Game
The Wild at Heart

5 years ago

Building a 2D Storybook World in a 3D Space


Ever wonder how we get that special Wild at Heart look? Well it’s a very particular mix of art style and technical implementation that creates the feel and perspective we wanted. 

Most of the game’s assets are 2D sprites, as you might imagine. But the game itself lives in a 3D space, with all those images being procedurally tilted towards the camera whenever a new area loads (to give it the correct “2D game” look you would expect). 

So why build the game in 3D then? Well, three main reasons:

  1. The collision and physics behaviors we needed for gameplay are significantly easier to deal with in 3D.

  2. We have a lot of ground and cliffs and just general world space that needs building out, and it was much easier to tackle these with simple 3D models. We simply texture and tilt them towards the camera, and they blend in very nicely with the game’s 2D art. 

  3. We wanted to give some parallax and perspective to the world as you move around in it. A more natural motion and visual feel that creates depth and contrast to an otherwise flat-looking storybook style. 

With all this combined, what you get is a game that looks 2D in screenshots and stills, but provides all the control, polish and depth of a 3D world.

And that’s all there is to it! Thanks for reading, and we hope you enjoy how it all came together :)



8 comments

Loading...

Next up

Come play Echo Weaver, our time looping puzzlebox platformer! We have a Steam demo up all week

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2184080/Echo_Weaver/

Want to play The Wild at Heart? Our demo is still going strong for the #SteamSummerFestival! Head to our store page to play right now http://bit.ly/the-wild-at-heart_Steam

Join our Discord to chat with us and give feedback https://discord.gg/qSGTDRh

A little peek at our in-game map! Track down your Spritelings, pin a quick reminder, or plan a route back to the nearest camp - you can do it all with the Map-O-Matic 6000! (jk we just call it "the map") #TheWildAtHeart #indiegames #indiedev #gameart

The Cryptmaster Anniversary Update is here! 

@akuparagames saw that players loved the in-universe card minigame "Whatever." So for this update, they've put more effort to make it its own Roguelike game mode!

Try the FREE DEMO: https://bit.ly/CryptmasterSteam

The Button Effect – @Frycandle 's minimalist first-person puzzler inspired by The Witness, The Talos Principle and The Beginner's Guide, is coming to Steam! 

Play the demo and wishlist the game now: https://bit.ly/thebuttoneffect

We are beyond stoked to be partnering with @akuparagames to publish Echo Weaver!

Check out the full mini-doc to learn a more about the game and why we chose each other :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GbbVO23e3g

We have an exciting announcement today, but first a message from all of us here at Moonlight Kids. Check it all out on our blog: https://www.moonlightkids.co/post/a-message-and-some-news

Let there be colors - I made a custom dynamic fluid system + physically accurate spread with no extra cost.

It's the final day of the Time Masters Steam fest! Come dive into the many secrets of Echo Weaver with our shiny new demo https://store.steampowered.com/app/2184080/Echo_Weaver/