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[melos]

From the co-creator of Anodyne. In this surreal, PSX-like adventure, learn someone's secrets and experiences by exploring their mind. Control Yuito as you explore his estranged and dying father's "Memory World" - what surreal and supernatural things will you find?


Available for free on Windows, Mac and Linux. Also there's a $5 Fan Pack which contains the OST and a 150+ page e-artbook/making-of book!

Itch.io page: https://sean-han-tani.itch.io/aoa
Steam page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/698050/All_Our_Asias/

Join the newsletter: http://seancom.nfshost.com/


Description
A "triple C" game about race and nationality told within a surreal, lo-fi 3D adventure. I'm working on this one solo, though I am hiring a few friends for a little of the music, and character dialogue portraits.

All Our Asias is a free, surreal, lo-fi, 3D adventure, about identity, race, and nationality.

The protagonist's name is Yuito. 31, Japanese-American. Hedge fund analyst. USA-born and raised. One day he receives a letter from his estranged father. His father is dying. It's too late for Yuito to speak to him.

But his father is on life support, and Yuito has an opportunity. He can under go a Memory World Visitation, and enter his father's Memory World, a series of supernatural landscapes where Yuito can explore his father's experiences and secrets.

It is risky, but the idea of meeting his father, and perhaps something more, compels Yuito to make the journey...

The people and places Yuito encounters along the way - these will be the story of the game.

Details

- 2-3 hours long.
- Navigate surreal and ''realistic'' areas via simple 3rd-person movement and light platforming. Easy to play.
- Converse with characters small and large as Yuito progresses deeper into this Memory World.
- A lo-fi art direction influenced by the PSX and N64 era.
- A soundtrack by Sean Han Tani, and talented collaborators.
- From Sean Han Tani, the co-creator of Anodyne and Even the Ocean.

You can follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sean_htch .

[melos]

Hey, so I am leaving the first post as a summary post. There are actually 6 devlogs at this point on itch.io, all with different info. I anticipate the game will finish sometime in October, hopefully, as I do have a new project with Joni Kittaka planned after that. However it's hard to say as I have some music projects in the work, and I'm teaching college students in the fall.

Anyways, the first devlog I posted has lots of details on the game. https://sean-han-tani.itch.io/aoa/devlog/4347/001-all-our-introductions

I'd recommend reading that, but as a summary, this is a 2-3 hour game I've been making alone for the past few months in Unity, in order to better learn 3D. I'm not a painter, so I'm working with lo-fi aesthetics to the best that I can - focusing a lot on simple architecture and spaces, dialogue and music, in order to be expressive.

The game is a 3rd-person adventure. There is light platforming, but the bulk of the game is moving through these environments and following the story, which is about 12,000 words. It's set in the "Memory World" of the MC Yuito's dying father. Of course, the game gets a little weirder than just that, but that's all I want to say for now!

I'll be posting screenshots here as well as links to the latest devlogs, so stay tuned! As mentioned the game will be out hopefully before winter begins, and will likely cost $5.

You can follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sean_htch , or
follow me on itch.io: https://sean-han-tani.itch.io/

Also, feel free to ask me anything about game development or this game's systems, happy to explain.

[rj]

sean we know who you are my dude

[rj]

im just joshin u up some guff. i get it!! i’d do the same thing if i was ou.

this looks good like all your stuff. you’re still wrong about fez

[melos]

im just joshin u up some guff. i get it!! i’d do the same thing if i was ou.

this looks good like all your stuff. you’re still wrong about fez

Heh, my name keeps changing, though this is it's final form, likely forever. Anyone reading this I have also gone by seagaia, Sean Hogan, and Sean HTCH.

I've considered revisiting FEZ, actually... I think my opinion was probably that the overall mystery was unsatisfying, the narrative elements too scattered. Though I do remember movement feeling good and liking the wide-screen environments which is rare for platformers to pull off well in 2D.

[melos]

Old-ish video. Some of the cutscene stuff in the game.

[melos]

Change my website to have a sign-up form for the newsletter. I'll send out stuff like the Steam Page going live, etc.

http://seancom.nfshost.com/

[Alce]

Commenting to follow. Looking forward to this!

[melos]

All Our MARKETING (Devlog Post 7)

Where's posts 1-6? Why, on the Itch.IO devlog page: https://sean-han-tani.itch.io/aoa/devlog/7960/007-all-our-hit-that-subscribe-button

MARKETING!!!

I finally set up a dang mailing list for the game. Subscribe here: http://seancom.nfshost.com/

Note: This is the Even the Ocean mailing list so you might be on it.

Everyone Loves Marketing!!

I also paid the Steam Direct Fee this week so uh... hopefully I'll have that STEAM STORE PAGE UP so you can hit that "Wishlist" button.

A lot of this week was spent on lesson planning for my classes and also some other stuff, however, there was progress on the game. Sorry but no new screenshots (though I have a lot... secret...) however... here's an old screenshot.

Hmm... I don't have that much complicated stuff to talk about. I will ramble a bit at the end.

Music

Started on a few songs this week. I also hired a few friends to help out with a few tracks, so expect some nice guest contributions on the OST! One song is during the introduction and features a motif I'll use throughout other songs in the game. Another one is not that far along yet... we'll see. The OST will have 20-30 songs. This is maybe the biggest timesink which is part of why I've been reaching out to friends for help.  

Modeling

Started on a couple of areas... tunnels, offices, lobbies... got some of them pretty far along and added in the NPC dialogue. It's too spoilery to mention what they are more specifically or post screenshots, but one is kind of an homage to large JRPG towers... !

I'm getting the hang of this process much more, which will help with *Secret Unannounced Joni+Sean Project 3* (...and this game, which in some ways is kind of unannounced...)

Programming

Kind of a minor note, but I added a small thing to make mixing trigger stuff together.... like camera controlling and NPC dialogue stuff... er it's sort of complicated and AOA-specific so forget it.

Rambling

This game is quite 'surreal' in that areas do not necessarily flow in a realistic way. However, rather than have this be purely weird I've been shaping it to be interesting in a plot level and metaphor level. Since this story (and I guess, most stories) involves character development, I like to make the areas and worlds in a way that the way you progress through them is also representative of the character's development. It's a nice organizing principle and helps to motivate certain choices rather than  just "Well, It is Cool." So the plot is literally what is happening to the player in the story, but can also metaphorically be seen as a way to represent character development.... yeah.......

[i.i]

Looking coool dude! Marketing is super tricly. i dun get it

[melos]

Yeah, it is hard!

Been busy with lesson planning this week, and other developments.
 
But... here's a screenshot.

Changed the font this week. This is one of the few (or only?) indoor 'natural' areas. Pretty tough, you can't rely on repeating textures as much like with manmade environments. I'm not too worried about hiding the box - Imight just make a few of those N64-era textures where they have a trim of grass, blurry rocks, so the walls are at least not just sharply cutting off into grass.

[melos]

Devlog 8

~As always feel free to ask questions~

• More devlogs here: https://sean-han-tani.itch.io/aoa/devlog/8704/008-all-our-fonts

Steam

So, the steam page is almost ready to go! I need a better font for my  marketing images on there... and a trailer... hopefully I'll have that soon.

I've been waffling over the price.. thinking $6-$8 or so. The game is probably around 2 hours long?, longer if you read slowly.

General

Not too much to report - I did start work on a few more areas. I'll probably continue with this till all the areas and NPCs are in, then see where I am with texturing work to do. I might just say "forget it!" and call it finished around then. There is still a lot of music to make, though.

I'd like to avoid November/December for release... but then I'd have to wait two months to release something... maybe that's okay. Most likely I will rush it out by October!

The areas I've made recently are quite cool. I'm getting much better at imagining an area and committing it into 3D. Better at noticing textures here and there. But I can't share them with you, because of spoilers (my manager says so.)

Character Art

I just received a character portrait from my friend who I hired to help with some art! It's great! But I won't show any until the trailer... sorry.

Analgesic Productions

That's Joni Kittaka and I's company if you didn't know. We're Branding it now, making a proper website, as we get into our 3rd project later this year. This is because we need to Sell More Copies To Survive. Look forward to it!

Font

I changed the font. Spoilers censored. The previous font was a little too weighty... the thickness and serifs it had overly accentuated the contrast of hi-def UI to lo-fi game world. I think this font - by virtue of being thin, pixel - fits the overall PSX feel more.

Plus, I changed the dialogue box to display only 5 lines rather than 7. I originally meant the dialogue to be like an MMORPG chat log, but without going all the way on that idea, the box felt a little cramped showing 7 lines. 5 lines is much closer to normal game dialogue boxes (most of which max out at 3 lines).

[Alce]

New font is nice! Definitely oozes a PSX feel.$6 - $8 sounds like a fine price for a 2 hour narrative game, but I wonder how many users will scoff at the price and demand less after looking at the "lazy" PSX art style.

Intrigued about the music! Really like Anodyne's OST, any chance we'll hear a sample of the music for this game?

[Pixel Noise]

This looks great - enjoying the devlog so far. Would definitely like to hear some of the music when it's ready!!

[melos]

Here's some music (secret link). The sound for this game takes a lot of influence from heavily ambient music from games like SMT Nocturne, and my own previous work on "Perfect" (an abandoned project of mine). I'll probably include a few songs that are more melody and pop-focused, but most of them will be very atmospheric. I'm going for a lot of experimental and untreaded musical territory for this OST.

"Checkered Room Dream" (completed)
https://soundcloud.com/seagaia/all-our-asias-checkered-room-dream/s-wnS7e?in=seagaia/sets/mini-portfolio/s-uW52Q

"Desert Entrance Tunnel" (work in progress)
https://soundcloud.com/seagaia/aoa01dt-20170721

New font is nice! Definitely oozes a PSX feel.$6 - $8 sounds like a fine price for a 2 hour narrative game, but I wonder how many users will scoff at the price and demand less after looking at the "lazy" PSX art style.

Intrigued about the music! Really like Anodyne's OST, any chance we'll hear a sample of the music for this game?

Yep, I am curious myself regarding the price - I have this feeling maybe some will be okay with it.

I think there's a (growing, maybe it's a bit early) niche for games that look like this. I think it's just a matter of time before a team with a good artist runs with the aesthetic, and something popular shows up. I don't think AOA will be *that* game, though.

One example is the recent Noid 2 "fake sequel" game that was made in a month - part of the reason it received press because of the historical precedent and super-surreal/streamer-friendly world/gameplay, but it also shows some popular interest towards exploring these aesthetics.

[Pixel Noise]

Nice job on the music! I think the sounds fit the visual style nicely - I really like where the last few seconds of the "Desert Tunne" was going, and the checkered room was a great atmosphere piece. 

[melos]

Thanks!

This past week...



(GIF is not in the game... though I might use a similar idea)

Not much new I can share with everyone... this past week I started a lot of new music, modeled more areas. I guess things are going smoothly - getting into a good flow with the music. Teaching on the side helps give structure to my week so maybe I am being more efficient nowadays.

The recent areas I made are quite nice and I think everyone will enjoy them. Well, I'm trying to only make areas with interesting spatial ideas, so I think you'll enjoy what I've made!

I also cut out some more stuff, so the game is getting leaner, which is good, it will be done sooner.

I promise the trailer will be done by the end of next week, and the Steam page, up! I made a relatively satisfactory logo for the game on steam today, as well - time consuming but good practice I guess. I may come back to the logo and properly make it with a type designing software but for now it is pretty good.

[melos]

Argh, so I realized my newsletter was still broken from the past 2-3 weeks because I was upgrading to https...anyways, it is working now!!!  Better late than never.

http://seancom.nfshost.com/

It's actually the studio I own, Analgesic Productions, newsletter. So it'll have news on new Joni and sean collaborations. But the next newsletters I'll send will be:

- Announcement trailer for AOA / title reveal / steam page
- Release trailer for AOA release.

...and news about Analgesic Productions branding, we're finally getting a webpage and logo stuff up..!

[Alce]

I think there's a (growing, maybe it's a bit early) niche for games that look like this. I think it's just a matter of time before a team with a good artist runs with the aesthetic, and something popular shows up. I don't think AOA will be *that* game, though.

One example is the recent Noid 2 "fake sequel" game that was made in a month - part of the reason it received press because of the historical precedent and super-surreal/streamer-friendly world/gameplay, but it also shows some popular interest towards exploring these aesthetics.

That's a pretty interesting take on it, and I do hope it turns out to be true.

Gave the two songs a listen! I love atmospheric stuff. Particularly liked the second one, although I'm biased since it had a sound that reminded me of Anodyne. Signed up to the newsletter, looking forward to recieving something!

[Superb Joe]

Hello,