The Oubliette is beginning to take shape, and it’s been quite the journey to get here. Every time I sit down to work on The Brass Gate, I remind myself that it’s okay to take things one polygon at a time. The latest piece I’ve been wrestling with in the Unreal Engine editor is this stone fortress with a central pillar—a key part of the Oubliette, the area near the start of the game where players will find themselves trapped.
There’s something deeply satisfying about blocking out a space like this. The Oubliette isn’t just a setting; it’s a character in its own right. It’s a place that has to feel ancient and forgotten yet still hold traces of the civilization that once thrived around it. The stone textures, the way light filters through the cracks, the subtle echoes of footsteps—all these elements need to work together to create an atmosphere that speaks to the player.
The challenge, as always, is to balance detail with performance. It’s easy to get lost in the details, obsessing over the texture of a stone wall or the exact angle of a shadow. But every choice has to serve the larger narrative and the gameplay experience. The Oubliette is designed to make you feel small and isolated, but also curious and driven to escape. It’s a puzzle in itself, and I’ve been enjoying the process of layering in hints and pathways that encourage exploration.
In terms of narrative, the Oubliette serves as the player’s first real encounter with the world of The Brass Gate. You wake up here, disoriented, with no clear memory of how you got there. It’s a classic setup, but one that I hope to refresh with some twists along the way. As you navigate your way out, you’ll begin to piece together the mystery of what happened while you slept.
This area is also a testbed for some of the game’s mechanics. There’s a fine line between challenging and frustrating, and I’m constantly tweaking things to make sure the puzzles encourage creative thinking rather than blind trial and error. It’s a dance between giving enough clues and letting players discover things on their own.
As I continue to develop The Brass Gate, I find myself reflecting on how each area I build is like a chapter in a book. The Oubliette is just the beginning, but it sets the tone for everything that follows. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but seeing this fortress take form is a reminder that progress, however slow, is still progress.
Thanks for following along on this journey. It’s a privilege to be able to share these bits of the world I’m creating with you.
#indiedev #UnrealEngine #storytelling
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