Behind the Music!
almost 2 years ago – Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 09:21:16 AM

Hey everyone,

Today's update will be from our fab chip-tune composer! So let's get started!

Hi there! I’m Orie Falconer, composer and sound designer on Beyond Shadowgate. If you’re a fan of GrahfMetal then you might know me as the composer on their previous adventure games INFESTED and SPECTACLE. I’ve been working in the games industry for over a decade now with other works including the soundtrack to Way of the Passive Fist, sound design for the sci-fi rouge-like RPG Star Renegades and both game design and sound design on the 3D arena fighter Mighty Fight Federation.

I have a deep love for video game music, and I’ve always relished the challenge of learning to match the style of a classic series. One of things that always stuck with me about games like Shadowgate back in the day was how the music created an unforgettable atmosphere! Death waited around every corner and the original composers did such a great job of setting the mood and establishing a sense of mystery and dread. Now having the opportunity to work on an official Shadowgate sequel, I hope I can recreate for you the same level of immersion that I felt as a kid back then!

For a little insight into my process, I build my tracks in FL Studio with tools that simulate the 8bit waveforms that the NES could produce. Unlike trackers, FL technically allows you to have many more channels than you could have on that hardware, so I try to limit myself in creative ways to preserve that sense of authenticity. For each song I’m given a description of the area it belongs to, the part of the story it provides and as always, the gorgeous art from GrahfMetal which never fails to inspire! With each track my objective is to compliment the art and design to make each moment as memorable as possible, while mixing the soundscape of the original game with my own style. 

Thanks so much for supporting the Beyond Shadowgate and helping to make this game a reality!

Thanks Orie! Well, that's it for now! Onward!

Dave

Behind the Art Part 2!
almost 2 years ago – Wed, Mar 15, 2023 at 12:58:26 PM

Hey everyone, let's look at some of Jeff Canam's...

...Monsters!

We've got a good number of awesome monsters in the game. Here are a handful of them!

That's it for now! Onward!

Dave

Stretch Goal 4 Met! PLUS, Behind the Art Part 1!
almost 2 years ago – Mon, Mar 13, 2023 at 08:21:32 AM

Stretch Goal 4 Met!

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for getting the word out and helping us reach Stretch Goal #4 - More Chip Tunes! Orie is gonna be pumped! Now it's on to our 5th Stretch Goal - The BSG Prequel comic and TWO additional comics - the NES walkthrough and Shadowgate Rising! You can read more about them HERE!

Meet our favorite Pixel Artist - Jeff Canam!

In this update, I've asked Jeff Canam from GrahfMetal to talk about his influences, how he approaches pixel art, etc. I have to say he's quite amazing!...

Introduction

I got into pixel art when I was invited to be a part of a weekend game jam back in 2014 and a team needed an artist, but I only had a laptop with MSPaint (mind blown - Dave) and a mouse, so I tried out pixel art and I fell in love with it. It quickly became apparent that using MSPaint and a mouse made me somewhat of an oddity in the pixel art world, but I rather enjoyed the limitations, so I stuck with it throughout the development of Infested, Spectacle and even most of Beyond Shadowgate.  MSPaint’s simplicity and using a mouse to draw methodically, allowed me to form a signature style, which some have called “charmingly crude”, which I rather like. 

 
Part of the reason I love pixel art, especially 8-bit, is because artists were required to create images with several limitations, be they color, size, shape, etc. and to create works of art with said limitations is admirable. I’ve studies how art was made back in the days of C64, NES, Master System, etc. and it just blows my mind. I also love the fact that pixel art, although simple in nature, is complex in execution. When you can change the entire emotional expression of a character sprite with the shifting or removal of just ONE pixel, or when you can add great depth to a monochrome image with simple dithering, than that is something special.

Development

As far as art pertaining to Shadowgate-style games is concerned, I find the best way to approach it is to find a way to update the graphics while maintaining the charm of the original. If I copy the original’s style it’ll feel too sentimental and if I add too much detail it’ll feel too distant. In other words, I’m wearing my rose-tinted glasses, but I also have the privilege to use tools that make things much easier than they were back then…I believe they call that “Retro art” :D

Speaking of limitations, specifically when it comes to Shadowgate, a reason limiting myself works exceptionally well, with this style game, is that less detail is favorable. Interactive elements should stand out and if I were to add too much detail and realism, then the player would be overwhelmed and may very well miss the detail meant to be interacted with. Keeping it simple allows me to direct the player’s eye to the parts of the environment I want them to pay attention to.
 

I’ve made prototype rooms in my previous games that wound up looking like object-finder games and I’ve had to scrap them because that defeats the purpose of these kinds of games. In fact, I’ve learned a lot about how these games work by not only playing them A LOT, but also by gaining intimate knowledge and respect for the sub-genre by making a couple from scratch.

 
Shadowgate-style games, and a lot of adventure games in general, are also unique in that they don’t rely on tile sets and standard sprite sizes, like found in typical platformers or RPGs, but rather they rely on an interactive user interface and a view window which displays a screen that is kind of like a tiny little painting. I like to make each and every room relatively unique, so the player can get their bearing much easier and to keep things fresh. Areas of the game obviously maintain similar architecture and color schemes, but I like to mix up the angles and perspectives. This is also done so it doesn’t feel like our protagonist is walking through the halls like a sentry. Different angles and perspectives make it feel more like we’re sneaking through the environments with caution. The biggest challenge, I find, is making the flow of the rooms feel intuitive. Having the rooms feel like they’re connected organically is shockingly challenging when you’re not drawing rooms that share an identical perspective. But challenge aside, it does make things very fun to draw. This project has been an absolute blast to work on.

That's it for now! I'll feature some of Jeff's monsters next!

Dave

p.s. Did Jeff mention that he uses MSPaint? MSPAINT! Amazing.

New Stretch Goal Announced - Digital Comic!
almost 2 years ago – Sat, Mar 11, 2023 at 02:38:46 PM

Hey everyone!

As we zero in on Stretch Goal #4, we thought we would announce our next Stretch Goal at $100k! We're pretty excited about this one as it combines three different things! Read on for the deets!

Beyond Shadowgate Prequel

This digital comic features our Fenling Del Thornburrow! This brand new comic will be a prequel to the Beyond Shadowgate game and will show how our hero went from the relative safety of the Fens to a dungeon cell beneath castle Gwynenthell! The comic will be illustrated by our favorite Shadowgate artist John Watkins Chow!

BONUS - NES Hint Comic!

Not only will you get an all new comic but we will include John's Shadowgate NES Walkthrough Comic in all it's high-def glory! We created this when we put out the Color Gameboy version. Check out the cover and one of the pages below!

BONUS - Shadowgate Rising Comic

Not one comic... not two comics... but THREE digital comics based on the Shadowgate universe! This comic was created for the canceled Shadowgate Rising game for the N64. John outdid himself on this baby and while we've shown it before, we've never released it in such a high resolution! Here's the cover and a page featuring the red-haired sorceress Raven!

There you go! We hope to get to $100k so we can begin work on this. Thanks for your continued support!

Dave

Behind the Design Part 2
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Mar 09, 2023 at 04:54:59 PM

Innovating Where We Can

Here's some more info from our friends at GrahfMetal about bringing this game to life from the original design!

I’ve previously written about how authentic Beyond Shadowgate is and how we’re capturing the 8-bit vibe as best we can. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t room to innovate and introduce some fun new ideas to the formula!

When introducing new ideas to the game, we thought of the types of concepts and mechanics that would have still made sense in the era of the original game. Things that could have reasonably shown up in the sequel had it been released on the 8-bit console. The kinds of fun additions that don’t change the whole game, but provide new challenges, conveniences or even new ways of looking at the world.

Let’s look at a few of these new features you can expect in Beyond Shadowgate!

Fast Travel

Beyond Shadowgate really delivers and goes well beyond the scope of Shadowgate and explores an entire kingdom. You will find a map and eventually learn a spell that will allow you to fast travel between key areas. This will make back-tracking less tedious and lets the game’s puzzles span the entire world of the game.

Death Stalking

Sometimes the Grim Reaper is just a moment away and you’ll have to act quickly to survive. These intense moments are signaled to you when the reaper in the game window comes to life and lets you know that it’s time to act! This is to let you know that if you don’t do anything, you will die! Of course, we will also offer a turn-based option for these time-sensitive puzzles! :)

Wisp Companion

As an adventure game, Beyond Shadowgate’s gameplay focuses on puzzles and problem solving. Something that compliments this very well is being able to give hints. You will encounter a companion very early in the game: the mysterious wisp. It acts as an interactive hint system that can give you clues with just a click! However, after using some of they’re magical energy to show a hint, it will have to rest for a bit, so you’ll have to wait for your next hint.

 Day and Night Cycles

Obviously, compared to the original Shadowgate, our sequel doesn't take place over the coarse of a single day. So we needed to be able to show this and introduced a day/night cycle to help show the passage of time!

NPC's

Shadowgate had very few NPC's (you could count them on one hand!) Beyond Shadowgate, however, has over 20 and many of them are here to help you on your quest! Everything from shopkeepers to barmaids, BSG has you covered!

While Beyond Shadowgate is intended to be a familiar experience for players, we think there’s plenty of new things to make the game fresh and exciting!

Until next time!

Dave