end...

How far can you get?


What do you think of these first screens?
And what do you think, is anybody still interested in adventure games today?

Thanks and bye!
Jakub


The original white-box design:




The design has changed a bit and I added texture:




After a few (a lot of!) hours with Blender and playing with Unity lighting:

Alverik

Hey nice! the locations are looking good, but unless you are aiming for an "unnaturally clean" look, I'd advise you to put some subtle decals with dirt and/or stains or scratches in you world, specially on the floors and walls, but you can put them everywhere you need to look more "lived" or realistic. Just don't go crazy with the dirt unless you want a post apocalyptic feel xD. 

Anyways, these kind of small detail are best left for decals, not texturing, so I advise you to leave your models as they are (or to not go crazy with dirt and stuff in your texturing, when it comes to tileable textures), and just work on making a few simple decals. A few here and there will do wonders for the realism of your game. Also, in the image effects department, a bit of color grading and a subtle vignette and screen noise/grain would help. If you aren't using it yet a subtle bloom effect would add to the image quality. Maybe even some depth of field, DOF helps mask out the general fake-ness of 3D and it looks cool if used well (terrible if not). DOF IS somewhat heavier an effect though, so I wouldn't use it in every project.

jakub

Hi Alverik, I really appreciate your answer! You're completely right with decals, I'll definitely try to add some dirt, stains or scratches as you say. 

About image effects, I've used some of them in the last screen. Concretely just a bit of SSAO, Global Fog, Bloom (I need to better set this effect) and Color Correction. I don't use vignetting and screen noise/grain effects, but maybe I should try them. And about DOF, I used it, but very smoothly (not so much). You can see it if you enlarge the last immage and look into the back of the room.

When I'll work in all your comments, I'll post here subsequent screen.

Thank you for your valuable suggestions!

Jakub

Alverik

Hey, using DOF subtly is good. Later I did wonder if maybe you had used it, but when I wrote my reply I forgot to zoom them in. Anyways, about color correction, I mentioned it because the screenshots look a bit monochrome, most of the color in the screen is very desaturated and the rest is practically just black or white, so it feels kinda flat. There's hardly any points of interest. I would recommend taking a look at some videos or tutorials on the use of color and composition in CG (and their use in games). If you are interested, here are some videos and articles I consider excellent.

Blender Guru: Understanding Color (Video).
Blender Guru: Understanding Composition (Video).

Gamasutra: Lessons in Color Theory for Spyro the Dragon (Article).
Gamasutra: Color in games: An in-depth look at one of game design's most useful tools (Article).
Color theory for game design 1: fundamentals (Article).
Color theory for game design 2: Glyphs and neutrals (Article).

jakub

I watched first two interesting videos and there are many useful informations, I have to learn:-) I know the article "Gamasutra: Color in games", it's really good and the other articles are interesting too, thanks for them and for the videos!

Jakub

jakub

Added some decals and objects. Here is the result:



Jakub

Alverik

Wow, the decals and the new sinks really add to it nicely (the sinks really balance the space). But, it still feels kinda monochrome.Why not try changing the color of the floor or the structure in the middle of the room? Add colors that show the overall feel of the story or the events that will happen in the room. You can also put props that give hints about what the people who used to use the place did in it. Things left unfinished are usually a great option. Players love to guess what happened in a room before they arrived.

jakub

Hi Alvie, sorry for late reply. I like my color scheme and feeling of this room, but you have very good insights and comments, I'll be definitely playing more with colors of the objects in this location.
Thank you for answer again.

Adding one screenshot from SUBSEQUENTED because every sci-fi point&click adventure has its own bridge.

Jakub

jakub

It's autumn and that means that it's necessary to create the title screen of SUBSEQUENTED.



Animated version here: http://www.subsequentedgame.com/it-is-autumn

Jakub

jakub

Hi, here is the course of development of one of the locations from SUBSEQUENTED - cafeteria. Because, as you know, every sci-fi point&click adventure has its own cafeteria.

The original white-box design:



Some basic textures added:



Added some objects and changed camera view angle:



Actual look of this scene:



What do you think of these screens?

Thanks and bye!
Jakub

Snebjorn

Looks really good - and a nice demonstration of scene design workflow.

Reminds me a lot of the level design stuff from the content examples in Unreal Engine 4 - different engine but the same principles:

https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Resources/ContentExamples/LevelDesign/index.html

This actually boosted my mood quite a bit here. I've been working mostly on code and blocking out new scenes lately, so everything looks a bit crap at the moment, but I was just now trying to put together my plan for what I'll be working on in December, which will mainly be improving the visuals - this reminded me there's light at the end of the tunnel! :-)

Deckard_89

@Snebjorn Yeah it's hard to get motivated sometimes, especially when you know the difficulties you've got to get through and the portions of the game you keep putting off, they're there at the back of your mind, eating away at you, and you're like "I'll do that another day." :-S

Snebjorn

Yeah, it really is a constant struggle.

Still completely on track with the schedule I put together six months ago here, so the knowledge that I'll have a fully playable (if somewhat ugly) version ready in two months is really what's keeping me going at the moment.

The six months of polishing after January is probably just going to be a different kind of hell ...  

)

jakub

@Snebjorn Thanks for the answer and I'm glad that my post helped you a bit, a boost is needed!:-) And yes, I think the design workflow, concretely level design workflow is very similar to each engine and to point & click adventure games generally.
@Deckard_89 Totally agree!

Snebjorn

Would be great to see the environment with actual game characters, if possible. 

Deckard_89

Yeah I'd like to see some characters sat around there, chatting and eating lunch. Kind of reminds me of Black Mesa in the original Half-Life.

jakub

@Snebjorn As I wrote on my blog (http://www.subsequentedgame.com/from-concept-to-realization) there were people but just before taking last screenshot Lensen chased everyone out of the cafeteria so they don't interfere in view.
@Deckard_89 Yes! Black Mesa is one of my three main inspirations for SUBSEQUENTED. The other are Neverhood and Syberia, if you want to know.
And I promise I'll show cafeteria with some characters soon!

Alverik

Nice, stuff looking great. I can definitely see the Syberia inspiration on it. Keep it up

jakub

Hi guys, here is laboratory at night!



Jakub

TayannaStudios

I'm loving the look of this!!

jakub

Hello, here is finished laboratory, still at night:



Jakub