Schlagwort: smg studio

  • Moving Out: Movers in Paradise DLC launches February 25

    Moving Out: Movers in Paradise DLC launches February 25

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Today, we’re proud to present an exclusive inside look at Movers in Paradise, our brand-new DLC for Moving Out that offers 14 new story levels, 10 new arcade levels and four exclusive new characters. Also washing ashore are a number of new features, including: ziplines, vines and everyone’s favourite, the disgruntled goat! Movers in Paradise will be available on PlayStation 4 (and playable on PS5) from Thursday February 25.

    Read on to find out more about some of the design secrets that went into creating this new paradise – and the challenges within it.

    Welcome to Packmore Island

    In this busy world of bustle and beepers, there has never been a better time to slow… the… beat… down… We ask  you to wave pavement and asphalt goodbye, to sail into paradise as we welcome you to Packmore Island!

    It’s likely you’ve never heard of this tiny, remote rock – and why would you? It’s been hidden beyond the mist of the great beyond for time immemorial. Well, not quite. But one can dream… In fact, that’s just how Packmore Island came to be. From concept to creation – here’s how Packmore Island sprang to life.

    An exotic isle playground

    In this tropical setting of soothing sounds and picturesque coastal calm, you’ll explore sights never before seen by Mover or beast alike. From cliff faces that stretch down beyond the depths of your imagination, to chasms that defy your sense of space and time, our beaches will beg you to sit and be still and our caves will beckon you with hidden delights.

    When it comes to creating games, there’s a delicate balance between gameplay and art; we have to make sure that the art supports the gameplay, rather than getting in the way of the fun! To example this, here’s one level that sees our Movers work through a gorgeous, waterfall-filled location.

    If you look at the concept art above, we had some really cool-looking waterfalls flowing from the top of the level. When it came down to it though, these elements blocked a lot of the play area, compromising visibility for the players. So many of our testers were falling off the edge into the water-filled cavern below and that wasn’t fun at all! So though they looked cool, they actually detracted from the level experience.

    At the end of the day, all the elements of the game need to work together to create the best experience for the player. We always want to keep the FUN, so sometimes cool-looking things don’t make the cut. The silver lining here is that Art and Design just work even more closely together to come up with super creative solutions!

    Packmore Island also gave us a great opportunity to adapt Moving Out’s wacky physics for water-based challenges.

    There were lots of funny tests with rafts that behaved in less than perfect ways. Some were too floaty; some not floaty enough. Some launched into outer space and some just didn’t float at all. But in the end we got it jusssst right! The perfect balance to create your own safe platforms and pathways to keep that furniture (and your tiny mover feet) dry.

    Curious creatures ready to tax your moving skills

    In this tropical paradise, it’s not just the flora that will enchant you – the fauna also commands your attention! In its isolation, the wildlife of Packmore Island have evolved quite unique and interesting… idiosyncrasies. We’re speaking of sneaky crabs with a taste for thievery and capricious scallywag goats boasting skulls thick enough to break through stone walls (and who’ll charge inattentive movers not respecting their space). Lemurs may try to be friendly, sharing their fruit and expecting you to play fetch, but their treasure is covered in spikes and heavy enough to knock you over. (Feel free to give them a taste of their own medicine and piff that prickly fruit back at ‘em!)

    We had a lot of fun inventing gamplay ideas built around our challenging yet charismatic wildlife. Take the Packmore Island’s Puffer Fish: originally you had to move reaaaaallllly slowly, in a shhhh-don’t wake the baby, kind of way – you don’t want to startle them! Then we had a revelation (which is obvious in hindsight…) Moving slowly is not at all what Moving Out is all about! We pivoted, and now you have to throw the puffer before it gets too big and spikes you! Hopefully your moving buddy is there to catch it before it hits the ground and pops!

    We had a similar breakthrough with the goats. In the beginning they were really just an annoyance, charging movers and knocking them about, but we wanted to find a way to harness their energy for good. That’s when we thought to give their charge the ability to break walls. It spawned a whole level in fact! Thanks to that simple tweak, players can lure a goat to charge. Coupled with a well-timed sidestep on nimble mover feet, players can forge new pathways to otherwise unreachable areas. Go forth, you intrepid explorer!

    Geysers, scubas, and more

    Now sampling the local fruit isn’t the only way to reach great heights – you can fly sky high on state-of-the-art Geyser Transportation SystemTM or hop a ride on free-range Scuba Tanks. Originally introduced to help control the local Fire Extinguisher problem, they’ve become a beast of their own, running rampant on our lands. Not that there are many people to notice, mind you.

    On that note, if you do happen to spot any shipwrecks, plane crashes or ancient ruins, please feel free to tell no one and kindly not report us to the Island Health and Safety Minister. That lot gives us a hard enough time already.

    I hope you’ve enjoyed this of our new DLC! Please enjoy your stay on Packmore Island, a realm unparalleled in this world of Movers and shakers.

    Website: LINK

  • Moving Out Moves to PS4 on April 28

    Moving Out Moves to PS4 on April 28

    Reading Time: 5 minutes

    Hey Movers! SMG Art Team here — with Moving Out launching April 28, we thought we’d share the story behind the creation of some of the characters you’ll get to play in this couch co-op, moving game full of comedy, color, and chaos. We’ll break down the process so you can get a first-hand look at the design work we do, and how we take our wacky ideas and turn them into something you can actually move. Characters are how you experience the world of Moving Out, so sit tight as we jump right into the character design process!

    In the beginning, we get to be super creative — any and all ideas are welcome, and it’s not limited to the art team. At SMG, we think everyone has great ideas, so we sit down together and brainstorm. The best part of this process is how we can really bounce off each other. Fish bowls turn into actual fish for heads. What eats fish? Birds. Eagles are birds, and chickens — what’s with the funny way that chicken’s heads don’t move when their bodies do? Hmm… chickens lay eggs.

    OH! Dragons!!! DRAGON EGGS!

    Eggs… all this talk of eggs, now I’m hungry. Oooo oooooh!! SANDWICH HEADS!

    This stream of consciousness and collaborative thinking really helps to define our scope. Practically, we took notes. We did have some considerations which helped us reduce the list later on — we wanted to have characters that had the potential for expressive elements, things like tails or particle effects. We also wanted to make sure we had a good cross-section of different character types.

    With a short-list in hand, we drew up the ideas so we could get a rough visual of what each character could look like. We knew early on that we’d need the character’s hands to be clearly visible; it’s a big game play consideration, and it really shaped how we approached the character’s body design, so we locked that down pretty early. Character heads, on the other hand were still up for debate! So once the 2D drawings were circulated, in true democratic fashion, we held an internal vote.

    After the vote, the 2D drawings were fleshed out with some more detailed 2D paintings. And voila! Character concepts for the team to build in 3D and iterate on!

    Once we jump into 3D space, we start with a rough model. Here we get to play with the shapes and forms and can test for the first time if an idea will truly work. To know for sure, we drop the model into the game engine to test it in situ. With a clear idea about what’s working and what’s not, we iterate and refine the model.

    To get a better idea of this, we can use Cam as a case study. After the first block in, we changed the orientation of the eyes, added patterns to their ridge and played around with different tongue lengths and positions. We also played with various colors because we had character customization in mind.

    Now, after locking down a character design, we get to rig it up so any unique elements can come to life. Most of the faces used blend shapes or had a rig for the jaw. Sometimes a character called for both, and physics elements featured heavily too. It took some wrangling to make each character as you see it, but it’s the custom nature of each character that really makes them stand out!

    Another really important element is the way the characters’ bodies move. So much of it is physics driven, but we also animated the rigs for cycles like running and slapping, with animations to support all of our wheelchair and non-wheelchair customizations. We tried out different idle animations too, and like everything, we iterated and culled as we developed more of the game.

    Something the whole team was passionate about was representation for the human characters. It was really important to us that players could create characters they could self-identify with, so we were excited to include a wide range of customization options.

    The non-human characters also had customizable options, such plant options for Herbie, and different breaded options for Rye-Yu. Waffles, anyone? Brainstorming for these variants was lots of fun too.

    On top of the character variants, we also crafted a bunch of hats to work across all the characters — this required a custom bone system — but we wanted everyone to have the chance to participate in the overall character silliness.

    The characters were all lots of fun to make and it was really satisfying to go through the whole creation process. There’s nothing quite like creating something out of nothing, and we’re all super proud of the variation and the scope of the characters we’ve brought to life.

    We hope you have as much fun playing your characters as we had in making them!

    SMG Art Team, moving out!

    Website: LINK