Hey, everyone! After a couple years of progress and multiple scrapped iterations, I’m really excited to begin posting content from my game, Cardinal.

What is Cardinal?

The game, at its core, is a collection of minigames wrapped in the framework of an adventure game. You’ll get to explore multiple biomes, each with a group of hub rooms that serve as pseudo-level selection screens brought to life with a 3D pixel art style. The goal is to make each of these hubs feel like a miniature diorama - a self-contained set piece with characters and encounters that directly mirror the main gameplay (this is where the “collection of minigames” piece comes in).

Gameplay

My taste in games has definitely been molded by the first ones my dad sat me down in front of at three or four years old: A Link to the Past, Donkey Kong Country, and Super Mario World. I remember being hyperfocused on completing whatever bite-sized task was right in front of me (defeating that tricky enemy, clearing that huge gap, exploring that new area, etc.). I think it’s mainly from these experiences that I decided on the main philosophy behind Cardinal - to create a virtual playground that gives the player a huge variety of experiences, creating a sum greater than its parts.

So many great games that I’ve played can be reduced to a single fun and interesting idea or gameplay mechanic, so what would happen if I created dozens of these isolated experiences and built a world to house them?

Art

I’m also really excited about the game’s two distinct art styles; the art style for the minigames is mainly inspired by the colorful minimalist spritework and CRT screens of 80s arcade cabinets (with a dose of influence from 8-bit and 16-bit era games), while the chunky 3D pixel art of the hub rooms feels like something out of an old DS game:

I’m programming the game on my own, but I’m working with a few really talented artists to help bring these ideas to life:

• Maia Drogin-Carter works on concept art and character design - she’s also a very close friend of mine and we’ve been bouncing all ideas off of each other since the start.
• Tomisit0 creates all of the retro-inspired art and animations for the minigames.
• Jonathan “Skoobasteve” Brown (creator of QG Studio) has been working on a lot of the hub room character and UI animations.
• pratamacam is creating the 3D voxel models found in the hub rooms

Music and SFX

I have a background in music composition, so I’m especially excited that I’ll be writing the game’s entire soundtrack. I'm also creating the sound effects for the game, which is a process that's new to me and a ton of fun so far. I have some thoughts on creating a cohesive sound world for the game, but I’ll save those for a future update.

What's Next?

I’m excited to share more about Cardinal in the coming months, including looks at new minigames, concept art, music, and hub worlds. For now, if you’re interested in hearing more:

• Wishlist on Steam to help support development and drive engagement. This is so appreciated!
• Join our Discord for smaller, bite-sized updates and looks at new content as it’s being developed.

If you’ve read this far, thank you! At times, the game feels a long way from being finished, but getting the store page out and beginning to share progress publicly is a huge milestone that I’m really happy to reach - especially considering that three years ago, I had never written a line of code, and my experience in game development was limited to the fake Mario levels that I used to draw when I was 8.

More soon!

David
Rare Dialect