Elysian Shadows is an indie 2D RPG that aims to redefine the oldschool 16-bit RPG genre by fusing the pixel art style with true 3D environments, dynamic lighting, shadows, physics and positional audio. Elysian Shadows is currently being developed for Windows, OS X, Linux, Android, iOS, OUYA and the teams personal favorite the Sega Dreamcast!
The Elysian Shadows team is currently running a Steam Greenlight campaign for Windows/OS X/Linux, you can check it out here. Although the Kickstarter countdown timer has only been rolling for ten of the thirty days its scheduled for, the project has already reached $93,000 of the $150,000 theyre asking for! You can find the Kickstarter here.
Full disclosure: The main developers of this project have been long term friends of mine from way back in the early years of high school. Ive had the honor of witnessing not just the development of the project but Ive also watched these guys grow from a team of just a few dudes programming in their mothers attic to the skilled, ambitious, multinational team they are today.
The team has spent the last couple years developing a custom in-house engine, built from the ground up featuring:
- Dynamic lighting with pixel-perfect shadows
- 3D environments and dynamic 2D/3D camera perspectives.
- Full-fledged rigid body physics and particle engines
- Diverse gameplay styles and platforming mechanics
- 3D positional and dynamic audio engine
The Devs refer to themselves as Elysian Shadows Team or Team ES, @elysian_shadows. The core is composed of Falco Girgis, Lead Engine and Toolkit Developer, and Tyler Rogers, Lead Gameplay Engineer. Its likely that youve seen some of their exploits on their wildly popular YouTube series, Adventures in Game Development. Their series gives a true, gritty but honest and real look behind the curtain that so many of the big AAA game development studios like to hide behind. Their series was how the other, multinational team members originally learned of the project and eventually lead to them being involved. All together there are 7 members of Team ES: Falco and Tyler live in north Alabama, Connor (Lead Sound Engineer and Soundtrack Composer/Level Designer) lives in western Canada, Patryk (Lead Graphic Artist) lives in Poland, Leandro (Graphic Artist) lives in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dan (Web Developer/Level Designer) is from the UK and Eddie (Android Developer) hails from the snow wastes of lower Michigan.
Team ES: Weve fused aspects of 16-bit classical RPGs such as Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Final Fantasy, with a highly stylized, modern vision by using dynamic lighting, physics, and audio engines along with swapping between 2D and 3D perspectives. Our goal is to create a "next-gen" 2D RPG in terms of gameplay, graphics, and audio while still remaining true to the games that inspired us to become developers.
The world of Elysian Shadows is a diverse, multilayered landscape consisting of villages, towns, cities, and a variety of different ruins and sub-dungeons. Connecting the various ruins to the societies of Elysian Shadows are many fully realized maps the player must explore. They are generally beautiful, lush, and feature a variety of different biomes such as forests, deserts, mountains, tundra, beaches, swamps, and islands. The ruins tend to exhibit a darker, moodier, and more foreboding atmosphere, playing host to ancient, long-forgotten technology and a multitude of dangerous creatures guarding their secrets. We wanted to create an immense and immersive world that is rewarding to explore, playing host to a cast of characters and a culture that are both compelling and emotionally engaging.
Team ES: It was decided early on that there would be no overworld map, the world would be open, vast and full of detail. We wanted to create a continuous and connected rather than disjoint and separated through clumsy world maps or menus. There are no decorative doors either we always hated it when games showed us a beautiful environment but restrict our ability to fully experience it. In our world if you can see it, you can interact with it. Combining these rules with our real-time day/night system, rich storyline and engaging cast, weve got all of the ingredients for forging that intellectually fulfilling experience and very much look forward to engaging with our audience on an emotional level.
Travel through lush environments and diverse biomes, exploring a series of mysterious ruins, and discovering a world caught in constant conflict between magic and technology. Magic is a gift reserved for only the loyal followers of The Creator, while the non religious sects of society are forced to rely upon technology in their daily lives. Upon uncovering a mysterious artifact deep within one of the ancient ruins scattered throughout the land, Julien and friends find themselves thrust into the middle of this rising conflict. Can you solve the mystery of the ancient civilizations and prevent the destruction of your own?
If you are at all interested in this game and want a behind the scenes look at the rowdy team behind its conception, I simply cannot recommend their YouTube series Adventures in Game Development (or AiGD as they call it) enough.check it out!
Recent Media:
Their YouTube page has an Elysian Shadows Press playlists that theyre fairly good about updating with podcasts/interviews that exists on YouTube as well.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR_PJH88vEgfn-McqfMTzHhplRJnlkR1a
The Elysian Shadows team was on the cover of Augusts issue of Indie Game Magazine.
Below Ive included some of the press theyve done since launching the Kickstarter these guys are all over the place doing podcasts, interviews and promoting their project as much as possible!
http://nichegamer.net/2014/08/witne...spired-current-gen-experience-on-kickstarter/
http://nichegamer.net/2014/08/elysian-shadows-interview-fantastical-kickstarter-edition/
http://www.ghostvolta.com/exclusive-developer-interview-elysian-shadows-team/
http://dreamcasttoday.wordpress.com/2014/08/02/elysian-shadows-kickstarter-gets-off-to-flying-start/
http://www.seganerds.com/2014/08/02/elysian-shadows-kickstarter-campaign-begins-with-a-blast/
http://segabits.com/blog/2014/08/01...hes-bringing-a-new-rpg-to-the-sega-dreamcast/
http://sega-addicts.com/2014/08/01/elysian-shadows-kickstarter-starts-today/
The Team also did an interview with the local branch of the University of Alabama (Huntsville) http://www.uah.edu/news/people/7927...ides-foundation-for-dream-career#.U-nhoIBdWA1
Now, without any further ado, some more delicious screens:
Update***
Added and replaced some media with the recent press packets these guy released on thee site. Added some more links to some of the newer livestream and video kickstarter content. Also added some specific quotes from team ES on world building.
