Well, now it wasn't even a surprise for us to find out new message from out j0hn_d0e_76 friend in a mail box, If you've seen previously he is sending some pictures and we post it here, so here is a new one:



It seems that it's definitely a comics, but it's in reverse order..., we are definitely interested, as usual if you know "j0hn_d0e_76" please send him our greetings, cause he seems to be not answering our requests ːsteamsadː

As always, big thanks to everyone who creating fan art in Skyhill Universe!

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ːfireaxeː Skyhill franchise Steam page
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Twitter
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Facebook
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Instagram


ːmandragoraː Mandragora creator Steam page
ːmandragoraː Twitter (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Facebook (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Instagram (behind the scenes)
ːmandragoraː Youtube (trailers, announcements)

While development is full steam ahead, we wanted to share some insights on how we work with environment in our upcoming game SKYHILL: Black Mist! We spend a lot of time thinking through the whole architecture of locations and how they are connected, so you will have a great time exploring and finding interesting places inside this huge condominium called “SKYHILL”.



What a modern person need today to not ever put a step outside? Sleep, food, entertainment? Internet - someone will say. Well, we increased this list to more realistic one and created a small city within a city. Here is size and diversity playing along to create better experience. Big halls, small corridors, dark rooms and boring office spaces: type of location actually directly influence on gameplay and possible tactics available to player! In some places it’s easier to go guns blazing, in other better to look for cover and sneak your way out. To deliver the best possible quality for experience from locations we are going through certain workflow and many steps.
It’s all starts from reference search and looking for that three main key points that speak for location type: has it to be spacy, cozy or otherwise be small cranky and claustrophobic?
Here is a small part of a document that we create for each location type.



After that we go further and look not only for visual, but architectural references, it’s hard to say out of head what the difference between cinema and trade center base architecture or office from living space. If you think briefly, it’s just floor and walls. But it’s more complicated. It was a blessing for us to find 3D tours and panoramic photos of many different locations over the Internet. We virtually visited hospitals of Vancouver, restaurants of London, but a 5 store toy warehouse blew our minds by it’s scale!



During creating base blueprints for each location we decide what kind of a location it is. From small storing rooms to huge trade halls from fire exits to back doors and technical pathways: everywhere we tried to imagine, how real people walking around this space, where they stop for a rest and where they are going to get through the day as fast as possible.



To keep everything in balance between locations, and also to create a secret passages and shortcuts, we created a bunch of huge schemes(in a level designers head they look much more appealing, and mostly understood by them).



When type of location and architecture plan are set in, it’s time to start working on the most interesting part creating gameplay scenarios, adjusting location slightly adding required furniture and other objects, enemies and traps
Each created level design pattern is tested by four ways of playing:
Stealth, open fight, using only environments and traps and simply ignoring enemies. In different situations different approaches are much more likely to be more effective, and they can not much with selected player play style selected by player and also his supplies in inventory, so the challenge is always there for everyone.
Each pattern consists of the following ingredients thrown into the mix:

• space, that dictated by location type and previously established plan;
  
• amount and type of enemies;
  
• distribution of objects, from some that simply block path or give cover;
  
• interactive objects that can both help or be a nuisance in a fight;

Playing with this ingredients we can create a completely different scenarios in the same space. For example, let’s take this small green corner on a rooftop, with some monsters, sofas and tasty loot.



One not very observant enemy won't be a big challenge for the main protagonist, it’s an easy pick with any method.
Let’s add second one so they will look for each other.



Now, if a stealth kill wont result in a success, in open fight you would have to fight with two enemies that can result in our death or resources loss such as medkits. Maybe it’s easier to shoot them from afar and keep your distance instead of finding a perfect moment for a stealth strike? Or maybe throw a molotov and finish them with a couple of shots?



Also this sofa standing there, that blocks us from getting to first enemy faster and stay hidden while doing so! If with one enemy you could approach this situation from any side, now it’s much more efficient to go from the left one rather than the right one: kill closest enemy and hide behind a fence.
But what will happen if we add a third one, who will patrol nearby?



Now the central one will be covered by his monster friends from both sides, and approaching from the left(where the patrolling guy walking) will be completely non efficient, because keeping up with them in stealth is a much harder feat to perform, rather than just kill the guy on the left.



Now this sofa that was a nuisance before become a perfect cover from patrolling monster and will help easily take out the central monster - you just need to get there!



Good approach will be to lure them one by one in a more accurate methodical stealth tactics.
Well we just have to add one mine! Bam, and patrol is an easy prey for us!



While two of his other colleges are looking in other way, we just lure the patrolling one to walk into the mine. It’s not a big deal since all this is happening on a rooftop location where one of the distinct effects are raging winds that cover all sound effects and making strategies not available in other locations possible. Minus one enemy and now we are back to our previously dissected scenario with just two enemies. In any case that precious loot that they guarding will be ours!
Here is just one of the examples on how playing with parameters and adjusting them can create an interesting gameplay, as for us, on this nothing ends, it’s just one of the stages of work and after first iteration of this part is done next stages are coming in, visual dressing of environment, lighting, testing, fixes, but this is a completely different story.
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ːfireaxeː Skyhill franchise Steam page
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Twitter
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Facebook
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Instagram


ːmandragoraː Mandragora creator Steam page
ːmandragoraː Twitter (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Facebook (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Instagram (behind the scenes)
ːmandragoraː Youtube (trailers, announcements)

Many of you heard about Skyhill Inc. which is one of the pillars that holds Skyhill universe lore together, today we have on our hands an audio log of one of the Skyhill Inc. employees, newly hired Claire Barkley an experienced software engineer with some solid skills in biology, but let’s not go ahead of things and let her to tell her own story by herself.

https://youtu.be/W9ZmKWwdJGc

Check updates cause new logs will come shortly!

________________________________


ːfireaxeː Skyhill franchise Steam page
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Twitter
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Facebook
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Instagram


ːmandragoraː Mandragora creator Steam page
ːmandragoraː Twitter (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Facebook (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Instagram (behind the scenes)
ːmandragoraː Youtube (trailers, announcements)

If you follow our updates, you probably aware of this message, we got great news for who are interested, we just got another one!



“j0hn_d0e_76@hotmail.com” just sent us new picture, it seems to be a some sort of comics(at least it looks like it), we are definitely interested, if you "j0hn_d0e_76" reading, keep it coming, we will publish rest ːfreakyhandː

Big thanks to everyone who creating and sharing fan art in Skyhill Universe! ːfireaxeː ːstairsː

________________________________


ːfireaxeː Skyhill franchise Steam page
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Twitter
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Facebook
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Instagram


ːmandragoraː Mandragora creator Steam page
ːmandragoraː Twitter (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Facebook (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Instagram (behind the scenes)
ːmandragoraː Youtube (trailers, announcements)

Well.. Not sure how it should go, it’s a bit strange...

Yesterday, we worked as usual here in Mandragora's office and at the end of the day (after production meeting) we found a strange email in inbox of our support account. Message was from “j0hn_d0e_76@hotmail.com” , subject was: “Skyhill Inc. #20”.

We thought it’s some usual message from SKYHILL fan or content creators asking for a free Skyhill code, but, inside we found a picture, it was a little bit weird but there was a skyhill in so it's probably some fan art or something like that, so we decided to share it, since it's pretty awesome if anyone will ask ːfreakyeyeː

Here it is:



We don’t really know what exactly it is… Or what it means… It mimics our art style quite accurately, btw..

We tried to contact that person, but so far no luck, if anyone have ideas what it is or how to contact that person, it would be highly appreciated (maybe we can even share a key of Skyhill as a reward ːfreakyhandː )

Also just as a side note, if anyone have any fan art for Skyhill we would be happy to share it here for everyone to see(credited of course).

But overall, does anyone have any clue what’s happening on this picture or what it even means? If you have any thoughts you can answer here or contact us via email.

Anyway, it looks cool and we thought that you will like it too :)
-Mandragora.

________________________________


ːfireaxeː Skyhill franchise Steam page
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Twitter
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Facebook
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Instagram


ːmandragoraː Mandragora creator Steam page
ːmandragoraː Twitter (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Facebook (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Instagram (behind the scenes)
ːmandragoraː Youtube (trailers, announcements)

Many of you familiar with our rogue-like hit Skyhill, and SKYHILL: Black Mist is a soul successor that strive to be more. We in Madragora studio went through many concepts and ambitious design ideas, mechanics and finally announced our next project which is Black Mist, it is not a trendy roguelike anymore, we aiming for more refined story based survival experience within a non-linear confined environment, similar to early Resident Evil games (have to learn from the best ːfreakyhandː ).

But one thing however hasn’t changed – SKYHILL: Black Mist is a game that all about personal story of a lone survival within a huge skyscraper, but now there is more, shopping center, school, underground parking space, rooftop and many other locations to explore!

We also have several experimental and unique mechanics that, we believe, will bring fresh view on games of this genre so stay tuned for regular weekly updates!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiUfiILf96M

________________________________


ːfireaxeː Skyhill franchise Steam page
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Twitter
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Facebook
ːfireaxeː Skyhill on Instagram


ːmandragoraː Mandragora creator Steam page
ːmandragoraː Twitter (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Facebook (studio news)
ːmandragoraː Instagram (behind the scenes)
ːmandragoraː Youtube (trailers, announcements)