Scenery (enough) ready for the next step.

Hey everyone!

I wanted to take a moment to express a giant thank you to all of you for your support this month. Your contributions are making a real difference in the development process!

As I had said, one of the ways we're using your support is to speed up production and improve the game's visuals. I recently snagged a killer asset pack from the Unity store. Now, the pack itself has a bit of a post-apocalyptic, zombie vibe (not exactly our game's theme). But it was the only pack that really captured the specific look we were going for.

So, I took a bit of a risk and dove in. Turns out, after deleting a lot of creepy paraphernalia and scrubbing away some bloodstains, we ended up with some great furniture assets and textures with a surprisingly cozy feel. ️

I was also able to use the textures as a reference to improve some of the assets we already had. Take a look at the towel cabinet – that came from a different pack, and it clearly doesn't quite match the overall style. The toilet, however, looks fantastic next to our characters, thanks to the new textures!

The textures are a little rough around the edges, which is perfect for the post-apocalyptic theme the pack was designed for. I will probably tone that down a bit for our game, but I love how the aging details add some life to the scene.

A lot of the other asset packs had a very modern and plastic, almost sterile feel. This new pack, on the other hand, has a cheesier, more lived-in look. It gives the whole scene a much warmer family vibe.

I'll still do some art direction work, mostly choosing the color palette, but this is enough to keep building those demos you've been waiting for.

The plan is to fill all the rooms with tons of little details that bring them to life. I'm aiming for a kind of lo-fi music compilation cover vibe, but too many details mean more polygons to render, which can slow down the game. So it's all about finding the sweet spot!

Nicole's room needs more musical instruments, which unfortunately weren't included in the pack. But that's okay – some things just have to be built from scratch!

The new pack also has a ton of exterior stuff – windows, doors, wall textures. So I couldn't resist starting to play around with recreating the Sackrider Mansion, despite It'll be a while before this part of the story shows up in the game. The new assets made the whole mansion architecture feel more "bourgeois" – like a once-rich family home. This actually fits the lore of the Sackrider family way better than the old neoclassical style, which kind of hinted at an aristocratic vibe.

What I especially loved was the interior. It's like stepping straight onto a Scooby Doo episode! Exactly the vibe I was picturing from the very beginning

So, a giant thank you again to all of you! Your contributions are making a huge difference. Next week, I'll be focusing on getting all the user interface elements in place so that they're ready to go for the demos.

Stay tuned, and thanks for being awesome!