Heya friends of Lana and Mui,
It's Adam again! A lot has been going on since our latest update in February, and I have some good news for you today: We'll be using the coming weeks to tell you more about our heartfelt project with some update postings on various aspects of Planet of Lana. And hopefully tickle your curiosity for our game even more.
So, lets dive into our very first "Novo News" and let me take you with me to the early days of the game. The whole idea for Planet of Lana started with this image that I drew in Photoshop back in 2017:
I wanted to create the game of my dreams; a cinematic puzzle adventure about a young girl and her cat-like companion that are forced out on this epic adventure on the distant planet of Novo. With a hand-painted sci-fi world with lot’s of lush colors and a compelling narrative.
Based on the reaction of family and friends as they saw the image I realized I was on to something special. I became dead-set on the idea and decided for myself that I would finish the game, even if I would have to learn programming and all the other things and do it all by myself.
Luckily several creative and extremely talented friends decided to join in on the project and ultimately we started Wishfully Studios in 2019.
Over the years a lot of people have added their talent, creativity and brilliant ideas to form the game to what it is today. I’m very proud to have planted the seed to Planet of Lana but it's the fantastic team at Wishfully who have watered the seed, made it evolve and grow by adding all their passion and creativity and craftsmanship.
The art style of the game has evolved over the years while still having that first image as our guiding star. The whole game started as a flat 2D game, much more retro inspired by old games like Another World and Prince of Persia. But we realized that with the vision of creating this immersive cinematic experience that didn’t work.
So then began the process of finding the in-game look of our game. We experimented a lot and landed a pretty good 2.5D look for the game. But it was really when the talented artist Jimmy Chan came on-board, as well as our Lead Level Designer Rikard Carlsson, that the visuals of the game was elevated to the next level.
Together with our brilliant Technical 3D Artist, Vargdis Åslund, we were able to find our visual style together. We have a depth to the world, mixing 3D with hand-painted light and shadows, flat 2D sprites and dynamic lighting on top, while still staying true to the original hand-painted look.
Looking back at all these years since I drew that first image, all the obstacles, difficulties, ups and downs and hard work, it’s such a privilege to be able to work side by side with all the lovely people that has been involved. It’s been a very long road, and soon we will release our work of passion to you all.
And that's it for our first "Novo News" - I really hope you like it. There is more to come of course, next weeks "Novo News" will deal Lana, Mui and the story of Planet of Lana.
Talk to you next week, friends! ❤️
Adam Stjärnljus
Creative Director & Co-Founder
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1608230/Planet_of_Lana/