Apotheosis – Rebuild

[hypersleep]

There's what exists in the text. The rest is up to you.

End of August…

[Shocktart]

End of August got it.

But... can we get monthly map screen porn anyway?

[patrick]

Code: Select all

                                DECKARD
                  You show the screenshot to your
                  husband.  He likes it and hangs
                  it on the wall.

                                RACHAEL
                  I wouldn't let him.

                                DECKARD
                  Why not?

                                RACHAEL
                  Doog should be enough for him.

[Shocktart]

Besides the game itself do you know what I'm really excited for?
The Level Commentary. Just like the Marathon Phoenix Commentary: https://youtu.be/avZPGCLR8L8.
I want to hear about the Apotheosis level design philosophy.

Will there be a level commentary? I don't care if you have a horrific voice or if it's just subtitled with no audio.

[Shocktart]

Besides the game itself do you know what I'm really excited for?
The Level Commentary. Just like the Marathon Phoenix Commentary: https://youtu.be/avZPGCLR8L8.
I want to hear about the Apotheosis level design philosophy.

Will there be a level commentary? I don't care if you have a horrific voice or if it's just subtitled with no audio.

[hypersleep]

Hold your horses, you don't even know if you like the levels yet

[Shocktart]

End of August…

Just swinging by to casually mention how it's September.

[Meerjel01]

My birthday is tomorrow

[hypersleep]

Had a pretty nasty corruption on one of the levels – We've reverted to an older version and are fixing it up.

Couple more weeks.

Using this time to add some cool extras. More music, more art, balancing the levels. Here's a chapter screen that wouldn't have made it otherwise.

[hypersleep]

This will be the last delay. Whatever's there by the end of September is what we'll release.

[Shocktart]

This will be the last delay. Whatever's there by the end of September is what we'll release.

Release it in October.

[Destiny]

Looking forward to the project being completed. Make sure not to rush it though. Take your time though.

[hypersleep]

Aaron vidded the first level blind for his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtBL1nwTJSY

[Shocktart]

Aaron vidded the first level blind for his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtBL1nwTJSY

That guy plays like he's half asleep most of the time.
I do like that it seems as though the floors are designed with the ceilings in mind.

[Shocktart]

Aaron vidded the first level blind for his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtBL1nwTJSY

That guy plays like he's half asleep most of the time.
I do like that it seems as though the map's floors are designed with the ceilings in mind.

[hypersleep]

3 days.

[ukimalefu]

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

[Destiny]

LET'S GOOOO!

[Shocktart]

3 days.

Apotheosis-X-screenshot-17.jpg

Something to look forward to.
It's just so rare nowadays. I can't wait to see the map design.

[hypersleep]

It's done.

https://simplici7y.com/items/apotheosis-x-5

[baudrillardboy]

Had to tab out of the game to comment that this is an absolutely insane TC. Been waiting on this one for a while, and it's absolutely delivering so far. Incredible stuff. I usually hate chunky 3D modeled sprites (even when they're done well), but the visuals are so well integrated into the rest of the universe that they immediately won me over. And the level design is *chef's kiss*. Can't wait to unpack the map files and figure out how the Trooper boarding party setpiece works in the first level.

Edit: The redesign of Don't Step on the Mome Raths is an absolute triumph in every way.

Double edit: Just finished it. It's good, y'all.

[hypersleep]

Thanks for the kind words.

The sprites were a fun process to figure out – as much as was reasonably possible, I wanted them to emulate the pillowy, airbrushed rendering of the Bungie originals. This meant turning off all the fancy lighting and driving most of the look through material shaders. Perhaps more importantly, Cryos' excellent animation direction injected a ton of charm into the characters and stopped them from feeling overly stiff the way 3d sprites often can.

I'll let you figure out the Trooper boarding / Kool Aid man in your own time. Hopefully you'll have a chuckle when you see what an absurd hack it is

[baudrillardboy]

I've been doing a lot of 3D-to-sprite renders lately, so I can definitely appreciate the difficulty of getting the same feel as the original game. I've been HEAVILY downsampling and cutting frames to (sort of) get a similar effect, but—unlike me—as far as I can see you guys pulled it off without compromise. A+++

And yes, I did indeed laugh a little when I figured out how the boarding scene worked (and the orbital bombardment hack in Mome Raths, which blew my mind). I guess it's like they always say: if it's stupid but it works, it ain't stupid.

Also, I was amazed at how much I enjoyed Sky Burial considering it combines my two least favorite mechanics: vacuum and "swimming." It's so rare to see level design which is not only good, but feels completely fresh and unique. My hat is off.

And if that wasn't enough admiration, one thing I've been really appreciating is the use of scenery. Sprite scenery always felt like a weak point in Marathon in my opinion, and I never felt like the original games used it well. I consciously avoid scenery in my own maps, but this scenario is making me reevaluate that.

[hypersleep]

I started out working with high res renders split out into multi passes for maximum control, which is how I usually work with 3d, and I kinda hated the results. Probably counterintuitive, but things really got cracking when I switched to rendering at final resolution and final look in a single pass (bit of sharpening and contrast in post). I guess it's an every pixel counts kinda thing. I recommend trying it if you're in a rut with your sprite work.

Sky Burial probably inspired the most discussion and pie in the sky concepting than any other level in the campaign, and it's also the one (apart from the secret level) that I had the least to do with. It's a real gem.

[hypersleep]

I'll also mention that we rarely cut frames, outside of certain death and firing animations where it was the logical way to suggest sudden movement. For the majority of the animation, we hand keyed every. damn. frame. Exhausting but totally worth it considering you see the animations play on loop for hours.