Hello folks!

Star Wars Redemption is Live. Yep. Everyone waited long enough so here it is:

Edit: The product has been removed from the artstation marketplace because one user has tried to run it on a low-end PC and it apparently made it crash. All my appologies for this, the demo isn't intended to be launched on old computers as specified in the required specs (if you don't have at least a 1070 GTX, and I mean a real one, not a notebook card, then please don't run the project and in any case, you run it at your own risks. All that happens to your computer is under your own responsibility, I do not force you to get it and run it).

Here are the direct links for those who still want to get it:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eS6btMa3auCl6K0WnNIphKCG8S4oOYZ2
Just in case Google drive fails (I hope not but who knows), here's a MEGA link:
https://mega.nz/folder/oZhiBIYC (Decryption Key: "Z7-yduK3c63H5i1LjBFBSg" , don't copy the "")

About the cinematic now!

Here's is probably the most challenging part we did for the project: animation. But it was pleasant, and a really heavy blast of experience. This was originally an idea Thomas Chaumel & I had this winter, we wanted to push the animation of these characters a bit further than game cycles. Working from a keyframed camera angle doesn't offer to animate in all views, but in another hand you're not forced to check what's behind the character and it's kind of a cool thing. Also, since your character movemet is captured by a camera in motion, you have to be really careful with any animation arcs and curves between frames, you can achieve this by using g-ink (what we did for most shots) or using the new ghosts from akeytsu 2.3.8 (they take account of camera transforms). And I definitely loved using is for the "fairy" shot (lots of curves everywhere, dang!).

We've made it without any final cut in mind, but only ideas of shots we had from time to time (we have a big trello board full of ideas, we released a few here).

Renders were all made in realtime using Unreal Engine 4 or Marmoset Toolbag 4
Animation was made using akeytsu (with pleasure as always)
VFX, set dress, were most of the time made in unreal and some time on 3dsmax or akeytsu (but this was quite rare, it was more used for blocking out the main shapes & features)
Modeling was made with 3dsMax & ZBrush
Each texture was carefully handpainted in 3DCoat

May the Force be with you, and...

...A BIG THANK YOU for bringing so much love to this project, Charlie McShane from Familly Bovine/EcksToo was right: we wouldn't have made this without your encouragement, you can tell your friends you've helped making this demo, be proud of it, it's something that brings back faith in humanity during these dark times.

Music - “Cerulean” by Mark Petrie, album “Big Sky”

Hello there :)

To play the demo:
- Unzip the archive file somewhere on your PC
- go in: "[Build Version number]\WindowsNoEditor folder"
- double-click on "StarWarsRedemption.exe"

- Game demo rules are simple: you have to catch little dragonflies, and reach the end of the level (killing all enemies will be optional, but they need some more work so they are not in the demo yet)

- The game has been tested on a 1070GTX (desktop) with 32GB of ram (optional, 8 should be enough) and a 6th Gen Intel i7 CPU and ran fine, using specs below this may break your computer so please launch the demo at your own risk (there should be no problem at all, just be careful if you have a weak computer)

Thanks for trying this little demo, we hope you will appreciate it!

Des Bisous

- The Square Phoenix Team

Star Wars - Redemption | Demo Release v1.0

So, here we are. The demo is finally available in its very first public version!

Please take the time to read the following lines:

[...]

- Since it's "inspired by" Star Wars (but not only), you may recognize environments, starfighters, destroyers...etc. Yet I didn't want to stick to existing designs at a "fanatic"-precision, so you may notice differences between official designs and those from Redemption

- The demo comes in a v1.0, meaning we plan to add some more stuff to it in the near future. Yet a demo is a demo, not a AAA game. We will polish unfinished things, fix as many bugs as we can, add what's missing today regarding our ToDo-List, but it will stop there. Please refrain from making feature requests, we won't add them. Bugs can be reported here and we will see how many we could fix for a last version

- The game should run fine on most configs, if you experience any lag, please go in options, set a different game quality ("screenpercentage" doesn't work yet) and launch a level (this will apply new settings). The game runs smoothly on a 2080 RTX with a i7 9th Gen & 8GB of RAM so if you've got this (or better) it's good! By default game quality is set to Epic, the "Ultra" mode is here for "Cinematic" quality, but is visually not this better, only sharp trained eyes will seea difference

- At the moment, the game only offers to explore levels & collect little flying creatures called "ForceGhosts". To finish a level, you need to find them all and reach the end trigger box.

- Trigger boxes aren't always placed at the end of a level, since some levels have a "loop" flow, but every time the box is on the biggest "Exit door" of the level (not necessary a door visually...but I guess you've got it)

This first public release is here to thank all of the fans of the project who have been waiting patiently for this, as well as a simple tribute to the fantastic & inspiring StarWars universe.

I don't know what I would be today if this Far far away Galaxy didn't exist. It's something that is part of me, of a lot of people, and I wish this addition will serve at its best the most of us!

Here is the game cover, you have the file amongst some more in the final folder if you want to change for fresh wallpapers.

cdnb.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/401/large/StarWars-Redemption_GameCover.jpg

[...]

Also, what a better opportunity than this one to refresh some old artworks?

cdnb.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/665/large/StarWars-Redemption_Wallpaper_ConceptArt_Aelya-Cyborg.jpg

cdna.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/664/large/StarWars-Redemption_Wallpaper_ConceptArt_AcklayBot.jpg

cdnb.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/667/large/StarWars-Redemption_Wallpaper_ConceptArt_Sith.jpg

cdna.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/666/large/StarWars-Redemption_Wallpaper_ConceptArt_MevennJedi.jpg

cdna.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/668/large/StarWars-Redemption_Wallpaper_NemesisAelya414Phase2.jpg

cdnb.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/669/large/StarWars-Redemption_Wallpaper_MevennLumSodren_DoubleLightsaber.jpg

cdna.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/670/large/StarWars-Redemption_Wallpaper_StarDestroyer-LucreHulk_01.jpg

cdna.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/672/large/StarWars-Redemption_Wallpaper_StarDestroyer-Venator_01.jpg

cdnb.artstation.com/p/media_assets/images/images/000/796/671/large/StarWars-Redemption_Wallpaper_LevelArt_Lumberia-Ruins_01.jpg

With the release of this demo, we've made a Trailer. And it's almost as heavy as making the game, it involves especially a different approach of animation, since you're making shots and not realtime game cycles, it's okay to have a bad pose when you turn around, the superior rule is to take care or arcs, posings, motion through frames. Bend your characters if you need to make them follow strong arcs, don't be afraid of breaking their arms & legs. Well. Here's that trailer:

youtube.com/watch?v=0aSmQ8YHfxs

That's all for today, now I'll go take some sleep before well deserved holidays.