TL;DR version:
We talk about the 'Underworld' - what is it?
An update on the latest developments
A recap of the industry events we have attended over the past month and a half
Imagination is a powerful tool: since the dawn of time, humanity has used it to bend the laws of logic and nature to escape reality in the only place in which none of them apply - the mind. But what if there is a place in which thought takes a physical, tangible shape? Today, we want to take into consideration such a possibility by talking to you about the most mysterious part of Dark Fracture!
Welcome to the Underworld
In the last couple of devblogs we have talked a lot about the body farm — an eerie but actually real kind of research facility, as well as the workplace of Dark Fracture protagonist, Edward. The body farm is not the sole environment Edward will explore in the full release of Dark Fracture. Those of you who have played the Dark Fracture: Prologue demo till the end had a glimpse of some very obscure and unearthly place that looks like coming straight out of a Beksiński artwork (that's not accidental - more on that later). For the sake of the conversation, from now on we will refer to that place as the 'Underworld'.
The Underworld is a place (is it though?) in which inanimate and living matter seem to merge together in forming shapes and surfaces that resemble nothing like the world we know. The laws of physics are bent, environments do not follow euclidean principles, and its creatures and objects look alien to us.
While so far we have hinted at the possibility that the Underworld is the fruit of whimsical imagination, we cannot avoid asking ourselves why someone would fantasize about a place that is so terrifying and dangerous to themselves. Sure, the world is full of people with unusual kinks, but that doesn't seem to be the case with our protagonist Edward, whose life has been harmful enough to not need to make it more miserable.
Moving from hypothetical to factual information, the visual representation of the Underworld is inspired by multiple creative sources: the biomechanical designs of Swiss artist H.R. Giger, the surreal & melancholic landscapes of Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński, and some of the otherworldly locations described in the horror stories of American writer H.P. Lovecraft.
While the creations of these artists are very different from each other, all of them possessed a very vivid imagination, which they used to introduce terrifying thoughts in our collective minds.
By using these sources of inspiration, we aim to blend proven concepts of terror with our vision of the Underworld, a place that might or might not be real - but that's for you, the player, to decide when you will venture into the release version of Dark Fracture, coming in 2022.
What's happening in the real world
Events
In the real world (the actual one), over the past month and a half, we have been quite spreading awareness about our game in different events, both physical and digital ones. It all started in early October with EGX in London, our first physical event since the global pandemic began. Visitors had the chance to play the Dark Fracture: Prologue demo in person and win Dark Fracture merchandise by completing the demo in less than 25 minutes - which turned out to be such an attractive opportunity that by the third day of the event we ran out of t-shirts. Nevertheless, people kept coming in, and we received some very positive feedback from most of the players.
After that, Dark Fracture appeared on the physical show floor of Busan Indie Connect in Korea (unfortunately we couldn't be there, but Dark Fracture: Prologue had a booth), followed by the digital ones of Indie Live Expo and Megamigs. On the latter, Dark Fracture has received a nomination for Best Audio & Soundtrack - while that isn't an award, having been only one of the few games selected for competing for that prize among dozens of participants was certainly a privilege.
Production
Given these circumstances, the development has been slowed down a bit, but is proceeding nonetheless. These are the main highlights:
We have continued to focus on accessibility, for example by adding the settings option to interact with doors & drawers by either using drag 'n' drop movements or the simple click of a button
We are improving and testing the language of missions & objective scripts to make them clearer to anyone and avoid confusing the players
2D images & art in the game are being improved
New pieces of equipment are getting implemented, including but not limited to a compass, a walkie-talkie, and some more mysterious and deadly tools...
Until our next devblog post, we remind you, as usual, to add Dark Fracture to your wishlist to not miss any updates 👇
Lastly, if you want to get directly in touch with us, feel free to join our community on Discord 👇
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