Dungeon Defenders: Awakened

ART UPDATE — The Stylus, Mightier Than the Sword
almost 6 years ago – Sun, Mar 31, 2019 at 01:57:51 AM

 DEFENDERS!

Art, art, and more arts, yay! When it comes to the art direction and definitive style for Dungeon Defenders: Awakened we are taking an approach that pushes the fun and clarity while not straying too far from what was defined in the original. Because the context of the story relies so heavily on the happenings of the original Dungeon Defenders we want the art style to reflect that. We don’t want things to be too stylized and pushed to the level that Dungeon Defenders II portrays where characters and environments have skewed proportions and tapered edges, but we also don’t want things to be quite as rigid and geometrically angular or simplistic as in DD1. The happy medium is going to start with the layouts that everybody familiar with DD1 know and love and then push them to have a slightly more cartoon feel with clarity and readability in mind.

With a game like Dungeon Defenders, things stack up pretty quickly so we want to minimize clutter by having the environments feel comfortable and clear. Part of how we are doing this is keeping in mind a sense of scale and how it relates to the amount of detail items have. With Large objects getting the highest amount of detail and smaller items getting less and less to where something small enough might just get some edge smoothing.

Also part of how we are putting the style somewhere in the middle is with the way that we deal with texture maps. In DD1 there was a heavy usage of photo textures. On the opposite side of that scale DD2 was mostly hand painted flat textures. Here in DD:A we are spending more time in the sculpting of objects and letting that sculpt and lighting set the tone. Lighting in Unreal Engine 4 is much more robust and can really unify all the pieces within a map more so than trying to paint everything that way. 

As we get further into the design and approach to DD:A we are also thinking about what would make the most entertaining interaction with enemy characters. Specifically with the redesign of the Goblin, the use of rag-doll physics makes sense to add elements that are floppy like large ears. Variation is another aspect that keeps things fun. Killing swarms of the same exact Goblin gets a little tiresome. So we are going to mix things up by having random elements spawn with every Goblin. This mixed with skin color and scale variations make a horde of Goblins feel like just that!

We’re just getting started though. There are going to be many opportunities to push the boundaries aesthetically while keeping things fresh and fun. We’re looking forward to where this new chapter of Dungeon Defenders takes us.

For Etheria!

Chromatic Games

THERE'S GONNA BE A MASSACRE — New Tier Crushed!
almost 6 years ago – Sat, Mar 30, 2019 at 12:58:52 AM

DEFENDERS!

We are so far past our initial goal with LESS THAN A WEEK LEFT! Recently passing the $350K goal, coming in Dungeon Defenders: Awakened is the new difficulty "MASSACRE"! This isn't just a stat increase for enemies, Massacre is something that tests you as a Defender and provides a serious challenge. We're working hard on getting the basics down now, but once we start working on MASSACRE, we'll be sure to show it off and keep you in the loop!

With that goal crossed and our team just blowing away our scheduled goals, we wanted to add in a new tier that's closer to our overall goal, because we really want to make it, and with your help, WE CAN! If you haven't seen it yet, at the $500K tier is a BRAND NEW never before seen hero, the "Riftwalker" hero. That's a work-in-progress name, but with YOUR HELP, we can get the resources needed to pull this hero out of the rift and into Etheria!

We're also ready to show off one of our rewards that some of our backers are receiving. The Crystalline costumes are finished and they look amazing in game! We're going to be showing off more and more art over time, but we wanted to show these amazing costumes off ASAP. For backers that are eligible for this reward, like our other digital rewards, we are going to get redemption codes out shortly after Kickstarter, once we've received backer information.

 We're working around the clock to make Dungeon Defenders: Awakened the best game that we can. Your backing, support, and incredibly kind words are really making all of this possible. The Kickstarter has LESS THAN A WEEK LEFT, so tell your friends, family, pets, neighbors, and neighbor's pets about us to help make DD:A the best it can be! There's exclusives that you can ONLY get through by backing us, so don't miss out! Make sure to check us out on Twitter, Facebook, and our Official Forums for more information and updates. 

Thank you all so much, there's more to come.

FOR ETHERIA!

Chromatic Games

A CHALLENGE APPEARS — We're still climbing!
almost 6 years ago – Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 12:03:13 AM

DEFENDERS!

We're getting so much support, this has truly been an amazing experience for us and there's still MORE time to go! Over the weekend we crossed the $300k mark and are going to be adding in NEW CHALLENGE MAPS to Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. On top of that, we're already 50% of the way to our next goal, MASSACRE MODE!

Our team also just got back from GDC (Game Developers Conference), where we met with a lot of different companies, developers, and people to help make DD:A an amazing experience. This is going to allow us to really make DD:A the best game it can possibly be!

While we've got a lot we're working on, we thought it'd be fun to share a little concept art as well for one of our new maps that we've teased a little bit before:

Let the speculation begin! 

This Kickstarter process has been a crazy rollercoaster for us, and the flood of positive messages has really bolstered us as a studio. We cannot wait to get this game into your hands!

For Etheria!

Chromatic Games

Dungeon Defenders: Awakened -- COMING TO A LANGUAGE NEAR YOU!
almost 6 years ago – Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 12:30:31 AM

DEFENDERS!

We are climbing so fast and we couldn't be happier! We just crossed the goal to get Dungeon Defenders: Awakened into multiple languages. While we've been at GDC, we've been talking to a lot of different groups who can make this possible and provide the best experience for as many of our Defenders as we can. We cannot wait to see what other goals we knock out and share our plans on how we are going to knock it out of the park.

Also we've seen a lot of you asking about the design of Dungeon Defenders: Awakened. We're going to be providing updates over various aspects of design, as design is definitely a VERY complicated beast to slay. Our lead designer, Mark Telfer (with the assistance of certain Lawlta), posted new info on our approach on loot. Check it out by clicking here and join the conversation!

We've got more FLEX goals we're going to knock out, and we're working as hard as we can to make this a true Dungeon Defenders experience that will surpass expectations. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for all of your support!

For Etheria!

Chromatic Games

FULLY FUNDED, ALL SYSTEMS ARE GOOD FOR TAKE OFF!
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Mar 20, 2019 at 12:42:58 AM

DEFENDERS!

WE DID IT, WE ARE FULLY FUNDED AND STILL CLIMBING!!! Everyone at Chromatic Games is blown away by the amount of support that all of you have provided us, and we promise not to let you down. This funding gives us the autonomy to make Dungeon Defenders: Awakened how we want to make it — for the players!

This week we are at GDC meeting with a lot of different studios and companies to make sure that what we put out blows expectations out of the water. Since we're on the road currently, this update will be brief, but we wanted to just make sure that we are in awe of the amount of faith that you as Defenders have put into us. We will not let you down!

We've got more info coming soon, and there's a ton of stuff that we want to show off still, so stay tuned!

 We're actually freaking doing this. Wow... Thank you all so much. <3

For Etheria!

Chromatic Games