The Perfect Pencil News

"Hello, I'm Gaston, the official doorman of Clemensburg, the most charming town in the kingdom of the White Beast.

Our town offers to a select few the warm and reassuring comfort of "genuine" companionship.

Thanks to that and our fabulous mentor, we're shielded from the terrifying banks of fog surrounding our sparkling walls."


(One of my favorites activities)


"We all know what hides behind those banks... and you don't want to get stuck in them, lost in confusion and yourself.

So, I hope you'll be up to my standards when you knock on my door.

Actually, I don't mind if you don't; If someone's not up to my standards it always makes me feel better about myself."





"My distinctive features include eyebrows that not only meet but form a perfect circle on my forehead. While I find them superb, a guy with a fanny pack who sneaked into town says I resemble a frog-burger, whatever that means.

My folder keeps track of the upcoming appointments for new citizens who haven't received their social status yet. It accompanies me in every shift of my beloved job, elevating me just enough to feel comfortable.

I'm a rather simple man and don't ask for much more.

My leg? A relic of an encounter with someone who thought they had a higher social status than me; naturally, they were put back in their shameful place."





Gaston is a chubby and slimy gentleman, dressed in classic fashion like all the other characters, giving them a timeless feel. Each area has a distinctive palette, also used to color other characters.

Gaston is developed with his purpose in mind as the doorman of the second area, exploring the macro-theme of shame and judgment. His characteristics portray the essence of the town and his role in it.





There's a hidden house in Clemensburg where Gaston lives, painting portraits, and writing letters to his secret love.

Discovering this secret adds to the intrigue. You might find it and unravel the mystery of his secret love. For more gossip about men with unibrows, check out The Perfect Pencil; it won't disappoint.

Thank you for your time. If you want to meet other bizarre personalities, they'll be waiting for you in The Perfect Pencil. You can try it right now for free downloading the game demo!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1858810/The_Perfect_Pencil/

[h2]If you would like to see this Dev Blog instead of reading it:
[/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Similar to each area in The Perfect Pencil, The Soft Forest embodies a central psychological theme, allowing you to delve into its various aspects through exploration, interactions, quests, enemies, secrets, and exceedingly demanding regressed adults.

The Soft Forest's aesthetic was conceived to create an inviting, harmless, and seemingly welcoming atmosphere at first glance. However, as you begin to pay attention to details and progress in your exploration, you may notice that something is amiss.

Despite this, our recommendation is not to expose yourself too much, or you might find yourself at the edge of the forest...

Please take a look at this short teaser created by The Soft Forest's tourist office.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

If you'd like to explore The Soft Forest and its wonders by yourself, you can do so now in our demo!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1858810/The_Perfect_Pencil/

[h2]Welcome to another Dev Blog!
[/h2]



Today we’ll give you an inside look into one technology we are using to simulate atmospheric perspective in The Perfect Pencil world.

[h2]Firstly, what’s Atmospheric Perspective?
[/h2]
A variety of techniques artists use to simulate the effects the atmosphere has on objects viewed at a distance.



Artists have been using this techniques since the very beginning of the Common Era, and it is heavily featured in many famous paintings.

(Turner - Ancient Rome; Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus)

(Monet - The Thames below Westminster)


In this post we’ll focus on the coloring technique: far objects are less saturated and shift toward the sky color.

[h2]Parallax and blurry
[/h2]

We already use many parallaxing layers and blurrier sprites the farther they are from the gameplay layer.

To further push the idea of distance, we can shift far objects smoothly toward the sky color, but we need a smart way to do it.

A shader can automate the whole process!



First we apply and set up the Interpolation Script, which calculates the object distance based on the parameters we choose.

Next we apply the custom Material which is automatically linked to the previously added script.

We can choose any color we want the object to shift to.



It’s working! the sprite will automatically shift to the color we chose in the Material by moving along the Z axis, according to the min/max parameters we previously set in the script.

And voila’, we can now quickly apply this process to all objects in the background using the same material to create a nice atmospheric depth effect without breaking a sweat!

We can use this to simulate all sorts of situations! We even started using it to color the foreground!



About performance: to avoid the instancing of the material that will decrease the performance, we used the r channel of sprite renderer color to insert the interpolation value.

In this way we are able to use only one material without instancing it many times, decreasing the number of draw call :)

[h2]About Us
[/h2]The team was born in 2019 and it has slowly grown since then. It is now composed by 10 people: programmers, artists, game designers, a social media manager and a psychologist. Plus an external studio for musics and sound design.

We are all based in Italy, and we love what we are doing!

[h2]If you want to support us...
[/h2]

If you want to support us just wishlist and follow the game page in Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1858810/The_Perfect_Pencil/

New demo coming soon!

Hello there!

Today we wanted to show you the new trailer for our game, The Perfect Pencil, but most importantly we’d like to take the opportunity to announce our closed beta!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

But most importantly: the closed beta! We invite you all to try The Perfect Pencil for free this weekend, from July 14th to July 17th.

We invite everyone to try The Perfect Pencil for free this weekend, from July 14th to July 17th.

Everyone can register at this link. If you do so, you will receive a Steam Key in you inbox that will allow you to join the closed beta!

For anyone who already played the old demo of the game: this beta is a updated and polished version of our old demo.

We are going through this new beta process because your opinion matters to us, and we would like to learn how we can improve the game even further!


[h2]If you want to know more about the game...[/h2]



The Perfect Pencil is a surreal action platformer that tells a tale of personal development and investigates the psychology of fear. Join protagonist John as he awakens in a bizarre hand-drawn kingdom and comes face to face with the terrors that dwell in the last place he’d have thought to look...

The game was born from the need to tell a story about a personal struggle with an anxiety disorder.

Starting from that spark, Studio Cima grew over the years in order to tell that tale and bring The Perfect Pencil to life.

We are now a team of 10, all based in Italy.

Our main inspiration are modern Metroidvanias such as Hollow Knight, and classics such as Zelda and Earthbound.

We are also fascinated by the aesthetics of Magritte, David Lynch and Wes Anderson.

The game is still in development and it is set to be released in 2024 on Steam and Nintendo Switch, with other platforms following.

[h3]Some link!
[/h3]
Discord: https://discord.gg/QYqqmvpYgJ
Twitter: https://twitter.com/perfect_pencil
Mail: [email protected]

Hello everyone and welcome to our second development update!

Today we want to introduce you to one of the most important features of the game: The Healing Attack.

This is the mechanism that allows you to regain “Will” (health points) on the course of your adventure.



The Healing Attack derived directly from the psychological narrative behind the game, and it is the perfect example of how we are trying to create a cohesive structure that binds narrative and gameplay together as much as possible.

This is done in order to craft a complete experience through the tools offered by the video game medium.


[h2]The process behind this special attack can ne divided in two steps.
[/h2]



First the players will have to confront the enemies directly by attacking them. This will allow them to gather “Courage” (energy).

This is a clear reference to the core meaning of the game: confronting obstacles to overcome them and proceed on your journey.

Once you have gathered enough “Courage” (energy), you’ll be able to transform it into “Will” (health points).

This is done by charging the Healing Attack and - once the charge phase is completed and the attack is still charged - landing the next blow on an enemy.

This is another instance where the narrative of the game shines through: you have the power to transform your Courage, through action, into Will. It is said Will that is necessary to keep you standing in the face of adversities.



A small detail that you might find significant is the fact that you’ll be able to gain “Will” (health points) regardless of whether the enemy might be parrying or not. From a narrative standpoint you are not gaining from their loss, but from the act itself of confronting difficulties.



We believe that this ability will make for a very entertaining gameplay and it will keep players on edge: players will be able to regain health only by exposing themselves to danger when they are at their most vulnerable. When their Will is low, they need Courage to overcome, survive and continue their journey.

[h2]A hidden game mechanic:
[/h2]
There is further use for this ability. What happens if you haven’t taken any damage, and you try the Healing Attack when your halth bar is full? This will unleash a more powerful blow that will deal more damage to your enemies and will allow you to defeat them more easily.



[h2]About Us
[/h2]The team was born in 2019 and it has slowly grown since then. It is now composed by 10 people: programmers, artists, game designers, a social media manager and a psychologist. Plus an external studio for musics and sound design.

We are all based in Italy, and we love what we are doing!

[h2]If you want to try The Perfect Pencil & support us...
[/h2]
You can download the demo and play it right now! It works also on Steam Deck!

If you want to support us just wishlist and follow the game page in Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1858810/The_Perfect_Pencil/