A year since the game was announced
Although it might seem that way, the long silence after the game's announcement does not mean that the project is not undergoing constant development. The feedback was mostly positive, which motivated me a lot, but at the same time, there were concerns about the optimization and the visual side of the game. I understood and shared these concerns. Therefore, I took a small step back with the project and focused primarily on the technical part of the game before I dared to continue with the development.
A fundamental change is also the change in the mode in which work on the project occurs. The project's scope demanded more and more time, so it was no longer possible to combine it with a regular job and work on the game only in the evenings and weekends. I ended my work at another studio and have devoted myself fully to the project since September. Along with the increased dedicated time, the team involved in creating Vranygrai also grew. The team was joined by Michaela Štálová, screenwriter, Marie Benešovská for creating 3D models, and Kristína Nemcová, thanks to whom social networks came to life at the beginning of the summer. Jan Balcar also remains in the team and is completing three new game compositions.
Technical changes and visuals
When announced, the game suffered from an unstable frame rate (FPS), which was quite visible in the trailer. The video compounded this fluctuation despite not being as noticeable when playing the demo. Even so, I was worried about what would happen after the expansion of the world and game mechanics. The game went through a series of optimizations – GPU instancing, Occlusion Culling, Streaming, Batching, and modified textures and models. The most significant changes were made in visuals, lighting, and postprocessing. Now, the game runs stable at 50-55 fps at 1440p resolution (without resorting to upscaling methods).
With some additional optimizations on the horizon when the next part of the game world (world partitioning) is finished, I believe that 60fps will then be fixed in all locations. Future planned adjustments are also in the pipeline for lighting (and shadows) and postprocessing, where I am slightly limited by the possibilities of the Unity Engine, but the just-announced Unity 6 could help a lot.
The current state of the world, game mechanics, and narrative
Almost a year after the game's announcement, Vranygrai has a finished world for vertical slice (note the version that has all the game mechanics and part of the world for smooth test play). This is the first part of the game, about 1/9 of the total planned world. I tried to capture an atmospheric autumnal landscape with a picturesque village, a dense wild forest above it, and a couple of mythical Slavic locations for the player to explore. I still primarily strive for light stylization, which is evident in colors, textures, and atmospheric elements. However, in general, all the processes of creating the game world are already set, the basis of which is a non-destructive approach, which will allow the rapid creation of new locations and the easy implementation of any changes.
As part of the game mechanics, the basic AI of friendly (civilian) NPCs and the basic combat mechanics are already implemented in the game. With them, the first model of the Avar faction was brought into the game, which the player will face at the very beginning of the game. In addition to the Avar Warrior and the Slavic inhabitants of the village, secondary characters, the Seeress and the Village Elder, have also been added to the game. Currently, Marie is completing the model of the goddess Morana as the first finished mythological creature. The Moonwitch from the opening trailer is also getting a makeover and should appear in the game early next year.
From the global mechanics, dynamic time of the day (alternation of day and night) and dynamic weather were added to the game. However, both mechanics can be set and fixed during some story parts.
The incorporation of mythology into game mechanics has also undergone a minor adjustment. Vranygrai is still defined as a Slavic historical fantasy. Still, together with Michaela, we set a "low fantasy" grounded variant, where the mythology is more on the edge of the faith of characters than tangible beings. A big inspiration for this is the movie Northman. What the player in the role of the hero experiences will not be the same as what the inhabitants of the world of Vranygrai perceive. However, we will elaborate on this processing in the next announcements.
Michaela has also done a lot of work on the game scenario, and now we have a complete scene for the vertical slice, full of dialogues and revealing the basic story. In addition, we have an almost completely written basic game lore of the world, which not only sets the game's parameters and stories but also allows the player to discover them during gameplay.
Plans for the future
Currently, the Vranygrai team is moving towards completing the first playable gameplay demo in the form of a mini vertical slice (mini VS). In addition to exploring the village and the surrounding world, the hero meets the first enemy. The demo will already include smooth control of the main character, combat, dialogues, quest system, composed music, and the first UI. Completion is planned for December.
In further development, the project aims to complete a playable full vertical slice lasting approximately twenty minutes of playtime, where there will be an expanded story and the first encounter with the mythology - Morena as well as a completely redesigned fight with Moonwitch using the first special skills of the protagonist.
In addition to completing the vertical slice, Vranygrai has other milestones ahead. We have the scope of the first part of the game complete and a production plan for it, including the required team size. With the first version of mini VS, we will be looking for a publisher, and we hope to start the full production phase of the game by summer 2024 at the latest.
Ivan
Author and developer of Vranygrai
Dire Badger Studio
