DEVLOG#14 – I am part of Ascender and I am an intern…

Dear Ascenderians,

My code name is Fire, I am actually an intern in GameChanger team. I started working with them in september and within a few weeks my internship term will be finished. I wanted to share you my experience before and after joining the team as 2D Artist.

Experiencing the industry is probably one of the biggest thing that haunts me since high school. There are a lot of questions such as whether I will be a good contributor to the society, will my work is useful or meaningful for others? Can I working cooperatively with others? Will my work can support myself and support my family?

 

Let’s eat together ( I am the one with black and red boxed shirt)

I see that there are a lot of gold opportunity for me and strive to improve my skill and expand mu knowledge. And one of the biggest part of university life (especially at the final year) is internship, it is also a requirement from my university to have it.

At this point, I am not confident with my self since there are some subjects from the university that I am not good at. At first, I am also confused to pick my specialization whether it is 2D or 3D. I started to postpone my plan for internship in the beginning of the year and try to add more portfolio. Since then, I decided to focus on my 2D skill of digital painting and manual illustration. I see most of my friends have finished their final projects and internship while I am still confused to decide when to start internship.

Gambreng Games (Part of GameChanger Team) is recommended by my friend Willi who have work there previously. The studio is also focused with 2D art. Aside from Willi experience, I also know two of the founders Amethyst and Ruby who has inspired me to try developing game. Amethyst is also the founder of game development club in my campus. Gambreng Games has also have a good track record with winning or nominated in gmae awards for both national and international. I have a chance to attend Gambreng Games second birthday and pursue more information regarding internship opportunity. Unfortunately, Gambreng Games is not opening internship this year. My optimism has shatterred because I have to find other place for internship, even though from my interaction with them has greatly increased my interest working with Gambreng Games.

 

Sometimes I slept while working…

On August, my prayer has been answered. Amber the art director of Gambreng called me 10 in the morning but I don’t pick it up since I am still asleep. I try to contact him back, and he offer me to be part of GameChanger team. With no hesitation I accept the offer and on Saturday I go to the studio to meet Amethyst and Ruby for further interview.

When I first join, Ascender is on the process of polishing the prototype. Before I take part of it I was tasked to create the concept art of Rajumla city. It is the first challenge because the concept art of other city is highly complex with varied perspective. But I try to learn on how to draw it. Since the task is not quite successful, I was asked to develop the dynamic environment of prototype.

My Close Up while working with tiara on my head

Once again, I am hesitated because I haven’t doe it before but I keep experimenting with what I have made before. I made mistakes here and there and finally my work is implemented in the game. Slow but sure my confidence has grown, it completely risen when I was tasked to create a cut scene for Ascender opening. For me the task is even bigger than what I have done before. I rarely create a satisfying 2D animation, even thought I am not very confident with the result but everybody is satisfied with my work. It is one of my best achievement.

 

Preparation for The Booth (Again with the shirt)

While in Gambreng, I learn a lot of new and not usual daily stuff. I need to hone my skills and work tempo in finishing the task based on the timeline and need to broaden my imagination with my assets. I need to consult with my colleague to find the best fit assets for the game. I also be part some of the biggest gaming and ICT event in Indonesia such as INAICTA, COMPFEST and GDG Prime 2015. I promote the game to a lot of people and I am really happy that eople enjoy the game. In making games, of course there will be problem, tension and obstacle in it. I enjoy my adventure with GameChanger team, I learn a lot !!! A Good Luck for all of them…

Regards,

Fire

DEVLOG#13 – Grabbing the second place with Day and Night ?

Hello fellow Ascenderians,

Happy day for us in Ascender’s headquarters. We have just received another great achievement **yeay** We have just become the runner up of Game Categiry in Industry Creative Festival or INCREFEST 2015 in Bandung, Indonesia. The festival is held by ministry of industry of Indonesia.

We become Runner Up of INCREFEST 2015

Just like in GDG, we met with a lot of great game developers around the country. They also come home with great achievement. Wisageni Studio who received the first position and Raion Studio that placed third. Also two amazing studios madfal and miracle gates which respectively got fourth and fifth place.

On board with Raion and Wisageni

At the event, the biggest thing that we share is the unveiling of day and night mechanism within the game. This feature is related to a lot of elements of quest in the game and create a new dynamic within the game. Not only quest, some power up will also be more useful at certain time of the day **hint: it includes the usage of light**

The day and night will also be visually implemented within the game but it is only the beginning of something truly big. The concept of gameplay will involve a lot in using light. It will be part of awesome puzzle that Ascender will have in the game. I won’t share a lot about this because it deserve a blog of its own.

day and night mech

We use day and night to give a sense of time progression within the game which greatly immersive for exploration games. It also related to soon to be implemented mechanism called gardening **yes, you can raise a tree and other plant :)**

We think that INCREFEST 2015 will be the last event we participate this year. We are now currently very focused on brewing for an alpha that will be released on December.  We will be releasing it to limited person at the beginning *hint.. subscribe through our web* and will open it for public within few days. Hopefully everything will be ready and I can’t wait to hear your input regarding Ascender: The Game.

 

Regards,

Amethyst

DEVLOG#12 – Ascender Jazz Up The Biggest Game Event in Indonesia

We were invited to attend Game Developer Gathering (GDG) Prime, which is the biggest event attended by hundreds of game developers across Indonesia. All of the studios were showing off the best game they made, whether it has been released or was still in development, to the thousands of visitors. So, it has been a pleasure to us and we are very happy to be in this event. It took a whole month of preparation to make Ascender’s showcase all out.

Three weeks before the event, we setted up some Ascender merchandise bundles with flash disk, mouse pad, and soundtrack CD inside each of it. Appreciating all Ascenderians who already enthusiastically responded our masterpiece and can’t hardly wait for the release version, is our intention in making this bundle.

Ascender Merchandise Bundle for Ascenderians in GDG Prime

The fans were interested in ordering this bundle, though most of them are our friends, hehehe. There’s one funny story regarding this matter when a junior high school who lives in a rural area ordered the bundle because he likes Ascender so much! The problem is he didn’t have any bank account, nor did he knew how to send an electronic payment. The only mean of payment that he knew is money order via post office, which none of us were really familiar of!

We were shocked and moved by this kid. We decided to just send the bundle for our little fan. It is really precious for us, a small studio that has just freshly started to build fan base, considering what this boy had shown, the appreciation, the zest and the interest. Thank you Ascenderians!

We began by preparing Ascender’s booth. By 8 AM, the booth hasn’t finished, yet some visitors had already demanded to play our Ascender’s Prototype! Our booth was always crowded in the whole day, we didn’t get a slightest chance to rest in order to accompany Ascenderians playing our game. We also held a contest to find an in-game Easter egg that specially purposed for this event only.

I think these images are enough in describing the crowd and the gusto in our booth! Check this out folks!

The GameChanger Girls Gankz

Back Pose of Our Boys Gankz

GameChanger Team in Front of The Booth

Limbless Ocean and Her Imposter.

Ascenderians Guys Playing and Watching Ascender

The Artist Guiding Ascender Gameplay

Ascenderians is Trying Prototype

Our Creative Director Watching a Publisher Guy Trying Our Prototype

Ascenderian Couple Took a Photo in Our Booth

First Trio Took a Photo with B.RO

Second Trio Took a Photo with Dolopo Background

We conlude that this event is AWESOMELY CRAZY!!!

The expression of countless people who tried our game can’t be described in words. It really boosted our spirit up to finish Ascender and bring crowds across the world and even the galaxy to enjoy Sky’s enigmatic journey with sweet Ocean! Once again thank you so much Ascenderians!!