Dev Log #2

Hi everyone. Welcome to the second Dev Log for The Darkness Within.

The last two weeks have been a rollercoaster, but I'm happy to say I've finally found peace after the storm.

First, I had a scare when an engine plugin update almost broke the project! I was naive and didn't back up the plugin beforehand, and... things broke. I couldn't load scenes, and several mods stopped working. Thankfully, with help from fellow friendly developers, the problem was solved. The stress did take a pretty big toll on me and led to analysis paralysis shortly after.

I decided to give myself two full days of rest last weekend. And it helped a lot! I got good sleep, spent time out, and came back extremely inspired. I started reading more and kept a diary close to write down new inspirations that came to me while walking or sitting with a coffee outside.

Since then, I've managed to make solid progress. I'm very happy with how some scenes are turning out. To put it into numbers, I've made around 20 finished renders per day in the last three days. This is huge, since I spend a few hours preparing each scene first (lighting, post-processing, etc.) to ensure I transmit the exact emotions I want.

Speaking of progress, I want to share a small sneak peek with you today. The first is a 4K promotional render of Aria (see image above). A non-canon shot, but one that shows the quality of the final assets.

The second image shows a key transition environment. This dark, moody scene was a huge technical challenge to light, but achieving this kind of atmosphere proves the recent hard work on my post-processing workflow has paid off. It’s one of the first scenes you will encounter while playing the game too.

Lastly, my company has summoned me to visit customers for the next two weeks. Sadly, I will have very limited time to work on the game during that period. I wanted to keep you all as transparently updated as possible.

That's all for today's Dev Log. I am currently very happy with how things are going and can't wait to show you more. Expect the next dev log in about three weeks, as I won't be able to share any meaningful updates while traveling for work.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic day/week.

— MisheruMaxis