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[One-bit Punch]

Oh yeah, and I spent some time walking around doing some photography: 

Man.. those are beautiful, awe-inspiring stuff 

[nnyei]

I just saw this featured in Rockleesmile's Indie Impression series (in case anyone wants to watch the video it's here:

), and I must say I was absolutelly blown away by the visuals! Really digging the atmosphere.  I'm a bit afraid of downloading it and trying it out for myself because my graphic's card is less than stellar, so I think I'll wait until there are some graphics options available. Anyway, I want to wish you good luck with the development and I hope to see this finished one day!

[acatalept]

Thanks for the kind words, and for the heads-up!  I've followed Indie Impressions for a long time, so it's very cool to be featured ;)

I have to admit the current build is pretty demanding graphically (notably all shadows are real time), but I'll have an optimized build (with baked shadows) soon, and graphics options for lower-end systems as soon as I'm able to make it look and feel good.

[0x0961h]

Definitely following. Visuals are superb. Looks amazing.

[acatalept]

I've been spending a lot of time wrestling with Unreal Engine 4, experimenting with assets that I'm not ready to show, playing with sound design (can I show that here too?)...

But I'm finally happy with the lighting and composition of this particular time and place so I walked around and took some photos to give an impression of the style and mood without giving too much away:

[Impmaster]

It looks nice, but I think the skybox kinda contrasts with the whole super abstract thing you've got going here.

[acatalept]

Hehe, fair enough   That lighter, more idyllic style is pretty WIP, my volumetric cloud/fog to replace the skybox is still a little rough around the edges so I haven't used it in those shots... but it's decent looking in the "darker" style, especially in motion (I'll post a video soon):

[Derity]

I'm intrigued, and also a little lost.

The great thing is, I feel like that is the point! 

[acatalept]

Experimenting in Unreal Engine 4 with static lightmaps for better-looking indirect/bounce lighting, combined with dynamic shadows for large moving objects, and inspired by so much amazing architectural visualization work being done in UE4 lately... this is an ArchViz-style flythrough of a massive, abstract/brutalist structure I'm prototyping:

[acatalept]

Some recent visual experiments (click previews for full size images):


Bright daylight in "the dark place", direct overhead lighting, and removed the dirt from the lens:



Experimenting with true outdoor darkness, lit only by startlight; this lighting is only effective in a completely dark room or in an Oculus Rift so that the player's ambient light doesn't drown it out... but under those circumstances, it's *really* unnerving and immersive, truly suggestive of walking around at night in a place under dark skies without light pollution:



Attempting to recreate the subtle textures of light and shadow protrayed in the previous video of "the city", but using Unreal Engine 4's Light Propagation Volume Global Illumination, as well as the new Distance Field Ambient Occlusion and Distance Field Soft Shadows (instead of the static lightmaps previously used for shadowing and indirect lighting):


That last shot is all dynamic/realtime lighting from a single overhead sun light, although it currently doesn't look as good in motion as it does in still photos due mostly to some known problems in the LPV GI implementation which cause various artifacts (but which Epic may be improving in the coming months).

[acatalept]

Realtime dynamic LPV global illumination in motion:

[ephoete]

The universe we see being build here from message to message is truly immersive, unreal (without a pun) lightning on obscure endless building blocks. Really want this game to release on Steam one day. Cannot remember if I already asked you this but the current background music used in the footage is really matching the atmosphere of the game. Are these placeholders or you've already got a composer supporting the project.

[acatalept]

The universe we see being build here from message to message is truly immersive, unreal (without a pun) lightning on obscure endless building blocks. Really want this game to release on Steam one day. Cannot remember if I already asked you this but the current background music used in the footage is really matching the atmosphere of the game. Are these placeholders or you've already got a composer supporting the project.

Thanks, I'll probably submit it for Greenlight when I have something more representative of the final product to present ;)  A lot of what I've been showing so far is prototyping / in-engine concept art: seeing what works and what isn't feasible to get the desired effect.

I've been wanting to post some thoughts on sound / music design, but just haven't had the time -- I've been really lax with updates to this devlog, sorry!  I'll go into more depth in the future, but here's the mile-high view:

I'm doing all the music & sound, as it's very tightly woven into the production, as important as (if not more important than) any other element in impacting the player and presenting the less concrete elements I'm trying to portray.  I'm not sure how to describe what I'm going for with the music... some weird combination of the grinding machine darkness and tragedy of the early Silent Hill soundtracks with the moving transcendence of the Baraka/Samsara soundtracks, in varying proportions and with other stuff peppered in depending on where/when/what part of the story we're at.  Some of the sounds in the videos I've shown and in the playable demo are placeholders and work-in-progress, but they are pointing in the right direction: in varying proportions alien, ominous, claustrophobic, stirring, forlorn, nostalgic, introspective... with wide-ranging dynamics from very subtle to overwhelming without any "jump stabs" or cheap film score tricks.  I want to enable the player to just wander this haunted wasteland, exploring alien (though not necessarily in an ET sense ;) ruins, discovering indecipherable monuments, immersed in these soundscapes, this atmosphere.

I look at sound design for this project almost as if if were another actor, the voice of the environment, the game itself, speaking in its alien, unknowable language: communicating with the player obliquely, but aiming for their core.  For example, in the "city" area in the above video, I really wanted something imposing and immense and claustrophobic like the city itself, the voice of that place.  I'm sure this sounds more complicated than it really is, but hopefully the next playable demo will have a little more complexity and nuance to the sound to better demonstrate what I'm going for.


Here is some music of mine that goes to the same places as singmetosleep, though these are mostly rather "songish" and wouldn't make good soundscapes to fit into an interactive environment as-is:

http://acatalept.com/music/?pillarcollapse1d5

http://acatalept.com/music/?ascoliast1e8

http://acatalept.com/music/?sleepglue1f2

http://acatalept.com/music/?airraid1h3#6:20 (the tail of the song after 6:20 when the percussion cuts out, and even more so when the piano cuts out... the sounds at the end really get me ;)

http://acatalept.com/music/?aphelion1b8 (too much resonance in the high frequencies, but this one really puts me there)

http://acatalept.com/music/?cistern2f6 (inspired by the Naissancee soundtrack)

http://acatalept.com/music/?aeons1f2 (the soundscape to

is just this track with a little reworking, percussion removed, then stretched way out)

http://acatalept.com/music/?singmetosleep1e4 (of course ;), although it wasn't written in direct relation to this project)


And music by others that I've found inspiring for this project:

Godspeed You Black Emperor's ambiences and soundscapes, particularly some of the little "interstitials" between tracks:

(starting around 55 seconds into that track, clearly inpires my track "aeons1f2" above)

Baraka and Samsara soundtracks by Michael Stearns and others:



Silent Hill sound design by Akira Yamaoka from the first four games: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WShknpNpHbY (so many other good examples)

Hecq - 0000 - 0013: https://hymen-records.bandcamp.com/track/0013

Tim Hecker - Dropped Pianos - Sketch 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1myF9BApGM

(as an aside, I'm not a fan of linking "unauthorized" music streams, but if you like any of those, support the artists!)

[ephoete]

Hum I think your creative workflow is very advanced and wise already, definitely agree with the outcome so far. That's also how I was "feeling" the soundscape's intentions.

[acatalept]

Learning some Blender workflow for 3D modeling... built some primitive shapes and imported into UE4 to prototype figures:

[Netsu]

This is number one game on my 'why I want an Occulus' list

[Jasmine]

This, paired with your wonderfully atmospheric musical style, means this is going to be great.
Aurally, visually, maybe even viscerally.


(You really should release an EP. I'd buy it.)

[The Translocator]

I want to fall asleep inside the game

While the music is playing

That would be literally the most amazing video game experience ever.

[acatalept]

This is number one game on my 'why I want an Occulus' list :addicted:

Thanks! There are so many awesome projects in the works for the Rift (and Morpheus, and Gear VR, etc), I can't wait for it all to get here ;)

And keep in mind, the Rift is only optional for this game, you can play the prototype and the final version (whenever it comes out) on a regular display.  And the VR version will probably have some tradeoffs which I have yet to pin down, such as reduced visual effects for the sake of the highest framerates possible (the consumer Rift will probably have at least 2k resolution and need to run at 90fps for an immersive -- and non-sickness-inducing -- experience).  But even with some of the visuals toned down or disabled, it's just hard to describe going in there in VR: I just stood up in the game for the first time a few days ago, when I managed to sustain a steady 75fps and zero-latency in the Rift DK2, backed away from my desk, and I just felt like I was *there*...

(You really should release an EP. I'd buy it.)

Thanks, I appreciate it! You can listen to & download all my music free from my site, share it, even use it in non-commercial projects if you like:

http://acatalept.com/music

I have a "fake" album (just a selection of the tracks you can download freely from my site) for sale (name your price) at Bandcamp if you'd really like to support me financially:

http://acatalept.bandcamp.com

But I mostly make the music for myself, much of it is unfinished and/or less than stellar quality, and covers such a wide range that I'd be hard pressed to make a cohesive album (or even EP) out of it.  Maybe after singmetosleep is finished I'll release a standalone soundtrack ;)

I want to fall asleep inside the game

While the music is playing

That would be literally the most amazing video game experience ever.

What an awesome compliment ;)  I've definitely been mesmerized walking around in there, just soaking in the otherworldliness, esp after hours of coding (well, blueprinting in UE4) at 2am -- though I don't think I'd like to wake up in that place...

[Netsu]

Unfortunately the prototype doesn't work very well on my crappy PC. But I think when Occulus comes out I might upgrade it.

I've never tried any VR goggles yet but this is the kind of game that interests me the most for VR. I can see mountains, forests and architecture in real life, but such abstract, surreal and alien landscapes can only be visited virtually. And I would absolutely love to visit them!

As others mentioned, you really know how to combine music, geometry and technology into amazing dreamscapes