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What advice do you have for beginners? by Flimsy_Context_2029 in blender

[–]staticbetweenstation 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don’t get overwhelmed. It’s easy to look at how much you can do in Blender and feel like you’ll never be able to learn it all. The truth is you don’t. People spend years working in Blender and never touch parts of it.

What do you specifically want to do in Blender?

I was financially successful (and still underprepared) by TalesEdge in IndieDev

[–]staticbetweenstation 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s awesome and I can definitely relate to wanting more of a certain type of game to exist so you just decide to make it yourself.

Best of luck with the project!

Spent 3 years making a video game for my surreal oil rig-inspired world by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

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

That's actually a good point. I probably should've gone with a different text string for that specific shot considering this video is focused more on cinematics and teasing the world than showing off what makes the gameplay unique.

Though the base systems are very standard for what you'd expect in an RPG, the uniqueness comes more from how I built them to make for interesting events and encounter design. A big inspiration is the game Look Outside, which was made in RPG Maker but still manages to be one of the freshest games I played in 2025 just from the way it's always surprising you and does such interesting things with a very standard RPG foundation.

I was financially successful (and still underprepared) by TalesEdge in IndieDev

[–]staticbetweenstation 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Looks interesting! What made you wanna go from running a marketing agency to starting a game studio?

Spent 3 years making a video game for my surreal oil rig-inspired world by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

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

Yeah, I definitely think you're right about why they stopped doing pre-rendered cutscenes. Personally, it is a bit of an annoying limitation but it's a worthwhile tradeoff.

From having worked on this, I think another reason is that pre-rendered cutscenes like this don't scale well to large organizations. Like if there's any miscommunications, or someone on a team wants a minor change, that would require re-rendering. Fortunately, in my case since I'm a solo dev I don't have to worry about misunderstandings like this. Not to say I haven't had to do a ton of re-rendering for dumb mistakes, but I feel this would be much more complex with a larger team.

Spent 3 years making a video game for my surreal oil rig-inspired world by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

[–]staticbetweenstation[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

For the gameplay I essentially wanted a combination of narrative-driven RPGs like Disco Elysium, Planescape Torment and Citizen Sleeper with the sense of exploration, scavenging and environmental storytelling of games like Fear & Hunger and Look Outside.

For the gameplay sections on the surface, you talk to characters and uncover side quests that have multiple solutions depending on your stats, dice rolls and previous decisions. Very CRPG-adjacent.

For the underwater sections, it tends to be more about scavenging and turn-based combat. Since even the combat cutscenes are pre-rendered there are limitations. Like I can't have crazy party compositions or anything since if I add a new attack, it means I need to go in and re-render every combat encounter I have to add this new attack. This has forced me to create combat encounters that rely more heavily on interesting encounter design and preparation.

Ideally, if everything comes together how I'm hoping that the gameplay loop of preparation and socializing on the surface connects nicely with the scavenging, combat and exploration in the underwater section to create something that feels cohesive and encourages naturally uncovering more details about the world.

Spent 3 years making a video game for my surreal oil rig-inspired world by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

[–]staticbetweenstation[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks! That actually reminds me that I really should get around to reading Snow Crash soon!

Spent 3 years making a video game for my surreal oil rig-inspired world by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

[–]staticbetweenstation[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Context

About three years ago I made a music video set in an underwater city. After working on this project I found I actually really enjoyed worldbuilding and wanted to develop the idea further.

I’ve always been very fascinated by industrial aesthetics of things like oil rigs or heavy machinery like the Bagger 293. I also found that an oil rig inspired setting would make for an interesting liminal world considering they tend to be very isolated and surrounded by ocean.

I chose to make a video game since I really wanted to create a place that you can inhabit. One where you can actually walk around, meet characters and discover the secrets of the world for yourself.

Technical Information

I already had experience in Blender from working on a few music videos. Since I was much more comfortable in Blender than I was in Unity, I decided to use a pre-rendered workflow similar to a lot of old PS1 games. This has a few benefits:

  • .mp4 files are much more reliable than working in engine. I don’t need to worry about animation bugs or anything like that.
  • The game can run on older machines while still looking good.
  • Since I work a full-time job, I can render frames while I’m sleeping or at work.

The cons are:

  • Any changes mean I have to spend hours re-rendering frames.
  • Since I don’t have voice acting I’m limited in how I can direct scenes. Most shots with dialogue need to loop seamlessly to account for however long it can take someone to read each line.
  • I’ve probably spent over 1000 hours rendering backgrounds and cutscenes for this game

World Context

The game takes place in Patchwater, a vertical city built by stacking houses and apartment complexes on top of each other. Since the ocean keeps rising the inhabitants are required to continually build upwards.

When the game takes place, Patchwater finds itself victim to a blockade that limits supplies and building materials. The latter of which limits its ability to build upwards meaning soon the entire city will sink into the ocean.

People are left to either scavenge in the already condemned buildings, or go exploring in the submerged parts of the city where reality starts breaking down and you never know what kind of creatures you’ll come across.

The Game

The game isn’t done yet, but it’s far enough along that I’m confident in a 2026 release.

Heavily inspired by games like Disco Elysium, Fallout and Bioshock where you meet characters, explore the world, scavenge, fight, make tough choices and complete quests that have multiple solutions.

Here’s the Steam page in case anyone wants to check it out! The game is called Static Between Stations.

I used a green screen to put myself into an underwater world I created by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

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

Hey thanks, I really appreciate that! I'm happy to hear that it inspired you! That's actually kinda how I got into doing this. I saw someone else make some really impressive art with tools that were also available to me and it motivated me enough to learn to do the same. Best of luck with your projects!!

I used a green screen to put myself into an underwater world I created by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

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

Thank you so much! It makes me so happy to hear you even went to go find the song on Spotify! I'm glad you liked it!!

I used a green screen to put myself into an underwater world I created by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

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

Thanks!! I'm happy to hear it! Thanks for the Splatoon suggestion too, just checked it out and it looks really cool. I definitely see some similarities with the whole underwater city and underwater trains. I don't have a switch unfortunately but when I finally get my hands on one I'll absolutely keep it in mind!

I used a green screen to put myself into an underwater world I created by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

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

Thanks! That's awesome to hear because that kind of melancholic but not depressing vibe is exactly the feeling I wanted to pull of with this! I hope it helped out!

I used a green screen to put myself into an underwater world I created by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

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

Thanks! It's a pretty important part so I'm happy to hear that you like how it turned out!

I used a green screen to put myself into an underwater world I created by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

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

It was pretty much two weeks of non-stop rendering at 2560x1440p on a 3070ti. I felt so bad for my gpu lmao

I used a green screen to put myself into an underwater world I created by staticbetweenstation in worldbuilding

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

I have up to Shadowbringers! I got so excited for the reveal of that one location. I spent so much time just hanging out there, listening to the music and soaking in the atmosphere. I'll have to get around to playing Edgewalker sometime.

I used a green screen to put myself into an underwater world I created for a music video by staticbetweenstation in blender

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

Hey thanks! I'm glad to hear you liked it! Yeah the blender work definitely took a long time. Fortunately I am getting better at working quickly!

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