Archives for category: About us

I’ve read and heard from many sources that starting a blog post with a definition or a quote from places like Wikipedia is a bad practice. I really don’t understand why, especially when the post is about something not everybody knows the meaning of. Because of this reason, and in addition to the fact that we shouldn’t take most of internet blogs that seriously, I’m going to quote Wikipedia, regarding what “crunch” is:

 

“Crunch time” is the point at which the team is thought to be failing to achieve milestones needed to launch a game on schedule. The complexity of work flow and the intangibles of artistic and aesthetic demands in video-game creation create difficulty in predicting milestones.

(…)

The protest against crunch time was posted by Erin Hoffman (fiancee of Electronic Arts developer Leander Hasty), who contended that her life was being indirectly destroyed by the company’s work policy. (…) As senior game developers age and family responsibilities become more important, many companies are moderating the worst crunch-time practices to attract better-quality staff.

computer

 

My personal experience in the video-game industry is not very extensive, so maybe you could consider my opinion inaccurate, but I think that this thought around what “crunch” means is pretty aggressive. I can understand that big companies may be a bit more pushing to their workers, and more strict deadlines may put them on the ropes harder than small studios like us, which might be the cause for that negative meaning.

In our case, we are going to crunch for the next few weeks, but we are happy to do it. The definition from our side may differ a bit from the one Wikipedia mentions, but the essence is comparable.

We don’t do it because of deadlines, though. We are not failing to achieve a milestone (yet). Although it is very true that predicting milestones in the game industry is like planning your life 5 months onward. It’s a very nice exercise, but don’t expect things to be the way you wrote down.

Do you know what happens when a car gets stuck into the sand at the beach? It doesn’t matter how hard you step on the gas pedal, the car will not move at all, and even worse, the sand spreads, creating a hole that makes it even more difficult to escape. I am from Valencia, in Spain, and I’ve seen that many, many times. The solution is to get out of the car and push together from behind, using a bit of extra, synchronized, combined strength. Once the car is out of the excess of sand, it can go back to its path and continue the journey normally and happily.

We are going to spend some time putting quite a lot of extra effort, while having a clean and focused mind, combine our forces and make a great push to remove the excess of sand that would get us stuck. Better safe than sorry. This crunch is going to help us gain a lot of momentum to progress on the game and have it finished with the quality and love we always wished. We will work, eat pizza, and sleep over the pizza boxes for some days. It’s going to be awesome!

hammers

The bad news is that the blog will take a break for a few weeks, hopefully not more than three. We need to be 100% focused on the game and absolutely nothing else.

The good news is that the game is so far being molded the way we totally want, exceeding or standards (which for some of us are very high) , and we are looking forward to have you guys play it. We know you are going to love it.

See you soon!

A new interview is here! Let’s talk with Fuglesang:

20160220-Splashjam 2016-36-3

Tell us who you are and what do you do on the team.

Hi, I’m Andreas. I’m the CEO but also work as a programmer. I co-founded Moondrop in late 2009 and took over the role as CEO in 2011.

 

What is the most difficult part of your job?

Since I function as two roles in the company, it can be hard to juggle priority between tasks. Sometimes both roles require immediate attention which in turn makes everything just take more time.

 

And the part you enjoy the most?

My heart lies with programming so that is definitely the part I enjoy the most. Finding simple solutions to complicated problems and writing understandable and maintainable code is what I strive for. Over the years I’ve become less tolerant of over-engineered code unless it has a known purpose in the future and must be that way. I mostly thank attending Game Jams for this as it helps me stay pragmatic.

 

You made your own engine in the past, and now you are using Unity. What are the pros and cons of one way and the other?

Today, 3rd party game engines are so mature that there are few reasons to write your own. There are even different engines for various skill level and ambitions. The big disadvantage of using 3rd party engines is the potentially long wait for bugs to get fixed and features to be added, and that can delay your own progress. But it’s insignificant compared to the time it takes to write your own engine. I think you should only write your own because of these reasons:

  • To learn about the inner workings of a game engine.
  • Your game needs a feature that a 3rd party engine doesn’t have and can’t support.
  • You have the knowledge and skill required to make an engine (you probably don’t).
  • You have a lot of time and money, and one of the above is true.

 

What IDE (Integrated development environment) you use? What are your favorite add-ons and for it? How do they help you on your task?

With Unity, I use Visual Studio because of its no-fuzz integration. Just install them and start working. But my favorite ones to use for everything else is Sublime Text and Atom. I like how bare-boned they are and that you can simply add the features you need. Amphora was written using only Sublime Text.

My favorite add-ons:

 

What feature of Degrees of Separation do you feel more proud of?

There is no particular feature I feel more proud of as I think most of it is (and forever will be) half-finished. If anything it might be what I call “SimpleState” which is in practice a state machine. It’s simple (hence the name) but has a lot of utility if used correctly, especially to write maintainable code.

using UnityEngine;
using System;

[Serializable]
public class SimpleState<T> where T : struct, IComparable, IConvertible, IFormattable
{
	[SerializeField]
	private int _state = 0;
	[SerializeField]
	private int _previous_state = 0;

	public int value { get { return _state; } }
	public int previousValue { get { return _previous_state; } }
	public int count { get { return _Count( _state ); } }
	public int previousCount { get { return _Count( _previous_state ); } }

	public EnumState( )
	{
		//--
	}

	public EnumState( T state_ )
	{
		Set( state_ );
	}

	public void Clear( )
	{
		_previous_state = _state;
		_state = 0;
	}

	public void Set( T state_ )
	{
		_previous_state = _state;
		_state = Convert.ToInt32( state_ );
	}

	public void Add( T state_ )
	{
		_previous_state = _state;
		_state |= Convert.ToInt32( state_ );
	}

	public void Remove( T state_ )
	{
		_previous_state = _state;
		_state &= ~Convert.ToInt32( state_ );
	}

	public void Toggle( T state_ )
	{
		_previous_state = _state;
		_state ^= Convert.ToInt32( state_ );
	}

	public bool Is( T state_ )
	{
		return (_state & Convert.ToInt32( state_ )) != 0 ? true : false;
	}

	public bool IsOnly( T state_ )
	{
		return _state == Convert.ToInt32( state_ ) ? true : false;
	}

	public bool IsNone( )
	{
		return _state == 0 ? true : false;
	}

	public bool Was( T state_ )
	{
		return (_previous_state & Convert.ToInt32( state_ )) != 0 ? true : false;
	}

	public bool WasOnly( T state_ )
	{
		return _previous_state == Convert.ToInt32( state_ ) ? true : false;
	}

	public bool Any( )
	{
		return _state != 0 ? true : false;
	}

	public bool WasAny( )
	{
		return _previous_state != 0 ? true : false;
	}

	new public string ToString( )
	{
		char[] b = new char[32];
		int pos = 31;
		int i = 0;

		while( i < 32 )
		{
			b[pos] = (_state & (1 << i)) != 0 ? '1' : '0'; pos--; i++; } return new string( b ); } private int _Count( int state_ ) { int i = state_; i = state_ - ((i >> 1) & 0x55555555);
		i = (i & 0x33333333) + ((i >> 2) & 0x33333333);
		return (((i + (i >> 4)) & 0x0F0F0F0F) * 0x01010101) >> 24;
	}
}

using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public enum PlayerStates
{
	None = 0,
	Idle = 1<<0,
	Walk = 1<<1,
	Jump = 1<<2
}

public class EnumStateTest : MonoBehaviour
{
	private EnumState<PlayerStates> _state;

	private void Start( )
	{
		_state = new EnumState<PlayerStates>( PlayerStates.Idle );
	}

	private void Update( )
	{
		// Check if player wants to/can jump
		// Check if player wants to/can move

		if( _state.Is( PlayerStates.Jump ) )
		{
			if( _HasLanded( ) )
			{
				if( _PlayerWantsToMove( ) )
				{
					_SetAnimation( PlayerStates.Walk );
					_state.Set( PlayerStates.Walk );
				}
				else
				{
					_SetAnimation( PlayerStates.Idle );
					_state.Set( PlayerStates.Idle );
				}
			}
			else
			{
				_ApplyDrag( );
			}
		}
		else if( _state.Is( PlayerStates.Walk ) )
		{
			if( _PlayerStoppedMoving( ) )
			{
				_SetAnimation( PlayerStates.Idle );
				_state.Set( PlayerStates.Idle );
			}
			else
			{
				_ApplyMovement( );
			}
		}
		else if( _state.Is( PlayerStates.Idle ) )
		{
			if( _PlayerWantsToJump( ) )
			{
				_AddJumpForce( );
				_SetAnimation( PlayerStates.Jump );
				_state.Set( PlayerStates.Jump );
			}
			else if( _PlayerWantsToMove( ) )
			{
				_ApplyMovement( );
				_SetAnimation( PlayerStates.Walk );
				_state.Set( PlayerStates.Walk );
			}
		}
	}
}

 

What is that amazing thing about Degrees of Separation you love the most?

The broad range of people that can play the game. It’s purposefully designed this way since we take inspiration from how Disney, Pixar, Nintendo and others make their products, and how well the concept works for this is amazing.

I also have high expectation of the combination of how the exploration and the puzzles will work together. This has not been fulfilled quite yet and I’m excited to see when we get closer to completing the game.

 

Share a screenshot you love, and tell us why. It can be inside Unity Editor, in-game, or showing your favorite software tool!

IMG_07012014_012104

The original character art made by Monica Rong (http://monicarong.no/) in cooperation with Owe has been my favorite one since we started with the concept. To me, it perfectly portrays the vision, and it’s the soul of the game.

Continuing what we started a couple of weeks ago, we have a new interview today.
Next developer: Karoline Skoglund Olsen, our artist. Let’s get influenced by her talent!

KarolineTell us who you are and what do you do on the team.

I am Karoline, the team’s artist. I started working here in September 2015, not long before  Alex did. I make the game’s art together with Owe, our lead designer.

 

What is the most difficult part of your job?

When there is a lot of work to be done, and all inspiration seems to elude me… I also have days where everything I make turns out not the way I want it to.

 

And the one you enjoy the most?

I love the days when I’m really inspired and everything just flows. When I can just sit day and night creating pieces I can feel proud of. It’s a wonderful feeling when you draw something and you think to yourself: “hey, this isn’t half bad!”.

 

Tell us how you make the game’s art:

What is your gear?

I work with Photoshop CC, and I use my trusted Wacom 13HD Cintiq. I also have a Wacom Intuos Pro Medium that I use at the office.

 

How do you make yourself comfortable before starting to draw?

Being the creative weird person that I am, I usually put on my pajama pants (when working at home), get myself a cup of coffee and just start to draw. It’s also nice to have some noise like music or Netflix in the background.

 

Can you explain the process you follow when you create a new piece of art?

It varies, sometimes I find pictures or art that inspire me in some way; other times I just start to draw and it just turns into something.

 

What is that amazing thing of Degrees of Separation you love most?

I really like the atmosphere of the game, the music and the art style comes together making it an almost magical experience, like a fairytale.

 

Why do you think Degrees of Separation will be a great success?

I think it will become a success because it’s so approachable. I’ve seen fathers play our demo with their daughters, siblings working together to solve the puzzles and couples discussing why their chosen character in the game obviously is the best character. I think that this is a game everyone would like; even people who don’t really see themselves as gamers.

 

What room would you add to the castle, and which use would you love for it to have?

I don’t know if there is something special I would like to add in the castle, but maybe a hidden room or something where you could have the possibility to unlock certain features or special levels. We were joking at a meeting, not so long ago, that it would be fun to add the possibility to unlock the “googly eye” version of the game if you got all the collectables. The “googly eye” version would be the exact same game, just that everything now has googly eyes on them, and I mean everything…

 

Share a screenshot you love, and tell us why. It can be inside Unity Editor, in-game, or showing your favorite software tool!

This is one of my favorite places in the game so far, this is after Ember and Rime fall down after the bridge breaks and land in the deep forest. I love the way the tree log bends and dampen their fall.

Ember Met Rime

Picture 1 of 1

 

Hello, hello, friends!

We prepared some small interviews with the members of Moondrop about how do they work and what do they think about Degrees Of Separation.
Alex is the first one dropping by. We hope you enjoy the reading.

Alex

 

Tell us who you are and what do you do on the team.

I am Alex Temina, and I’m the newest here. I started working at Moondrop in October 2015. Wow, it will be a year here soon, time flies.

I’m a programmer. I’m supposed to be the 50% of the programming team, even though we know that’s a nice lie. Andreas (our CEO) has been here making games for years, and he knows what he’s doing. We kind of share tasks, we don’t have specific roles inside the programming side, but right now he is more focused on the game mechanics and temperature, while I work on interactables and visuals. This is my dream job and makes me extremely happy, I hope I never get off the train of making videogames. :D

 

What is the most difficult part of your job?

Probably working with shaders. When I make new visuals, it feels like trying to walk down a path full of broken glass and I forgot my shoes at home. I will eventually cross and arrive to the other side, but it’s going to be painful, and I’ll bleed in the process. Yeah, the shoes are so far away, but maybe I should go get them first. The shoes are knowledge, of course. Sometimes, writing shaders feels like shooting in the dark, and at the same time I am making them, I am learning. Every new shader is tons of new knowledge for me, and lots of satisfaction when I succeed, but sometimes it’s quite frustrating. And it doesn’t help that the documentation is extremely poor everywhere, and the community help is very scarce, since the majority of Unity users don’t write shaders and use the standard ones.

But of course, none of that is as difficult as making our designer happy :D.

 

And the one you enjoy the most?

This may sound cheesy, but it would be shaders, also. The satisfaction of achieving what you are looking for is very high, and the feel of new horizons and areas to learn is very fulfilling. Also writing shaders feels more like making magic than writing normal scripts in Unity.
Of course, the moment when you are starting a new feature is always the funnier and most enjoyable. It doesn’t last too long, sadly.

 

What IDE (Integrated development environment) you use? What are your favourite addons and for it? How do they help you on your task?

We use Microsoft Visual Studio Community.

Regarding addons, I use overall two:

  • Code Maid: This wonderful addon cleans the code for you with many options, and you can bind it to save, so every time you save the document, it formats and cleans it: double new lines, unused namespaces and much more. It helps writing regions, too, and sorts lines if you have a bunch of variable declarations, and many more things that help you have your code clean and following the team standards.
  • Productivity Power Tools: This is a bunch of addons packed in one. It has many things, but my favourites are ‘reopen closed tab’, double click to maximize windows, and compressed lines that have only curly brackets. It has many more tools that I should explore.

I use other extensions like a code highlighter for shaders (NShader) and of course Visual Studio Tools for Unity.

 

What feature of Degrees of Separation you feel more proud of?

I would say two:

  • The one that I suffered more doing because it was one of my firsts, but I enjoyed the process and learned a lot: the glittering effect. Small bright spots that change depending on the movement on the camera in the cold side. That was hard learning shaders. Is not that I feel proud of the final product, but more of myself to finally achieve this back then.
  • The one I actually feel I did a good job would be Fog Shader and the Foliage Waver in terms of shaders, fog because it was a difficult task since Owe, our Lead Designer, wanted a very specific yet super beautiful thing. Regarding non shader work, I feel proud of all text related, from the actual mesh that shows text to the localization tools that I made to be able to have the game in different languages easily, even using automatic updates from a spreadsheet in Google Drive to get the text in a specific language.

 

What is that amazing thing of Degrees of Separation you love most?

I would say it is how beautiful the game is in many levels. Not only is the game art fantastic, but the temperature effect is outstanding, and it’s one of the things that calls on people’s attention and make them amazed. The fog and color decisions are perfect, and makes you remember those pictures forever.

On the other side, puzzles are very clever but not frustrating. You do the “aaah” expression when you realize what has to be done, and cooperation makes it even more satisfactory.

 

Why do you think Degrees of Separation will be a great success?

Because how accessible is to everyone, and how you easily get hooked on because of its beauty, the characters and the wish of solving puzzles to advance. The game is perfect to be played in the sofa with your little brother, your boyfriend or your daughter. It doesn’t require a person to be what is called a ‘gamer’ to enjoy it, and the story will keep people trapped ‘till the end.

 

What room would you add in the castle, and which use would you love for it to have?

I would love to have a room with the collectibles hanging in the wall and some statistics to know what you’ve missed and hints about where they are. That room will be more filled the more you advance in the game with some findings, notes with text, and more. I would love to be able to visit it as a small game gallery.

 

Share a screenshot you love, and tell us why. It can be inside Unity Editor, in game, or showing your favourite software tool!

Our Fog Shader offers many possibilities, you can even add any texture to be used to choose the colors that will be blended in the scene. I really love this, so I want to show you what we can achieve applying some random textures.

Using: Getting:
RimeBackground blue
Noise colors_both
EmberHouseWallFill rime

 

 

The rest of developers will do the interviews very soon. Stay tuned!

We are really happy to announce that Moondrop is growing!

This is great as we can do bigger and better work with Degrees of Separation. Having two new passionate members on the team is a huge boost and we are happy to have their talent at Moondrop!

Karoline
Say hi to our new artist, Karoline Skoglund Olsen!

Hey! I’m Karoline, a 27 year old graphic artist living in Brumunddal Norway. I’ve been through a fair share of professions like jewellery designer, seamstress and even salesclerk. None of them really spoke to me.

I’ve always wanted to do something within the game industry and never had the opportunity, but thanks to Moondrop here I am and now I know that this is where I want to be. I’ve been a gamer pretty much all of my life and I like a lot of different type of games, some are Diablo, Borderlands, Fable, Age of Conan and Castlevania Symphony Of The Night, to mention a few.

 

Alex
Alex Temina is our new programmer!

Hi, I’m Alex! I am originally from Spain and have been living in Oslo for three years now.

I am mainly a developer with five years of experience: two in web, and three in graphics programming for the oil and gas industry. Games are my passion and almost my entire life; I’ve been gaming since the Master System era and I hope that I’ll never stop playing, I love this art. I always wanted to work in the game industry, but sometimes life takes you to places you didn’t plan… Sometimes you have to stop and think, and redirect your life; and that’s what I did. Thanks to Moondrop for giving me this opportunity!

My favourite games are adventures like Tomb Raider and Uncharted, and RPG’s, especially the Final Fantasy saga.