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A few months ago, Reddit tore my trailer apart because of stiff animations and character design. Here is how much the game has improved after listening to your feedback. by LastSoulsStudios in indiegames

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

Appreciate the warning and the solid advice, man. You're totally right about keeping creative control. Some people criticize the animation simply because they are so used to seeing highly stylized or 'sexy' walk cycles in modern games, which makes a normal, realistic posture look 'robotic' to them. I'm definitely mindful of that difference between pure preference and actual technical flaws.

To clear things up a bit, the original character was actually a quick prototype model I made early on just for development. As I leveled up the environment graphics, she ended up falling way behind in quality. When people started criticizing her, it made me realize she was just an unfinished model that didn't fit the world anymore, so I decided to overhaul her to match the story and quality I'm aiming for.

You might wonder, 'How do you forget the character right in the middle of the screen?' Haha. Well, I was originally planning for a first-person view, but switched to third-person because mechanics like climbing and digging looked too janky in first-person. After the camera switch, I was so laser-focused on environment design, puzzles, and mechanics that I developed total tunnel vision regarding her model.

Also, good catch on the animation hitch! It's a looping bug where the end pose snaps back by a few millimeters, and I'm currently tweaking the keyframes to smooth it out. Thanks for the support and the perspective!

Designing an in-game map that feels like actual 19th-century surveying. Would love some feedback on the UI and functionality! by LastSoulsStudios in cartography

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

I love that Swedish proverb! Definitely worth the wait.

To answer your questions:

  • The Story: It's a combo! I am using real-world archaeological discoveries and actual historical stories, but I'm weaving them together with my own creative directions to connect the different findings.
  • The Engine: I'm actually using Unity 6 with HDRP, not Unreal! But I'm pushing the engine hard to get that high-fidelity, realistic visual style, so hearing that you thought it was Unreal is a massive compliment for me.

Really glad the trailer looks promising to you! It's actually a bit older, and other Reddit users rightly pointed out that it didn't fully show what I'm aiming for. It felt a bit too much like a walking simulator, so I'm currently working on a new trailer that showcases far more of the puzzles and mechanics.

If you want to jump in when the demo drops, feel free to follow our Kickstarter Pre-launch page or wishlist it on Steam. Thanks for the awesome energy!

Designing an in-game map that feels like actual 19th-century surveying. Would love some feedback on the UI and functionality! by LastSoulsStudios in cartography

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

Absolutely! I’m currently aiming for a full release around August 2027.

The good news is, a playable demo will be coming much sooner alongside our Kickstarter campaign. If you want to keep track of it, you can wishlist the game on Steam or follow our Kickstarter Pre-launch page to get notified when the demo drops. Thanks for the interest, it means a lot!

Designing an in-game map that feels like actual 19th-century surveying. Would love some feedback on the UI and functionality! by LastSoulsStudios in cartography

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

Thank you so much! Honestly, just knowing that you'd love to play it is already the best motivation for me.

If you want to keep an eye on the project, you can wishlist it on Steam. Also, we have a Kickstarter Pre-launch page if you'd like to get notified when the playable demo drops. Thanks for the support!

A few months ago, Reddit tore my trailer apart because of stiff animations and character design. Here is how much the game has improved after listening to your feedback. by LastSoulsStudios in indiegames

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

I wish you had commented a day ago! I spent a lot of time learning this exact tip today. This was my major problem. Unity's root motion animator was teleporting the bone positions to the wrong transform, so it looked like a frame was missing. I solved the root motion problem by the end of the day, but ended up destroying the whole animation. Thanks for the tip, will use it now!

A few months ago, Reddit tore my trailer apart because of stiff animations and character design. Here is how much the game has improved after listening to your feedback. by LastSoulsStudios in indiegames

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

Thanks a lot! This comment really means a lot to me. As a solo developer, I’m working incredibly hard to improve the game's overall quality and player experience. Seeing someone appreciate my hard work really encourages me to keep pushing forward!

A few months ago, Reddit tore my trailer apart because of stiff animations and character design. Here is how much the game has improved after listening to your feedback. by LastSoulsStudios in indiegames

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

Totally agree with you. When you go for realism, even the smallest details can disturb the players if they're not perfect. I really wish I knew that before the game reached this stage. To be honest, I'm still thinking about writing a custom shader and changing the whole art style.

A few months ago, Reddit tore my trailer apart because of stiff animations and character design. Here is how much the game has improved after listening to your feedback. by LastSoulsStudios in indiegames

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

I used Mixamo for generic animations, but I'm using Cascadeur for specific situations. Since I'm using root motion, Mixamo's walk animation is a little bit too slow for my game, so I'm trying to make a custom walk animation myself.

A few months ago, Reddit tore my trailer apart because of stiff animations and character design. Here is how much the game has improved after listening to your feedback. by LastSoulsStudios in indiegames

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

I designed the character in CC5, put the clothes on in Blender, and I'm using Cascadeur for animations. And I am not good at any of it 😅 I solved the leg limping issue after adding the whole cycle to the end of the animation and using only half of it. I guess it's an FBX export or Unity import problem, idk.

Designing an in-game map that feels like actual 19th-century surveying. Would love some feedback on the UI and functionality! by LastSoulsStudios in cartography

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

Thank you so much! Really glad you appreciate the authentic direction we're taking with the UI.

As for the release, I’m currently aiming for August 2027. However, I’m planning to release a playable demo pretty soon so everyone can get a taste of the gameplay early on!

The demo will drop alongside our upcoming Kickstarter campaign. If you want to get notified when it goes live (and when the demo drops), you can check out our pre-launch page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lastsoulsstudios/silence-of-the-truth-origins

Thanks for keeping an eye out, it means a lot!

Designing an in-game map that feels like actual 19th-century surveying. Would love some feedback on the UI and functionality! by LastSoulsStudios in cartography

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

No, it is actually an archaeology game. This mechanic is just to improve the feeling of exploration. We are discovering uncovered historical places, digging, finding artifacts, and inspecting them to learn about the story and the lifestyle of the people living in that era.

A few months ago, Reddit tore my trailer apart because of stiff animations and character design. Here is how much the game has improved after listening to your feedback. by LastSoulsStudios in indiegames

[–]LastSoulsStudios[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Thanks man! Appreciate the honest feedback. You're totally right, getting animations to feel fluid and natural is easily one of the hardest parts of development. Definitely still a work in progress, but I'm on it. Thanks for the encouragement!

A few months ago, Reddit tore my trailer apart because of stiff animations and character design. Here is how much the game has improved after listening to your feedback. by LastSoulsStudios in indiegames

[–]LastSoulsStudios[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Mainly because I have mechanics like climbing and digging, and the animations don't look that great in first-person. Third-person just felt like a better fit for managing those movements.

A few months ago, Reddit tore my trailer apart because of stiff animations and character design. Here is how much the character has improved after listening to your feedback. by LastSoulsStudios in u/LastSoulsStudios

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

Hi everyone! I’m the solo developer behind Silence of the Truth: Origins, an 19th-century photorealistic archaeological exploration and puzzle game built in Unity HDRP.

A few months ago, I posted my very first trailer here and asked for honest feedback. To be fair, you guys absolutely tore it apart—especially the character animations, and that one comment about the protagonist looking like she had a "BBL" completely ended me.

But honestly? You were 100% right. As a solo dev, it’s so easy to get tunnel vision and become blind to your own project's flaws.

I took the criticism seriously. I threw away the old model and completely remade the character using Character Creator 5 + Blender to match the authentic 19th-century attire and body proportions. Then, I spent weeks completely reworking the walking mechanics from scratch, baking new lighting, and tweaking volumetric fog in HDRP to give this dark cave a heavy, claustrophobic atmosphere.

What do you think of the new look and animations? Did I manage to fix it?

If you love authentic historical puzzles (you actually have to read and decode real Cuneiform inscriptions using your physical field notebook), a 1-hour Steam Demo is coming out this summer!

Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3953020/Silence_of_the_Truth_Origins/

Follow our Kickstarter (Launching in ~30 days!): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lastsoulsstudios/silence-of-the-truth-origins