A Reflection (Nov 2013)

Its been an awful long time since my last entry here, a lot had happened to me and Lunavark since. 

We are now an OFFICIAL COMPANY, we have a publisher! and we're currently in a PRE-PRODUCTION STAGE working on a brand new project which we are unable to announce anywhere (due to legal issues), but Cosmic Couch unfortunately had to be put on the shelf for the time being. It hasn't been easy and certainly the last few months was basically a 'mixed bag of emotions' for me to say the least. 

However, this 'devilish' offer we managed to secure with whatever perks or difficulties they may present us with - seems promising. I had my moments of uncertainty, and considered heavily on heading back to Asia, but now I'm 200% looking forward to pushing this project to see the light of day, very very soon. 

There's not a lot that I can say at this very moment about what we're doing but damnit it is such a creatively uninspiring process - when all I desire is just to make a meaningful Video Game as my own company; that expresses emotions/ concepts which celebrates humanity (or inhumanity mostly) or just whatever I want to express at the moment as a human being, however in order to do this there are shit-tons of steps to follow that I feel so incredibly taxing as a creative person and especially as a fresh-graduate who spent most yrs of his life living in an artsy-fartsy bubble. I guess this is a good eye opener in a way and it'll just be the same for any corporate industry, well Lunavark and I pushed ourselves beyond our limits for this moment creatively and now, we've got the gig and I am well aware of what an incredible opportunity this is so I'm willing to take this insane challenge down (and teabag it).

Anyway, just like a lot of artists throughout time and space from Van Gogh to Warhol to Lennon to Sakamoto, who did SELF-PORTRAITS in various forms of media - I've done one to reflect upon this moment and also to commemorate this massive crossroad in my life. 

REFLECTION (Nov 2013)

I probably need a haircut.

Cosmic Couch (Log 9: Over The Moon)

I'M OVER THE MOON!

I meant that in many ways;

1) As an obvious pun  :P

2) Lunavark Studio finally finished our protoplay of Cosmic Couch - 

we the gameplay all the way to end of the first Chapter (Onto The Moon).

3) We won the Artistic Achievement & Team Choice awards at Protoplay!

4) We're getting interviewed by BBC Radio on Thursday 15th of August!!!

5) I'm just feeling extremely pumped and excited because our next chapter 

of being a a proper Studio is underway!

So thank you for everyone that has been supporting us all this time 

and please continue to show your love for this project.

Here's the trailer for Cosmic Couch

Lastly, I just want to take some time to emphasize how brilliant these 2 months
has been for me and the team; all the experience and exposure we gained (LEVEL UP!)
and most importantly the people that we've met!

The mentors from Denki, Tag-Games, Ruffian Games, Cobra Mobiles, Lift London,
Codemasters, Outplay Entertainments, Ninja Kiwi, Ubisoft Reflections, SEGA, Jagex
& Sony. You guys had given everyone such priceless advice - So on behalf of Lunavark Studio;
I'd like to thank everyone and we hope to see you all again soon!

To Dare organizers, Elaine Russel, Sarah Johnston, Eleanor MacKeddie, Pavol Hanko
and many more that I might have stupidly missed! You have all been the coolest people ever.

And last but not least - to the teams!
Its been emotional to say the least to leave Dundee knowing that I might not be able to see
most of you again for a long while, its been a blast. We came, we worked our arses off side
by side, we party hard,  destroyed a wall in the Chambers, get shat on by vicious Dundee
Seagulls, but most importantly - WE MADE GREAT GAMES & CONQUERED DARE
TO BE DIGITAL 2013! So well done to all the teams; I will miss all of you crazy people
dearly. Keep in touch! Seriously!

- Elbert Lim, Lunavark Studio
14th August 2013

Cosmic Couch (log 8: Our protoplay promo poster's up!)

Its been an emotional week on Lunavark Mothership, battling ill viruses and weather turbulence, but we survived and here's the sneak peek of our final promotional poster for Protoplay in August.

and the Final Updated version (14th August)

Cosmic Couch (Log 7: DARE TO BE DIGITAL 2013)

End of 2nd Week in Dare.

We made it to Dundee 2 weeks ago - ate lots of Haggis (Love Haggis! Not thinking of what its made of while eating it definitely helps!) and tried IRNBRU for the first time (which totally taste like bubble-gum). Not only that these 2 weeks are exhausting (half a day journey from Norwich, getting to know the city of Dundee, the other teams, keeping in touch with people back home and getting shit done all at the same time) ; they are also an emotional roller coaster for me - development changes due to technical issues - having the team to adapt in a new environment & living together - getting to know our programmer - and getting our 3rd yr results!

Its been a really rough start; things are just all over the place with accommodation, software issues and most of all keeping the team together amidst the introduction of so many new things. However, we managed! and I am really proud of Lunavark, we went through every single shit thrown at us as a proper team, and head on! So proud of the guys! And now everybody seems to be back on track and our early build are looking pretty sexy thanks to our new capable and trustworthy coder, Jordan O'Hare. Many of the teams in the competition are such fun & passionate people to be around with, it is definitely a privilege to be here; its almost like a crazy dream.

We pimped out our workspace!

 Showing off our quirky art work

During the first week we get school-kids visiting us and that was pretty fun. There was a girl that was constantly hugging Balzy and wanted to bring it home (aaaawwwww), and I had to break the window to both our souls and answered he with a wavering 'errr...nooo..' kids are unbelievably fragile to me, never knew when they're gonna turn berserk and start a rampage -_-

On a more recent emotional salad; I got my results for 3rd year final project and I got 83% for my BA8! Yay! its awesome until I realize that I could've done so much better if I did my essay in a proper format...so that pretty much bummed me out a little bit. Anyway, everyone else did pretty well too and we celebrated with an awesome Indian Buffet that turned us into a lazy un-moveable objects that night.

Lastly, I spent the weekend working on the first proper OST for Cosmic Couch, so I'll leave this post with this;

https://soundcloud.com/treble-epiclone/celestial-swing

Cosmic Couch (Log 6: ITS OFFICIAL!!!)

 ITS OFFICIAL WE'RE GONNA BE IN DARE 2013!

5 000143 555233

The Gazebo: Finalrealization

Trevall

Ludwig

Solla & Lunna

Semar

Flightless Crow

Cosmic Couch - Log 5 (THE PITCH IS DONE)

Alright so, 2 weeks of sleep and hygiene deprivation had finally pay off, here it is, the pitch for Dare To Be Digital 2013, the new quirky-atmospheric-action-adventure from Lunavark Studio.

COSMIC COUCH

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlCZ-qQ7yPA

Overall Concept Cover of Cosmic Couch

- Collab with Martin Reimann

Cosmic Couch Gameplay

To The Sun

- Collab with Martin Reimann

Artist Study: Yoji Shinkawa & Ashley Wood

Metal Gear Solid's always been my favorite series through all these years (with the exception of Rising/ Revengeance/ whatever which I absolutely disappointed in, but technically its NOT A TRUE MGS so that's okay). Most MGS offers interesting story-lines and with that comes the interesting characters too - not only visually but also with their greatness, flaws, vulnerability and drive.

Its always easiest to learn from a particular artist by recreating their drawings, and thats just what I did today and the character I picked was the spunky ever-so sexy Sniper Wolf from MGS1. Sure she's not the most realistically believable character; with that outfit in such a cold weather condition she was stationed at - but that's just why we love her to bits!

(Left) Reference, Ashley Wood, MGS1 Graphic Novel

(Right) My re-creation, wolf will be added some time.

(Left) Yoji Shinkawa, Art of MGS1, absolutely in love with this piece!

(Right) my re-creation.

The Gazebo (Log 4: Updates)

Design for the Gazebo (detailed sketch & model TBU)

How The Gazebo Illuminates to function (more TBU)

BLOOMTOWN

(FINALIZED MAP)

Illuna Cliff

Illuna Cluster (B&W)

Illuna Cluster (Final)

 Resolution Corridor

(to be resolved)

Mansion-Pier

(Top; Starting area, Bottom; Overview)

Field Gazebo

The main challenge in this is to create the spiral-maze on a vast field. The spiralling perspective was tricky to work out for the overview, but I think the mood is pretty much how I intended it to be. More details to be added in soon.

Absence Of Time

I really want to try out a little more platforming exploration on this design inspired by Dali. The objective of this level is to retrieve all the 'Lost Times' (scattered all around the level) back into the giant clock.

Hourglass
Extension of the 'Absence Of Time' level.

Broken Path

The idea for this one is to have a small portion of an urban neighbourhood - blow it apart in a surreal space and form it into a tunnel.

As for now I've only worked out the prespective and place-holders for this piece.

 Cubist Town

This piece is one of the most challenging thing I've constructed and also the most fun, but its still nowhere close to the proper cubist look I intended. The idea is to have a maze-like town in cubist style.

Termite Fortress (On The Run)

This one was inspired by a Minecraft Mod in which in it the environment gets constantly distorted while everything else functions as normal. In this scene Tryp is supposed to be running away from those spiderlike creatures (details will be updated soon).

Inverted Bridge

This is a concept for the final area of the game; the bridge to the final gazebo/ freedom/ end-game.

Tryp will encounter his reflection (Cubist Tryp) in the lake. This is the only level where Tryp gets to do a double dive ('realmception'??) from Bloomtown> Gazebo> Inverted World.

Loch, Pipes & Houses

Not sure I'm keeping this one, looks too random and unplanned, so I'm just leaving this be for now.

*Updates 24th April*

Smokers Cavern

This cavern features smoke shafts in a form of stone-heads.

Logic-Dissonance

A labyrinth of geometrical architectures.

Bubble-realm

This level requires the player to move safely and swiftly between giant bubbles. The 2nd part of the level are surrounded by liquid environment that requires the player to move more carefully between bubbles.

Cosmic Couch (Log 5: Programmers!)

Lunavark Studio (based in Norwich, UK) is still looking for a last member to join us for Dare To Be Digital competition. So do contact me at lim.elbert@gmail.com if anyone's interested

We need a Programming Warrior that knows how to build 2D based games efficiently using softwares compatible with IOS & Android, for eg. Game Salad, Corona, etc

If you're any of those things above and also loves Aardvark

then

WE

WANT

YOU

(UPDATE 24th March)
The coder position has been filled & Lunavark Studio is now finally in business!

Cosmic Couch (Log 4: OST)

Here's some demos of the songs I'd work on for Cosmic Couch. All of them are in upbeat tempos to keep the flow of the game going and lots of walking basses maneuver, which is awesome coz I get to try my hands on lots of swing and jazz. The main influences are actually from Stereomood's random electro-swing playlist, Django Reinhardt and also bands like caravan palace.

Track 1. Cosmic-Swing

Track 2. Cosmic-Gypsy

Track 3. Fastwalkinsuit

Cosmic Couch (Log 3: We have a Team name!)

We called ourselves Aartvark studios initially and that seems like the perfect front for our team that loves the creature so much, we even incorporated it into the game itself. Unfortunately after being so emotionally attached to it, we had to let it go because another company in the game industry posses similar name.....worst part is that their logo is pretty terrible. And in fact if anyone look up 'aardvark logo' on google - tons of them exists and they're all shit which made me pretty mad. except for one, there was 1 cool one - but I can't find it again...anyway, so begun the brainstorm session.

During the brainstorm countless epic names came up like Astro-Hobos, Digital Joint, Naughty Walrus, Delicate Banana, Blazed Alpha Century & lots of other food-star-pot related names but none of them came close to our initial one. Until  we somehow came up with a 2-words in one kind of name like Aerosmith or Die Hard, and so we came up with Lunavark. And it just stuck. couldn't be happier.

Lunavark Studio was unofficially formed in 25th February 2013.

Here's some ideas I did for the logo; still working on it

Cosmic Couch (Log 2: developments!)

More updates on cosmic couch

Now there's a very distinct artsy look to the game which is rather exciting, everything is falling into place and all we have to do at this point is get our last member, sort out a team name and logo and do a showreel pitch for Dare.