I hope you are all doing well. I have missed you a little, and I am very happy to be talking to you in this second devlog for After the Wane. Before getting into this month's devlog, here is an update on the performance of After the Wane.
We have surpassed 3,600 wishlists in less than a month, which is 50% of our initial goal. With a release date set for late 2026, this momentum allows us to reevaluate our ambitions and aim for 10,000 wishlists. Support is coming from all over the world: France is in the lead, followed closely by the United States, then Germany, Japan, and Russia. The studio is so grateful for the strong and unique support for this game. Once again, thank you all.
Dancers: Wyllia Lapouge & Claire Fontanier
The major innovation in this project for Nova-box is the integration of rotoscoping.
This technique, invented by Max Fleischer in 1915 and a historical pillar of Disney animation (Snow White), consists of tracing live-action footage to achieve fluid, organic movement. Rare in video games due to its complexity: Prince of Persia (1989), Mortal Kombat (1992), The Banner Saga (2014), and One Night Stand (2016), it imposes major constraints: each change of costume or equipment requires redrawing all the frames, making the process extremely time-consuming.
However, this choice was obvious to us. Rotoscoping allows us to collaborate with professional dancers from Bordeaux. We capture their performances in the studio and transpose them directly into the game world, ensuring a physical accuracy that would be impossible to simulate otherwise. Several GIFs in this devlog perfectly illustrate this transition from real performance to final animation.
To explore the technical aspects in greater depth, Raphaël, our developer, details below how this workflow has been integrated into the Unity engine.
How does the integration of animated sequences work in Unity?
→ Integrating rotoscoped sequences required the development of a specific module to enable Unity to support this video format. Particular attention was paid to preloading files at the beginning of each scene; this measure was essential to ensure a smooth experience and prevent any image freezing or black screens, especially when the player deliberately skips dialogues.
The whole team would like to thank you warmly for your incredible passion. We have happily followed dozens of streams on YouTube and Twitch dedicated to the After the Wane demo. For fans of the studio, rest assured: the demo will be available to everyone very soon...
Until then, keep spreading the word and sharing the Steam page to help us get the wishlists flying! And if you want to stay up to date with the latest news, feel free to join us on Discord to chat with us directly.
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If you have any questions, please post them in the comments section: we will be happy to answer them. March has some wonderful surprises in store for you, and believe us, we are just as excited as you are!
See you soon for the next devlog. We'll be back in March to give you a detailed look at one of the game's characters... Take care.
Antonio, Marketing and Community Manager