GRAVEN News

In this blog, VFX artist Philippe Mesotten takes us through the process behind the distinct GRAVEN look.

Hi there! I’m Philippe Mesotten, GRAVEN’s master of gore, explosions and everything that sparks, a.k.a. VFX artist.

Real time visual effects are not only the cherry on top of everything else, but are also used to better convey gameplay elements towards the player. By combining elements from texturing, modeling, tech-art and animation, you can conjure up all sorts of interesting illusions to breathe life into the game world.

I’ve worked on all kinds of games, ranging from tiny indie to AAA, for all kinds of platforms including VR. But GRAVEN’s artstyle is one I had never tackled before. However, I have fallen in love with it ever since Frederik Schreiber asked me to help Slipgate Ironworks on a new thingy they were brewing.

Working on mostly child-friendly games in the past, the amount of blood & gore, dismemberments, poo-flinging devices and grizzly environments really got me positively triggered!

One of the most obvious things that sets GRAVEN apart from 2021-era games is the old-school pixelated low-res setting.

To get this feel in the particle systems as well, the first and biggest step to take is to have all textures and flipbooks rendered out really small (32x32-128x128 for single sprites and 256x256-1024x1024 for flipbooks) and imported with filtering set to “nearest neighbour”. Setting the filtering to nearest neighbour ensures that the blurry low resolution textures are now rendered out with sharp pixel edges, where each pixel has its own value rather than creating a gradient across multiple pixels.

Another step that adds to that granularity is having several types of particles, like dust, rendered as dithered (masked), instead of translucent or additive.

In the image below you can see the difference between tri-linear and nearest neighbour filtering. The texture itself is of 64x64 resolution and is actually one of the many splatter textures used in GRAVEN.



Tri-linear vs. nearest neighbor

While at first glance GRAVEN may look oldschool and straight out of the 20th century, the engine it is built in, Unreal Engine 4, comes with a whole battery of cool technology & wizardry! One of those tools that is used for VFX inside of UE4, is Niagara.

Old Cascade Inflame New Niagara Inflame

At the very beginning of the GRAVEN project, Niagara itself was still in its infancy and marked “experimental” and thus not ready for production purposes as it was very prone to crash your project or game. So I started out doing several VFX in the old Cascade system, such as the old over the top flamethrower effect for the “Inflame” spell (That is now toned down by a lot, as the Inflame spell should just heat things, not set entire rainforests ablaze) and the Discharge spell. The new Inflame spell is now also done in Niagara.

Now fully transitioned to Niagara, there is a lot more control over what you can do with particles without having to nag the programmers all the time because “Cascade can’t do this...”.

It also gives me the ability to easily expose all sorts of variables that other artists or programmers might want to change down the line.

Some simple and most used examples of such variables are particle color, lifetime, spawn count and scale.

In the images below you can see the variables in Niagara itself on the left, and on the right how an artist or programmer might see these exposed variables when he or she places/edits the Niagara System in the world or a blueprint. (Pretty straightforward!)



Adding and defining parameters in Niagara & Editing public parameters

Among my favorite effects I’ve done for GRAVEN up until now are the bloody & gory explosion of enemies and corpse piles. Doing mostly child friendly VFX up until now, this was a nice change of scenery ;-)

One of many blood effects

It is a combination of meshes, sprites, trails, materials and fake decals (because Niagara doesn’t support decals from the get go at the time of writing) to get to the splattery end result.

VFX are also a way to influence gameplay and readability. As a player it is good to know what things you can interact with, what’s potentially good or bad for you and how for instance spells affect the environment.

A clear example is the simple appearing of a crow, whenever you hit a checkpoint, so you know you can die in peace and respawn right there.

Raven Checkpoint

As a last note, performance: Besides giving the VFX a more old school look, the dithering of textures/materials also boosts performance quite a lot, as it is pretty much a cheap masked material that tries desperately to be a translucent one. (But never will be :( )

Having small texture resolutions also helps performance for obvious reasons, and overdraw in GRAVEN is minimized through (besides dithering) particle texture cutouts.

Other logical places to keep VFX performance in check are the use of GPU particles, not overdoing it with lights in particle systems, introducing LODs for larger effects, using lots of material instances instead of master materials and keeping material instructions low.

In the images below you can clearly see the positive effect dithering has on overdraw and material instructions. Where bright green is good and bright red is bad.





Translucent material vs. Masked dither material

If your weary eyes made it until here, congratulations! And thank you for reading ;-).

I’m hoping this blog has made you inch a little bit closer to wishlisting or buying the game, or even piqued your interest for real time VFX.

Other things I’ve worked on, including other Slipgate Ironworks/3DRealms titles, you are welcome to check out here: https://www.artstation.com/philippenac & here https://twitter.com/MrPhilippe_ .

I would also like to thank the entire team for being awesome, and I know that together we can and will deliver a kick-ass GRAVEN! And last but not least, we'd also like to thank our community for all the great feedback they have shared with us since the early access launch of GRAVEN. We promise that we read everything and we are working hard to make GRAVEN the best game it can be!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371690/GRAVEN/

Steam Next Fest is in full swing and until June 22nd, you have the chance to play a free demo of our retro FPS Dread Templar!

[h3]Dread Templar[/h3]
Dread Templar is a fast-paced retro FPS that combines 90s classic shooter elements with modern skill-based FPS controls. You are a Dread Templar who entered Hell seeking revenge. But in order to get it, you have to fight your way through the dark realm!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1334730/Dread_Templar/
[h3]You can also check out other participating titles that have free demos available right now:
[/h3]
[h3]Kapital: Sparks of Revolution[/h3]
Kapital: Sparks of Revolution is a hybrid of city-builder and society management game. You play as a new mayor of the city that was recently destroyed by war. Your goal is to restore the city to former glory by managing limited resources, resolving social conflicts and overcoming crisis situations.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1399700/Kapital_Sparks_of_Revolution/

[h3]Terrain of Magical Expertise[/h3]
TOME – Terrain of Magical Expertise – is a game about a game! Take on the role of a White-Hat Hacker, battling your way through a turn-based RPG adventure with hundreds of unique enemies, doing anything it takes to achieve victory in the Campaign of Champions!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1543430/Terrain_of_Magical_Expertise/

[h2]What is an eye without sun? What is flame without the comfort of heat? The lamp in the fog is not guiding, but stalking.[/h2]

Grab GRAVEN on Steam right now:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1371690/GRAVEN/

Thank you all for all of the fantastic feedback we've gotten over the past 5 days.
We're incredibly humbled by all of the feedback, suggestions, and criticism we've gotten this past week, and we truly take it all to heart.

As you might already know from reading this post, we've been hard at work since the initial release, working on a range of issues, features and new content requests.

We're super happy to be releasing the first Patch for GRAVEN.
The update includes a ton of fixes, tweaks and changes.

You can continue playing with your old saves, however you might experience some issues. Therefore we recommend starting with a fresh profile.

Let's start with a few highlights:
[h2]New Features[/h2]

• We have enabled a Bug Report Tool - You can use it by pressing the "HOME" button.
  
• We have added Key Door and Entry/Exit markers on the Maps
  
• Environment Hazards have been added. You can now kick enemies into a Cheval De Frise to kill them
  
• Kicking now consumes stamina. Kick impulse has also been increased
  
• The Discharge Spell has been added to the game
  
• Swamp Gas Hazards have been added. These can be ignited by using the Inflame spell
  
• Skeletons are now more deadly. You can now destroy their shield using the Inflame spell.
  
• We added proper ultrawide support, using a Ultrawide Correction slider. You can find the option under Graphics options.
  
• Added Profile Name in the bottom right of the Main Menu, as well as automatically closing the Profile menu when you select a profile.
  
• Added Shiny metal for 3Dfx mode.
  
• Fixed Ability to revert scroll wheel.
  
• Add a Popup with text, once you talk to the Ferryman after opening the library door, so the players know that this is the end of EA.
  

Check out the video below, for a small showcase of some of these new additions to the game:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]Bug Fixes and General Tweaks[/h2]

• Saving and Exiting the game, now properly lets you go into the Brine Muskeg
  
• The Peat Burner now has a proper description
  
• You can now use the Inflame spell while your head is above water
  
• You now respawn with 30hp
  
• The Blacksmith has been made unavailable, as his main feature - Upgrading Spells and Weapons, wasn't ready yet. Therefore he served little purpose.
  
• Number of Barrels and Crates has been limited. Loot drops have been limited from breakables.
  
• Enemy Stunlock has been tweaked significantly, so enemies are harder to fight.
  
• The Hints for the Turtle Pillar sequence has been placed closer to the Pillar.
  
• The location of the turtle door is now hinted in the level.
  
• Fixed issue where the game would crash if you spoke to the Blacksmith with a controller connected, or would spawn in a "White box" without any saves.
  
• Fixed crash related to killing skeletons.
  
• Fixed issue where you would get more than 100% secrets.
  
• Added missing animations for Peat Burner's secondary fire
  
• H1L2 - Fixed inverted normals on mesh and wooden boards not breaking.
  
• Added SFX to new PeatBurner secondary animation montage for alt-fire.
  
• Tweaked audio volume level for PeatBrick pickup SFX.
  
• Revised EA concluding text.
  
• Adjusted resonating breakable material in Lice Slough.
  
• Falling through water when hitting geometry while trying to jump out of the water no longer happens.
  
• Projectile Range for Deacons and Cuff Arrow Skeletons has been increased
  
• Enemies are now overall more agressive, and stunlock less
  
• Made it harder to jump out of the boat before you reach the docks
  
• Slightly increased the Enemy Kick range. Kicking enemies off ledges is now also a more viable strategy
  
• Tweaked turtle key pickup text to lead the player to the water
  
• Substantially lowered drop rate values, deleted some drop opportunities entirely.
  
• Added double resolution Gargoyle textures to better fit environment density when upscaled in various maps
  
• Stripped loot table values from several breakables.
  
• Moved Cuff Arrow Pickup to guard just before Brine Muskeg entrance.
  
• Updated one of turtle puzzle hints so that there is only one possibility for the bottom piece
  
• Revised inventory descriptions to use relative language instead of hard numbers
  
• Fixed low lightmap res on intro tunnel and dock tower doorframe.
  
• Adjusted flinch, shock, burn values for most enemies available
  
• Removed a misleading lore scrap
  
• Tweaked inflame range slightly
  
• Tweaked inflame particle
  
• Tweaked Lichanthropes
  
• Player no longer collides with chopped off heads
  
• Surfaced blood on 3dfx chrome effect. Added metal mask texture for shortsword
  
• Fixed Flying broken bedframe in hub town
  
• Changed Concurrency setting for player dirt SFX that plays when landing
  
• Fixed main menu broken scale in 21:9
  
• Fixed orientation of spell pickup meshes in the UI
  
• Improved leap arc / animation playback for the Lichanthrope.
  
• Improved range and speed of Peat Totem
  
• Decals are no longer projected on to the player model
  
• Potions are now limited to 9
  
• Fix main menu quit button having wrong localized text
  
• Add "Can't pickup" health potions text
  
• Fixed pickups disappearing when they can't be picked up but still overlapped
  
• H1L2 - Added extra wood structure at the broken staircase fall in Clotted Avenues.
  
• H1L0 - Replaced Apothecary house with new mesh.
  
• Added more omph to kicking
  

Furthermore, we're also happy to reveal the full early access roadmap for GRAVEN.
The roadmap reveals what we plan on adding to the game over the duration of early access through 2021.

You can find the roadmap below:

We will continue to update the game further based on your feedback, and we're looking so much forward to being able to release the next big Content Update!
Thanks for supporting GRAVEN everyone!

[h2]YOUR PRAYERS HAVE BEEN HEARD (No pun intended).[/h2]

First of all, thank you to all of you who are currently playing GRAVEN.
Supporting us and believing in the game we're trying to make, truly means the world to us.

Over the past 20 hours, we've been looking at Live Streams, comments, discussion threads, and reviews, and done a deep-dive into how we can improve GRAVEN going forward.

Going into Early Access was a decision we made, as we want your feedback and guidance. We have a solid plan for where we want to take the game, however, getting the game in YOUR hands, is the best possible feedback we can get. Even if you love the game or hate it - IT'S ALL VALID FEEDBACK!

So - What's next? We want to let you all know that we read everything, and we want to be as transparent as possible. We have created this Google Doc, where we keep track of the things we plan on implementing in the next patch, and future updates. This document will also reveal a few things, which we hadn't planned on revealing yet, but we strongly believe that full transparency is important here!

You can find the list here, and feel free to add comments!

So what are we planning on going in the next patch, you might ask?
We have already fixed a range of things, but here are some of the highlights (Our internal notes on some of the things):

• Blacksmith should be unavailable for now, as he serves little purpose without the Upgrades for weapons being available. Let’s add a message saying “I’ll be available to upgrade your gear later this year!”
  
• Re-Enable Bug Report Tool (“HOME” button)
  
• We need to think about re-balancing weapons and damage. A lot of people don’t understand that spells are not weapons. Personally, the “Old” way with the Fire and Discharge spell was much more fun, and we get complaints because of this. I understand that it’s “not supposed” to be like it was in the demo, however, we also have to realize that using spells in combination with weapons is a ton of fun, alongside still being able to use spells for puzzle solving and environments. We need to discuss this. There’s a fine balance between what we want to do, and what people playing the game are actually finding fun to do.
  
• Add a Popup with text, once you talk to the Ferryman after opening the library door, so the players know that this is the end of EA. The suggestive dialogue is not enough.
  
• Discharge - I think we should add discharge back to the EA. Preferably at the start of Quarantine, and set up areas with water so you can stun groups of enemies and use the environment this way.
  
• More usage for Inflame - I suggest we add 2 things for the next update. Doorlock which you can Heat up and destroy using inflame, and “gunpowder” trails, which we can link to explosive barrels, so you can light up a black trail. This way we can set up many strategic combat areas, to use the inflame and blow up groups of enemies.
  
• Environmental damage as a result of kicking. Let’s add enemy damage to the palisades, and place some of them so you can easily kick an enemy, and see them getting killed when they hit the palisades. This way we have both kicking off ledges, and kicking enemies into palisades for killing. Furthermore, adding a “BP_FireHazard” version (essentially a small fire we can place around the world), which also causes the enemy to take fire damage if you kick them into it, would be a great way to make the kicking much more fun and effective.
  
• Some complaints have come from the fact that breakables just drop too much. Previously (demo) you felt like you needed to be careful about using ammo, mana, health etc. Now you get so much from all of the barrels and crates. Let's tweak this.
  
• Enemy “Stunlock” should be tweaked. Right now, every time you hit an enemy, they play their “Stunlock” animation (Hurt animation). Keep hitting them, and you can constantly stunlock, so they don’t have a chance of hitting you back. Let’s tweak this, so each enemy has a certain chance of stunlocking (for instance, 50% would play the “hurt” animation, at every second hit).
  
• Small tweak to the first page of the Turtle sequence. Let’s add the “Full” symbol for the top left corner of the first lorenote for this puzzle. People seem to have a very hard time with this, and doing this should at least make it a little easier.
  
• Make it so Skeleton Shields can be broken (like barrels) if you use the inflame spell on them)
  
• Turtle key door underwater is not hinted at all. Agreed. This feels more like a secret. We should do something to guide the player a bit here.
  
• Add ultrawide support. Greg already implemented the feature. We just need a slider to be added to the main menu.
  

Today we already implemented a range of these things.
You can check out the new "Kicking enemies into Hazards" feature in the video, below (Hazards have been added to all the levels).

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Last but not least, I want to personally thank you for supporting GRAVEN.
This game has been a dream to make, and with your feedback, we can turn this into the game YOU dreamt of as well!

Peace!