To the Treetops and beyond! - Paper Trail Community Update March 2023
Author: Excoundrel,
published 1 year ago,
[b]Hey there Paper Trail Community![/b]
We’ve got another exciting update to share with you - more level design, more artwork, and more cutscene progress! We’re getting closer and closer to launch and we have loads more exciting things to share with you over the coming months, so make sure you check back in frequently to catch our next update (you can also do so by joining our Discord and watching out for announcements)
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/a6819ab6ca39682508d425c2f650641d0bb50071.png[/img]
[h2]Design[/h2]
[h3]First Five World Level Designs[/h3]
In our last community update, we mentioned that we were working on level designs (and redesigns!) for the first five Worlds that Paige will encounter on her journey. We’ve been using live testing to help streamline these worlds; removing frustrating levels, building on strong level designs, and even completing redoing levels that weren’t hitting the mark. There are over 70 separate pieces of paper across these levels so this really involved a lot of work! We anticipate that we will need to revisit a lot of our level designs as we move towards launch so keep your eyes peeled for testing and feedback opportunities on our discord.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/8f8cfdba179262951ec61838624acbfd4d369b62.png[/img][img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/dd70a67a5aee0ab2c90e710d795dafb4e7fd2b2c.png[/img]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/a6819ab6ca39682508d425c2f650641d0bb50071.png[/img]
[h2]Art[/h2]
[h3]Level Select[/h3]
We're continuing work on designing unique art for the level select screens which encompass each world. Below you can see the unique artwork for the Treetops and Cathedral environments (we know it still says Caves, but we promise, we’ll get to that!).
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/8a5dda485f1752774d4e3088604443699f40226a.png[/img]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/726ccf0252ff7e183fc06bb5df67088d2c38b00b.png[/img]
[h3]Character Animations[/h3]
We’ve finally started implementing animations for the numerous different characters you’ll come into contact with as you play through Paper Trail. We’ve managed to complete around 70% of our character animations without about 20% currently implemented. We should have all character animations completed and added to the game soon!
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/035b4cc486cb23983b9c8fca8bd248e65620cd5b.gif[/img]
[h3]Climbing Animations[/h3]
We've had the climbing animations for Paige finished ages ago, but haven't had the time to implement them. As we try to round off the Treetops environment, it seemed like a good time to also finish off any unique animations for world mechanics. We're really happy with how this turned out, and it's weird looking back at how it was before!
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/7282226cc3da94c9d7ed18ae34a22cf2dc6e1300.gif[/img]
[h3]Caves[/h3]
We’ve been hard at work adding decorations to all of our Caves levels to make them feel more immersive. This involved breathing fresh life into long-standing puzzles, and new puzzles in this world as well as creating large unique assets to add diversity and intrigue to all levels, as well as triple checking fundamentals like readability and composition.
A fun and final part of every environment pass is designing the ‘Mid Art Scene’ - essentially a low-difficulty puzzle with a bespoke visual solution. In caves, that involves repairing a bridge to save the distressed Hermit. Upon fixing the bridge, the carved wall opens a secret window revealing the night sky complete with the moon.
We have one of these at the end of every world - so hopefully you enjoy these moments once you’ve helped Paige navigate the trials of each area.
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/709ef3b6ff1902110c9e5fd8c1796432c23f15e4.gif[/img]
[h3]Swamp[/h3]
All new levels in the swamp have been dressed to a high standard, and are just waiting for the final sprinkling of unique assets to be ready for release. The updated concept from the demos has successfully been bought across to all levels now, with lushly layered foliage in every scene - we’re really excited with how it turned out!
We also have a dedicated art scene in the middle of the environment: this one is a giant flower that unfurls when correctly folded, opening up a path to the other side! Our Art Director had an amazing time coming up with this one so we hope you enjoy playing it as much as we did designing it!
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/7a1cb11b46a21c66413836c401fcacd3878c34fa.png[/img]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/2d33f5459f108f50e205aa186da8367679d42d66.png[/img]
[h3]Treetops[/h3]
Taking the concept update for treetops that was completed last month, we’ve built a whole new set of assets for this world. This includes new buildings, lanterns and vines that really add to the whole “Treetops” vibe of the environment (which you know, is what we were ideally aiming for).
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/20fbd0a3f293192fe2780620be9e53e9615b1322.png[/img]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/b4c75be9073729b4560c33410ae5bed4ab9f3706.png[/img]
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/a6819ab6ca39682508d425c2f650641d0bb50071.png[/img]
[h2]News[/h2]
We're so excited to say that we managed to win two awards, "Best Casual Game" and "Best Upcoming Games" at the Game Connection Americas conference. Thanks to everyone for the support!
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/c44ec9fbd46b5d5e1054322527765ea9192c993e.jpg[/img]
We are also showcasing at WASD this week - we've had plenty of people trying Paper Trail and have been collecting feedback as we go. If you're reading this and you saw us at WASD - thankyou!
[img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/37a19d88aaef91426b357473b44e9b218f8f67ad.png[/img]
As usual, we’ll continue to share more development updates as we work towards our release date later this year - stay tuned for more Paper Trail news and don’t forget to add us to your wishlist!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1889740/Paper_Trail/