Last Dream 1 and World Unknown brought classic RPGs into the modern era, keeping the things that made them great and upgrading things that were outdated. Most of the polish went into the combat, classes, leveling, and storytelling. Graphically, we had plenty of custom costumes and some custom sprites. But one thing we did not have was our own “look and feel”. Here’s a screenshot of Last Dream 1’s message boxes. While serviceable, they are clearly from one of RPG ...
Continue Reading → ShareCustomization: Message Boxes
Posted by: Andrew Walker
Character-specific Sidequests
Posted by: Andrew Walker
Exclusive Enemy Artwork
Posted by: Andrew Walker
A major decision our indie team made early on for Last Dream 2 was to exclusively feature custom graphic art. This was a substantial commitment that has involved hundreds of design decisions, mapping tweaks, hand-wringing over menu formats, and re-colorings of trees, walls, wine bottles, etc!
We were fortunate to befriend a pixel artist named Blade (https://twitter.com/UncleBladey). His dedicated, multi-year effort to newly create hundreds of unique NPCs, character profiles, blades of grass, and fierce enemies is ...
Continue Reading → ShareLast Dream II Mini-Games
Posted by: Andrew Walker
Lighting in Last Dream II
Posted by: Andrew Walker
The very first “dungeon” that the Gray Mage, Lucius, enters in Last Dream II is called the “Moros Ruins”. We had nearly finished this dungeon but realized we couldn’t really get the right feeling – it was supposed to be dank and dark but that simply wasn’t coming across.
We started with adding moss to age the stone tiles, but then for realism and immersion decided we needed some small puddles of water (with dripping animations) to explain the ubiquitous moss.
Maybe ...
Continue Reading → ShareRealizing the Dream
Posted by: Andrew Walker
Working on video game development among talented friends is a dream realized, although our final fantasy remains in progress: multiple team members would love to quit their day jobs and focus exclusively on the Last Dream series full time.
Without our primary employment as programmers, scientists, engineers, and business managers, we could delve deeply into crafting thematic cultures, music, and graphic art within each section of LD2; we could challenge ourselves with mobile and arcade versions, compete in timed trials against ...
Continue Reading → ShareLast Dream II Character Classes
Posted by: Andrew Walker
We thought we’d take this opportunity to introduce the Last Dream II character classes to you. One thing you’ll notice immediately is that we’ve transitioned to unique graphic art. We’ve hired a talented graphic artist ( https://twitter.com/UncleBladey) to create new character sprites (as well as enemy battlers that we’ll show you later).
Leif: The Berserker (New Character Class in Last Dream II)
Leif was an aimless youth who found success as a member of a ...
Continue Reading → ShareLast Dream II Status Update #1
Posted by: Andrew Walker
Hello everyone!
We’ve just finished up our annual retreat with the entire White Giant RPG Studios team including myself (Andrew), Josh, Mark, Seth, and Chris. We’ve worked hard over the last week to make substantial progress on Last Dream II. Over the last year, we’ve been developing unique graphic art and we’ve only recently developed the tools necessary to integrate our art into maps for Last Dream II.
The image above is the exterior of the first dungeon that the Gray Mage ...
Continue Reading → ShareOur indie team is investing personal funds into copious custom graphic art because we believe our patient fans will value the unique gaming experience being developed within Last Dream 2.
Plus… we just really like our graphic artist Bladey! https://twitter.com/UncleBladey
Check out some of his original designs made exclusively for Last Dream 2!
Friends We Don’t Know
Posted by: Andrew Walker
Dear Friends,
As a passion project among our small team of avid RPG enthusiasts, Last Dream exceeded our expectations the first time someone we didn’t know played our nascent RPG and became engaged in the mystery, just like us.
It’s a funny thing to find your own creation mysterious, but Last Dream is mysterious for us: how will our quest experience change with different characters? How swiftly can we reach the Ship? Will players we don’t know be better ...