Designing Even More Creatures!

This month we’ve been designing all of the more “advanced” creatures that you’ll encounter and fight as you progress further in our upcoming action adventure game, Usual June. The design process has been challenging but fun, since we are trying to balance and include a lot of different considerations.

First, the way these creatures have evolved has to make sense in the story and the background lore, and they need to fit into the game environments. We also wanted to find a balance between them looking new and exciting to the player, but also reminiscent of the more “basic” early-game creature from which they evolved. Finally, we wanted them to start creating a visual path toward the boss designs!

We have been working with contract artist Audre Schutte, who created the thumbnails above early in the process to help us navigate this tricky balance.

Usual June has a new Lead Writer!

­ Finji Community & Social Media Manager Aster Wright hung out with the latest addition to Finji, Lead Writer David Pinckney, and they talked about his creative process, his work writing graphic novels (check out Needle & Thread), even his love of baking things with way too many ingredients.

­ ASTER: What is it about Usual June that made you want to work on this project?

DAVID: There’s several things, but I’d say that the number one thing is that the premise is really fun and interesting and feels like something I would want to play myself even if I wasn’t working on it. I think when you see a project that you would want to experience even if you weren’t directly a part of it, that’s a great sign. Also, the style of the game just looks great. The character designs, environments, enemies, visual effects, all of it is just so visually striking that it’s hard to not want to have some part in that. After seeing and learning more about Usual June, I quickly found myself excited to have a hand in it.

ASTER: How have you approached writing Usual June? What is your process like? What have you found most exciting?

DAVID: Typically, I approach writing most stories by focusing on the characters’ wants and how that want or need conflicts with the world around them. The approach to Usual June’s story is no different. I like to have stories that are character focused and driven with the overall plot kind of being the vehicle through which we learn about those characters as it presents obstacles for the characters to contend with.

The process for me starts with thinking at a very high level about what kind of story I want to tell and what is the end goal of the story. That helps give me direction and know what I’m working towards. I then start to think about what the characters want and some internal conflicts and how that may present itself in the world. This pretty naturally flows into me figuring out how the world works. What’s the same as ours, what’s unique, how did it get to its present state, stuff like that. From there, I start to formulate an outline usually starting with scenes that I know I want or need and then figuring out what additional scenes will help pull it all together. After all of that, I finally write and rewrite! All that being said, a big part of this process is collaborative. Working with other team members and getting feedback throughout the process greatly helps refine whatever current step I’m on. The collaboration is easily the most important part of the whole process and, like I said, is a constant throughout. It’s a much stronger and more interesting story because of it. Not just individual scenes, but themes, tone, and pacing are all benefited by the collaboration process.

What’s most exciting about this whole process is building the world and its characters. Usual June has some fun takes on some classic concepts set in an interesting environment. Coming up with how and why things work the way they do has been a lot of fun. It’s also been rewarding to figure out what all these characters are really about. I like to say I get to meet these characters as a write them and that process brings a lot of excitement for me.

ASTER: How does your previous work writing graphic novels serve you in writing Usual June?

DAVID: The way we communicate dialogue in Usual June is through speech bubbles which is the same in graphic novels. What’s unique about that way of communicating dialogue is that you need to write the dialogue in such a way that the tone and cadence comes through with just text as there won’t be someone voice acting the scene. Also, in both Usual June and graphic novels when someone speaks it takes up visual space which is a consideration to keep in mind when looking at how the scene plays out and seeing how the scene is paced as well. You want to be able to convey your scene with just enough dialogue that the scene works without feeling or even looking overwhelming. This is a balance that needs to be struck on every page of a graphic novel so I’m very used to it. It feels kind of second nature for me given my previous work. It’s really helped me figure out how I’m going to breakdown a scene in a way that works for how that information will be given to the player.

ASTER: What has been inspiring you lately?

DAVID: Naturally, games inspire me as I play a lot of them across different genres like RPGs, platformers, and action/adventure to name a few. That said, I’ve been traveling a good amount lately and being in new places and seeing how other parts of the world around me operate has been inspirational. I like seeing how things differ regardless of if it’s across the world or just one state over—things are usually different enough for me to take note. I also find a lot of inspiration in doing things that sort of refresh me whether that be just going out for a run, seeing friends and family, attempting to bake something with way too many ingredients that takes way too much time—all of that helps inspire me. My inspirations aren’t usually directly connected to a story or character in particular, but the people I meet and the experiences I have help me want to create something and use those points of inspiration in some way.

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Wishlist Usual June for more exciting updates on Steam!