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Showing posts from 2018

The Trailer is Here!

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Hello Loyal Followers! This may be the biggest devlog yet! We've got a teaser trailer (finally) and  a forum and  an updated website! Teaser Trailer After a couple months of headaches and hard work, it's finally here: a short teaser trailer featuring Little Leaf in the forest, a voiceover by Wouter about Little Leaf's quest, an original soundtrack by Dillon, and the first glimpse at the Spirit World! What are you still reading this for? Watch it now! Forums You can finally share your thoughts and participate in discussions with your fellow fans on our forum at  ghostoftheforest.com/forum . We've copied over all our previous devlogs and blog posts, and we'll post those on the forum as well as our blog from now on. We're excited to chat with you all, and any feedback is welcome! Our website has also been updated with the most recent game info and content, so make sure to check that out. Thanks for reading! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

The Cougar

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Hello Loyal Followers! Carlos has done it again! Check out the incredible cougar concept art above. He's ready to leap off the page and into the forest!  Kris is now the one working on the cougar model. He'll record his process and share a quick breakdown in a "This Is How We..." post once he's done. Meanwhile... The teaser trailer is still in progress. Dillon 's adding the sound and music today. Sam is coding the inventory mechanic while Justin fixes some climbing issues. We're getting there! As always, we appreciate your support! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

Little Things

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Hello Loyal Followers! This week we've been focusing on some smaller but still significant developments, from perfecting game mechanics to tweaking the lighting for that extra touch of realism. Lighting Dillon is experimenting with the environment lighting for different times of day. Here's sunrise so far: Animations & Mechanics Wouter  is animating Little Leaf as he interacts with the environment, pushing and pulling objects to traverse the terrain. Sam and Justin are programming the herb-picking and climbing mechanics, essential to the exploration aspect of the game! Teaser Trailer Coming Soon! Dillon has also been busy drafting a quick teaser trailer for you all. We can't wait to share it with you! As always, we appreciate your support! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

This Is How We... Generated Realistic Terrain

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Hello Loyal Followers! This marks the start of a new series of explanatory blog posts revealing some of our development process. In this first post, we'll explain how we created the terrain for Ghost of the Forest. A huge thank you to Alexey and Dillon for sharing this information! Heightmap Alexey found an atlas rendering of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, set an area to nowaday's Alberta province, and then used Photoshop to turn that into a heightmap. Here is the base height map exported out of that chunk: We went through a lot of testing with Rahul ; he even made his own separate map based on the previous design and tested that as well. World Machine Using the previous heightmap export from the main reference image, Alexey used World Machine to customize the flow to fit our needs. In the image below, the blue is outlining nodes that produce the final heightmap used to generate the game's terrain. World Machine Flow: After wards, the terrain was sligh

Spirit Animals

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Hello Loyal Followers! We're back again with another devlog! This week we've got some concepts to share, and an updated website! Our programmers are busy coding the game's climbing mechanic, among others, and we'll share some progress from that soon! Updated Website We realized our website had a lot of old content on it that didn't reflect the recent improvements we've made to the game's story and design. That has been remedied! Head over to ghostoftheforest.com to check out our newest screenshots and concept art, and read rewritten descriptions. Thanks  Dillon  for the time and effort spent to make this much-needed change! Spirit Animals Meanwhile,  Carlos  has drawn up these rough concepts for our Spirit Animals, with some tribal designs they may wear in the Spirit World. Alex  has started modeling the Spirit Animals, starting with the raven, while Kris is modeling environment pieces and prototyping UI menus. As always, we appreciate

Meet the Team: Justin

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Hello Loyal Followers!  Another programmer has arrived to help us make a fun, challenging game! Justin is currently working on an in-game mechanic for chopping down trees. NAME   Justin LOCATION   Ohio ROLE   Programmer INTERESTS    Engineering, creativity, board games, wine, calculus and abstract algebra! If you could be any animal, which would you be and why? Most likely a raven, so I could help the 'Death of rats' reap souls, or Death himself, so we can go for Curry. What inspires you in Native American culture? I have visited sun watch village more than a few times, as well as serpent mound. It is always interesting to see how their cultures functioned. Thanks for reading! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

Meet the Team: Samuel

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Hello Loyal Followers! We finally have a second programmer! I'm sure Leandro is soooo relieved to share the workload. Samuel is working on Little Leaf's climbing animation at the moment. NAME   Samuel Morgan Hoffman LOCATION   Wisconsin, USA ROLE   Programmer INTERESTS    I like game development (of course), gaming (can't be a game developer if you don't like gaming), weapons, politics, music, and art If you could be any animal, which would you be and why? Eagle. I would love to be able to fly like them. What inspires you in Native American culture? The languages, dancing, and art of my ancestral Native Americans are very inspiring. I also like the stories they have. Thanks for reading! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

Little Leaf's Makeover

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Hello Loyal Followers! Alex has been working tirelessly on Little Leaf's model, and the result is this stunning specimen! Alex has put a painstaking amount of detail into Little Leaf's hair, clothing, and accessories. He'll fit right in with our beautiful terrain. Look at this beading! :O Now Little Leaf is ready for his quest to uncover the ghost of the forest! This is a huge improvement; thanks for your hard work, Alex! As always, we appreciate your support! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

The Forest

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Hello Loyal Followers! We've got some gorgeous terrain screenshots to show off! Dillon put a lot of work into finishing the terrain up, with the final tweaks still to come. In other news,  Alex is texturing his improved Little Leaf model, and Kris is developing new assets for the Dreamworld. Leandro is implementing herb gathering mechanics and other gameplay elements. Dillon is prototyping the UI and I'm going to add some downloadable wallpapers to the website soon! As always, we appreciate your support! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

Meet the Team: Alex

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Hello Loyal Followers!  Another 3D artist has joined our ranks! Alex is adding realism to Little Leaf with new details and equipment. NAME    Alex Javor LOCATION   Eagle River, Alaska ROLE   3D Artist, Character Modeler INTERESTS    Coffee is a necessity. Also rock climbing, hunting, games obviously, and dogs. If you could be any animal, which would you be and why? A fat little bird. The raptors get the glory as they are much more majestic, but in truth their lives are hard. Fat little birds find their food easily - bugs and such - and spend most of their time playing and singing songs with their large extended families. What a life! What inspires you in Native American culture? Absent notions of ownership and man's divine right, I believe the Native Americans were very innocent in a way, and even today you'll find that the further you get from civilization, the more honest and balanced people are. Thanks for reading! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Tea

Meet the Team: Kris

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Hello Loyal Followers!  We're welcoming two new 3D artists to the team! First up, Kris. NAME   Kris Vaughan LOCATION   New Kent, Virginia ROLE   3D Artist, 3D Animator INTERESTS    It might seem strange but I am interested in games, gaming, and gamification. Lover of both video and tabletop. Also interested in dope music and animations. If you could be any animal, which would you be and why? Despite my Otter patronus, I would probably be a Fenic fox and just run around in circles; they are just adorable. What inspires you in Native American culture? What inspires me about Native American culture is how much it has endured and I would love to see it represented more in every medium. Kris is currently working on adding variety to the Dreamworld environment with new plant elements. Keep up the good work, Kris! Thanks for reading! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

Winter Game Jam 2018

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Hello Loyal Followers! Another game jam is upon us! Our four-man team of Alex , Dillon , Leandro , and Wouter are participating in Unreal Engine's Winter Game Jam starting February 8th and ending February 11th. Aah, only three and a half days! I sense a few all-nighters in their future. 2/8 And the theme is.... We've already got an idea forming! To work, team! More info on the game jam here . 2/9 We're got the environment and the character nearly done! Anyone for some skiing? 2/10 Our agent is ready to ski for his life! 2/11 Sadly we have to pull out of the game jam due to illness. Rest up and feel better soon, Leandro!

Meet the Voice: Warren

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Hello Loyal Followers!  It is our honor to introduce the talented actor who voices Little Leaf. His Blackfoot heritage makes him an excellent choice for Ghost of the Forest. NAME  Warren Spotted Eagle LOCATION   Vancouver ROLE  Voice Actor for the character Little Leaf INTERESTS   Video games, film photography, filmmaking, basically anything that forces me to be creative. If you could be any animal, which would you be and why? Obviously the eagle, c'mon! Eagles are one of the most beautiful birds in the world. What inspires you in Native American culture? My answer will always be how strong our people are. History has taught me that our ancestors have overcome many difficult obstacles. Just a few generations down, I've heard many stories about kids being taken away from their parents and put into residential schools. The horrifying events that took place are nothing to forget. The children at the time who survived, those are the people who I can call my heroes. Tha

Meet the Team: Carlos

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Hello Loyal Followers!  We'd like to welcome our new character artist to the Spirit Maze team! Carlos is currently working on the concept art for Castle Quest. We're excited to see what you make, Carlos! NAME  Carlos Betancourt LOCATION  Venezuela ROLE  Character Designer, Illustrator INTERESTS  Traveling, listening to music, reading, illustrating space/scifi/medieval stuff How did you first get involved in game development? This is my first role in the industry. What game or genre of games do you most enjoy? Why? I enjoy role-playing games, the way my character grows during the campaign. The path of the heroes is a subject that I'm very interested in. I also enjoy FPS and sandboxes to have fun! What new advancements in game technology excite you? The virtual engine is always fun to watch, because I'm always looking to know how to transform concept art and 3D concepts into the final product. Thanks for reading! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

Ready, Set, Game Jam!

Hello Loyal Followers! Our in-house game jam has begun! We've all voted on our favorite game concept. And the winner is... Castle Quest! Congrats Leandro on the winning concept!  Castle Quest will be a puzzle platformer for mobile, developed by our child studio Spirit Maze. Control three unique characters to puzzle and fight your way through castle levels. We'll have some concept art to show soon! Speaking of art, we've got a new character artist, Carlos , for our Spirit Maze studio! His bio post will be up shortly. Thanks for reading! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team

Voices Found

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Hello Loyal Followers! We hope you had a pleasant holiday season! Sorry for the long silence, but we're back from our holiday break and ready to get to work! Voice Actors Found! Little Leaf and the Raven have voices now! Warren Spotted Eagle will voice Little Leaf, and the Raven will be voiced by our very own Wouter . We'll post an interview with Warren soon. Thank you to everyone who applied! In-House Game Jam We enjoyed Unreal Engine's Game Jam so much, we're hosting our own! Over the holidays, we each thought up a game concept that we'd love to develop, and we'll be voting on them soon. The winning concept will be the first game developed by our new child studio, Spirit Maze! Updated Website The website has been updated with more information about studio and team. We appreciate your support! - Amanda, Legendary Minutes Team