Arbiter - Monthly Recap - February 2023 (Patreon)

Y'know Patreon's prompt for these posts says "Share what's new in your world" and the fact that I've been struggling with literally building my game's world for two months is making me not only feel called out but outright CHALLENGED, so fine, you win. I'll SHARE.

Sharing What's New in My World

What's poppin' gamers. I spent most of February making assets and/or learning how to make assets. I've also started to play with the actual art direction of the level, so lots of playing around with colour palettes, lighting, and post-process effects.

Things are going all right. Part of this process has been expanding my sense of colour, as I used to heavily lean towards desaturated palettes with very little variation or contrast. I've still got a long way to go, but not bad for a month of progress!

The major things I've worked on this month were foliage, flowers, stones, and lots of small shader tweaks here and there. I added some flowing energy through the larger (dead) trees, which is one of the core visuals for this level. I've also messed around with some rim lighting on the environment to make things pop a bit more in dark places. Lots of little things honestly, but they add up!

Leaf Me Alone

One of the bigger hurdles this month has been trees, of all things. Trees are tricky because they're a constant balance between looking good, performing well, and being easy to set up. There's tons of different solutions for them, but finding one that satisfies all three needs while serving the game's art style has been kinda tough ngl! 

I'm in a place with them now where I'm mostly happy with the result, but I'll likely still be tweaking things in the weeks to come. I'm trying to focus on the big picture and not get too distracted by granular details like that, but it's easy to get swept up in the little things sometimes. For now at least, I think the trees are okay enough to move onto other assets.

Polish & Detail

Next up I am FINALLY gonna start going over all this with my concept art lead and really solidify the level's art direction. I think the general idea of "dying forest polluted by energy corruption" will persist, but expect some potentially major changes when it comes to colours and shapes. 

I'm also gonna be doing lots of honestly just boring asset production. Little stuff like small rocks, more flowers, plants, etc. I'll be starting on larger assets as well that will help build the level's skyline and start creating some depth in the background. Lots to do but hey, we're doing it! 

Anyways, thanks for everyone's continued support! I always feel a little better after writing these and seeing the progress I've made each month, so hopefully next month follows suit!

Cheers,
Jordy