Dev Diary - Waterfall of clouds

Greetings!

Welcome to another Dev Diary, our series where we share news, updates, and behind-the-scenes looks at the Against the Storm universe.

This time around we've got a fair bit to cover: a first look at the "Rebel Hideout" update coming to Against the Storm, the story behind our lo-fi collaboration with Virtual Cottage 2, and an early peek at the skybox we've been building for our next game.

Let's get into it!

New update preview

On September 24 at 1:00 pm UTC, we’ll release a new Against the Storm update for PC. Titled “Rebel Hideout”, the update will feature a range of quality-of-life improvements, bug fixes, and a small piece of content: a new World Map Modifier.

Rebel Hideout Modifier

The positive reception of the Sacred Grove modifier (the one that lets you play with four species) encouraged us to fiddle one more time with the idea of having an unusual number of species. This time, your settlement will be limited to just two species.

Rebel Hideout is a much trickier challenge than the Sacred Grove. Reputation generation through Resolve won’t build the same momentum, while making the most of the limited synergies between just two species may be vital.

UI/UX improvements

The update will be packed with many small improvements designed to smooth out your experience and provide you with additional information. These include:

⚡ Added a lock icon and an explanatory tooltip to the HUD calendar whenever a season transition is blocked (e.g., during the Stormbird Glade Event).
⚡ Added a notification that triggers when new villagers arrive in games with the Sacred Grove modifier.
⚡ Redesigned the villager summary panel (top-left of the screen) so it no longer looks like a cut-off species panel.

The tutorial levels will also get various minor tweaks to help new players understand the basics before they dive into the rest of the game's systems at their own pace.

About your settlement saves

Usually, when we release new content updates, we need to close the ongoing settlements. This time, though, because the new content doesn’t affect settlements themselves, it won’t be necessary.

Lo-fi beats and cat kisses

Last month, we revealed that we had partnered with DU&I - the team behind Virtual Cottage 2 (a companion app for work and study) - for a little collaboration. We remixed seven existing Against the Storm tracks to create their lo-fi versions, which were added to Virtual Cottage 2 in its recent update . The wonderful team at DU&I also created wholesome decorations for the app, inspired by Against the Storm.

Against the Storm decorations in Virtual Cottage 2

You can learn more about it here:

LEARN MORE

For us, it was a refreshing break from our usual work and an opportunity to learn new skills and step out of our comfort zones.

I asked Mikołaj - our team’s composer and audio producer - how did he find this new experience.

Going almost seamlessly from working on the last DLC straight into these lo-fi remixes was definitely a great experience. I felt that, by remixing my own tracks, I was finally able to find some sort of “closure” to that phase of creating the OST for Against the Storm, which lasted several years in total.

* *

*In the game’s soundtrack itself, I barely used rhythm or drums at all. But here, I was able to arrange the drums and give them a rhythmic foundation, which was refreshing after working with a relatively limited sonic palette focused on other instruments for such a long time. *

As for the smaller technical hurdles: the Against the Storm soundtrack is dense and layered with instruments, while lo-fi tracks are, by definition, rather minimalist and simple. Picking the right tracks, trying to tone the samples down, and embedding them in the mix more as a backdrop for the new drums and bass was a challenge at times.

You made it very clear that you enjoy Mikołaj’s work. The original game soundtrack is currently our most viewed video on YouTube, with 100,000+ views and 42,100 hours of accumulated watch time. By now, it's tradition, that every time we release a new album, we also create a music visualization for YouTube.

For this one, though, we wanted to create something special, an idea we'd been sitting on for a while - a “Lofi Girl”-aesthetic loop animation. It was my first shot at animating a lengthier video sequence from a still image. If anything, this only deepened my appreciation for professional animators.

[dynamiclink href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17hriFImTW0"][/dynamiclink]

First, we reached out to Oleksandr Utkin - who created art for World of Warcraft, the Bazaar, and other games - and we were happy to hear he agreed to take on the commission. The final piece depicts Sahilda working on her famous Cookbook (a fitting task for the “lo-fi beats for work and study” kind of music). She’s accompanied by the adorable sharkcat, and the goods lying around in the caravan represent some of the wares she actually offers in the game. If you want to get an additional glimpse into the process of creating the illustration, you can check out Oleksandr’s ArtStation post .

The main requirement for the illustration was for it to have multiple layers, so that we could animate them later. Aside from the typical scribing and contemplating parts, I really wanted to include a short sequence of the so-called “ cat kisses ” - a particular way in which cats supposedly express their affection, by squinting their eyes. It’s a barely noticeable detail, but one which I hoped other cat owners would appreciate.

Experienced animators would surely laugh at my After Effects setup (I learned my lessons!), but with some external plugins, it got the job done.

We hope you enjoy the new lo-fi remixes and the Sahilda illustration. We added their high-quality versions to the Supporter Pack . Cheers!

Where the clouds fall

We also wanted to share another little sneak peek into the survival game we’re working on (if this is the first time you’re hearing about it, go check out this Dev Diary ).

This time, we want to briefly touch upon the game’s skybox. Please bear in mind that we’re in the very early stages of development so everything we share is subject to change (and likely will) as the project matures. We’re currently sitting somewhere between ideation and pre-production. We digress…

In a world where rainclouds are omnipresent, it is essential to adequately portray their importance, awe-inspiring scale, and the threat they pose to all living beings. And yet, despite it being our second game set in the rainpunk world, this is the first one with a skybox!

Screenshot of the skybox in Unity engine from the survival game prototype. Work in progress, all assets subject to change and do not represent the final quality.

The basic requirements were simple enough: we need to have a sky full of clouds. We wanted them to loom over players’ heads, with a touch of crepuscular rays (or godrays) during Clearance. But that didn’t do justice to the sublime elemental power. So we turned to nature for inspiration.

Screenshot of the cloud waterfall from the survival game prototype. Work in progress, all assets subject to change and do not represent the final quality.

To us, cloud waterfalls represent one of the majestic facets of the sky. The clouds spill over the celestial edge, cascading without ever reaching the ground. It's at once familiar and completely otherworldly. Such a unique combination of two seemingly unrelated things that turn out to fit together and create something fresh is exactly the kind of creative collision we love to explore (we touched upon it in our recent Dev Diary - “How would a stag look if it were a tree” ).

Meanwhile, cumulonimbus clouds were a great inspiration for the more ominous aspect. These towering clouds make everything feel small and fragile by comparison; they are so massive that they can serve as natural landmarks and constant reminders that the threat awaits you not only on land but also up in the sky.

Screenshot of the towering cloud from the survival game prototype. Work in progress, all assets subject to change and do not represent the final quality.

The clouds are a magnificent sight, but don’t let them deceive you. The storm is a ruthless force of nature that will eat you alive if it catches you unprepared.

We also drew inspiration from the cover of one of our most beloved books - Brandon Sanderson’s The Way of Kings. Painted by the virtuoso Michael Whelan, the cover art portrays Eshonai and Dalinar standing in front of a looming Highstorm. The clouds immediately attract readers’ attention to Roshar's most dangerous environmental threat.

“The Way of Kings” book cover by Michael Whelan ( source )

If you’ve been following us, you may know our obsession with Brandon Sanderson’s work and The Stormlight Archive in particular (figures…). His worldbuilding lessons helped us lay the foundation for the rainpunk world.

The inspiration for this world came from a brainstorming technique we learned from Brandon Sanderson’s worldbuilding classes: take one element of the real world, change it, and carefully explore how that single shift transforms everything else.

For us, that change was the relentless, never-ending rain.

Excerpt from Against the Storm - Artbook (included in the Supporter Pack )

This is certainly not the last time you’ll be hearing us gush about Mr. Sanderson.

For now though, that feels like a good place to leave things for this Dev Diary. Keep an eye out for news next week about Against the Storm and its new update.

And if you want to stay up to date and support us, please consider following our Steam developer page .

May the storm be gentle on you,

Eremite Games

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