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[BearsSmileGames]

Never thought it takes so much courage to announce your beloved project.

We’ve postponed it many times, but, looking outside from the window and witnessing such volatile times, we decided that it’s time to come out of the shadows and talk about what we are working on. Introducing stealth action indie game—Legacy 1917.





HOW IT ALL BEGAN . . .

The first concept of the game appeared in 2019. Our story takes place in a fictional Empire which is being destroyed by ongoing war with a neighbor and internal political conflict. The game differs from most war-themed video games by focusing on the stealth experience rather than conventional combat. Violence and chaos rules all over the dying Empire. While working on the game scenario, we were inspired by the historical events of the beginning of 20th Century. We decided to avoid direct historical references but we were definitely inspired by real events.

The start of development was, to put it mildly, far from ideal, but within a few months we found people who liked the idea. This is how the Bear Smile team was born.

At this point, prototypes and concept art began popping out right out of the oven. Here are some super-early stage concepts and gameplay video:





Very early prototype




Further development and new ideas led to a radical change in the gameplay and a deep reworking of the scenario. At some point, only the name of the protagonist and the setting remained. At the beginning of 2020, the final concept was aligned and we began to move step by step towards the release.

2022 and the box of chocolates

When we launched our project we knew that the setting is exotic — there are just a few successful and high-quality indie games in similar settings. And this created quite understandable challenges for project promotion. But we could not expect the hellstorm at the end of winter 2022.

Geopolitics hit us like a high-speed train a sleeping bird. But we pulled ourselves together and decided that it would not be the end. Our game is telling a story about the madness of revolution, about the choices of people to stay good even during the most nightmarish times, about the fact that one can always deny violence and not to succumb to the crowd’s brainwashing. And we intend to tell the world our story.



What is Legacy 1917 about?

Legacy 1917 is an action-adventure stealth game. The player will travel through a war-torn empire, where society is split and there is no unity. At the center of the story is a conflict between two brothers: the younger brother joins the anarchists and renounces his status and family while his older brother, Peter, serves as an officer in the Imperial Army. The revolution finds him in the trenches of the war. He still believes in a brighter future — even when his younger brother, succumbing to new trends, commits atrocities. Making his way through this new reality, which until recently seemed unimaginable, Peter is on a journey home trying to protect others from his brother’s madness.

Game Features

During development, we are inspired by such classic indie blockbusters as Plague Tale: Innocence, Death’s Door and Commandos, but at the same time we create our own unique style and ideas:


- Hide in multilevel environments, use items to distract and confuse enemies, solve puzzles by analyzing one’s surroundings.

- Explore various locations and interact with NPCs who’s unique stories add to the immersive setting of the adventure.

- This grim post-war environment depicting real locations becomes a perfect platform to tell the story of the rivalling brothers and the people who were looking to rebuild their lives following a clash of epochs.

- Distinct visuals with original art for each level that were inspired by classical and contemporary artists enhance the immersive effect the adventure’s emotional storytelling provides.

- An original soundtrack inspired by classical music from the beginning of XXth century sends players off into the intense atmosphere of the revolution-torn country.

GAMEPLAY:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUQeijvrE9w&feature=emb_imp_woyt













We believe that all these features will allow us to make an immersive and exciting game that will give everyone the opportunity to feel the ruthlessness of the revolution and the human drama.

To be continued...

Thanks for reading)
It will mean a world to us if you share your feedback and add our game to the Wishlist on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1932970/Legacy_1917/

[oldblood]

That trailer is unexpectedly trippy but in an interesting way. It wasn't at all what I expected. I do wonder if the "1917" name and clearly soviet-inspired visuals may throw some folks off who click on the project looking for a WW1 era game and then find its a fictional or alternate world. But the concept and look does seem quite interesting. Looking forward to reading and seeing more.

[BearsSmileGames]

That trailer is unexpectedly trippy but in an interesting way. It wasn't at all what I expected. I do wonder if the "1917" name and clearly soviet-inspired visuals may throw some folks off who click on the project looking for a WW1 era game and then find its a fictional or alternate world. But the concept and look does seem quite interesting. Looking forward to reading and seeing more.

Many thanks for your Kind words. We are using a lot of references from eastern european region. And some soviet-related vibes contribute a lot to showing contrast between eras of the fictional country.

And, yes, the country is fictional, but we want to make it like "This war of mine". No magic, no steampunk. Just grim post-war environment and necessity to act from the shadows

[Alain]

That's a cool trailer and I really like the ingame visuals and impressions of the gameplay. Looking forward to see more!

[BearsSmileGames]

That's a cool trailer and I really like the ingame visuals and impressions of the gameplay. Looking forward to see more!

Our sincere gratitude for your interest and feedback. Would appreciate your thoughts re our future updates!

[BearsSmileGames]

We recently published a teaser for our game Legacy 1917, where we showed the first gameplay footage of the "Prologue" level. In this article, we will talk about the basic principles of level design, techniques and tricks that were used to create this location.





Preparatory work

The starting point was the work on the general synopsis. At the first stage, the team and I created gameplay situations, connected them with the narrative and tried to achieve the desired gaming experience. This is how the first drafts of the location design document, level schemes, descriptions of gameplay situations appeared.



The next step was extremely important to work with references. This often helps to form the general appearance of the location, to understand the topology of the area, its main features. We did not strive for historical authenticity, but we needed to convey the spirit of the city, its specific features.

Monotonous locations will quickly bore the player, and working with references helps to add variety and highlight those features that characterize the space.

Having prepared the design document and having come up with a sketch of the level, we proceeded to the long stage of creation. After many iterations, we finally came to the desired result, which we are ready to present to you.

Introductory scene

According to the synopsis, the first scene of the level is the station. This is traditionally the place from which the study of the city begins. Similar moments were, for example, in Half-Life 2 or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The player can get acquainted with the area at the same time as the main character and their emotions from what is happening will coincide. In our case, the Brestsky railway station was taken as the basis.



At the very beginning, the player enters a large area and sees a large number of people in front of the station. Here he has the opportunity to look around, communicate with people, form an idea of ​​what is happening around him. The entire first part of the level is an acquaintance with the city that survived the revolution. The main character arrived here without a clear idea of ​​what is happening, and our task is to bring him up to date. This part of the level does not contain any threats and the player is free to explore it, but already at the exit the soldier warns that it can be dangerous outside the station. This is how we prepare the player for the upcoming challenges.

Further Dive

Here is a section of the level where we go into more detail about what's going on. The player sees littered streets, abandoned wagons, trams, a broken power line, etc. The culmination here is the street, which is completely blocked by makeshift barricades. Throughout this section, we show the player that this place can still be dangerous and gradually escalate the situation. If the station created the impression of a peaceful location, then further down the level, the player more and more often stumbles upon traces of armed conflicts.



Here, the attentive player encounters a small branch, which he can explore to find resources and one of the first secrets (collectible item). It is important to note that almost always in our game the character moves diagonally from the bottom to the top corner, but here we deliberately shifted the movements to a horizontal plane. This makes it possible to place a visible passage into the building on the central part of the screen. Also in this place, the player can notice a ladder, which further motivates to explore this area.



Even if the player ignores these signs, moving on, he will see a platform from which he can obviously jump down, and to the side he will notice the secret already familiar to him from the training level. This will stimulate him to still find a passage upstairs.



First Blood

Of course, as part of the tutorial levels, the player encountered enemies. He has learned the basic mechanics: he knows how to sneak, stealthily kill, distract enemies with debris, hide in the bushes. But it is this level that presents the first real test for the player. However, we didn't want to make the player suffer too much. Our task was to create such a test, which was primarily interesting for the player. Here are some tricks that helped us with this.

The number of enemies. This is the most banal method of facilitating or complicating gameplay segments. It is used in almost all games that involve collision.

Structure of the arena. When your task is to sneak past a group of enemies, it is critical to know exactly where you need to go. The specifics of our camera does not imply that the player can see the exit from the arena, being at the very beginning of it. For this reason, we tried to keep the arena simple enough to make it easy for players to navigate at first. The main thing here is not to make it too simple, since creating an interesting landscape directly affects the quality of the gameplay.



Space for maneuvers. Even a small number of enemies can create problems for the player if the arena forces him to constantly be near them. This is a great way to increase the tension as the player gets the feeling that they are constantly on the verge of detection, but this only works if they have mastered the basics well enough. That is why the first arenas suggest that it is possible to maintain a comfortable distance from enemies.

A large number of high and wide shelters. The accumulation of boxes that closes Peter to his full height is instinctively perceived by him as a more reliable shelter than a small fence. In order to make the player feel more confident, we tried to use these covers more often.



This segment has two arenas connected by a connector, in which the player can take a breather. Such elements allow you to connect several arenas together to create long-lasting stealth sections, with the opportunity for the player to take a short break. In addition, checkpoints are usually located in such places so that in case of death the player does not replay the entire segment, but continues where he had problems.

After the stealth section, you need to give the player a break from this type of gameplay, and as you know, the best rest is a change of activity. But more on that in the second part...

Thanks for reading)
It will mean a world to us if you share your feedback and add our game to the Wishlist on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1932970/Legacy_1917/

[BearsSmileGames]

We would like to share with you our site that we have been working on for the last couple of months.
Tell us what you think.

bearssmile.com

[Beastboy]

Will this be like comandos bit back in time?

[BearsSmileGames]

Will this be like comandos bit back in time?

We are inspired by them, but we have WASD controls and (at least at this point of the development) camera is fixes

[BearsSmileGames]

This is the second part of the article,
where we want to talk about the basic principles of level design, techniques and problems that we encountered when creating the Prologue location, scenes from which you could already see in our teaser. You can find the first part of the article in our Devlog.

Something new

Last time we ended up with the player going through multiple battle arenas. In level design, it is very important to understand the pace and rhythm, for this reason, tense moments should be replaced with calm ones. After completing the challenges, we give the player a little break from this type of gameplay, explore the location, replenish the missing supplies, find secrets. This approach is a great opportunity to introduce the player to new mechanics. After a short walk through the city courtyards, the player is blocked by a gate that opens with a lever. At this point, we deliberately place the gate and the lever side by side and connect them with wire. This helps the player to clearly understand how these mechanics work in the game.



By pulling the lever, the player opens the door. It is important that the player sees the result of his actions as soon as he uses the lever. As the game progresses, the player again encounters a closed gate, but this time we're making it a bit more difficult to open the gate. The lever is behind a partition, and you need to find a way to get there. It is important that the basic principle (lever - wire - gate) remains unchanged, since at the initial stages of interaction with the mechanics it is necessary to show the player the invariance of its work, to form a habit in the player. In the later stages of the game, it is possible to break the basic principle by deceiving the player's expectation and creating interesting game situations. However, this technique should not be abused, since the repeated use of such a technique will no longer cause such emotions.



Go Left, Go Right

After getting acquainted with the new mechanics, it becomes possible to climb onto the roof and an attentive player will notice that he has a choice between two paths:



● The first is the main path, located on the right. It is the most obvious, as it is in the direction of the camera movement and the player has a ramp leading to it, and the objects that can be climbed take the form of stairs.

● The second one, much less visible, is on the left and leads to a secret. This path should not be completely invisible to the player, but it should be less intuitive to navigate. It does not have the same obviousness as the first one, it does not encourage the player to go in the opposite direction from the one in which the player moved throughout the level, and the camera itself does not focus on it, as it keeps the first path in the center of the screen.

What’s this? Oh! A riddle!

Moving further in the level, the player is faced with a small chain of tasks that develop the mechanics of levers. The basic principle remains the same, but now the number of gates is increased. Also, when using the lever, the player does not see the result immediately, which adds an element of excitement. At its core, this is still the same mechanics, but with slightly changed conditions. This segment is a simple puzzle that does not exhaust the player but creates a pleasant sense of exploration and adds variety to the level.



They said it would be dangerous!


After solving the puzzle, the player advances through the level and enters the final arena. The player has already rested enough from combat clashes and is ready to test his strength again. The last arena slightly increases the difficulty level, but remains within the entry level.

At this point, we want to end our text about the principles of level design in the Prologue level, in order to give you the opportunity to get your own experience as you play through. This is just a small part of the whole level, and with this example we wanted to show you how the level design works in the game and what tricks we use. Much, of course, remained behind the scenes, since it is impossible to cover all aspects in a small text, but we will try to talk about them in the following articles.

Thanks for reading)
It will mean a world to us if you share your feedback and add our game to the Wishlist on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1932970/Legacy_1917/

[mobilelast]

Visual style definitely captures the spirit of the era. A stylish combination of modern animations/tweens and timeless art. I guess it will be much harder to achieve the same with 3D graphics.