Aztecs: The Last Sun News

Devlog #4 - An interview with a team member - 3D graphic designer

O mighty Tlatoani!

Behind each game stands a team. We present to you an interview today. It's done with Kinga Dąbrowska, one of the 3D graphic designers who work on Aztecs: The Last Sun. She tells you about the work on the game, what she's responsible for, the techniques she uses and her biggest accomplishments. Also, a lot of lovely GIFs and images from the game. Let's go!

[h2]Kinga Dąbrowska - 3D graphic designer[/h2]

What do you do in the project and how long have you been a part of it?

Hi everyone! I’m a 3D graphic designer and I mostly deal with creating landscapes, as I’m an environment artist. My job revolves around designing buildings, plants and all the stuff related to them. Aside from this, I also implement these assets into the game and prepare them for coding. I’ve been a part of Aztecs: The Last Sun since the very beginning of the project.

How long does it take to make a single asset?

Oh my, there’s no general way to say that. Each model is different, so it calls for different measures, methods and approach - a separate estimation is needed for all of the assets. Making 3D models isn’t only about creating a shape, but textures too. The research also takes usually quite a lot of time as well. Making a single building from scratch can take even up to 2 days.

What techniques do you use to create the models?

The main technique’s called “trim sheets”.It’s very important from the performance point of view. We create a PNG file that isn’t very cumbersome for the graphics card and we use it to put texture to even more than 100 buildings, or huge amounts of foliage and surroundings. Thanks to this method we can save time and add more details at once.

Where do you find the reference material?

I use many different sources - from Pinterest, through photos to books about the Aztec history and culture. We scour the internet, while also adding a little bit of our own artistic flair.

How important is it to stick to the reference material?

It’s crucial in this project. We do our best to stay true to the Aztec culture and architecture. We avoid placing tools that they didn’t use or materials that they had either no access to or didn’t process. In the case of buildings, we tend to stick to the forms and shapes they actually used. However, we don’t aim for absolute realism. The employment of magic and supernatural in the game gives us a reason to opt for occasionally wilder designs or colours that aren’t the most accurate but look great. Still, we must not get carried away too much!

What’s more important - the artistic vision or the realism?

The balance. Sure, we are making a game and it’s meant to be entertaining. While opting for ultimate realism would be a decent idea, people want to play, not watch a documentary. And here comes the artistic vision. We’ll drop a number of eye candies and vibrant colours to break up the browns, greens, blues and greys of real life. As mentioned earlier, we can’t get too carried away with our own ideas, so we’ll present a world that is quite similar to ours, but lively and entertaining at the same time.

Let’s talk about plants, as you mentioned them earlier and we haven’t had an opportunity to delve into them.

Working on foliage has been a tremendous challenge. At first, I wondered how to make them appealing, but it turned out that optimisation was the biggest issue. I’ve spent countless hours side by side with Krzysztof, the leader of the programming team. We worked, we discussed and we argued about each polygon and detail until we reached the level of looks that is satisfying, while also maintaining good performance. The techniques we have developed allowed us to render heaps of lush greenery and I’m very proud of that.

Speaking about pride - what was the most satisfying thing you’ve done for Aztecs: The Last Sun?

As I put my heart into each task, it’s hard to point out a single one. My favourites, though, have to be the floating farm or chantli, an Aztec house. What I’m really proud of is the overall amount of work. The way the models and the general looks work in the game’s engine is astonishing and this is something that makes me go “wow”.

That was a fun read, wasn't it? And all the eye candy in this devlog was something special! Thanks for being with us, see you soon!

Make sure to join our social media and Discord server if you want to be up to date about Aztecs: The Last Sun and our other games.

We’re always up for a talk and we appreciate each and every one of you!

Feel the Aztec vibe in House Builder!

Our friends at FreeMind have added an update to their House Builder game. Thanks to a collaboration between our teams, you can build your own Aztec-style house from now on. We hope it will make your time waiting for Aztecs: The Last Sun release more enjoyable.

If you still haven’t got House Builder, it’s the best time now because it’s 20% off.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1244630/House_Builder/

Take a look at the promo video of the update:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Have fun!
Play2Chill team
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Make sure to join our social media and Discord server if you want to be up to date about Aztecs: The Last Sun and our other games.

We’re always up for a talk and we appreciate each and every one of you!

Devlog #3 - City On Water

O mighty Tlatoani!

One of the aspects that sets Aztecs: The Last Sun apart from other city-building games is its unique setting. In geographical terms. Tenochtitlan was one of the most unique civilisations ever established - not only because of the climate but also because of the fact that it was placed on an island. Aztecs ruled the lands around from that one central hub. This poses challenges for us, the dev team, from the design and art points of view. How to provide grounds, so the players can build what authentically feels like a city on water?

[h2]Historical context and climate[/h2]
The first issue we tackled is the fact that Texcoco Lake, where Tenochtitlan was located, practically is no more. We didn’t have much to go off in terms of accuracy. There are of course plenty of lakes in Mexico and we’ve also seen heaps of lakes in our lives. Water, in most of them, seems quite murky and opaque with sediment. Many of them also lie in marshes, swamps and bogs. On the other hand, Tenochtitlan is located in a tropical climate. Many people conjure images of clear, light water and sandy banks of summertime paradises.

As there are already too many games that try to look like real life (as in they are mostly brown and grey), we opted for a more artistic expression. Thus, the “tropical swamp” concept was born. It combines the beautiful, clear waters of the tropics with marsh or bog-like land structures with small islets and mud separated by shallow water. While it isn’t likely that this is what Texcoco Lake looked like, it makes for quite a unique look that emphasises the hot and humid climate. And allows to build a tropical city on water.

[h2]Playing in mud
[/h2]Having lush greenery and beautiful water is all fine and dandy, but the aforementioned set of islets doesn’t help with establishing a city. There is a need to allow players to express their creativity. Because of this, we introduced mud mechanics. You can collect spare mud that’s left after your building projects (or you can dig up some from some spare land).

Acquired mud will become a resource that you’ll be able to use to either:

expand your land if need be,
create floating Aztec gardens (known as chinampas).

This feature lets people make Tenochtitlan as they envision it. It also emphasises how people have been confronting challenges and taming nature since times long forgotten by history.
[h2]The importance of waterways[/h2]
Aside from picturesque sites, living on a bunch of land surrounded by water poses some challenges. Historical sources state that a lot of transportation and logistics in Tenochtitlan and surrounding areas was done by boats via canals. This will be strongly incorporated into the gameplay.

Let’s talk about an example. Your workers will cut trees down and they’ll bring lumber into the woodcutter shack. However, in the final version of the game, it will not be available to use from the get-go. It will need to be transported to the warehouse, which is usually done in real life. No problem, when both facilities are on the same islet. What to do, though, when you manage to chop down all the trees there? You’ll need to find a new place to get lumber and to get it from that place to the warehouse.

The most sensible thing to do in this case would be to build a canal between the place where you source wood and the warehouse. This will help with establishing a supply chain.

The other thing is the chinampas. They were a type of floating garden which was used to cultivate crops. They will also need to be somehow connected to the warehouses - and the canals come back once again. Think of them as one of the crucial parts of urban design.

[h2]The destructive nature of water
[/h2]Most of the water-oriented events will be strongly tied to the mechanics of the game. While the level of water won’t raise by itself, you need to remember about the possibility of divine intervention.

The game will have something called Grace - more on it in the future. It will reflect how much the gods appreciate you or hate you. One of the negative effects that can be caused by angering the Moon goddess is called “flood” (it may be renamed further in development). She’ll be able to cause water to flood some parts of your city. At first, the water will start damaging and destroying buildings. After that, it will be able to destroy your mud-built structures. In its strongest form, it will be able to eradicate entire islets and you’ll need to either roll with it or rebuild the islet from scratch - by transporting huge amounts of mud to the spot.

We’re also considering other events related to water.

[h2]Conclusion
[/h2]Water is one most important things in our lives. And it’s been that forever. Aztecs utilised their unique location and circumstances to make the most out of their city on water. This background will allow players to come up with ingenious solutions in terms of management, supply, and countering the wrath of the Moon goddess. There’s more to water mechanics, but we don’t want to show all of our cards at this point. Click that wishlist button and wait for the game - you’ll be in for a bunch of surprises!

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Make sure to join our social media and Discord server if you want to be up to date about Aztecs: The Last Sun and our other games.

We’re always up for a talk and we appreciate each and every one of you!

Take a look at gamplay with us!

[h2]Mighty Tlatoani!
[/h2]

Next week we will bring you the next part of the devlog, and in the meantime, we wanted to show the gameplay demo to those who have not yet seen it.
Thank you for your support, for the fact that our demo was among the 50 most played during the last festival, it means everything to us. Thanks a lot!!!
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Make sure to join our social media and Discord server if you want to be up to date about Aztecs: The Last Sun and our other games.

We’re always up for a talk and we appreciate each and every one of you!

Devlog #2 - The Summary of Steam Next Fest - 2 Interviews With The Team

O mighty Tlatoani!

Steam Next Fest ended a short while ago. We released the demo at the beginning of it. The effort paid off, for a huge number of people managed to give Aztecs: The Last Sun a shot. Such events are very important for game studios. They not only allow us to promote and advertise our games but even more importantly, we can gather a lot of feedback regarding how the game works, what’s already good and what needs to be worked on.

The info we gained during the event was priceless for us. A high number of people played the demo and a huge fraction of them left feedback. Game development often boils down to having a particular idea, implementing it and having it confronted with other people’s expectations and experiences. This allows us to see if what we came up with is up to par. The main things we wanted to gain insight into were:
The gameplay - whether players like it.
The balance of the game - how to gauge the challenge.
The setting - do people enjoy a game set in pre-Colombian America? What emotions do they feel when they play it? Is the mood in the title suitable?
The graphics - this means both the performance and the reception of aesthetics.
The sound - to see if the jungle around sounds like it should and if the soundtrack hits the spot.
Bug reports - after all, the users are always going to find bugs that we missed. And this means we can locate and fix them quicker than earlier.
And the UI/UX.

However, instead of a standard summary, we’d like to present you with two interviews. One of them is held with Damian Klabuhn, a member of ATLS’s development team. The other one is an interview with Paweł Brągoszewski, a member of the Company Board. This way, we can give you a unique perspective from two different, but intertwined points of view.

[h2]Damian Klabuhn - Lead Game Designer
[/h2]

The dust after the Steam Next Fest has settled. How good was the event from the dev team’s point of view?

Steam Next Fest was an incredible success. A week of constant thrills and adrenaline. We spent hours monitoring charts, looking up the number of viewers on our livestreams and responding to countless messages from the players. We’re proud and overjoyed with what we’ve achieved during the festival.

Many, many people were quite happy with the experience the demo provided. How big of a part of the community, you reckon, had a positive outlook on the game?

We were glad to see the overwhelming majority of the community enjoying the game. It looks like the players are quite interested in the Aztec history and the whole setting. We had our fingers crossed for good opinions and a proactive community - the volume of messages and encouragement we got, though, exceeded our expectations. Such an enthusiastic and proactive approach got us pumped to make the game even better.

Let’s talk about the differences between what the demo and what can be expected from the full release. The first thing is the linearity. The demo is quite rigid in its structure and offers a uniform experience. The full version is set to be way more fluid and will allow for a bigger degree of freedom - is that correct?

We spent a lot of time trying to find the correct balance between freedom and guidance when we were working on the demo. For the full version, we want to focus on freedom while providing a narrative and quests that will be the driving forces. The demo was limited in its scope - there’s so much to show in such a short time. There was also the challenge of making the game and its challenges understandable at first glance.

The demo also wasn’t overly stressful or ominous. The full release, though, will exert more pressure on the players, won’t it?

Totally agree. The demo was, for the most part, relatively carefree and calm. The full game, though, will exert pressure and provide more challenges and obstacles. Let’s look at hunger - it will certainly play a bigger role in the full release. There will also be diseases. A lot of these mechanics will be tied to how the gods perceive the player’s activities. Grace will also influence events like cataclysms. As Aztecs were quite expansionist, exploratory expeditions will also play a huge role when it comes to the survival of Tenochtitlán. I can’t share much more, but let me say this - players haven’t seen even a fraction of what the wrath of the Moon Goddess can bring.

What are the most valuable pieces of feedback you got from the community?

The three most crucial types of info we were able to get revolved around bugs, user experience/interface and terrain mechanics. The first two are pretty self-explanatory - we need to fix what wasn’t working as well as it could. In the case of the interface, the feedback we got is going to show us the direction we need to take with the further design work.

As the Aztec capital was literally a “city on water”, we want to convey it well. The balance between shaping the canals and building the city must be made in such a way that the players have the most fun possible while playing Aztecs: The Last Sun. Each piece of feedback helps us with tuning it just right.

Some of the things that need to be worked on are the camera and the interface. Do you plan to introduce changes to these aspects to make the experience more user-friendly?

Certainly, yes. As for the camera, we’ll need to have it more adaptable to players’ needs and habits. It’d be a shame if we had a great game that couldn’t be experienced properly due to no comfort of use. So, we’ll do our best to accommodate most if not all players and their preferences.

UI in the demo was still in its early stage. We acknowledge there’s a lot to improve in that manner - how responsive, easy to use and intuitive it is among other things. The feedback we got (and will get) will be crucial to developing the interface and fine-tuning it later.

How many languages are expected to be in the final release?

I can’t yet say, but we want to have the game localised to many languages. It’s important to have the players accommodated.

The demo received an update during the festival. Will it get another one somewhere down the development path? Or is working on the demo over?

While I’d love to share our plans, I’m not allowed to do that. All I can say is that we have a number of exciting plans in store for the future.

As the festival was a success for the company, wouldn’t you mind commenting on whether the spirits are high in the dev team?

Short answer - yeah. When it comes to details, the dev team is made of many people who are not only colleagues but friends. This means that we care for each other and we strive to do our best. Seeing how this labour of love was received by the players gave a huge boost to our morale and elevated our spirits to new heights.

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[h2]Paweł Brągoszewski - a member of the Company Board
[/h2]

It’s been a short while since Steam Next Fest ended. While you’ve made some pretty clear remarks and shared some thoughts on our work chat, let’s talk about the topic once more. Do you consider Aztecs: The Last Sun’s performance at the festival a success?

I believe the demo was a huge success at the festival. We showed a brand new IP, a game unknown to the public and it was met with great interest. The devs were in awe when they were looking at how the livestream went and later, when players started playing the game and submitting feedback.

How long has the entire team been preparing to deliver the demo?

The game’s been in active development for about a year. We spent a lot of time working on the presentation to make it look outstanding.

The game was the most streamed title during the festival. Obviously, this is a great achievement. Could you tell us why this was the case and were you expecting that?

The pre-Colombian Aztec setting most likely played a huge part in that. It’s rarely seen in the industry. The biggest factor, though, certainly was the lovely graphics featuring the lush foliage and impressive buildings.

What did you like the most in the demo build?

I’m pleased that we were able to show many mechanics in a short span of time. Aztecs: The Last Sun is a complex game and we did our best to showcase various mechanics in a limited amount of time.

The player reception was very good in general. They most appreciated the mechanics, the vibe and the aesthetics of the game. However, we’ve also received negative feedback, mostly about bugs and UI. Are you happy with the amount of information that was obtained during the run of the festival?

All constructive feedback is both valuable and welcome. It shows us what’s already good, what needs improvement and what could be reworked. If you, the reader, have any thoughts about the game - please, share it with us. The demo has a feature that allows you to post it directly to the dev team. You’re also welcome to drop us a message on Discord or our social media.

Was there anything unexpected that you noticed in the feedback?

The feedback regarding the camera work raised our brows. It’s surprisingly easy to overlook some aspects of the product when there’s no external feedback - and we had more or less none before releasing the demo.

Some companies ended their demos and trial runs after the Steam Next Fest. Aztecs: The Last Sun’s demo remained available for download. Will it be updated over time, when it’s closer to the release? Or maybe there will be another demo or some other form of trial down the lane?

The demo will be up for a while, but it will be taken down in the future. The game will be changing during the development and the current version of the demo won’t do it justice. Will there be a next demo? I can’t answer at this point.

Can you sum up the entire festival experience in one sentence?

A great Steam Fest for Aztecs: The Last Sun - we are very happy with the visibility of the game and player feedback.

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That was quite an interesting read, wasn’t it? Some of the main takeaways are:

Everyone’s happy with how Aztecs: The Last Sun performed during Steam Next Fest.
We got a lot of valuable feedback that will be put to good use.
People liked how the game feels and looks.
There were some hiccups, especially when it comes to random bugs, placing buildings, the camera and the UI, so we’ll have to sort them out.
The demo will be taken down sometime in the future.
We have some things in store prepared for you.

It’s an exciting project to work on, so please - keep your fingers crossed, as we’ll be sharing more info about the game in the near future. We also hope to make ATLS as fun as it gets.

So long, then!

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Make sure to join our social media and Discord server if you want to be up to date about Aztecs: The Last Sun and our other games.

We’re always up for a talk and we appreciate each and every one of you!