Styx • Posts Tagged ‘video games’

Staff Presentation #1: Concept Artists

Hello,

Today, we will open up a new facet of the development of “Styx: Master of Shadows” and take a special interest in the area of the game art, namely concept art.

Before beginning to create a 3D world, we the concept artists, have the job of putting down on paper, in both image and text form, our vision of the game universe.

Working with game designers and writers, we strive to produce an overview of the graphic universe of the game for the whole development team.

So a lot of preparatory work goes into creating a general outline, with “painting” and “drawing” being the vectors that bring the environment to life. We supply the “blueprints” to help our “blacksmiths” shape the distinctive world of Styx.

One of the most interesting environments that we had to design for Akenash are its “bowels” where dark creatures have their lair and where Styx finds the shadows of which he is so fond.

So we produced a variety of artwork to outline the location:

These images set the atmosphere of the location. After that, we move onto a more specific design of the elements that will make up the environment. This will help the 3D artists when it comes to modeling the Akenash tower, with such things as the pipes and roots of the Tree as they crisscross the various volumes.

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Concept team : Cyril, Paradis, Tom and Mathieu

Question of the week #1

Hi,

Today we will answer a question from “Hightechzombie”: There seem to be different approaches to finishing a level, but is there more to it?

The levels within “Styx: Master of Shadows” are both high and wide, which means that we were not lacking in space when it came to design. You therefore have numerous options when choosing your path towards reaching your goal. There is not one “right path” and each choice you make will lead to different challenges and require different styles of play. For example, the most obvious path is often the best-guarded and so it offers the biggest challenge if you want to sneak in. Exploring the level will allow you to find alternative routes.

When you have chosen a path, the way you actually pursue it is up to you. You can sneak quietly in through the shadows or you can use the many tools at your disposal. For example, a clone could create a diversion; disable a guard or create a smoke screen. You could also use your power of invisibility to simply avoid a guard or use a weapon such as a throwing knife to silence him for good. As with paths, you have many other tools, but we’ll let you discover them. You can even forego tools and use the environment to your advantage: poison a guard’s drink; make objects fall on a guard’s head; etc.

Spying, especially on guards, will yield useful information about alternative ways to succeed in your objective. For example, in the prison, you may overhear talk of a mechanism to unlock all cell doors: you can image the kind of diversion that would create, with guards chasing after prisoners who are fleeing in all directions.

Bonus question from “Hightechzombie”: Styx hates dogs, but what’s his opinion on cats?

Styx loves cats… especially roasted with onions. ^^

If you have a question you would like to ask to the team about the game, please post it below this thread! We’ll be happy to answer you in the next Question of the week.

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Guillaume
Project Manager

Styx on Tour!

Hi all,

Creating a good game doesn’t always guarantee success so, as a first step in reaching players, it is important that we make our game known to the press.

After months of working undercover on our project, we don’t consider it work to present Styx to the press; it’s a real pleasure to share our work with them and to receive valuable feedback.

Our press tour covered three cities: Paris, London and Munich.

Our first encounter took place in Paris on January 14th. It was Julien’s (Lead Level-Designer) and my (Project Manager) first experience of showing a game to the press.

The second event took place in London on January 22nd. Julien did the presentation on his own and had difficulty in playing the demo and speaking to the press at the same time. ^^ “Styx: Master of Shadows” is not an easy game: you can easily come unstuck if you don’t pay sufficient attention to your surrounds.

The most recent press encounter took place in Munich on February 6th. Julien, having gained in press XP, was able to put forward a trenchant case. :)

The next big step is the San Francisco GDC in March.

Stay tuned for more updates on the development of Styx: Master of Shadows!

—
Guillaume
Project Manager

Styx’s DevBlog is now open!

Hi everybody!

We are really happy and proud to be able to share the development of our game “Styx: Master of Shadows” with you on this DevBlog.

This game is our homage to the stealth genre: We want to provide all the ingredients that make a game a great stealth game.

In “Styx: Master of Shadows”, you will play a goblin: fragile, but resourceful thanks to his agility, his assassin skills and his magical powers. Your goal will be to steal the heart of the world-Tree, an infinite source of power: amber. But things are not as easy as they seem… ^^

In this DevBlog we will introduce to you some aspects of gameplay, some of the locations and inhabitants of the Akenash tower as well as the people who are working hard to bring you the best game possible. And as you can see, all the team is on a war footing for the job!