Last Time I Saw You News

Hello everyone!

Busy days! We are getting very close to finishing the development of Last Time I Saw You, so while you are still waiting I decided to bring you a new DevLog that I hope you’ll like.

In today's post I’m going to talk about the Art of Last Time I Saw You and the references I’ve been working with while creating Ayumi’s world.

When I had the idea to start developing a game on my own, I was working as an art director at a company in Japan that focused on the localization and development of video games. Thanks to Yume Nikki: Dream Diary, the project that the team I was working with and I had just finished, I had the opportunity to learn how Unity works and the processes to follow when creating a game and bringing its development to completion.

I had the experience of having worked on a 3D game, although somewhat limited at that time, so I decided to play it safe and rely on what I already knew how to do best, which was to draw. For this reason I decided that Last Time I Saw You would be a 2D game drawn by me, since I would have more control over the final product and, by doing most of the artistic and visual tasks myself, I would reduce production costs considerably.

Once I had decided this, it was time to establish an artistic style. This is very important, as it will be the hallmark of the game. At that time, I was very interested in photorealism and photobashing techniques, which basically involves creating pieces by assembling various photo references and painting on top. The concepts of Yume Nikki: Dream Diary were actually made using this technique. Here you have some examples:

Early concept images that I made for Yume Nikki: Dream Diary, developed by Active Gaming Media.

This style is usually used mainly in the concept art phase, but it has also appeared in some games as final art, being one of them Detention, by RedCandleGames. I really liked it and I was trying to get better at it, but the truth is that it wasn’t fitting very well with the story I wanted to tell with Last Time I Saw You.

Photobashing technique in Detention, developed by RedCandleGames.

It was then when I decided to get out of my comfort zone and started to try something new, something similar to Studio Ghibli and the anime from the 80s and 90s. In particular, it was the movie Only Yesterday, by Isao Takahata, that began to guide me towards a more defined and personal style. This, together with Makoto Shinkai's use of light and flares were the references that defined the direction I was going to take for Last Time I Saw You.

Background paintings by Kazuo Oga for Only Yesterday (1991), dir. Isao Takahata, Studio Ghibli.

Your Name (2016), dir. Makoto Shinkai, CoMix Wave Films.

Once I had practiced and defined this style enough, I started to draw backgrounds in Photoshop, following a polishing process until I ended up with the desired style.

Creation process of Ayumi's Living Room while setting the art style of the game.

And this is basically the creative and thought process I had in order to establish the art style of Last Time I Saw You! From time to time I still use photos as textures and then paint on top, but at the end I try to make it as hand-drawn as possible.

So I hope you liked this post and that you have learned a little more of the ins and outs of Last Time I Saw You. Let me know in the comments if you would like to know more about any of these techniques in particular!

In the next post I will talk about the animation process of our characters, which is also handmade!

Until next time! 💙
.Juan

Hello everyone!

In today's post I’m going to talk about the creation process behind our protagonist Ayumi. Just like in the game, the idea of making Last Time I Saw You started with a typhoon. An emotional and physical typhoon that hit Osaka (where I live) in 2018. And about the emotional part… we'll talk about that in another post 😉

This typhoon, named Jebi, created a great deal of destruction around me, even destroying the bridge leading to the Kansai airport, cutting the city off from the rest of the world for several days. Seeing my surroundings altered overnight made me reflect on the ephemerality of things. I knew that rain and wind were going to play a very important role in Last Time I Saw You, and so our protagonist had to be properly dressed for the occasion.

The chaos left by the typhoon in the park next to where I used to work at the time.

For this reason, and because the game takes place in autumn, Ayumi's design had to involve rain clothes, raincoats, rain boots, etc. We took paper and pencil and made the first sketches.


I knew I wanted him to wear a poncho-like raincoat, since I like the shape of them, so the design was defined as I went in that direction. Once I decided on the clothes, I wanted him to carry a weapon. Since this is a narrative game with some action elements, having a weapon with which to interact with the environment gives the gameplay some variety and appeal.

Being a young boy, I decided that the most natural thing would be for him to carry a baseball bat, something that could also be a small reference to Earthbound.


I already had the idea, but it needed to be defined. The sketches were good, but such a character would have been too difficult to animate, so, based on the basic designs, we worked on a more polished version, with more defined proportions, so that the animators could bring it to life without much hassle.


Those who know Japanese may have noticed that Ayumi is originally a girl's name. The male version would be Ayumu, but as with other names, like for example Hikaru, it is possible (though not common) to find the name Ayumi applied to boys. I really liked this ambiguity and it gives the character a special identity trait. Feeling disconnected with his surroundings, wanting to know more and having a special name make for a unique blend in Ayumi.

And this is how Ayumi was created! In our next post I will talk about the art style of the game and what movies and games inspired me.

Would you like me to talk about a specific character in future posts? If you want to meet them yourself, the demo is available for download right now on our Steam page!

Until next time! 💙
.Juan

Hello everyone!

It's been more than a year since we first presented the demo of Last Time I Saw You at Steam Next Fest last June 2022. It was an amazing experience that made Last Time I Saw You reach a lot of people, even winning two awards at Bitsummit and signing a publishing deal with Chorus Worldwide.

This literally turned my life upside down. Finally, after many years of hard work and random jobs to pay rent, I was able to start focusing on my own game full-time, doing my best to create something emotional and memorable for everyone to enjoy.


Because of this, I've spent the last year totally immersed in development, causing me to leave social media a bit aside… and that’s not good! So it's about time I thank you all for your incredible support with a series of DevLogs that will give you exclusive information and background about Last Time I Saw You, where it comes from, how it's being developed, etc.

Let's start with our main character Ayumi. A 12-year-old boy who lives in Amatsu, a town in a rural mountainous area of Japan. He likes drawing, video games and any sort of escapism.


He does well in school. Let’s say he doesn't get good grades… but not bad ones either! He spends his classes drawing on his notebook, so he doesn't pay much attention, which makes it difficult for him to pass his exams from time to time and he always ends up asking his best friend Nao for help. His mother actually does worry about his grades too… 📓✍🏻

He is eager to grow up, so he likes to be around older people, as he enjoys their conversations more than those of kids his age. He is often told that he is very mature for his age, and always looks too much for validation from adults, as it makes him feel better and smarter.

Who knew that what awaits him after the typhoon will change his life forever…


In our next post I will talk about the creation and design process of Ayumi. Where the original idea comes from and the process I followed to end up with the final design.

If you like what you have read, and are intrigued by Last Time I Saw You, don’t forget to wishlist and follow the game!

Until next time! 💙

.Juan

Hi everyone,

I'm so excited to share with you our brand new trailer for the game! This new trailer shows a lot of the things we've been working hard on this past year: new areas, new characters, new mechanics... It also gives a bit more context about the story and lets you know what to expect narratively speaking. I hope you like it!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Let me know your thoughts in the comments. I personally love what the composer has achieved with the music 😊

Pre-release promotion is a very important thing for this game (for any game really) to succeed, so we are looking for ways to increase awareness. If you like what you see it would help us enormously if you share the trailer and wishlist the game! 🙏


I am also very excited to tell you that the Alpha of the game is done! This basically means that Last Time I Saw You is, as of today, playable from start to finish in a rough form, which is a big step for any game development 😊 Yay! There are still a lot of things to improve, implement and refine, like collectibles, side quests and some more surprises, but we're almost there!

As always, thank you so much for your support💙

.Juan

Hi everyone!
This time I’m not here to share another milestone report, but some wonderful news instead!

[h3]KEY ART AND STEAM PAGE UPDATED[/h3]
We’ve created new key art with a much more attractive image in which you can see many of the characters that you will meet during this adventure 😏 The demo only shows very little of what awaits you in Last Time I Saw You…



What do you think of the new poster? Tell me in the comments below! We’ve also taken this opportunity to update the Steam page with improved descriptions, new gifs and screenshots. Take a look. I hope you like it!

[h3]DAY OF THE DEVS[/h3]
Apart from this, I'm so grateful and excited for the opportunity to have Last Time I Saw You be part of Day of the Devs! It's like a dream come true and I can't express how special this is for such a small team like us✨

Last Time I Saw You will be part of the online showcase, which will be LIVE on December 6th at 8 AM PST. Here's the link!

Also it will be available for playing by everyone at the in-person event to be held at City Market Social House, Los Angeles, on Friday, December 8 from 12pm to 8pm. If anyone is around come say hi! We’ll have postcards and stickers 🙌

This time we’ll be showing an exclusive updated version of the demo with new content that no one has seen before! (We plan to upload it to Steam at some point in the future so everyone can play the most updated version of the game).

Yes, I've made the skull's eye match Ayumi's :P

One of the new additions is the Notebook, which is used as inventory, quest log, etc.

[h3]TAIPEI GAME SHOW[/h3]
And that's not all. Last Time I Saw You has also been nominated for Best Narrative at the Taipei Game Show that will take place in January next year! Of all the parts of the game this is one we've worked the hardest on, so this nomination feels especially good. Thank you so much to everyone who voted! 😊



As always, thank you so much for your support! 💙

.Juan