UDK project Ether

[White Paper Games]

Hey guys,

Thanks for taking the time to check out our thread. We're a newly formed small indie studio from the Northwest of England, named White Paper Games. With some industry experience, we're interested in what we can do on a smaller scale focusing on solid immersive game play rather than big blockbuster graphics.
That said this will be our first game by the name of Ether. Ether is a narrative rich puzzle based game which is being built in the UDK. We currently have 4 people currently working on the project hopefully we can expand that to include an artist and 3D modeller but working unpaid isn't everyone's cup of tea! We welcome all your crits and feedback in helping us create something fun to play. I'm sure it will be a completely new experience for us all and thanks again for your interest.

Our first update is just giving you guys some content for the game so you get a good idea about what Ether is about.

Concept

ETHER is a 3rd Person action puzzle game set in the virtual mind of a woman who has just been found dead. As an Ab-Con, a program that is used to retrieve a persons final living moments, it is up to you to infiltrate the woman’s memories that are stored in a computer program named ETHER and find out how she was killed.

Using different coloured light weapons that are used to find weaknesses in the ETHER you must solve puzzles and absorb memories to trick the system into believing you are the creator, the originator of the memories, and delve deeper into an emotional and mysterious story about love, hate and hope.

Synopsis

“It is the mid 21st century. Information has become the greatest asset to the human race. The Internet has evolved into a new system named Cirrus, a network of cloud servers that host all of the world’s information. Computers are obsolete; replacing them is the one thing that we love the most, ourselves. High-speed telekinetic links connect our minds to Cirrus allowing us to access a billion pieces of information. Within Cirrus there is a program that is named ETHER, a place that you can store each and every one of your thoughts and memories in our own personal virtual vaults, for our sole vane use.

These vaults are named CASES and are protected by guardians, with the only access being granted to the creator. When the creator dies these CASES are stored away for only authorised people to use, here they can view selected information (by the deceased) so they can forever remember there loved ones.

Sometimes when a person that is connected to ETHER passes away under suspicious circumstance programs are sent to infiltrate the CASE to find the last memory that is stored there and find out how they died.

These programs are called AB-CONS



A lot of writing for the first post I know but hopefully that will give you a good idea about what the project is and we'll have some WiP images for you in the next post,
Thanks again for taking the time to check us out.

[White Paper Games]

Here are a few WiP images. It's the start of the blocking out process so no definite direction of gameplay. We want to keep it quite open with multiple paths but give the player only one clear direction if that makes sense? We're also using some UDK assets as placeholders and won't be kept once we start modelling.

http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/a...enj_h06/07.jpg

http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/a...enj_h06/06.jpg

http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/a...enj_h06/05.jpg

These first few images show the type of paths the play is going to be taking. There will be some moving platforms which the player must complete puzzles to solve. The main feeling we want to get across is that the player is not being lead through the game.

http://i935.photobucket.com/albums/a...enj_h06/01.jpg

This last one is a possible sepia post process. We want to create a dreamy type memory feel to the game however I'm not sure if this is a bit too extreme or in the wrong direction. Any suggestions?

[White Paper Games]

Hey guys,

It’s been another hectic week of development. We have been focusing on a lot on the business side of things but here’s probably not the place to be talking about those topics.
If you were interested in the overall development of our indie studio you can check out our Website, Twitter and Facebook pages.

We have had some time this week to flesh out our first level allowing us to test the length of gameplay and also some of the puzzles which I will be going into soon.

The first few images are just quick overviews of the level.
We also wanted to dissect the level a bit to incorporate a coastal village which will fit into the narrative and give the level more character. This level is based on a small town in Cornwall (UK).







This is an overview we used to draw over and decide where we wanted to make changes to the level as well as a possible direction for the player to take (as the story expands). Using any programs such Adobe Photoshop can allow you to
quickly annotate drawings and decide the best possible direction. In this case we used ‘Skitch’ which sadly only works for Mac users at the moment.



Next is a quick image of one of the first puzzles the player will encounter, not too tricky but eases the player in and teaches them the first rules of the game. We won’t go into how it will be solved though



As you can see from the images above, the level is starting to flesh out nicely with (hopefully) not too linear paths. We want to give the player that sense of freedom in a contained space. We want the narrative to be gathered
in any way they wish but still get a clear sense of where they are and what is happening (and experiencing). We haven’t really touched upon the visual style too much, partly because we want the game play to be solid
before we start working on aesthetics, but also because as the story evolves we may wish to add certain memories in at earlier stages which will speed up the process in the long run (again, hopefully).

Lastly, thanks for the continual feedback, we are getting lots of hits on our pages and social networking sites and it’s always good to hear from likeminded passionate people!

[White Paper Games]

Wow! It feels like a lifetime since we last updated but we are sticking to our weekly updates at least!

This week is more of a visual update rather than UDK mechanic based.

We've had a serious rethink about the direction we're heading (not too serious!). But we feel that we have been steam rolling ahead so quickly that we've been loosing sight about what the project is as a whole.

We want a rich unique universe based in Cornwall, UK. We want a strong narrative structure that will connect people on multple levels. But most of all we want a great experience.

So keeping the block maps aside, we've gone back to the drawing board on the narrative, the reason players will want to experience this reality, along with what style we are going for.

Firstly, heres a concept of one of our characters 'IBUSA'.

The concept artist on this image is Josh Taylor and you can find his personal blog here if your interested to see more



We think this image is a great starting point for us allowing us to connect and create a personality for him but also to set the visual standards of our game

We're also taking a lot of inspiration from artists such as Dave McKean (http://www.mckean-art.co.uk/) if you get a chance to check his work out, especially the work in Mirror Mask.

Environment wise I think we're still undecided about exactly how we would like to visualise it but heres another concept of a potential style



Thanks for taking the time to check out our blog updates and if you have any thoughts fire away! We'd love to know your opinions on any elements.

[Deltathunder]

The blockings nice,Good progress.
I Love the concept image of the character, nice style,simple but extremely effective.
Will be following this.

[White Paper Games]

Cheers Deltathunder Appreciate the support!

[White Paper Games]

Hey all!

Apologies about lack of updates. As is such the case in any development sometimes you have to take a step back an wonder if you are heading in the right direction. We did just that and decided we needed an even fresher approach on our game design. Hopefully we've found that new direction and will be posting updates as they come Thanks for checking out our work!

We've also just relaunched our website so please feel free to check it out!

[White Paper Games]

The first thing is that our concept of Ether is very nearly finalized with only visuals to nail before we can start to push on and complete our first prototype! Yep that’s right we are finally moving into development and with that we are hoping to be releasing lots and lots of new info on Ether and White Paper Games and exactly what we are about, where we are heading and why YOU guys should keep following us and get involved!

Its going to be a month or so before we are at that stage so to keep you all ticking over I have a few pieces of concept art to show you as well as a piece of 3D art (Work in Progress) courtesy of Broady Blackwell.

Enjoy.



Sit down, there is no reason to be scared



All I could see, was the sea








More design type content to follow. This is world of LEVEL DESIGN after all

[White Paper Games]

Hey guys,

So we havnt really been posting too many design updates and relying more on concept art to push our game at this stage. This is mainly due to the fact that we dont want to give too much away before the release of the game and focus more on our development stages instead. I’ve uploaded a few shots of the work we’re doing in the UDK along with the planning process behind it. The visuals in UDK have evolved since these shots so they’re by no means finished textures, more placeholders for our gameplay.

Enjoy!



First image shows some of Josh Taylors concept art being used to get a feel for the environment the player is in. How the house got there is still a mystery…



More layouts of how the Island will look and feel to play. We need this stage as organic feeling as possible.



Now we start to add landmarks so we can get a feel for the pacing and where to change up the game play.



Then we plan the next stages, move things around, iterate it and test it again. All part of the prototyping stages

[mattsilk]

I can't believe no one has commented on this yet! You've got some solid screens up right now! Are you planning on releasing any of these maps to test the whiteboxes? If so I'd love to help, but if not I could understand why you wouldn't want to. I don't know how far y'all are on actually implementing the visual aesthetics, but form what I can see these are great! solid visuals right there! I really feel like you've nailed down the atmosphere of what "ether" makes you think of!

Also those concept art pieces are AMAZING! Tell Josh that he's doing a top notch job and it just makes me more excited to see what you guys eventually put out!

Keep up the great work WhitePaperGames, you might have a fan if you're level is as fun as it looks!

[White Paper Games]

Hey mattsilk,

Thanks for the kind words There doesnt seem to be too much activity on this page no, but hopefully people are still checking out the work even if they dont feel the need to comment. Some brilliant stuff going on in the forum!

We are planning on releasing the maps to playtest. The more people the better. Afterall, playtesting is what makes or breaks a game right? It would be awesome for you to playtest some of our prototypes if you wouldnt mind. Could either shoot us a message with your email address on so we can send you an email when we have something or just look out for our updates on the website or on here to see when we're looking for play testers. Hopefully having a prototype up for the new year and will be looking to playtest it after that sometime so still a few weeks away from anything solid

Its always good to recieve the feedback, good or bad, so we can improve our game accordingly so we really appreciate the support! Thanks for all the enthusiasm and I will check out some of your WiP to comment on to share the love!

[White Paper Games]

Hi all,

Pretty productive day working on the Ether Island. Still lots of props to add from our artists but just trying to get a good atmosphere on the Island as we know the player path now. More images than text today as its getting closer to Christmas and my mind is slowly winding down

Enjoy!

[Cindorella]

Yeah. Nicely done. Whenever it's "aired" i will definitely give it a try! Keep the good work up! Merry Christmas etc!


Regards
Johannes Olsson

[White Paper Games]

Thanks Cindorella! Appreciate you taking the time to look. We'll let you know when we start testing it.

Happy Holidays

[mattsilk]

I think the short depth of field you've added really helps the atmosphere feel very dream like and unreal! (in the best possible way)