A Torch in the Dark: Using Creative Direction to Light The Darkest Dungeon

[@davidmonroy2509]

I am religious about this game I took everything he says to heart. Such dedication to artistic integrity, no wonder this game was brilliant.

[@MAWL02]

Last question... Random Accented Dude: "Did you have any road blocks or disagreements during the project?" Chris: "I like Crypt of the Necrodancer, it's cool." He misheard "road blocks" as "roguelikes" too funny!

[@RESGorilla]

*Final Boss Spoiler Warning **18:06** - **21:20* I had a feeling I should have beat the game before watching this, but couldn't resist! Great talk!!

[@AbdurrahmanKhallouf]

thanks man

[@UMPiCK1]

Should've read the comment section first, but thanks anyway.

[@ppraisethesun]

ty, just came her for spoilers

[@wonderguardstalker]

You saint

[@Shiningforceking]

Thanks

[@MrKeotan]

"Even if you're the best player in the world you MUST die in this fight." TheRealSpartan: "Hold my beer."

[@IronicHavoc]

MrKeotan The thing is it's a really ineffective strategy to do going in blind, and arguably even if you do know beforehand. It will always be true for your first playthrough at least.

[@jjbudinski8486]

Even though its a step that is often not fully fleshed out in favor of jumping into the actual making part, pre-production in incredibly important, especially when budgets and hours are limited. You don't want to be making big decisions in the middle of a project, the more that can be set in stone on paper the smoother things will go, and the better the chance of completion as well.

[@TobiNano]

22:20 cant stress this enough, a game with many great features is great but a game where all the features come together properly and support each other to form a thematic game altogether is even better.

[@patchpatch4008]

When I saw the last boss I turned the screen around. All I know is that something something bad will happen. which in many ways is worse now I have a vague idea of that. Great talk though!

[@matteoboarino]

Very curated slides. Love how they made original art for them.

[@johnappleseed8839]

+1000000 for the comment on over-narration. More story-tellers need to understand this.

[@uba754]

One of the better talks I have seen. Thank you for the advice!

[@NotSoMelancholy]

On a side note the choice to go with a side view and how it meant fewer assets was such a great thing for community modding as well. Because while it made it easy for the artist to pump out tons of assets, it made it even easier for people to put out their own. (Also 100% agree with the world building stuff, i think it even extends well beyond the horror. I think of Halo 1 where not everything is laid out bare and explained to a tee, so the covenant, the fore runners all have a mysteriousness surrounding and leaves you with an uncertainty about what you’re facing that no writer could ever deliver upon. Not to mention in Halo’s case it kept it simple enough to play into co-op where you could start playing with your buddy anywhere in the game and they wouldn’t feel lost and also helps replay ability because you’re not stuck sitting through scripted tutorial lore dumps for the first 4 hours of the game.

[@zaeche]

Excellent talk! I was hoping Chris'd mention how they set and managed their deadlines within a small team as well, but perhaps some other time. Anyone know if someone's talked/written about that?

[@Joeofiowa]

"We couldn't decouple the Lovecraftian overwrought tonality from the thematic influences. I felt like they were really enmeshed." You, sir, might me a genius of art design and world building. Though I was one of the folks who quickly got tired of the RNG brutality of Darket Dungeon, the design was top-notch and everything in this talk is brilliant.

[@Joeofiowa]

Actually, almost exclusively because of this talk, I gave DD one final go. Now I'm loving it. Bit of an acquired taste I guess?

[@yurisonovab3892]

It's not nearly as RNG loaded as it's played up to be. The design is extremely tight and unforgiving, but there are a number of strong strategies to make it through even the worst fights intact. That said, the learning curve is punishing.

[@klumpos]

For anyone who's interested, there are dev streams of when the game was in development with art being created and such.

[@Ramingor]

Where?

[@klumpos]

@@Ramingor Just search on youtube 'darkest dungeon dev stream' and you'll find them. They're uploaded by a channel called 'darker dungeon'

[@Ramingor]

@@klumpos thanks pal, wouldn't have expected such a fast answer by a comment left 3 years ago. Hope you are still enjoying the game and that you are safe and healthy during these crazy times

[@klumpos]

@@Ramingor haha you're welcome, same to you. Haven't played DD in a long time but really love the art.

[@fburton8]

It *was* a useful talk.

[@mrjed]

that feeling of "what tf am i doing"

[@Anonamix]

I found this incredibly insightful.

[@mcguffinmcguffin6573]

I really love this game and I loved to understand more of its development proces thank you for this game :)

[@FreemaN4851]

i demand that dark batman to be in the game!

[@thewholesomecultist6702]

Do you mean bounty hunter? Confirmed to be based on Batman?

[@PixelProphecy]

Great game, great talk! Creative Direction tends to get overlooked, esp. with indies.

[@Changetheling]

Chris Bourassa: I LOVE YOU. Thank you.

[@AntKneeLeafEllipse]

That Batman drawing is sick

[@TheGuyThatKnowsItAll]

Excellent talk!

[@rogerengstroem]

Great talk! Thank you

[@prestonowens4594]

So, I'm sorry to ask, but what is low-fantasy? Also, since there is a low-fantasy then conversely what is high fantasy and how does this relate to just plain fantasy? Again sorry, but I'm just curious.

[@Kennythesamuri]

Preston Owens my understanding is high fantasy is magic and dragons and low fantasy is more realistic with some liberties here and there

[@DearValentina]

High fantasy means the laws of the universe are different. Low fantasy means there are just some changes to what is possible and what is not. High fantasy: the dragons are immortal beings who guard the elder trees atop of the mountains, and these trees make everything mortal alive. But there's this one dragon who wants to destroy the trees, but he is once again, immortal, so the only person who can stop it is our brave protagonist who is born of dragons so can kill them. Low fantasy: everything is the same as real world but there's this fucking guy in the forest who is like really into alchemy and can reanimate corpses. That's like super not okay so kill him okay?

[@sofija1996]

Low fantasy is more down-to-earth and rooted in reality. High fantasy is more... whimsical, mystical, has a greater focus on the supernatural element. These two labels aren't clearly defined, though and can apply to both darker, brooding and lighter, more optimistic worlds - you can end up with a cheerful low fantasy (though I don't recall ever seeing one of those) and grim high fantasy (Warhammer seems to be a good example).

[@yurisonovab3892]

Absence or shortage of magic and 'fantastic' elements. The game contains no true spell casters for example. There are no fireballs or elements. No potions or scrolls. This is not to be confused with the gothic horror elements though. Curses, mind shattering horrors, and monstrous beasts all get allowed because they fit neatly into the horror concept of disempowerment. The Vestal was really the only example of fantasy and player empowerment. Striking down foes with rays of light and healing powers. Compare against the 'low' fantasy powers of the Plague Doctor. She can heal, but only very slightly and primarily acts as damage prevention by removing bleeding effects like a real doctor would do. Many of her attacks are somewhat fantastic in nature, but not completely outside of real world plausibility.

[@theflourishcrisis]

great insights. thanks.

[@davidbachelder9480]

at 22:40 he says doodoo

[@acuerdox]

this animation process you describe is why I prefer comics, and why animation is so expensive.

[@acuerdox]

you know, you could periodically release some of the unfinished work. just to show your progress, don't show it to everyone and you could even delete it afterwards if you want (like an Instagram story). it's a sort of update video, like these ones that you make. it's nice to hear from you from time to time.

[@nathancheema1091]

Spoilers but final boss insta killing your characters reminds me of when I went into the last boss of othercide. Was winning the fight and out of nowhere it insta killed my max level sword master who was near full health. Didn't really care like cause I was gonna beat him but for those who had a rough start that's a kick to the balls haha.

[@Khrene]

Can someone make a Batman re-skin for the GraveRobber?

[@Kennythesamuri]

Khrene Cleaver he has said that the bounty hunter was based on Batman

[@acuerdox]

my recommendation: handouts are nice, but maybe it's time to deliver a product, behind a paywall.

[@WalkerRileyMC]

Awesome. Now pull your EGS exclusive for DD2 before you guys find out just how bad an idea that is.

[@ossiehalvorson7702]

From my understanding, only early access is EGS exclusive.

[@thattwitalex]

So if we used Ancestry .com and tested Darkest dungeon it would come up with DD's grandad being a tree?

[@nadirzdf]

What s up