KickStarter BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION - isometric post-apocalyptic adventure from STASIS developer

[MRY]

I think we actually connected about it on the BIS forums, but you may be right. Damn your art was beautiful even then.

Sadly, though, I just don’t think I have bandwidth, and if they actually do make a game this time, I would rather go in blind!

BD’s aesthetic and gameplay are timeless. It should be a tail without end.

 

[agris]

You both were on the BIS forums as well? I’m a bit surprised I don’t remember either of you, although I was young.

 

[MRY]

I can’t even remember my handle. My only specific recollections are the Bischoffs’ awesome art, someone naming a sword “Cilantro,” and a sophisticated fan take on “enemies three” that Avellone came in to correct.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Being a poster on original BIS forum sounds so cool.

 

[agris]

I can’t even remember my handle. My only specific recollections are the Bischoffs’ awesome art, someone naming a sword “Cilantro,” and a sophisticated fan take on “enemies three” that Avellone came in to correct.

That’s neat, it was truly a different era. I emailed Feargus with concerns that Fallout 2 would be rushed and not capture the spirit of 1, and he wrote me back to assure me everything would be good :D

My enduring memory is of then-Interplay’s Tom French and the music subforum. Wish I could talk to Tom today. He was a super nice guy who really engaged with a rando young teen who loved punk and metal and games his studio made.

 

[MRY]

It's a shame that all of that was pre-archiving and there's no record of it. Tears in the rain, etc.

 

[agris]

…and thus the impetus for the “melancholic nostalgia” button was borne

edit: since we all seem to be 90s kids, think of it as the “smashing pumpkins” button

 

[Pyke]

Nic and I were making a game called Outworld - and then a game called ALIEN Me.
Outworld was essentially Star Control 2, and ALIEN Me was a mashup of EV Nova and SC2. I don't have the ALIEN Me screenshots (which is sad, cos we actually got pretty far with it) - but did find some OW ones a while back.

It was all done in Multi Media Fusion and The Games Factory.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Some of those look like those were inspired by Star Control 3.

 

[Pyke]

Some of those look like those were inspired by Star Control 3.

We were playing SC3 at the time (I think) or had access to the SC3 screenshots. It was a while back!

Honestly, I always liked the SC3 system layout. We did have a part of the game where you flew around ALA SC2. If I can remember, we had probes that you could go back to at certain points on planets, and that was what those scenes above depict.

 

[agris]

"crew to fuel converter" good times

 

[MRY]

I think Alien ME is the one I remember. I have some recollection of an alien talking portrait like the Overmind eye from Star Control.

Amazing you saved this stuff!

 

[Infinitron]

Calling all Bulgarians: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/912570/view/2971797480531769391

UPDATE AND DISCOUNT
Polish has now been added to our huge array of languages!

We are pleased to announce that award-winning BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION is now available in Polish!

Bulgarian, and both Simplified and Traditional Chinese, have also recently been added to the localization offerings.

BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION will be discounted 35% until August 10. STASIS and all the deluxe content/soundtrack is up at discount too!

BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION is a 2D isometric adventure game set in the distant future. Explore a post-apocalyptic landscape, solve puzzles, meet new friends and make powerful enemies, mediate conflicts and fight for your life as you unravel the secrets of the world around you in this homage to adventure games from your childhood.

Be sure to WISHLIST our next game, STASIS 2: BONE TOTEM which is has a 2022 release date.

 

[Rean]

fantadomat it's a good game with a cute dog

 

[fantadomat]

fantadomat it's a good game with a cute dog

What are you on about? I played the game back on release.

 

[Rean]

fantadomat it's a good game with a cute dog

What are you on about? I played the game back on release.

Do you prefer to play games in English or Bulgarian?

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Know the question was not addressed to me, but... I prefer to play games in their original language, if I'm proficient enough. I can't imagine playing Witcher in anything but Polish, having read the books. Atom, Stalker, etc. always in Russian. I haven't played anything in Bulgarian though, not even Tzar when it came out.

Hope BD gets good voice actors and sound producers, as the sound engineering quality in anything Bulgarian I've watched is usually atrocious.

 

[Peachcurl]

Ah, yes. In cases like that I also would love to speak more languages, and play those games in their original language.

Although I make one exception, and never play German games in their original language. Since that is my native tongue, I cringe much harder when the writing is poor. Which it nearly always is for German games. :D Seriously, trying to play Elex in German is like fingernails scratching on an old-fashioned school board. Of course, the english writing is not any better, but it's not so much cringe-inducing for some reason. And btw., I love Elex, anyways.

 

[Infinitron]

https://caneandrinse.com/beautiful-desolation/

The Sausage Factory: 344 – Beautiful Desolation by Brotherhood Games
Chris O’Regan chats to Chris and Nicholas Bischoff of Brotherhood Games about the design and development of their post-apocalyptic alternate reality adventure game, Beautiful Desolation.

The Sausage Factory is an interview-based podcast that lifts the lid on the makers of videogames. It examines the way in which games are made by asking the very people who create them, though the questions asked aren’t just about game design, they also cover how developers made their start and what inspires them as creators.

Split into two halves, the first segment delves into what makes the developers tick by asking about how they started, what and who inspires them and what games they are currently playing, whereas the second part of the show covers the game that they are currently working on and the thought processes behind its development. So, if you really want to hear about a game’s gestation in full and frank detail then you have found the right podcast.

Podcast (sausage): Download (Duration: 1:19:37 — 55.1MB)

 

[Infinitron]

Original design docs revealed: https://www.thebrotherhoodgames.com/studio/2022/01/28/beautiful-desolation-design-document/

BEAUTIFUL DESOLATION DESIGN DOCUMENT

A publishing partner recently asked me to find the design doc for Beautiful Desolation.

Now we are a small team, so our documentation is scant. When Chris and I start to work on a game, it usually begins with a chat which devolves into a shouting match. I am usually the one shouting, and I typically say, ” WE CAN’T DO THIS,” “NO, IT WON’T WORK!”… Then, a few hours later, I agree and we we hit the next stage in the design process.

We then set up a Pinterest board as well as a shared document. We spill whatever stupid, random idea we can think up into this document. We will throw in pics, old images, and even Youtube links. Once we have had a face-to-face meetup and a chat, we then start to distill this into some form of game document that has headings and a few pics from our inspiration board.

We create extreme technical puzzle documents, but that is a later step in the design process. (I will share these at some point as well)

I believe the initial GDD should contain the essence of the game. We didn’t gush too much about the technology in this document because I do not think a GDD should be about the nuts and bolts. For it to have any value, it should be a creative spattering, and it should be written for the developers and not some marketing guy three years later. Our games are story and character heavy and so this document reflects this.

This document below has many ideas that we didn’t use and a few we did, but it can give you an idea of what we thought when we created this game in those early days!

PS

Ignore any grammar issues in the document as this was not intended for public consumption!

Spoiler

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Apparently the Leslie brothers were originally American, a scientist and Vietnam vet respectively. And the augment/natural-born and Six stuff is completely gone.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I'm curious as to how much people cared that it was specifically set in Africa, as the design doc seems to place heavy emphasis on it -- e.g., it's the #1 item on their list that makes the game special.
The specific setting of a game really doesn't make me think too much unless it's specifically about that setting rather than a game that happens to be set there.

 

[Pyke]

I'm curious as to how much people cared that it was specifically set in Africa, as the design doc seems to place heavy emphasis on it -- e.g., it's the #1 item on their list that makes the game special.
The specific setting of a game really doesn't make me think too much unless it's specifically about that setting rather than a game that happens to be set there.

As Nic said, this document was pretty much just for us. So its things that got us excited for the project. For me - using Africa as a setting for a cool scifi world was a massive draw for the art direction. I think that it set the game apart from other post apocalyptic and scifi worlds.

Apparently the Leslie brothers were originally American, a scientist and Vietnam vet respectively. And the augment/natural-born and Six stuff is completely gone.

Yeah - originally we were gonna go with American protagonists mainly because I was concerned we wouldnt find the right voice artists - but I'm glad we went the way we did. Got to use more unique swear words. :D

The Six element

Spoiler

sort of merged into the Dullahan and Daris. Six was the 'sixth' encarnation of Mark - so the world had repeated itself six times, with each new repitition leaving a little bit of itself for the next one. That background lore just became SUPER heavy and difficult to get across as the story unfolded. Instead we went with the infinite loops - which I think worked better, and played a little into the 'meta' idea of multiple players playing the game multiple times.

I've got more of these documents laying around if anyone is interested. We cut some cool stuff that I'd love to use in another game... one day.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I've got more of these documents laying around if anyone is interested.

I would be.

 

[agris]

Same, especially if there's more background revealed on the stasis/cayne lore.

 

[Pyke]

When I have some time I'll put together some of the stuff I'm cool to release! Lots of it has images from other games and excerpts from chat logs between Nic and I, so I'd have to curate things a little. :D

I write and draw a LOT of stuff when I work - but with the intention of nobody ever reading anything I write! For STASIS I know I've got a document I wrote about Cayne Corporation when I was playing with the idea of making an 'Indiana Jones' style adventure, with 2 rival companies - CAIN and ABEL. Yeah... very original. :D But the name stuck!

Last year I finished 3 big notebooks - and I'm halfway through another 2 (I use 2 - 3 books at a time). Most of my Stasis work was handwritten, but I still have all those books. Its strange to go back to them sometimes. I don't keep personal journals or a diary - but these books and notes are a cool little time capsule to my life.