This devlog is a video, and a longer, slower one. I recorded it in Sakha, with English and Russian subtitles.
Three people, drawn by hand
This week I finished the final portraits of three characters of The Echoes of Mars. Dr Bernice Tan, the Chief Engineer, builds your defences and runs the research. Dr Anouk Visser, the xenobiologist, wants to understand the creatures. Officer Thomas Alway, head of security, wants everyone safe, which means the creatures gone.
These are not the first versions. In 2024 I drew them in a simple, cartoony style, in a hurry before release. These took two rounds of drafts.
Bernice, from the first strokes to the final portrait. They are not made by AI. Drawing by hand is slow and AI is fast, and for a long time I wasn’t sure the slow way was right. Then Pope Leo XIV wrote that “algorithms lack the spark of humanity”, and that settled it for me. The process has its own beauty.
Where they live
The first conversation of the game, on Sol 1. Work in progress. On Sol 1, Bernice meets you at your desk, Tom calls in on the radio, and you choose what to say to them. Anouk doesn’t have her portrait in the game yet. The conversations are heavily inspired by Disco Elysium.
The UX/UI tool comes first
Every new screen is made in my UX/UI tool first. From those screens I made a clickable prototype that I can play through like a player would.
The studio
The Echoes of Mars will soon be published by Springfolk, a small studio I’m setting up around it. It’s still in progress and I’ll share more once it’s real.
See you next week!
