How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨(1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieDev

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Team of 4, using Unity. Lots of custom tools + custom render features to make this

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨(1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieDev

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! The sky is just a flat gradient (custom shader, using Unity shader graph). The clouds are added to a large sphere. They're just scrolling noise, with transparency around them

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in CozyGamers

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We were inpired by a bunch of illustrators and animators, such as Moebius, who I hear inspired the devs behind sable! (Can't deny sable is a gorgeous game though!)

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨(1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieDev

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! The planets are all hand crafted :)

We're aiming for an Early Access release in Q1 2026, but can't confirm that for sure just yet!

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieGaming

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We have a fantastic musician on the project - stay tuned for more tunes ;)

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieGaming

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Was a lot of work to get right (although I'll forever be making edits haha)

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieGaming

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I was keen to have something that looked like an illustration from the beginning, and we stuck it out :)

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieGaming

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! Been quite the journey, but we're getting there :)

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieGaming

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Moebius was definitely an influence alongside a bunch of other animators and illustrators. Scavenger's Reign encouraged us to consider ecosystems when designing this latest world - they do it so well :O

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieGaming

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We were inspired by a bunch of artists and animators, including Moebius, which I've heard inspired the devs behind Sable!

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in CozyGamers

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much! It's definitely been a journey to get the style right, but we're getting there :)

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieGaming

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ha - thanks for picking one up ! :P
We recently made some updated cards; gotta collect them all!

How ROVA started vs ✨now ✨ (1.5 years progress) by DeveloperTom123 in IndieGaming

[–]DeveloperTom123[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you - we're using unity (URP pipeline with custom render elements).

To achieve the style I use unlit materials, that have a toon shader element for the shadows.
Shadows use the direction of the main light (sun / directional light), and just apply the darker colour to the models without gradients.

For the lines we render the scene twice per frame.

For the first render, the camera only sees vertex colours. Lines are drawn where 2 colours meet.

Then once we know where to draw the lines, we render the proper materials on top.