From Archipelago to Arena: Exploring Deniz in Temtem: Swarm

Today we go on a stroll through Deniz and its history, both in Temtem and Temtem: Swarm. Find out how the sun-kissed coast was designed and brought to life by our teams!

[h2]History[/h2]
In the minds of every human in the Archipelago, the name of Deniz evokes sunny vistas of white houses on rugged hillsides, descending all the way down to the glittering waters of the Sillaro. From the first sea-faring merchants to the droves of modern tourists that flock to Arissola, the Denizans are a lively culture, outgoing and completely at home everywhere they might find good conversation and a challenging Temtem battle. The sailor brotherhoods that started taming Wind and Water Temtem ages ago are still active.

The Sillaro docks as seen in Temtem

Tamers in the Archipelago call Deniz a floating sea, thanks to the Sillaro River’s waters that fill the island, but surfing around it isn’t the only activity you can do in this blue paradise. Although many visitors only know the shores of Briçal de Mar, it pays to take the scenic route to Zadar, visit the ruins of Windward Fort or explore the Aguamarina Caves. The town of Turquesa and Indigo Lake hold their own surprises, although nothing is always as idyllic as it might seem under the hot sun and cool breeze of Deniz…

Windward Fort as seen in Temtem

Deniz is a Mediterranean paradise of glittering seas where Water and Wind Temtem thrive, from the fluffy Paharo to the brightly buzzing Ganki. The inspiration for Deniz is a melting pot relating to the Mediterranean Sea, its most predominant culture derived from Spain, Italy, and Turkey. The island's name itself means "sea" in Turkish.

Aquamarine Caves as seen in Temtem

Deniz has the reputation of being a beautiful island with amazing beaches, historical wonders, enigmatic tales, and much more. So, how did we take this fully explorable island in Temtem and make sure that the same vibes and vistas are seen in Temtem: Swarm? Let’s dive in!

[h2]Creation process[/h2]
Deniz is the first map the team worked on, both in Temtem and Temtem: Swarm! Since Temtem: Swarm is being co-developed with GGTech Studios, the project took a slightly different path than Temtem. Let's take a look at how the two teams worked together to bring the mystery and wonders of Deniz to life in Temtem: Swarm too!

Temtem: Swarm’s creation process started with the Deniz map as a sort of guinea pig, a first timid step into our first co-developed game. As co-development began both teams needed to create a new workflow, and building up these bases made Deniz’s initial development more explorative, with a lot of trial and error, iterating, and testing to see how far the teams could push in creating their shared vision. However, once the workflow was set, things started to roll!

The final workflow we settled on begins with Design and Art Direction creating a layout, including the desired size and shape of the map. We accompany this with a mockup of the final look we have envisioned for the arena and its landmark zones, as well as reference pictures from Temtem.

In the very early days, the Deniz arena started with a Water vs Land draft, as you can see in the image below:



As you can imagine, Deniz has been developed in small sections. GGTech Studios decided to divide the map into zones to set up scenarios one by one; once these are ready and colliders and materials are well-defined, a couple of members from the Crema team validate it or give feedback if there is something to modify. Art direction makes sure the colors and materials are correct, as well as post-processing, and then give way to part of the QA team, which steps in to test if there are any bugs.

Many elements need to be taken into consideration when creating a new map, like the placement of each landmark, the colors that will be used, and even the water’s foam effect! Technical artists dedicated some time iterating on the foam effects so they’d look riveting and really bring the water to life. The Deniz arena is filled with corals like the ones you can see in Deniz.


As landmarks get added, you really start to see the map come to life and give the feeling that you’re exploring Deniz while evading the swarms of baddies. So, let’s talk about those landmarks!

[h2]Landmarks[/h2]
Within each map, several areas of interest are reminiscent of landmarks from the original Temtem maps. These are used as special spawn zones for map events and missions. This is the landmark draft we initially shared with the GGTech team, and the starting point for every next step.


Choosing between all possible landmarks was tough, as there are so many elements that represent Deniz, but we have to stay within the reach of what’s viable. For example, the Sea-Queen’s Aquarium is a very representative Denizian spot that we’d loved to include, but there was no doable way of including it in a smaller map, with limited space and time. That’s why the team had to carefully select what to pick. In Temtem: Swarm, Deniz’s map contains what the team thought were the most important or well-known landmarks:

The Wishing Well
A mysterious well surrounded by beautiful sunflowers. Although there are many Wishing Wells across the Airborne islands, the well in Deniz is the first one you see! We wanted to honor that moment of discovery by including the well in the Deniz Arena in Temtem: Swarm.

The Stranded Ship
The ship immediately takes us back to a quest in Temtem where we have to help the crew of a shipwrecked ferry boat in Turquesa communicate with each other. The Sillaro River and crossing it are central to the people of Deniz, so having your boat malfunction and end up stranded is a big deal!

The Sillaro docks
The docks are a direct reference to those you can see all along the Sillaro river, especially after crossing through Windward Fort.

Windward Fort
This enigmatic historic building has stood despite its age, but the effects of time can be felt throughout it, and its rocks can tell tales of long past times. Albeit dangerous to traverse, it’s a proud landmark of Deniz and its history, and we included their emblematic vertical rocks all over the arena.


Each map has its own custom breakables (boxes that drop Pansuns, healing items, and other interesting stuff). In Deniz’s case, the team ended up choosing a wooden box, as it’s seen in so many places around the island.


[h2]Inside the TemCard[/h2]
The core action of Temtem: Swarm happens inside a TemCard, and making sure this was felt throughout the design was a key part of the process. To this end, there’s a tech feeling encompassing every element in every arena, even those that are as nature-focused as Deniz.

An interesting change in direction that happened is that arenas in Temtem: Swarm started out by having hard corners, but the shader of the digital effect we had created for map boundaries clashed with the corners and just didn’t look right across all the arenas. Deniz was the only arena where it worked, but for the sake of consistency we went for a more organic and rounded edge to the map and ended up liking it much more!

Early Drafts

Current Final Results

We’re thankful Deniz was there to act as a learning environment for the new workflows that needed to be set. That said, we’re not done with it! Since we’ve gotten more experienced and are now more in-sync, we are going back to the workshop to give Deniz a round of polish on Temtem: Swarm so it can be as lovely and enticing as the Deniz many of us know and love from Temtem.

Although this is our main scenario for Deniz, there’s another arena that stems from that same island, can you imagine what it is?



Thank you for coming along on this Denizian journey! We hope you enjoyed it, and that what you learned today piqued your interest in Temtem: Swarm even more. Please remember that this is work we’re currently doing, and as such it’s subject to change from now until it gets to your hands.

See you in the next Arena, Tamers!

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