Author: Trevor Osz

Building A Scene

Posted on by Trevor Osz

Building Blocks

We’re still very much in the process of building some of the core of the game and that’s one of the big reasons we haven’t been showing too much since the Kickstarter. So, we want to set the expectation that this update and next month will be a little light but we are planning to finally hit Alpha in March. When we hit the Alpha stage, we plan to release more footage of the game and show you a lot of the bells and whistles we’ve been working on. However, we do have a couple of cool things to show you right now. 

Going Rogue

One of the things we wanted to show off was our hide mechanic for rogues. We were thinking about how we can make rogues more unique in a turn-based game like Externus and realized that they aren’t always used to their potential. In particular, the stealth aspect isn’t always highlighted. So, we have been working to make sure that changes with our “Hide” mechanic. You can see that below. 

The “Hide” mechanic, as you can see, is both something that can be used by you and the enemy. This should pose some additional challenges when facing certain enemy types. We can’t wait to show more in the future. 

Building A Scene

The other thing we wanted to show you is the process of creating a level from concept to reality. This will be the first time we show off the Throne Room of Alanon Castle as it will play an important role in the final game. 

Our levels start as a basic grid that Moudy will build off of. So, in this first picture, you can see the parts he wants to add to the room. 

In this photo, you can see that we have added some walls and allow the scene to get some sort of framework. 

You can see the checkerboard pattern of our test levels, this is what we use to put the level in the game before we have the textures and artwork available. This way we can have created levels working in the game before we’ve added the art to them.

Now that Moudy knows the framework for the level, he starts to create the actual artwork that will be attached to the level. You can really see how the individual pieces will come together to make a beautiful throne room. 

Going from linework to adding color, Moudy is able to choose the color palette that will match the scene and materials that the image will represent. 

You can’t have a good throne room without stained glass and this is the beautiful piece that Moudy has created for that. These pieces along with some custom textures for the floor and wall will bring the throne room to life. 

This is how we plan to frame what you’ll see for the Alanon Castle scene, this is how it looks prior to adding the artwork. 

And here is where the magic happens! We have a throne room fit for an Elven Queen!

Mapping The World Of Externus

Posted on by Trevor Osz

We Have Maps!

So, the big thing we wanted to have to show this month is the progress of the maps for a couple of our continents in the world of Externus and we can say, with lots of excitement, that Moudy delivered the goods with these! 

 

First up is the continent of Alcretia, which you would have seen a part of in the pre-alpha demo (still playable via Itch here.) This is where the game will start as the party works its way through the continent. 

 

Here is the original map that Kent created using a Kroger grocery bag when we were younger for our tabletop game. Note: Some location names may change in the final game as this was all done when we were younger and some names may need to change for legalities or to fit the world better. 

Here is the new version made by Moudy to go directly into the game. Note that the roads will be generated in the game so the party knows the path it can travel along. This beautiful full-color map is what we always imagined how Alcretia looked as it highlights all of the landmarks and shows off how diverse each country is from a terrain perspective. We want each country to feel unique and that includes the terrain and how that can even inform the culture of each country. We’re planning to dive deeper into many of the locations on the maps in the coming months. (More on that later.) 

Finally, we have the second major continent of our world. This is the continent of Katrona and we will make sure your party has a reason to show up there. Let’s start by showing you the original map from Kent again. 

Here is Moudy’s full-color version of Katrona. These maps are just one of the steps in bringing the world of Externus to life and we are so excited to be able to show these off. We’ve always been a fan of maps in roleplaying games and we feel these maps have a unique look due to Moudy’s art style. 

We hope you’re as excited as we are about having these maps as you can picture a bit of the scale of our world. There is still a third continent to come later on but these are the two major ones we need for the story we are telling. Please let us know what you think of the maps and if you’re excited to hear more about our world! 

The Evolution of Character Art

Posted on by Trevor Osz

The Evolution of character art

Hey everyone, we hope you’re all doing well in the trying times that are living in 2020. We appreciate the support you all have given us this year and we wish you all the best. We’re hoping this November update finds you well!

From Concept To Complete

We have been hard at work on a lot of things that we’re unable to show about Externus. In fact, we talked about that on a recent episode of our podcast (You can listen to that here: https://www.winterborngames.com/podcast-episode-44/) Now we are able to show you some near-final art designs for a few characters in the game. Here are the characters that Moudy has been working on this past month. This should let you see the evolution of character art that has happened. 

Alrik and Amante Steele

Early Alrik Concept Art

Current Alrik Art

Amante Concept Art

Evolution of Amante

If you follow us on social media, you have seen Alrik already but this is the first time we have shown the most recent artwork for Amante. The brothers have some similarities in their design due to their familial lineage. However, looking at Amante you can see that his armor is a bit lighter as he fights using his speed and agility powered by dual blades while Alrik is more of a protector using his sword and shield. The character of Alrik was initially created by our programmer, Jack, for the tabletop game and was designed to stay true to that original character. Amante was initially created by our community manager Trevor. 

Michael Keens

Michael Keens Concept Sketches

The Evolution of Michael Keens

Keens without his Hat

Here we show the evolution of Michael Keens and how he has progressed from just a sketch to his final art. Keens takes his look from his military background combined with a lighter armor fit for a ranged combatant along with some slight moderations. With his trusty crossbow, Michael Keens can be an asset to any party of adventurers.  The character of Michael Keens was initially created by our sound engineer, Stephen. 

Gabriel

Early Gabriel Sketch

The Evolution of Gabriel

Gabriel with a hood

Gabriel is the first of our major antagonists to have his final artwork completed. He will play a major role in Externus as he is on the hunt for Osmund and the Solari. The design of Gabriel is based on him being a tortured soul who is beholden to the one he worships. The common belief is that he worships the Abomination, but others think he worships another. This is something you’ll find out while playing the game. Gabriel was a character created by our studio head and main programmer Kent for the original tabletop game where he served as the game master (or DM).

 

As you can see, Moudy has done a fantastic job in bringing the teams’ character ideas to life with his artwork and we can’t wait to show you more of that vision in the coming months. 

Progress and Showcases

Posted on by Trevor Osz

Hey everyone, 

We hope you’re all doing well! The team is still working hard on the background systems of Externus: Path of the Solari and I think we’re at a point where we will see a lot of leaps forward in the next few months as we make our way toward ALPHA. For a little look at how far we’ve come since the very beginning, here is a short video of a VERY EARLY (we haven’t shown it before) build as a proof-of-concept to a more recent build of the game. 

We Have More Art! 

Moudy has been hard at work on both refining the animations for our characters and getting some close to final characters done for the game. Here is how Alrik Steele will look in the final game. 

Alrik in street clothes

Alrik in armor

IGDA Indies Showcase

In case you missed it, we were able to be a part of the IGDA’s Indies Showcase hosted by Will Overgard (twitch.tv/viking_blonde). I (Trevor) went on to talk about the game and you can watch the replay below. We have timestamped the link to where the half-hour of Externus starts but we encourage you to check out the whole show as there were some really cool indie games showcased. 

Join Us On Discord

Finally, I just want to remind everyone to join us on our Discord channel as we’re looking to grow the community. Be sure to share the link with your friends and tell them about the game. We appreciate all your support and are thankful to those who have been interacting with us in the Discord channel so far. We’re also taking questions for the podcast in our Ask A Question channel and you can ask us anything you wish and we’ll talk about them on a future episode of the podcast. The podcast will return soon, we’ve been holding off recording for a few weeks just to give the team some time to focus more on the game so get your questions in and we’ll answer them in the coming weeks! 

Thank you all for your support! 

Attack Updates and More

Posted on by Trevor Osz

Attack Updates 

We’re getting closer and closer to having all of our backend systems working and ready for us to push all of the content into the game. Kent and Jack have been working hard to get these running and we have hit a big milestone with that. The downside is we don’t have a lot we can show from that. However, Moudy has been working to get art done for our desert country of Flame. As we’ve said before, he is taking some inspiration from his home country of Sudan to give Flame a bit of Sudanese flavor alongside his own unique art style. We’ve decided to show one of our upgraded attack animations as we wanted to go with a style that was classic and reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics. We feel the new animation packs a punch and what better way to show that than with a new character design showing off one of the Flame Guardsmen. Let us know what you think of the new animation and character design in this attack update! 

Weekly Lore Drops

Just wanted to let you know, if you’re not following us on Facebook or Twitter that we have been dropping extra lore information every week about the world of Externus. We’ve been receiving a lot of positive feedback from these lore updates, so starting next week we will be doing them twice a week (Mondays and Thursdays.) Be sure to share them so more people can find out about Externus! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to see these updates. The latest one is below:

Backer Surveys

Most of you have filled these out and we want to thank you for that! It’s important to make sure we are able to produce the right amount of physical goods as well as getting some of the higher tier stuff added to the game. If you haven’t had the chance to fill out the survey yet, you’ll see an email reminder about that coming. We’ve also sent out an email of fun stats for everyone to see about the project. Thank you all for the support and we can’t wait to show you what we have cooking for the next update! 

Didn’t receive a survey email? Follow the link to our recovery page here.

Don’t forget to join us on Discord if you haven’t, we’re always up for a discussion on there. If you’re a backer, let us know so we can give you access to backer features after joining. 

It’s Official, We’re Coming To Nintendo Switch

Posted on by Trevor Osz

It’s Official, We’re Coming To Nintendo Switch!

We let you all know in the past that we were waiting for approval from Nintendo to bring Externus to the Switch and, today, we can confirm we have that approval! We wanted you all, the backers, to know first and we’re happy to be working with Nintendo to bring our first game to their platform alongside the PC and Xbox versions.

Opening Up The Discord

Today is the day that we open up our Discord channel to everyone! Obviously, backers will have special privileges and be able to post in certain chats that are unavailable to everyone but we want to continue to grow our community as we continue development. We encourage you to invite your friends, start conversations in the chat, and even ask us questions (literally, about anything!). Here is the link to the Discord if you want to invite others and thank you for being a part of our community so far. 

https://discord.gg/NG63fnb

Kickstarter Success!

Posted on by Trevor Osz

Thank you for our Kickstarter Success!

What an absolutely crazy month! Externus: Path of the Solari has successfully funded and we owe EVERYTHING to you: our friends, family, and fans. I hope you all are able to take as much pride from this as the dev team does, we absolutely could not have done it without the support from each and every one of you! THANK YOU! We really don’t even have the words to express how grateful we are at this moment. We couldn’t have been a Kickstarter success without you!

So what’s next for the project? We should be sending out backer surveys in the next few weeks to everyone who backed us. These surveys will collect all the information required for us to start the ball rolling on getting your rewards. This is where you’ll be able to name your taverns, your mercenaries, and start creating your legends. We’ll also be contacting people with information regarding access to the Discord channel. We will also be falling into a steady flow of backer updates on the progress of the game, showing new characters, levels, and features, all spoiler-free of course!

While we did unfortunately not hit our goal for the PS4 version, I wanted to let you all know we’ll still be looking for ways to get that version out there as soon as we can. We want to get the game to everyone and let people play on their preferred device, so we won’t give up until we find a way! Keep an eye out for updates on this, and we will let you know as soon as we can!

Several people have asked about add-on items, and we do plan to make several items available as BackerKit add-ons. The main one people wanted to know about was the Art Book, so if you have a pledge down for the game and decide later you’d like to get an art book a la carte, you’ll be able to do this. Information on how to do this should be rolling out around the same time as the surveys.

Again, thank you so much for your support and encouragement through this process! You are all absolutely amazing and the drive we have internally on the development team has never been stronger! We are already working on some cool new features for the game and can’t wait to start sharing information with you in our updates!

If you have any questions please reach out to us here in the comments section, send us a message via our profile, or ping us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or pretty much anywhere else @WinterbornGames

Michael Keens and Demo Review

Posted on by Trevor Osz

Introducing Michael Keens…

When you’re looking for support, you can do no wrong than looking towards Michael Keens… or so you think. Some say he’s a spiritual man while others say he’s just spirited, but he does tend to be a devout follower to his religion and their beliefs. You can even catch him whispering to his god every now and then unless he’s just talking to himself. Either way, he is an ace on the battlefield as he uses his bow to aid the party in combat. Learn more about him while playing Externus. 

Michael Keens Headshot Concept Art
Michael Keens Sketch Concepts
Michael Keens Color Concept Art

Review of our Pre-Alpha Demo

Games Hedge just released their preview for Externus with their write-up of playing the pre-alpha demo and they called it “The Next Best RPG In The Making”! That’s a huge statement and one that our team is working hard to live up to. We are very proud of the work we have done on the game so far and we can’t wait to show you more. The best is yet to come! You can read the piece here: https://www.gameshedge.com/preview-externus-path-of-the-solari/

Nintendo Switch Version and Lv1 Gaming

Posted on by Trevor Osz

Nintendo Switch Version 

We know a ton of people are waiting for it and we are planning for the Nintendo Switch version of Externus. We have submitted to Nintendo and are confident we will be approved but they are backed up due to COVID-19.

LV1 Gaming Interview

We recently did a long-form interview about the game and studio with the team over at LV1 Gaming and if you want to see a deep dive this is it, check it out here:

Tabletop Memories

Posted on by Trevor Osz

Tabletop Memories of Yore

We did a bunch of interviews when we knew that we were going to take our tabletop game and turn it into a video game. So, we made a few videos of those interviews of our friends and fellow tabletop players talking about their favorite enemies and favorite moments. Watch them here!

Favorite Enemies

Favorite Moments