Hello people of the Unseen!
It’s that time of the month again, and I have some interesting info to share with this one…
I actually mentioned this “interesting info” last dive, right at the very end.
But before we get to this info, let me share my good friend Vertimis’s art!
Pretty cool huh? I think it’s brilliant.
I also want to mention that I’ve started a new series over on YouTube where I explain the creation of certain things in the game! This series, known as Behind the Depths, has its first episode up right now!
You can watch it here:
But enough yammering, we have a dive to make!
Now, I could just dance around the interesting info, but I want to talk about it first, so here it goes!
Back in Chapter I, when it came time to remake all the rooms, a mechanic was planned that never made it in.
This mechanic was none other than wall climbing!
But after I scrapped the idea, it kept buzzing around in my head, and the buzzing just kept getting louder, and louder, and louder until I couldn’t take it anymore.
It was at that point, half way through Chapter II’s development, I decided that wall climbing would return in Chapter III.
And now we’re here! Winston has obtained the Hook Jumpers, and now no cliff is too sheer for him!
This means I can really go all out on the environments, and push that exciting feeling I get when I explore a new area for the first time, finding all the little secrets and details the devs of what I'm playing put so much effort into making.
But, I'm realising now... I kinda haven't really shown off any of the areas in Chapter III properly yet!
So let's talk about some yeah?
Now that we can ascend easily, we can continue onwards and upwards!
But what awaits us? Well, it’s more of what we’ve explored so far… the first area in Chapter III, Crystalline Outskirts.
I mentioned this area briefly at the start of the last dive, but I didn’t go into full detail… so let’s make up for lost time, and then we’ll ask a new question… “what comes after?”
Within The Outskirts, on the very edge of it, is the crystal covered edge of these distant caverns, where humanity claws and scrapes at the walls of The Depths hoping to uncover its secrets…
This… "crystalline distance" within The Outskirts has led to the formation of a smaller sub area within this place, now dubbed the Crystalline Outskirts.
But on the border of this edge of the world, is a gateway back into The Lab.
This area was one of the first chunks of The Lab to be built, the warehouse where things were stashed and stored for later use in the construction of the megastructure, abandoned and forgotten after The Lab shut down.
Because the distance from other parts of The Lab, this area was commonly referred to as the Forlorn Warehouse.
And now, it’s time to explore the dilapidated ruins of this place, in hopes of finding… something?
What are we looking for exactly? Another way to escape? Considering how the previous two attempts went why are we trying aga-
> ERROR
> WATER LEVELS: SEVERE
> IT IS ADVISED THAT PERSONNEL START THE OVERFLOW PROCEDURE
…
> TERMINAL OFFLINE!
…
> REBOOTING…
> OVERFLOW DETECTED!
…
> SYSTEM FAILURE DETECTED, PLEASE REBOOT WHEN SAFE TO DO SO
…
…
> we meet again…
…
> my offer stands once more…
…
> let the water… run… clean…
Okay I think it’s back, hopefully you can read this.
No clue what just happened there but we continue…
Onto the fun fact!
Here’s a little insight into how the rooms of Chapter I and II came to be…
Did you know:
Depths Unseen’s room creation process is quite a lengthy one!
And I want to talk about this process a little, specifically the planning stage.
Planning starts with a giant map.
The rough maps for Chapter I and II are shown above, but they both went through quite a few different phases before the eventual final designs.
But why are the maps needed? Well, that’s because of a little thing called “Doodle’s issue with things not lining up correctly that bugs him so much he ends up staying awake all night thinking about his mistakes in bed”… Diwtnluctbhsmheusaantahm for short.
But the next stages that come after the mapping phase are drawing and then eventually after a while, implementation!
Drawing is done on paper, usually in a notebook.
Implementation is done on a work day.
Most rooms are different from each other, often housing entire new mechanics or sequences, so it isn’t always just a case of placing a few assets and hoping for the best… those days are the most interesting.
There’s a lot of other things that feed into room creation too, such as the chapter’s script, random ideas I have, and some other things here and there.
I’ll have to spare you all the details for now, but maybe in a future dive I’ll discuss some of those other things that make the room making machine (me) move.
What’s this? A new spin on the Dev Dive formula?
That’s right! This section of the dive will come after the fun fact from now on, and will give you all a basic idea of what's to come!
Let’s take a look shall we?
Next month, though it is the last month before the warmest season of the year, we’ll be cooling down in an especially cold area, but this cooling won’t be voluntary, as we may be chased into this place by a familiar foe, and this "cooling" may be a bit violent…
Hm… wonder what all that could mean.
But with that, this ends this month’s dive.
But before I do end this, I want to apologise for the slight lack of news in comparison to Chapter II.
For anyone who has kept up to date with these dives since the first airing, you'll know I have a history with... mental unwellness.
Truth be told, this year has been quite rough for me! Idk what happened, and why the universe suddenly decided to throw the kitchen sink at me... but it's been happening!
This game, for a short while... was all that was keeping me going, and even now... after the dust has settled a little... it's still here for me... still keeping me here. But that isn't the only thing keeping me going right now, I have some truly amazing people in my life, and as such I owe a lot to them.
And while I can't pay them back in many ways... the least I can do is say thank you. Thank you to everyone who has been here since the beginning, and every other time afterwards.
Thank you to the people of Depthscord, the Begraved community, and a few folks from the Grounded community... you know who you are.
And thank you to my family, my father, my sister, and my mother.
Keep doing what you love, and keep being awesome.
Thank you all for putting up with me for this long, let's keep making memories together. <3 Okay long paragraph over... my fingers hurt from typing.
Have fun with Depths Unseen!