The 'Genesis' Sequence - Spoilers Edition

Hey everyone, 

I touched on this in the gargantuan post I made about a week or so back, but now that the build is out and you've all (hopefully!) had an opportunity to see it first hand, I figure it's a good time to revisit what led to this particular sequence being done the way it was.

So as I've mentioned previously, we got a late start during June on account of the technical work that needed doing to fix the specific problems with that build. That evolved into 0.30 which was a huge technical overhaul that kept growing and growing in scope. The 0.30 we've just released contains maybe a third of what we'd planned to include with the rest cut back due to time constraints - it's stuff we still want to do, but stuff we'll likely deliver in dribs and drabs over the 0.3X development run.

When we began our pre-production for Day 15, we had initially planned to have a nightmare sequence not unlike the one on Day 9, followed by a sequence in Spencer's manor where the answers would be given. However, we had little more than loose ideas for this nightmare sequence and nothing that really captured me. As such, I did what I often do in this situation and just push ahead with it. Usually, inspiration will follow.

And so it did. I had written a loose draft for everything leading up to the protagonist stepping into 'the void' when that lightning bolt struck. What better way to tell a long, complicated and crazy tale than to use the context of a dream or nightmare to bend the rules and warp reality for a bit? 

Problem being, it was now late in June, CurryCatz' schedule was full and it no longer made any sense to try and convey this information without some kind of visual accompaniment. Which is when I realized... this is the one opportunity, the one single moment where having a guest artist wouldn't be weird... in fact, it would be a really cool twist that would help sell the sequence! I brought this idea to the time who were agreeable, and we already knew exactly who we wanted to use. 

A really cool moment in Sileo's history, at least for us, is when the first fanart started to appear. Lision wasn't the first, but he was the first whose quality blew us away. The first proper piece he did was a beautiful render of Tai in his bar and we absolutely loved it.

Isn't it beautiful? In the time since, he's done more and more wonderful work, his painterly style making every piece he produced stand out in a big big way.

It was always Lision I had in mind from the outset, and the team was in agreement. Thus, I made contact with him and extended the offer which he happily accepted. (For those curious, he was paid for his contribution, we certainly did not expect him to do it for free!)

And so, Lision was the first person outside of our team to know exactly what the big twist was, and he liked it! With that, we pressed onward as he began to prepare the pieces that would make up the genesis sequence. 

Lision was given a lot of autonomy on these sequences. I had a loose idea of what I wanted for each image in my mind, in particular I wanted scenes with distinctive color contrasts and simple brush strokes, striking scenes that emphasized the difference in style and played into the overall dream-like feel of the scene. Lision was also responsible for rendering Artemis for the first time with his design ultimately being a collaboration between me and him (the first time a character in Sileo hasn't been designed by CurryCatz) and was similarly responsible for Dr. Marsden's design, given a loose idea and otherwise being left to it - I didn't make any adjustments on this one. 

It took some time, but something like that sequence was worth doing right. And so far, the reception from you guys has been very very positive! I admit, I was worried. It's a big shift in tone, but I'm really glad you've all been so receptive to it! Of course, we couldn't have done it without Lision's hard work and it was a lot of fun changing things up and working with two very different art styles!

This truly was a golden opportunity, the right idea at the right moment. I doubt it's something we'll get a chance to do again anytime soon, but it certainly was a fantastic experience and we couldn't be happier with the outcome!

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