One month ago, I launched the Steam page for my horror game Dark Lessons, where you have to escape from your murderous teacher's home. After the marketing activities surrounding the launch, I was eager to continue working on the game.
I thought that I was almost done with the ground floor of my evil teacher's house. Below, you can see a bird's-eye view of the prototype in Godot, the game's engine. Besides this floor, the house also features the attic and a secret area that you'll unlock in the third act.
I was off to adding more content — and hit a brick wall.
Until this point, I'd used premade assets straight in the game engine. This worked for prototyping, but it also caused issues: I had to hide spots where models didn't fit together or where textures got stretched or squashed. In the image above, you can see elements overflowing, because my options to customize them directly in the engine are very limited. I also needed to add a few complex animations and had no idea how to create them.
That's why I decided to spend February learning 3D modelling in Blender. This has slowed me down a bit, but it was definitely worth it. Besides getting ready to add custom animations and modifying character models, I can now create a clean version of the house.
Blender allows me to place elements more precisely, add extra detail and get closer to my vision of what I want Dark Lessons to be.
While the general room layout will be the same as in the prototype, the rooms will be more spacious, too. Below is an image of the current kitchen in the prototype (top) versus the new version in Blender (bottom). Even though the new rooms are still work in progress, there are clear improvements visible already.
I can't wait to show you more progress in the next update! Would you like me to present some visual effects that I'm planning to implement, or should I instead tell you more about why your favorite teacher has trapped you in her home?
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