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on April 2
Epifanica
Posted project update #14New Website!
After a lot of work, we're finally got the new The Light of the Darkness´s website! The new site's purpose is to concentrate in a single space, all the information about the universe, about the projects developed based on it(as the game) as well as having different types of content such as blog, text, images, videos, music, audio and so on, all in one place and with a new better presentation. The new site replaces the olds aluzdaescuridao.com (br); thelightofthedarkness.com (en) and blog.thelightofthedarkness.com (br).
The site was one of the reasons we have stayed this long period without much news (longer here in Kickstarter, since some posts we do not have time to translate and post here too). We worked to prepare this unified tool that could bring together in one place all the contents of the projects with a practical ways to post new content and simpler for visitors to see it. It´s become too much complicated admin 3 different sites with Portuguese and English content. So here we are.
Visitors from other countries, can access the site translated via google translate tool, clicking on the flag of his country on the site´s side bar, or writing the address with a abbreviation on it. For exemple: http://universe.thelightofthedarkness.com/blog/ becomes http://universe.thelightofthedarkness.com/en/blog/ for English translations. We are implementing a collaboration tool for the translations that, in the future, will improve the quality of the translations allowing the public to edit the translated pages. But, for now, there is only an automatic translation available. Since there is a lot of content now, unfortunate we can´t manual translate all of it right now. In other side, google translate allow us to translate the site in several languages, not only English.
Hope you enjoy the new website and its content. Those wishing to give feedback about the site, report a bug can do in the Contact Page. From now on, we will have weekly content being posted on the site, such as texts about the universe and news about the game and about the game demo that will be released to Kickstarter´s backers soon, as well as information about the soundtrack, cutscenes, voice acting, the statue with the face of the backers, the new version of GDD Document and much more!
Going through the old address www.thelightofthedarkness.com it will automatically forward to the translated version of the site.
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on March 13
Epifanica
commented on a projectTemos novidade sim! Apesar de estarmos atrasados com o primeiro demo. Estamos preparando um novo site muito melhor que deve ir pro ar na próxima semana, com muitas novidades sobre o projeto.
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on December 19
Epifanica
Posted project update #13Development Part 1 - New HUD
This is the first of many posts about the development of the game itself. Information regarding the game design, technical articles, and concept art. Much of the information present in the game design document as well we will talking about the obstacles and solutions that are facing for during the development of the project. Today we speak of the HUD (actually the new HUD game).
One of the more striking of the Light of the Darkness is how the visual elements reinforce the concept of dialectics in the universe. Everything from the look of the characters, colors, symbols, architecture, follows this goal. This approach also has a great impact on the HUD, as well as game menus that will be described later. In Light of the Darkness, menus and HUD has "skins" depending on the different world in which the game is going. We have then a Dark HUD and Light HUD, each appropriate to the visual world that the player is exploring.
The first versions of HUD were made even before the coding work of the game (in the pre-production). Early versions have explored this approach "light / dark" that I quoted above. We will see below how was the first solution of The Light of the Darkness HUD:
Variations of both are only aesthetic, because they both follow the same layout and has the same features. The look of the Light HUD is inspired by Greek architecture while the dark HUD in Gothic/Medieval architecture. Earlier I this version, the indicators of peripheral essence (HP) and mystical essence (MP) do not had a very traditional approach. Both would be shown through spheres that become smaller as both attributes diminished. The colors follow issues relating to the characteristics of the universe. Essence of Light had blue colors and dark essence had red color in that world. Thus, the mystical essence of Sephius would change color depending on the world he was. The peripheral essence keep the color yellow as is the color of the natural essence of Sephius. HUD also had slots for weapon 1 item and 1 spell.
This spheres approach eventually did not work when put into practice. This is a good example of how the game design document needs to be molded. We can´t just planning 100% of the game before actually start to produce it. Many things in theory end up not working well in practice or simply need adjustments that are only possible to identifying after that is implemented and tested. The spheres was not very practical in view the amount of essences of the player and so we ended up using numeric values with them, which ended up making the sense of the use of the spheres of energy lost completely.
Another issue that ended up being meaningless was the weapon slot as the game eventually evolved into a gameplay where you use only one weapon. The spells became the element of variation of attacks in the game. Soon there was no sense in slot weapon. Additionally, during development the game design the game evolved into a gameplay that spells now have a larger role, with combinations of spells and interactions with the environment. The items also have a more important role. For this reason, have only one slot for each turned out to be insufficient, especially in the case of spells that could now be combined.
With these changes and learning, we had to develop a new HUD, with another approach and appropriate elements coming into what the gameplay eventually evolved. Lets see below how it went:
In the new version, the indicators of peripheral and mystical essence came to be shown with bars instead of spheres of energy. This form simply works better. The use of gemstones as visual support gives a good idea of their relationship as a source of origin of essences (the deep essence is the origin other kinds of essences and it comes in solid form as crystals). An additional indicator shield was also added for another a change in the gameplay of the game. Previous, the shield could be used without any restriction and we realize that it eliminated a little of the challenge and the requirement for strategic use in the game. Then the shield now has a usage limit, related to the amount of damage that it needs to absorb. It works a bit like the stamina in games such as Demons Souls / Elder Scrolls.
The presence of two slots for spells makes it clearer to player to approach of the use of compounds spells. In this new approach to the use of spells (which happened at some stage of development) brought the need for other elements to HUD, not only that related to bar attributes / items / spells. Another major factor was we was making, previous, a game to be played with mouse / keyboard and can later see the possibility of the support for gamepad which is the best way to play these kind of games. In the old HUD, the selection of spells and items were made by clicking the mouse on the selected slot and symbols / items appear when you click into these slots. This obviously does not work with a gamepad.
Thus, it required a new kind of selection of items and spells, as shown below:
Other elements of the HUD do not have to be discussed in great detail, but are present. Others visual indicators needed in the game is : Indicator of item collected, indicator of new spell learned, new level, region explored; damage from the enemies, enemies attribute. These indicators are simple, without ornamentation, with the goal of being direct and functional. In the dark world has a black decal and in the light world a white decal. These indicators can see below:
Type of Damage:Green is negative damage(regenerative), yellow is critical damage, white is normal damage.
Collection of items and attributes of enemies.
Other indicators:
Well, that's it for now. This week we will send the first version of the Game Design Document for the supporters who supported with $ 30.00 or more (Brazilians only for wile)! The document is now quite extensive and it will be possible to have a good idea of the complexity of the game, it´s features and mechanics.
Until next time!
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on December 8
Epifanica
Posted project update #12Hotsite with Backer´s Tombstones!
Post CommentOne of the cooler reward offered during the campaign funds on kickstart was the possibility of having a name displayed inside the game, on tombstones throughout the scenario. A reward somehow "sinister", so to speak, but is cool any way. As the game will still take a while to be released, we prepared this hot site with the final image of the tombstones, where supporters can check how they memorial will be the final game.
The tombstones have names written in sansico, but turns into normal alphabet when the player comes close to the tombstones. A simulation of this effect can also be seen in the hot site. If you is a $50 backer you will see your name there somewhere!
For those who supported with higher values ($150 or more), the names will appear on statues (with backer face). A hot site with the statues will also be produced.
To see the names of the "legendaries" visit the link below or click on the image:
http://www.thelightofthedarkness.com/lapides/
You also wants your name on the tombstones? Go to the project blog (http://www.thelightofthedarkness.com/blog/) and click on the "apoie o projeto!" in the sidebar of the blog and support with $50 or more. Recalling that there are several other nice rewards for those who support the project.
Stay tuned for more news soon!
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on December 8
Epifanica
Posted project update #11Seven Games joins Epifânica in the development of the Light of the Darkness!
The Brazilian school of game development, Seven Games, joins to the list of partners in the development of The Light of the Darkness. Seven is supporting the project giving physical space, software, equipment and developers to work on the project. The Seven Games has a system of supervised training, where students have the chance to work on real projects in the market, helping in the students training as well as the projects supported by the school. For Epifânica, is also a pleasure to share the knowledge gained in the developing of this project with students at the school. Knowledge that can be very helpful to then when working on other projects in near future.
Seven's support is very welcome and should have a positive impact on the project, as has happened with others supports as the Virtue Games, Instant Games, ESPM, Zeger Studio and from others professionals, designers and enthusiasts. The Light of the Darkness project has been a very collaborative project and is important to remember the importance of this kind of way in the indie development scene in Brazil. It's a win-win scenario. It´s good for the projects and people involved, especially because experience that is being learned and is being shared with everyone. Recalling that one of the major problems in Brazil is also a lack of knowhow.
Stay tuned for more news!
To learn more about the Seven Games:http://www.sevengame.com.br/
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Elton Borges Mesquita on December 8
Amazing news indeed! I hope it really work well for every part involved.
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on November 28
Epifanica
Posted project update #10About the Sansico Language.
Texto em português aqui.
One of the most most commented aspects of the Project The Light of the Darkness, was the existence of fictional language called Sansico. As already mentioned, The Light of the Darkness is a fantasy universe that takes place in a world very different from ours. Everything from biology, physics and cultures are different than we have here in our real world. This has an impact also in the language spoken by the creatures in the universe and consequently in the game.
There were two main reasons for the decision to use the native language of Sansico in the voice acting in the game. The first and main reason is a about concept. Since the goal is to strengthen the unprecedented nature and of the universe, the speech of the characters in they original language was a major factor. This makes the content more compelling and immersive as well as make it more convincing. The other reason was about technical issue, as the The Light of the Darkness is a "international" project, not for only Brazilians, as does the nature of the global gaming market. So, in our case, a version of the game in English is mandatory and essential to others outside of Brazil enjoy the project. But with that, technical problems arise, since from the beginning we decided for the existence of in-game voice acting and the two languages (Portuguese and English) has proved problematic for the project due to logistical and financial issues. For this reason, the sansico was a perfect fit, because we can have a single voice acting for all the languages that the game can be translated.
About Sansico, we had a very large amount of questions about it. Like, for example, how is the translation process, if the sansico is just a "inverted Portuguese", the origin of language in the universe and so on. On the technical side is important to note that sansico is not a inverted Portuguese! On the other hand, the sansico is not yet a fully developed real language like Elvish in The Lord of the Rings. The sansico, at the moment, is a middle ground. The goal in the voice acting results, as the written of the language, is to be some thing believable. This can not be archived with improvised texts, there must have real words, real pronounce and so on. Even without understanding what a person says, we can recognize the patterns of language, can recognize repeated words and so on. Therefore the development of sansico has needed a bit of work.
About the history, the sansico language was a very old language in the universe. A language of an extinct culture called Sansios. The Sansios was another creatures very different from the creatures seen during the ages of The Light of the Darkness history.They lived at a time when world was not divided between Light and Darkness. It was a culture that preceded the white and black cultures seen so far. The sansico had four dialects: The Ancient Sansico, the Pegahmo Sansico , the Black Sansico and the White Sansico . The Ancient Sansico was the original Sansico language. Pegahmo Sansico was a variant of an ancient subculture. Sansico white and black dialects are what we see so far.
The differences between white and black sansico were seen in the alphabet which was quite different each other, but there was differences in pronunciation too. This difference in pronunciation was not big, it would be something like the Portuguese of Brazil and Portugal. Black and white creatures could be understood when speaking each other, as well Brazilians can understand the Portuguese(Portugal) speak.
There were some unique aspects in relation to both languages and their writing, for example, in sansico white, the letter "U" was considered a letter associated with darkness and thus considered a "inferior vowel ". In this writing, the U is always misaligned down, showing this inferiority. Black sansico did the same, however with the letter "A", which was associated with light, a inferior element to the dark creatures. This vowel was so misaligned down in sansico black.
Below see pictures of the two alphabets (click on images to enlarge):
Note that the numbering in the two cultures was also different from the used by us humans. In human culture, we always using a base of 10. This comes from the number of fingers we have in hands. Because in the past was with the hands that we counted numbers, and as we only have 10 fingers, we had to restart counting when the number was greater than 10. This defined our base of 10 for numeric symbols. In the white world, the creatures had four fingers on each hand and not 5 as we have, so they only count up to 8 and their numbering is base of 8. Dark creatures had only three fingers on each hand, which led to a number in base of 6. Thus, it is important to note that the count of time and things were quite different than what we do. If we were to count 37 years for example, it´s 45 in Light years and 101 in dark years. 1980 was equivalent to 3674 in white numbering and 13,100 in black numbering. The sansicos digits functioned in a way reminiscent of Roman numerals. There were only symbols for the number 0, the number 1, the number associated with one hand (half the base) as well as numbers of 2 hands, and multiplications related to this digits. The sansicos numbers represented somewhat elementary operations. The number 2 was represented by 1+1, 3 by 1 +1 +1. The 7 (white numbers) by 4 +1 +1 +1 and so on. Numbers on the left is multiplications. So 20 was represented by (1+1) * 10, 6000 (white numbers) by (4 +1 +1) * 1000. It seems a bit complex and it is. But the numbering Sansico was emerged through a natural counting processes for them, which were different from those that resulted in our way of counting.
The Sansico fonts (which were given as rewards for $25 backers or more) are inspired by old typographies. The white alphabet in Roman typography and the black alphabet in Gothic typography. For those who knows some thing about typography, will realize that light symbols have horizontal emphasis and are more "stable" while black symbols have oblique emphasis and has a look less "stable". These characteristics reinforce the concept of the dialectic of the universe. The Ancient and Pegahmo sansicos still need to be "discovered" by our team of researchers of the ancient texts ... So, it should take a while to figure out how they were like ...
The font white sansico was developed by me Fernando Rabello, the font black sansico was developed by Magno Laureano, both based on a system of symbols sketched by Daniel Mafra.
Finally, as we announced before. We put online the Sansico Translator! The application is able to translate texts and words in Portuguese to sansico white or black. It's pretty simple, just write the text and paste click translate! If one wants to be able to read the text (and test your pronunciation in sansico) can click on "muda" to see the translated text in the Latin alphabet. The inverse translation is only partially working now, but it is possible to be able to understand a text sansico doing the reverse process by the translator.
The translator was developed by Leonardo Kasperavicius from the Instant Games Company. We special thank him for supporting the project and without his collaboration we would not have the translator.
Unfortunate, the Sansico Translator only work for Portuguese texts. So, if you want to translate some thing in English or other language you need to translate to Portuguese fist (use google translator for example).
One thing that is important to note is that the sansico present in translator is a sansico "2.0". A more correct version than what we hear in the trailers so far. So, some differences can be found if people try to do the translate the same texts of the trailer. New voiceovers are being prepared with the latest version of sansico anyway.
The link to access the translator is:http://www.thelightofthedarkness.com/tradutor/tradutorsansico.htm
"Farom Ares wo Dosprese... Ares wo Procinceote... Ares wo Gaerrus... On mehhe mondu coitohca cerrimpode o docedanto, ontruvuhmes namu navo are... U Are wu Pab o wu Oscahridue..."
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on October 22, 2011
Epifanica
Posted project update #9Updates and First Rewards!
Hello!
It´s quite some time without updates. We understand the concern of those who are supporting the project and from today we will have constant updates at our blog and here at Kickstarter.
The long period was because the waiting for transfer of resources from Kickstarter. We waiting a little longer than expected and with a few additional bureaucratic processes.
During this time, however, we already been working on the project and we will post updates next week. We are doing this update also to provide the first rewards! See below how the processes will be going from now on:
- All supporters will receive by mail a package of wallpapers (reward of $ 1 up). The wallpapers contains several versions with aspect ratios including for iPhones. There are 15 wallpapers for all supporters!
- Everyone who supported with amount above $ 5 will receive the digital package with concept art and illustrations of the project. The package contains nearly 90 images of characters, environments, creatures, some assets and concepts of the game and more!
- We provide the fonts Sansico Black and White in the coming days, along with a Sansico translator! That's right! The translator is a plus that will be put on the blog and we're seeing the possibility of including it on Facebook. The translator was developed with the participation of the Instant Games (www.instantgames.com.br), programmed by Leonardo Kasperavičius. Now everyone can write their own texts and those who receive Sansico fonts, may use the written and fonts and the program they like. You can use the translator, for example, to swear your boss ... write secret messages ... or practice your sansico speaking . Unfortunately, the process of translation for the Sansico only works from the Portuguese for now. An English translation can be thought of in the future. People in other countries can use google translator to translate text to Portuguese before use the Sansico Translator.
- We updated the credits with the list of names of supporters (who supported with values above $ 25), as well as logos and links of supporters who supported with $ 300 or more. Later these names and logos are the ingame menu of the game. You can see the list here and credits here.
- We are producing a hot site with the tombstones of supporters who supported with $ 50 or more. These supporters could anticipate how their names will appear later in the game in this tombstones.
- Physical rewards (postcards, posters, map), will begin to be sent within two weeks. We will send a survey in the next few days to take addresses from these supporters. The survey also ask for that the sponsor what image wanted for postcard picture or poster of a several number of images that we will display on our blog in a few days.
- About GDD there are two options that we will discuss with supporters ($30). As DDD is a dynamic document that is changing as development, supporters can choose to receive this material versions, or only the final version, complete it will be ready at the end of game development. Other materials for the development will be sent during the months of development.
- On the soundtrack of the game, it will be available on the game's release next year. We will show some pieces of some songs during the month. There will be 7 songs for the first episode. The songs will be available digitally for those who supported with $ 15 or more. The names of the songs will be going: "Ages Between Light and Darkness" (main theme), "The Awake" (Start Menu), "Land of Oblivion" (Gameplay), "The Phenomenal Battle " (sub boss) "Despise, Hate and Power" (cutscene), "The Epic Epiphany" ("final boss"), "Catharsis" (end cutscene).
- About the statues (our favorite reward!), We will send guide to supporters (who supported with $ 150 or more) on how to submit your photo to produce the illustrations for the game. Just as we are doing with the tombstones. The statues will also be on a hot site for supporters could see the result.
- Video spots of the logos for $400 supporters will be made in the coming months. The video spots will be available digitally for those supporters who can use as you wish.
- About the game's release, many have asked, our predictions is 5 to 6 months what make the game be releasing on March or April. Before that we are thinking about the possibility of providing beta versions for all supporters (since only one of all selected this option).
- For those who missed the opportunity to support and receive the rewards, we are reopening the possibility of supporting via Paypal. For support simply click on the "Apoie o projeto" bottom in the sidebar of the game blog . This option also applies to supporters who had problems with payments in Kickstarter and was eventually excluded from the backer´s list.
Once again we greatly thank everyone who supported and still supporting the project. This movement is what make possible the further development of the project! We are all together on this journey.
We're back with more news soon!
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on September 14, 2011
Epifanica
Posted project update #8Success!
- Brasileiros, vejam o texto em português aqui.
18 hours before the end of our campaign in Kickstarter, The Light of the Darkness project has reach the mark of $22,000 of pledges required for the project to be funded. Campaign finished , Kickstarter finally confirmed the funding success with $22,264 of pledges and now begins the process for receiving the funds, rewards preparation and resumption of work on the development of the game.
It was a hard work taking care of this campaign. It was the first game developed in Brazil to try crowd funding initiative and, because of that, we can say it was a huge challenge. We are very happy to know that what we are doing now will definitely help other productions in Brazil. The repercussion the project had in Brazil and other countries led many people to learn what crowd funding is and the valuable importance this tool may have in the near future for Brazilian projects. We hope very much that this first initiative encourages the public to also support other projects and be more receptive to what is developed in Brazil, where there are many talented people who deserve a chance to develop surprising things.
During the campaign, The Light of the Darkness had a great attention on the Internet. More than 20,000 people visited our site/blog, we had more than 60,000 views on YouTube, more than 70 sites/blogs talked about the project, with some very cool articles like these ones: Arkade , Gizmodo, Siliconera, Nerd Age, Destructoid, Game TV, Meio Bit, Tudo no Pote, Jovem Nerd, Game Vício, Unlock, Girls of War and many, many others. Not only big sites and blogs, but also many small blogs and forums was very supportive too.
The campaign also generated many other opportunities, some of them we will announce soon, others we have already announced, like the partnership with Brazilian dubbing studio Zeger for additional voice-overs for the game, the partnership with composer Josh Whelchel for original songs and the beginning of the development for the iPhone version. Other opportunities may come in the near future, give us some positive vibes!
Not only companies and sites helped us, but many people too. We had a lot of proposals for collaborations during the campaign. We had many important collaborations like the English revisions for the poorly translated texts (something that had a lot of rightly criticism, unfortunately). We greatly thank Rogério Torres, Marwin Bravin and Daniel Inhauser for their valuable reviews on the site and campaign material. Everyone who came into contact with interest to collaborate with the project will be contacted. That kind of support has been fundamental to the project and we hope to continue counting on people like us that are enthusiastic about making this work deeper and deeper.
Anyway, there is many people to thank yet and we will thank in the mean time. We still have to finish a game! We will work hard as retribution for the support from backers.
As you can see, The Light of the Darkness is an ambitious project (taking into account it's a Brazilian project) and that effort has involved the participation of many people and this does not stop here. This game is our first step. We have passed through another battle, but the journey is still far ahead from here. Stay tuned for more news on the game soon!
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Elton Borges Mesquita on September 14, 2011
Como vocês mesmo disseram, esse é o início, então boa sorte ai e vamos ver como o projeto vai ficar. Força e façam o melhor que puderem.
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on September 12, 2011Funded!
The Light of the Darkness - The Game by Epifanica
The Light of Darkness is a beautiful indie side-scroller game, with action/RPG/plataform elements and based on a unique universe.
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101% funded $22,264 pledged
- 322 backers
- Funded Sep 12, 2011
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on September 8, 2011
Epifanica
commented on a project updateSim. De qualquer maneira, a repercussão tem que ser constante. No Brasil não se conhece sobre Kickstarter ou crowd funding então, muita gente acaba deixando pra depois e esquece, ou não faz pois não entendeu bem como fazer e etc. Por isso seria preciso outras matérias sobre o assunto, embora apenas alguns sites como o MeioBit fizeram isso, embora a gente tenha divulgado várias novidades sobre o projeto. A medida que o público brasileiro ficar mais a par desse tipo de ferramenta, será muito mais fácil para projetos no futuro arrecadarem fundos dessa forma.
Epifanica
Oakland, CA
Epifanica is a independent collaborative team created by Fernando Rabello and it´s composed by independent professionals in different areas such as design, illustration, concept art, game design and programming. Fernando Rabello is an artist with 1... view more
Ei, dei o pledge de U$150. Quando vão pedir fotos pro molde da estatua?