Leon_DiZ
13-11-2013, 00:22
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3822/8987511081_6ee578fc0c.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/8987511081/)
Contrast emerges from the shadows on PS4 soon (http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/06/12/contrast-emerges-from-the-shadows-on-ps3-soon/)
I can attest that some of what you’re about to read is actually true, but how can a developer who has spent so much time hiding in the shadows be trusted to write a traditional blog post?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1purT4__yNo
Indeed. He can’t. But I digress. You want to know more about Contrast, and I want to shed light on a few topics of my own. Did you know that Contrast, in its initial concept, was set in a cyberpunk virtual world? We thought that related well with the Film Noir and Burlesque eras, too. Have you heard tell of the international slumber party work week before Compulsion (http://www.compulsiongames.com/) found an office? When we started working on the game, the team was spread out across four continents!
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2879/8987515971_dbd243a84b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/8987515971/)
Being an indie game developer is no easy ride, but all those tuna-salad days have helped fuel something amazing – as we all clung to that early magical love affair with an idea so fascinating that it just HAD to become something special.
You see, at Compulsion, we have the benefit of a small but capable team. I’d call them talented, but they let the smallest compliments go to their heads. Have I told you about the overt and subtle themes found in our second act? Trust me; it just gets better and better.
You see, eventually Dawn finds herself at a circus where she needs to help out a bit to ensure the attractions are ready for opening day. But personally, I had my own misgivings about such a location. Suffering from a longtime – and somewhat debilitating – fear of clowns, I had to initially pretend to be cool with it. After all, the set pieces with regards to story-telling and shadow play were absolutely inspired, but no way was I putting any clowns in my game. No, sir. I’d come too far and worked too hard to make a game I was afraid to play.
Of course the team always listens to everything I say, so in our second round of brainstorming, Joshua suggested a clown car shadow puzzle. Every time the player jumped on the car, another clown would get out, and the players could then hop on the shadows of the balloons they were carrying. To better illustrate the puzzle surrounding this astounding show of multiplicity, Whitney made for the white board, sketching quick thumbnails with as many clowns and balloons as she could muster. I won’t lie. They terrified me. Without saying a word, I got up and erased her entire sketch.
Our concept artist looked at me like “what the hell?” To which I responded: “Look: I really, really, really hate clowns.”
Of course, none of this is true. What kind of team sits around just drawing clowns all day? After all, brilliant poster concepts are so easy to come by.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3736/8988714088_60d6b80976.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/8988714088/)
Contrast: A Drama in Three Acts (http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/10/31/contrast-a-drama-in-three-acts/)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lTJSalDkmXE
Tonight, we’re taking you way back to the 1920s, to a time where jazz was king and the world was getting back on its feet after a devastating war. It was a world of class, depression and the working stiff. A time where suits weren’t just what you wore to a job interview, and evening dresses fit women like gloves.
Welcome to Contrast (http://blog.eu.playstation.com/tag/contrast/). I want to ask you a quick question before we start: when you were a kid, did you ever wish you could become your shadow?
Contrast is… unique. Set in a film noir inspired “dreamscape”, the world of Contrast is centered around a little girl named Didi. Didi lives alone with her mother, Kat, a cabaret singer at the biggest show in town. Her father abandoned the family a little while back, which left them in real trouble.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3754/10583458503_d97d802106.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/10583458503/)
In Contrast, you play Didi’s imaginary friend, Dawn. We were inspired by Pan’s Labyrinth, where the main character is a little girl who invents an imaginary friend to deal with some very troubling times. Dawn has a very special power – and this is what sets Contrast apart from anything you’ve ever played. As Dawn, you will run around in 3D, much like you would in Tomb Raider. But, you can also shift into your shadow and run around in 2D, platforming on the other shadows in the game. You swap in and out at will – once you run up to a lit wall, you can choose when to be in or out of shadow. The game is about using your shadow shifting ability to solve puzzles – it’s a bit like Portal, except that it’s 3rd person, and instead of creating portals, you can jump on shadows. It’s a puzzle platformer – in that you have to platform to solve a bunch of puzzles throughout our world.
The aim of the game is to help Didi explore why her family is so messed up. She’s a 9 year old girl – so, of course, all she wants to do is get her family back together. However, while you travel through the world with Dawn and Didi, you’ll realise that Contrast is also a story about fatherhood and parents, and about how a little girl perceives adult relationships and situations.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3706/10583258374_522bca58e7.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/10583258374/)
We designed the world around our shifting mechanic – we wanted everything to be related in some way to shadow. Film noir traditionally uses shadows heavily to tell stories. We loved that idea, so, all of our cutscenes/narrative sections are told using shadows, and you only ever see Dawn and Didi in 3D. We were also inspired by a number of different artistic styles, the chief among them being German Expressionism. The slightly warped, unnerving feeling that type of art evokes helped us create a sense of foreboding – as it should, when you realise that there’s a little girl, alone, in a bunch of places that she shouldn’t be. We also loved Tim Burton’s ethereal characters – long limbed and all sharp angles.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3799/10583199875_f738dfe513.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/10583199875/)
Contrast is also a world full of performances. We have a circus, a pirate ship and a lighthouse – areas that would have loomed pretty large in a kid’s eyes back then. We have cabaret, theatre and illusions, and a soundtrack to match, created specifically for Contrast (including the song sung in our Music Trailer).
www.contrast-thegame.com (http://www.contrast-thegame.com/)
www.contrastgame.com (http://www.contrastgame.com/)
Contrast will be available for the release of the PlayStation 4 (http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/10/31/contrast-a-drama-in-three-acts/www.playstation.com/ps4/), and downloadable on the PlayStation Network (https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/) for PlayStation 3 on the 20th, priced €14.99 / £11.99.
Contrast emerges from the shadows on PS4 soon (http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/06/12/contrast-emerges-from-the-shadows-on-ps3-soon/)
I can attest that some of what you’re about to read is actually true, but how can a developer who has spent so much time hiding in the shadows be trusted to write a traditional blog post?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1purT4__yNo
Indeed. He can’t. But I digress. You want to know more about Contrast, and I want to shed light on a few topics of my own. Did you know that Contrast, in its initial concept, was set in a cyberpunk virtual world? We thought that related well with the Film Noir and Burlesque eras, too. Have you heard tell of the international slumber party work week before Compulsion (http://www.compulsiongames.com/) found an office? When we started working on the game, the team was spread out across four continents!
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2879/8987515971_dbd243a84b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/8987515971/)
Being an indie game developer is no easy ride, but all those tuna-salad days have helped fuel something amazing – as we all clung to that early magical love affair with an idea so fascinating that it just HAD to become something special.
You see, at Compulsion, we have the benefit of a small but capable team. I’d call them talented, but they let the smallest compliments go to their heads. Have I told you about the overt and subtle themes found in our second act? Trust me; it just gets better and better.
You see, eventually Dawn finds herself at a circus where she needs to help out a bit to ensure the attractions are ready for opening day. But personally, I had my own misgivings about such a location. Suffering from a longtime – and somewhat debilitating – fear of clowns, I had to initially pretend to be cool with it. After all, the set pieces with regards to story-telling and shadow play were absolutely inspired, but no way was I putting any clowns in my game. No, sir. I’d come too far and worked too hard to make a game I was afraid to play.
Of course the team always listens to everything I say, so in our second round of brainstorming, Joshua suggested a clown car shadow puzzle. Every time the player jumped on the car, another clown would get out, and the players could then hop on the shadows of the balloons they were carrying. To better illustrate the puzzle surrounding this astounding show of multiplicity, Whitney made for the white board, sketching quick thumbnails with as many clowns and balloons as she could muster. I won’t lie. They terrified me. Without saying a word, I got up and erased her entire sketch.
Our concept artist looked at me like “what the hell?” To which I responded: “Look: I really, really, really hate clowns.”
Of course, none of this is true. What kind of team sits around just drawing clowns all day? After all, brilliant poster concepts are so easy to come by.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3736/8988714088_60d6b80976.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/8988714088/)
Contrast: A Drama in Three Acts (http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/10/31/contrast-a-drama-in-three-acts/)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lTJSalDkmXE
Tonight, we’re taking you way back to the 1920s, to a time where jazz was king and the world was getting back on its feet after a devastating war. It was a world of class, depression and the working stiff. A time where suits weren’t just what you wore to a job interview, and evening dresses fit women like gloves.
Welcome to Contrast (http://blog.eu.playstation.com/tag/contrast/). I want to ask you a quick question before we start: when you were a kid, did you ever wish you could become your shadow?
Contrast is… unique. Set in a film noir inspired “dreamscape”, the world of Contrast is centered around a little girl named Didi. Didi lives alone with her mother, Kat, a cabaret singer at the biggest show in town. Her father abandoned the family a little while back, which left them in real trouble.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3754/10583458503_d97d802106.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/10583458503/)
In Contrast, you play Didi’s imaginary friend, Dawn. We were inspired by Pan’s Labyrinth, where the main character is a little girl who invents an imaginary friend to deal with some very troubling times. Dawn has a very special power – and this is what sets Contrast apart from anything you’ve ever played. As Dawn, you will run around in 3D, much like you would in Tomb Raider. But, you can also shift into your shadow and run around in 2D, platforming on the other shadows in the game. You swap in and out at will – once you run up to a lit wall, you can choose when to be in or out of shadow. The game is about using your shadow shifting ability to solve puzzles – it’s a bit like Portal, except that it’s 3rd person, and instead of creating portals, you can jump on shadows. It’s a puzzle platformer – in that you have to platform to solve a bunch of puzzles throughout our world.
The aim of the game is to help Didi explore why her family is so messed up. She’s a 9 year old girl – so, of course, all she wants to do is get her family back together. However, while you travel through the world with Dawn and Didi, you’ll realise that Contrast is also a story about fatherhood and parents, and about how a little girl perceives adult relationships and situations.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3706/10583258374_522bca58e7.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/10583258374/)
We designed the world around our shifting mechanic – we wanted everything to be related in some way to shadow. Film noir traditionally uses shadows heavily to tell stories. We loved that idea, so, all of our cutscenes/narrative sections are told using shadows, and you only ever see Dawn and Didi in 3D. We were also inspired by a number of different artistic styles, the chief among them being German Expressionism. The slightly warped, unnerving feeling that type of art evokes helped us create a sense of foreboding – as it should, when you realise that there’s a little girl, alone, in a bunch of places that she shouldn’t be. We also loved Tim Burton’s ethereal characters – long limbed and all sharp angles.
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3799/10583199875_f738dfe513.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/playstationblogeurope/10583199875/)
Contrast is also a world full of performances. We have a circus, a pirate ship and a lighthouse – areas that would have loomed pretty large in a kid’s eyes back then. We have cabaret, theatre and illusions, and a soundtrack to match, created specifically for Contrast (including the song sung in our Music Trailer).
www.contrast-thegame.com (http://www.contrast-thegame.com/)
www.contrastgame.com (http://www.contrastgame.com/)
Contrast will be available for the release of the PlayStation 4 (http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2013/10/31/contrast-a-drama-in-three-acts/www.playstation.com/ps4/), and downloadable on the PlayStation Network (https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/) for PlayStation 3 on the 20th, priced €14.99 / £11.99.