ISBTH Devlog 1
Hey All,
Quick note before starting the post: I previously did a couple of video devlogs over on my youtube channel but in all honesty, making videos is way too time-intensive, so I am going to start writing updates here.
I’ve been pretty quiet on updates for It Sleeps Below the Haar, however, so much of the game has developed over the past few months. In this post I’ll talk a little bit about what I’ve been working on, alongside some screenshots of in-development gameplay:
Distinct Ecosystems: The game has 4 distinct areas (Kellas Bay, Blue Hills Woods, Blairaneth Caves and The Sea Loch), all of which have unique ecologies.
A lot of work over the past months has been put into making these area’s ecologies and overall atmospheres unique. For example, the thick haze of the Blue Hills Woods or the frigid waters of the bottom of the Sea Loch.
Dynamic Weather System: Reflective of the game’s North East Scottish setting, the weather in Kellas Bay is unpredictable. Common weather events like rain, thunder and wind come and go during the game, as well as more unusal weather events like the cosmic storms found in the Blue Hills Woods.
Dynamic Tidal System: Kellas Bay is situated on the banks of a sea loch (aka a tidal inlet or fjord) giving the town access to the North Sea. The game has a dynamic tidal system where certain areas can only accessed at low tide.
For example, Colsea Island and the castle ruins situated there can only be accessed via a road that appears at low tide.
Dialogue System: A large part of development over the past few months has gone into the game’s dialog system.
You will be able to converse with the locals of Kellas Bay, to get help with objectives, or just to chat and know more about the area and the people that inhabit it.
Locations: As with any exploration-centred game, a big part of ISBTH is finding interesting places around Kellas Bay and learning about their history and importance.
Throughout development I’m consistently adding new locations to be explored around Kellas Bay including: the Rubislaw Superdeep Borehole (pictured) and Kellas Bay Battery. I’ll be doing some more in-depth devlogs about some of the game’s locations in the coming weeks.
Optional Quests: Alongside the science-focused tasks that you have been sent to Kellas Bay to undertake, you will also have the opportunity to help out some locals if you choose.
These optional objectives include: searching for evidence of a potential downed UFO/satellite for a local UFOlogist and gathering material from the seabed for a clandestine corporation.
Radio: Use your radio to listen to Kellas Bay’s local radio station, as well as pick up other radio stations on your journey.
I have spent a lot of effort on the radio station so far and I’m excited about how it’s going. Music-wise there will be a combination of era-appropriate licensed music, as well as my own tracks and tracks from artists from/based in the North East.
Other Development Notes:
Day / Night Cycle: I’ve developed a day / night cycle and time functionality for ISBTH, where certain events, creatures or phenomena can only occur at certain times.
Scientific Objectives: As you play as a research student sent to Kellas Bay, you’re main objectives are to gather data and samples for your own research, as well as for other colleagues at your university. These include: taking rock samples, photographing cave paintings, placing hydrophones on the seabed, taking audio recordings of wildlife and gathering data from remote weather stations.
Photography: As mentioned above, you need to take photographs for your scientific objectives, but you can use your camera to take photos at any time, which are saved in your photobook to view at your leisure.
Accessibility: I have a video on this here but one development I am particularly happy with so far is directional captioning. When turned on, you can get a text caption of sounds happening in the game, as well as an indication of where they are coming from and how loud they are.
I think that about does it for now. Apologies for not giving any updates on the game for a while, but this has been the busiest / least outwardly intersting portion of development, with a lot of systems coding etc., so there hasn’t been to much exciting to share until recently. I’m going to try and make an effort to continue these posts weekly (or perhaps bi-weekly, I’ll see how it goes). I’d like to do some more deep-dive posts about locations and systems in the game, as well as what other media is influencing the game.
The next major news is on track to come at the end of this month, with a new trailer and release info.
All the best, and thanks for your continued interest in It Sleeps Below the Haar.