Hey there!
With the team hard at work on the Grimoire, we thought it was the perfect time to share another update. We will also introduce some more departments and the work they’ve done on the Chapter.
Gameplay
At this stage, we’re playtesting as much as we can to fine-tune how the Killer feels. Between cooldowns, movement speed curves, and other values, there’s a lot to work with to make it feel great.
We noticed the Pillar wasn’t playing quite like it did in early prototypes, so we’ve tweaked its speed and duration to better match the intended experience.
We’ve tweaked the speed curves to better balance cooldowns and slowdowns, so Survivors have a fair chance to create meaningful distance.
World & Characters Art
Our art team, among other things, is working on bringing our Grimoire characters to life as fully realized 3D assets, and today we’re excited to share a first look at Aurora’s model.
As always, we start from a neutral pose to carefully evaluate and refine the Character's overall silhouette, proportions, facial features, and defining traits before moving into animation. Next, we’ll rig Aurora to an animation skeleton to bring her to life through movement and expression.
Work on The Judgment is progressing well, and we’ll have more to share soon.
For the Hopeless Exile, we've been busy creating new assets and carefully crafting the lighting to give the environment the ‘divine’ look it deserves. From overexposed divine rays to distinct amber clouds, held together with a dense layer of fog, every detail plays a role.
Finally, here’s a sneak peek at the in-progress lobby that will welcome this chapter into the Fog.
VFX
Speaking of the Exile, after working on Ray of Retribution and Survivor Sin, the VFX team has shifted their focus to the new sub-realm. They’ve begun implementing key visual effects, including crystals, hazards, and artifacts. These are currently in their first pass, with polish and refinement up next to bring everything together.
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UI (User Interface)
UI in games is the visual layer players interact with, like menus, icons, and HUD elements, that presents information and controls.
UI typically comes into play in a Killer’s production later in the cycle, once game design is solidified, UX wireframes are defined, and character models, animations, VFX, and narrative are almost finished. This ensures the team has all the context needed to create accurate and cohesive UI elements.
Our UI Artist and UI Technical Artist have been collaborating closely to figure out how to bring Sin to the Survivor Portrait HUD. Using light-ray visuals, they’ve explored how the effect distorts as Sin decays. This UI has been built entirely with Shaders to achieve the desired visuals.
Power and Perk icons are also in development. Following a cross-discipline brainstorming session, the UI Artists explore multiple ideas based on the discussion. They gather references from models and animations, or sometimes they take their own photos to get the perfect pose. Below are early iterations for The Judgement’s Power icons and Aurora’s Perks icons. From here, the team adds Art Direction feedback before moving into the final pass.
UX (User Experience)
UX in games is about more than menus and layouts or HUD elements. It’s about designing interactions to be clear, intuitive, and frictionless so players can fully enjoy the experience.
One flow that the team has been working on is to figure out how to clearly communicate “unhook protections” (Endurance, Haste, and Elusive status effects) and how their duration can be extended by “charging up” the Artifact works. The team developed a range of wireframes to validate the concept. Wireframes are early-stage visual layouts used to plan how something will work before final visuals are created.
A few interactions and discussions later, here is where we landed:
Another thing that the team is looking at is the visual effect used to indicate when a Survivor is afflicted by the Killer’s Sin. While you may have seen an early version in a previous broadcast, the team is continuing to evaluate several aspects of the effect, including:
- High visibility, with a bright effect that occupies a large space around the Survivor’s head
- Potential concerns around photosensitivity
- Trypophobia considerations, due to clustered hole-like or bumpy patterns
Audio
On the audio side, we’ve got plenty to share on our early exploration and progress.
We focused first on defining the Killer’s audio direction. Capturing the impact of a four-legged creature and its iconic power came with its own challenges, as you can imagine….
Footsteps went through several iterations, evolving from sharper, spider-like clicks to a heavier, rock-like presence. The goal was to make the Killer feel imposing from a Survivor’s perspective, without impacting the gameplay. The power had to feel massive. Its multiple phases were carefully crafted to blend seamlessly, and when triggered from afar, it can be heard across the Map like a divine retribution.
Below you can listen where we are now. As a bonus, you’ll also hear a work-in-progress version of the Terror Radius. Enjoy!
That’s it for this update! Keep an eye out for more behind the scenes content as we get closer to the release.
