Hello dolls!
This dev log, we’re gonna slow things down and dig into what gives PRISON OF HUSKS the retro vibe we’ve all connected to. If you’re feeling a little more hifi, you can check out the action packed trailer we just dropped in the Six One Indie Showcase.
But enough of that, lets get a little more low rez.
Haunted PSX Render Pipeline
We often get asked how we make PRISON OF HUSKS feel so authentic. The Haunted PSX Render Pipeline is our MVP! Created by pastasfuture and Future Reality Softworks. If you'd like to try making your own psx style game, you can try it out yourself here! It’s the suite of tools that controls how the world of PRISON OF HUSKS comes to life on your screen.
We’re able to use the tools in the renderer for all sorts of effects such as giving off a bloomy overexposed look, like the game is being played on a CRT! The Fog effect also surprisingly integral to the look of the game, giving the world its misty dreamlike feel.
Take a look at what a huge difference the shaders have on your mood and the energy of the scene. That’s the power of Haunted PSX dialed in just right.
"I messed around with the CRT Volume component to give the effect that has become core to the identity of the game." - Hexosphere
From the Fog to Shaders, we’ve made very intentional decisions to make the game look so nostalgic. PRISON OF HUSKS is a love letter to those old games, yes, but we also want to be in conversation with them. How they were made and how they affected us. We hope you’ll find an even deeper understanding of what we mean when you play the full game. But lets talk about how they were built, first.
ProBuilder
Probuilder is another toolset that helps us construct the Painted World.
It’s like having a 3D modeling program right inside unity, which is, um, like, right where you need it.
There are no real-time shadows being rendered. That’s all hand painted through a technique called vertex coloring. (Or colouring, as Hexosphere likes to remind me.)
Older games used this same technique to create worlds that felt vibrant even before the advent of dynamic lighting. Hexosphere is both sculpting and painting all the buildings in the game by hand so that the world can look just as she imagined it.
Pretty crazy huh.
Even though painting everything sounds like a lot of work, ProBuilder keeps it easy and allows Hexosphere to quickly iterate on levels, and once it is close to what was envisioned, she is able to create an expressive level of detail without sacrificing too much dev time!
TLDR:
Haunted PSX Render Pipeline helps us create the retro vibe
ProBuilder lets us build and paint the world fast and pretty
Until next time!
We hope this has giving you a good look into how we’re making the game look good! The development team is really immersing ourselves into how our favorite games were made so we can make your next favorite game!
We’re doing our best to stay authentic to our retro inspirations and our creative vision while taking advantage of modern tools.
Thank you so much for joining us on our journey to the Painted World. We have some really cool new things coming this summer, so keep an eye out with us, okay?
Saturday you can find PRISON OF HUSKS in the Future Games Show! We hope you'll join us in chat to learn more and cheer on the other indies in the fest!
There’s a lot more world to build, so we’ll get back to it.