Currently, I’m working on the second level for Savanna Sam. For this level, I’ve painted a more elaborate background compared to the first level. The background image uses a panorama effect, similar to panorama photos that most smartphones can make, where several photos looking into different directions are stitched together.

In my case, the panorama is arranged vertically. So, the upper portion of the image represents the view that you would see if you look straight at the horizon, and it blends into the view where you would look straight down at the ground.

This is what it looks like in it’s entirety:

So, what do I need a vertical panorama background for? At one point in the second level, Sam flies over the edge of a cliff and continues to fly downward along the wall of the cliff. I need the background for the moment where Sam transitions from flying straight at the horizon to flying along the comically tall stone wall:

I think the effect is pretty neat, considering how relatively low-tech it is.

And I added another comic-style cutscene to the game, introducing a new character. The plot thickens!

Right now, I’m working on a new level for Savanna Sam. I’m creating an industrial themed set of graphics for this level. The reason for this is that Sam, at this point in the game, has left the Savanna and is flying through a diamond mine.

I’m still early in the process, but you can already see some early environmental graphics and the changed color palette due to the different time of day:

As you can see, this time Sam isn’t flying over an open space, but through a huge trench created by the mining operations. During the level, the trench is supposed to take turns that Sam needs to follow with his plane.

There is a bunch of objects and characters that I’m creating for this level, the first of which is a classic mine cart:

In the level, the mine carts will move along tracks, creating more obstacles for Sam to avoid.

A mine cart just standing around isn’t very interesting. So, I modeled some tracks for it to go around on. Here it is in action!

Later in the game, the mine carts are going to be used both as part of the background scenery as well as moving obstacles for the player to evade.

And another vehicle I’ve modeled for the mining level in Savanna Sam: The haul truck!

I hope I’ll be able to finish all the assets I would like to use in the mining level this week. Let’s see…

I spent a good portion of the last week to create a new background character for the mining level in Savanna Sam. The mine in the game is operated by a company run by meerkats. So, I needed a meerkat miner that would populate the level while Sam is traveling through it.

I used this opportunity to try and document even more of my process. This time, I recorded a timelapse of me sketching the meerkat miner:

This is the resulting artwork:

I then used this as a reference to model and texture the 3D model of the character:

Of course, the model needs to be rigged and animated as well!

And now, I can place these little guys all over the level:

I’m quite happy with the outcome, and I have once more learned a couple of things, especially in regards to rigging and animating. :-)

In my last post, I wrote about the surface mining level that I built for Savanna Sam. Currently, I’m working on the level following that one, where Sam actually goes underground!

Whenever characters venture into an underground mine, I have to think of a certain fellowship of adventurers ;-) As a Lord of the Rings fan, I want to have my own “they dug too deep” moment. However, since Savanna Sam isn’t taking place in a fantasy setting, having an ancient demon appear feels a bit out of place.

So, maybe the miners stumbled upon some bones of real animals instead. And maybe the skeletons, having been disturbed in their slumber, come back to life…

Dinosaurs don’t cease to be awesome, even when you get older ;-) Above you can see the concept artwork for the T-Rex skeleton. I have alreads modelled and rigged the character, as well:

Happy new year, everybody!

Good news, Sam is not dead yet! Due to other obligations, I had to put the Savanna Sam project on hold for a while, which is why there were no updates recently. However, I now have time to tinker on my little flying game once more, so the hiatus is over!

One of the things I was busy with recently was building a custom website for Savanna Sam! Next to itch.io and Newgrounds, this is meant to be Sam’s home on in the internet.

To get back into the groove with working on the game itself, I decided to do some housekeeping and adjust the UI design in the game to the design of the website. I wasn’t too happy with the grey buttons anyways, so this was a nice opportunity to give the buttons and UI elements an overhaul.

I think the result is an improvement and fits the atmosphere of the game nicely.

I have reworked an aspect of the game that isn’t very spectacular at first glance, but pretty important: The input hints, teaching new players how to play the game.

Naturally, I want to communicate very clearly and in an easily understandable way what controls the player needs to use in order to play the game. Also, I originally wanted to hint at the fact that there are several different input devices that the player may use, like mouse and keyboard, gamepad or touchscreen.

What I came up with was this:

What you’re looking at here is a modal window that is displayed on top of the game.

• The game itself is paused for as long as this tutorial screen is visible and continues once the player confirms with the OK-button.
• The input device currently used by the player is highlighted within the window, so if, for example, you’ve been using mouse and keyboard to play the game so far, then that input hint is shown front and center, with the respective text description.
• Additionally, you can see on the right side the input scheme for the same action on the other input devices.

I thought I was in pretty good shape with these, but further play tests with friends an colleagues have shown what probably should have been pretty obvious from the start: These tutorial screens are quite awful :-P

• By using a modal screen, in some cases even during gameplay, I interrupt the game and take control away from the player, which is always unpopular
• The graphics are too complex, especially the keyboard illustration has too many details that are not important for the player
• The additional possible input devices are irrelevant to the player in that moment, who very likely just wants to know what to do on the very device they’re using right now
• I thought the text description below the graphic was short and snappy enough, but I still underestimate how little patience players have when they just want to play a game

The result was that in most cases, players didn’t look or even read what the tutorial screen showed them. Instead, they perceived the screen as an intrusion, trying to remove it as quickly as possible, sometimes while ignoring the hints completely.

So I reworked the input hints, making them much simpler and more intuitive:

• The game is not interrupted anymore,
• the hint graphics are much simpler now
• and on top of that, they are now animated

Again, it seems obvious in hindsight ;-) Hopefully, this will work better in the next playtest.

This was somewhat spoiled in my last post, but there is a new, very visible feature in the game: The overworld graphics have been overhauled!

So, Sam is not traversing a white “work in progress” void anymore:

Instead, Sam is now flying through an actual Savanna, with 3D objects hinting at the respective themes of the levels:

This is another step that makes the game feel that much closer to not being a prototype anymore.