Re-created a cloud shader sketch from a while back from memory. Exploring some visual ideas for Vesper.

[↑] Each cloud is basically a perturbed Unity sphere.

Loss of negative space

The cadence of work on Vesper has always been seasonal - marked by alternating periods of deep focus and slow, meandering exploration. I've also sometimes taken a few steps back - to let the thing sit for a while. To think about it in a larger context.

Since I completed the first playable section I've gone off in a few different directions. I've tried to disentangle from the flow of work and look back at what I've done so far. See the arc of development - the shifts and drifting. What struck me was a loss of visual simplicity.

Negative space exists to lend importance to what it frames. It's a mark of intent and it requires commitment to the fundamental idea of the thing you're shaping. Looking back at this last stretch of work on Vesper I see a lack of commitment. I see a glacial drift into ornamentation - into filling in the negative spaces.

To counter I've been doing some deliberate exercises. Recalibrating.

[↑] Blender. Using vertex colors to imply form in very simple shapes.

[↓] Unity. Layering on a simple, proximity-based lighting.

I'll keep working on it.

[♪] Tool - Schism

Thinking about what's outside the section I've been working on.

200 days later

I've completed the first playable section of the game. More on that later, for now I'm heading outside to sit in the sun for a little while. See you later!

The latest entry in my "Ships taking off or landing or something" series.

[♪] Paul Haslinger - The scenic view

Working on the orbital view of the planet.

[↑] Experimenting with some visual effects for the outro sequence of this section

[♪] Kvelertak - Åpenbaring

The willow warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)