Hey everyone!
Thanks for all the support on our last blog - We’re really excited that we’re able to start sharing these updates and new sneak peeks at the game!
The last blog focused on what inspired us to create a pixel art game and how Monster Harvest is built using Unity meaning it isn’t purely a 2D game, but a 3D render with the camera locked to a 90-degree angle aiming at the world.
(If you missed that blog, you can read it here )
That got us thinking though…. What could the game look like if we toyed around with the camera angle?
So, we did a bit of messing around and started developing how the game could look in a 2.5D style, keeping all the art the same, but making it so the characters, trees, buildings, and all other objects in the world stick up, like a pop-up book.
Well after a lot of prototyping, testing, and a sneak peek in a Twitter and Discord Poll to see what you guys and gals preferred (thanks to everyone who voted!), we’ve now converted most of the game to 2.5D!
Check out how the game is looking now:
We think the most interesting aspect of this style is the parallax effect it creates. (Parallax is the visual effect of close objects appearing to move quickly while more distant objects move more slowly.) Just imagine driving in a car and close trees move quickly while far trees seem to barely move, and you get the idea.
The new-look also allows you to ‘peek’ around objects, so we’ve had to adjust some of the art to match.
This is because we’ve converted our orthographic camera to a perspective camera. This allows it to behave like a real-life camera and has a Field of View - In real-life cameras are never perfectly flat and have a slight curvature, so objects at the side of the screen are angled while objects in the centre are head-on.
We’re hard at work making the game look and feel as good as possible, so if you think the new look is an improvement let us know!
Not added Monster Harvest to your Wishlist yet?
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1363350/Monster_Harvest/