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Was This inspired by lovecraftian?

It was mostly inspired by Celtic and Norse mythology but there are hints of lovecraftian lore sprinkled in. Definitely the nautical creatures you'll see in episode 3.

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The Graphic Novella is up on Kickstarter and fully funded :)

[sparrowhawkdev]

Working on the Graphic Novella which acts like the prequel to the game. This will be released free for all backers. And those with special editions will receive a physical copy either in paperback or hardback. This will release between end of Jan / beginning of Feb. And so I can't wait to show you Morag's origin story and how Grimfel came to be. It is a story that has sat on my laptop for over 10 years. If you plan on playing Grimfel, you'll find lots of secrets that interact with the game. Locations and items buried in time that you otherwise would not discover without reading the novella.

Also, we've heavily reduced our AI usage for the pictures by like 80%. Not to appease anyone but we've figured out our own methods for the art style that we enjoy doing. This is why we also needed more time for the game to release :)

Currently, my time is split between doing the art for the first episode of Grimfel, placing the script into passages and editing the graphic novella.

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Will This Come out on itch.io?

Hey thanks for this question. It will be coming out on the 5th April both on itch.io and Steam :)

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Sneak Peek of the Grimfel Prequel Graphic Novel/Novella hybrid coming late Jan. Backers will get this for free :)

[sparrowhawkdev]

We need more conniving and evil elves!

I've been on a fantasy binge this past few months and I've noticed that elves are mostly portrayed as kind, warm and victims against humanity. Most seem to be bullied and shackled by humanity.

Which is a great trope. After all, most humans wear a mask and convey some sort of apathy. Thus writers see history as an example of human's behaviour and go on to portray them as the oppressive callous race that they (we) are. But elves are always conveyed smarter. And mostly more powerful. And yet humanity as stupid as they are still enslave and belittle them.

So I figured what makes Grimfel elves different to this trope? And it occurred to me that Grimfel is a world that was originally an hell. A place for cruel souls to be punished. Most of which are the ancestors of those that live in the world that's now connected back to the tree of life.

New Elf Description:

In the hundred years war, the elves proved their fierceness and intelligence over humans. 

Though humans proved that they were just as ruthless and formidable as the elven race and thus both endured a long stalemate.

Elves, being more ambitious and covetous of the riches and resources of land, attempted to bring down the kingdoms of humanity. And they would have accomplished just that if it wasn’t for the infighting that occurred between royal elven bloodlines. 

Great empires that had been forged in blood, withered at the sight of treachery and betrayal. Many families who laid at the helm of these empires were torn apart by incessant greed and desire for personal gain. 

The infighting amongst elves was what weakened their power and strongholds. Humans took advantage and slaughtered many of the elven kingdoms. Out of revenge, the elves would do the same to humans. And for years both races lived in perpetual pain. 

Being the intelligent race, Elves figured out that they must live in peace with their human counterpart. Though the few bloodlines that survived would covertly plan to strip humanity of their riches and resources. And because they lived longer than humans, they could plan to do so indefinitely. To outlast all of the powerful empires and kingdoms that in the past had proved too powerful to conquer. Knowing that in time, everything eventually weakens and dies. 

And so humans and elves live in somewhat a peaceful golden age. Though humans outnumber elves by many,  they remained scattered and unable to stick together like the ancient bloodlines. To this day many humans dare not underestimate or get on the bad side of elves. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that many are scared to even look an elf in the eyes. 

To be an elf is to be the embodiment of apathy but some are capable of heart. That’s not too different from anyone else in Grimfel. After all, most had descended from cruel and callous souls that were sent to serve punishment for their sins. 

Final Thoughts:

It makes sense to make elves more nefarious and narcissistic. Traits seen in intelligent people. Though I would argue if that was true intelligence. But humans see intelligence as success. And thus it makes sense for powerful and successful to be wicked without boundaries to their morality. And that's where Grimfel's elves place.

I suppose in a way its like the nordic view of elves. And there's many portrayal of dark elves. Although in Grimfel dark elves are from another world introduced in The World Eater expansion.

[sparrowhawkdev]

Easy way to get different colour eyes without it being messy is to use another layer. Then you can erase the first layer with an opacity and get colour that pops out and is consistent.

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Here's an early look of the inventory system that I've integrated into Grimfel! Sorry it's been a long time since the last update as I've been super busy with getting all the systems in place.

When you start the game, your character will be in the void "between life and death" with good reason! As to not spoil the plot, this is the set up for your journey ahead. You're in a situation where you're doing your best to get out of the void. But subtly the game is also giving you choices to prevent your character waking up with the black smoke latched onto your soul.

If the black smoke successfully latches onto you, you'll start the game with a pestilence meter. And every decision you make will affect this meter and fill it up. Once filled you'll affect those around potentially having pestilence spread to your characters and to towns/villages. It can be possible to wipe out an entire city which of course means everything you attempt such as quests and characters could potentially be destroyed. But if you're playing an evil character. Perhaps you want to the black smoke to latch onto your soul. Then it presents a controlled opportunity for you to spread pestilence and gives you kind of a ultimate ability to wipe out various towns and characters that aggravate you or to further personal gain. You'd be better to ensure the black smoke doesn't latch onto your soul if you want to control your own fate. And thus the prologue is essentially aiming toward having the strength to break away from it. Can't wait to show you more! Demo 2 is out for backers this Wednesday :D

[sparrowhawkdev]

Who are the Romances?

Hi mizzeeveez there will be over 20 romance options throughout the course of the game. They vary to be honest from a immoral witch to a blacksmith's son. Your romance options change depending on your preferences too. I'll go into detail of the romance options shortly. Hope that answers your question :)

[sparrowhawkdev]

Updating the visuals

Hey guys,

Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated the Tumblr I've been pouring all of my efforts into Grimfel. Now that a sneek peak is out and backers had a grasp of what is to come I thought I would share some updates to the visuals you'll see in the next demo.

This is the original screen for choosing race. Gender also looks similar.

On my wide monitor the images go a bit all over the place and so depending on screen size it can vary in how it looks. To prevent this I coded in containers that resize to the resolution. I also updated the visuals to look more modern and in line with Grimfel's grimdark atmosphere.

They've both been replaced for animated orbs. The custom section remains the same in both because I feel it fits both. These little changes will be seen in the second demo that'll release this Sat! Also: I'm also in the process of getting the cover art done for the boxes. This has taken longer than anticipated due to work on the game itself. The release date might be slightly delayed but nothing too drastic. I'll do my very best to release it asap. I'll inform you on dates etc.

[sparrowhawkdev]

I'm really looking forward to play your game, it looks very good and promising.

Thank you so much :) Are you a backer by any chance? If not, the Steam page will be up shortly this month :)

[sparrowhawkdev]

Creating a worthy intro video for Grimfel

When you create your character in Grimfel you'll be introduced to an intro video. This will act as a premonition of how events unfolded. The inspiration for this came from Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition and Elder Scrolls Arena. I've been using Premiere Pro for awhile and noticed you can do some really cool things with it. So it made sense to add a backstory to the black smoke. I want the story of how the black smoke arrived to naturally unfold before your eyes and so most of what you will see will be ambiguous with very little explanation.

Animating images with Motion Leap can be quicker than Adobe After Effects sometimes. Though on this one I forgot to add in her bottom teeth!

With teeth!

Depending on what character you created you may just get a different premonition.

I really can't wait for you to discover what this all means.

[sparrowhawkdev]

Hey guys,

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I'm just updating you on where we are at with Grimfel.

The demo was due to be released at the end of the month but if I'm honest its going to need another two weeks to ensure everything is in place for that 1-2 hour play through.

The coding is what is taking up my time. I'm a sole developer and I do most of the art myself with AI so it was a massive undertaking which I've enjoyed working day and night on. Over the past few weeks I've created 100 portraits for both male/female human/elf. All of which have a unique set of variables which will trigger unique reactions on your playthrough. I have even placed a custom avatar section which backers will find their custom portraits in once the game is finished.

I'm excited to show you Grimfel. So I'm going to do a compromise because I don't want to leave you empty handed. On the 31st Oct 11 PM GMT I'm going to release the full character creator so you can preview what I have been working on.

You'll then be able to save your character and carry on when the demo comes out. Though please bear in mind the art may be changed for the final version.

As of right now, I'm incorporating luck rolls and variables into the story content. I'm putting together all of the content so that everything works out of the box. Though if you do come across any bugs please report it in the discord section '#bugs-and-feedback'

I'll share the link through Kickstarter. For now it'll be available as an .exe for Windows or run through web browser for every device. Any issues at all please feel free to message me via Discord

[sparrowhawkdev]

Here is the main menu music created by the incredibly talented Lyv

I have left the main menu on to show you the full length of the song :)

The beginning splash screens are a work in progress but everything is coming along nicely :)

There's been a massive gap in update due to needing all the time to implement the class paths which is roughly 2 class paths per class (a total of 10).

Let me know what you think in the Grimfel Discord

[sparrowhawkdev]

Here is the class preview for the character creation screen.

I scroll a little too fast in this video, so I would recommend pausing the video when needing to read the full descriptions.

We see Warrior and Scoundrel. Both of which have two class paths. By choosing a path you unlock a playstyle for your class and its own skill tree. Which you access when you confirm the class. All classes have dual paths.

You will notice that when clicking choose path it scrolls to the top, I'll be updating this to ensure it won't do so on release. But you might notice it on the demo. It is to do with Twine's engine.

You also see Weapon Mastery which shows you three weapons your class can master. You will level them up by placing skill points into your preferred mastery. But there will be other weapons available for you to use and you'll be able to put your skill points into them too.

Last is the base class abilities at the bottom. Though there are more than three you'll see an example of your base class abilities which you obtain simply by levelling. These abilities are shared amongst both class paths.

I'm working on the art for the other class paths as I type this. Really looking forward to getting the demo out to you!

I really can't wait to show you the rest :)

[sparrowhawkdev]

I've been overhauling the UI known as Illustrative. This will be the default UI mode. What has taken up the majority of my time these past few days is implementing stat bonuses and making sure they stick.

Once you choose a stat bonus it will apply over your starting stats. It becomes locked out to prevent giving yourself a ton of stat points which at the beginning ended up giving me 99 strength! However, on the next screen you'll be able to reroll your stat bonus and spend points to create your character in the way that you desire.

The old UI's art was based on stock references. Which made it very frustrating having to obtain extended CC licenses. Grimdark UI will still be an option for the final release, just not the default UI. Though Class cards will look more like this:

[sparrowhawkdev]

How I create Portraits for Grimfel

I start off with a base created by AI text prompts:

I then take this to Pixlr where I'll use brush strokes to blend in the layers. Photoshop and Procreate will likely be a better choice but I find Pixlr to be comfortable.

I'll use several pieces from AI text prompts such as lips and eyes to ensure I get the right shape. As well as things such as freckles like this:

With something like this I blended onto the nose by lowering the opacity.

Layers will look like this. Some sort of Frankenstein digital art!

Turn down the opacity on the freckles and they blend in beautifully. I added several layers.

Add in the lips. Use colour replace on both the lips and skin which blends them into the other layers.

This is the final version of the NPC portrait following the descriptions of my lovely backer. Her character is called Koehle, a party member that shares hag (think Baba Yaga) lineage.

What you see is her regular form but during combat, heated moments or Koehle's story content you will see her transition form and full hag form.

Her hair turns white. Her eyeliner runs. Her eyes start to glow white as she is close to her hag phase.

Using colour replace on the eyes we give it that white glow. An extra layer of powdered pale skin over the top to convey hag form.

We can then place animated effects to the image using Adobe After Effects.

Or Adobe Premiere to show a full transition like you see above.

That's how I am doing my art for Portraits currently. I will likely get an iPad and use Procreate for more natural brush strokes in the upcoming weeks.

As for AI it seems to be a mixed bag amongst people. There seems to be dread and worry surrounding the use of AI. I know that most artists will have their opinions on it. I've seen many fearful that it will likely take away opportunities and rob them of a career.

My personal opinion on AI is that artists have nothing to fear. Your incredible skills are irreplaceable. AI is actually an incredible tool for artists. Yes the text prompts alone will create some powerful art but it doesn't really shine through until you apply illustration techniques and digital editing skills to the pieces. AI tools + editing can help us excel and more efficient at art. Part of being an artist is having a creative mind and an eye for detail. Many of which can not be replicated by AI.

I think without systems like Mid Journey and Night Cafe, I would have struggled. I would not be able to provide the artwork for Grimfel without several more years of work and a budget I just lacked. AI allows me to work at a pace I feel comfortable with. Though you can get some incredible art on text prompts alone. But I'm always editing every piece to create that personalised and unique experience.