Letter from the Developer
This month, Jane has decided to let me introduce you to Gray Matter from the developer’s point of view, so I’ll be your host. I’m Dinga Bakaba, game designer at Wizarbox, the studio responsible for the development, artistic direction, and game design on Gray Matter. As you know if you have been following the game’s history, we have only recently had the opportunity to work on the game. We really loved what we have discovered, the characters, the story, the setting… And we were more than eager to do our best to improve on what has been done so far. I’ll try to give you guys a glimpse as to what our main philosophy is in developing Gray Matter.
At first, not everybody was aware of the scope of the game, and its other unique characteristics. As every other Jane Jensen game, Gray Matter is a very story and character driven adventure. The puzzles, while good, are not the main focus, they serve the story and are integrated to it, like “that’s exactly what I would do myself in that case” type of puzzles. This might seem obvious for the Gabriel Knights veterans, but the adventure scene have seen over the years many games with a heavy emphasis on puzzles over story.
With this in mind, we decided to go back to the story, and immerse ourselves in Jane’s universe and vision. The first thing that occurred to us was that Jane was very precise in the kind of feeling and mood she wants: the game is, as she puts it: “Gothic Romantic”. To decode that, we first isolated the different themes in the story and worked on them separately, and then tried to blend it all together harmoniously.
The gothic architecture of the setting, the stage magic imagery, the paranormal/parascience world, the haunted manor, and some other strange and cool themes are explored in the story. And we felt that the existing visual design, while cool, lacked some soul and punch. So we added a dark and mysterious element in most of the backgrounds. We tried to make each and every single one intriguing, unique, beautiful, and worth exploring.
Then there were the characters. As you have read in the preceding word from Jane, she likes to put a lot of polish and care in crafting her characters. For the same reason, we decided to rework a bit of the character’s design to get more expressive, unique, and engaging characters. Take a look at the “before after” character design of Harvey’s (oops, I’m giving hints on last month’s guessing game).
From a game design perspective however, there was not very much to change. We are implementing the gameplay trying to stay very true to the author’s vision. The interface was completely redesigned though, to be consistent with the artistic direction. We see Gray Matter (and video games in general for that matter) as a complete package where all elements blend in to form a fully coherent experience, so we try not to neglect any aspect of the game.
Of course, it is not always “la vie en rose” on Gray Matter. We faced and are still facing a lot of challenges. It is not easy to take over such a high profile game. We are trying to both stay in continuity and to raise the quality of the experience you are about to take part in. Oh, and then there’s one challenge our team has to face, but I can’t talk to you about that just yet… A magician should never reveal his tricks, remember?
Also, the title on the game will say “Jane Jensen’s Gray Matter”. So if you are wondering, yes, it’s her game, it’s her baby, even if we (and other companies) are working on it. She follows the game’s development closely; she takes part in the decisions, and continually shares her creative vision.
I must say that I’m really eager to see how Gray Matter will be received by you: the gamers, both old time fans and newcomers. We have put our hearts in our part of the development, and are very pleased with the first feedback from the artworks. We are following closely your reactions on the forums and on this blog and we really want to deliver a game that you’ll love and remember.
November 21st, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Beautifull! Nice work! I hope to play the game soon and to see some real screenshots too.
November 21st, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Thanks for the update! Your words are very reassuring: I’m sure we all want a full-fledged Jane Jensen game and I’m glad to hear that the game is coming along well. The new art is amazing: the garden, particularly, already sent a shiver down my spine! I can’t wait to see more screenshots and artworks! My best wishes to the project!
Oh, and your hint to the challenge you can’t yet speak about totally entices me!
November 21st, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I’m tremendously excited to hear about the way in which the Wizarbox team are approaching on all aspects of Gray Matter. Jane Jensen’s fans love her creations as much as she does, and so hearing about this integrated approach to making the game beautifully and perfectly convey Jane’s vision in all its mist-laden luxuriousness is very encouraging.
Many fans have felt left out of the loop - disappointed by the lack of news and the long delay - but they have all agreed the wait will be worth it, once we have this game in our hands.
“Gothic Romantic” is exactly the sort of ambience one gets from Jane’s games.
Thank you so much for taking the time to write about this. It gives the adventure game community an infusion of hope like the warm kick of a small glass of Grand Marnier.
November 21st, 2008 at 6:08 pm
[...] Jane Jensen recently asked a developer named Dinga Bakaba over at WizarBox to write a little bit about the developer view point on the creation of Gray Matter over at the Gray Matter blog. And when I say “a little bit”, I mean he wrote a whole BUNCH of information about developing the new Jane Jensen game. [...]
November 21st, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Thank you very much for this well-written post. It is really heartening to hear that the people making the game “get” what makes Jane’s games special. I remember being surprised when I heard the puzzles in some GK games were considered “easy,” because while playing the games it hadn’t even crossed my mind how easy or hard the puzzles were….I was too absorbed in the story, and the puzzles all naturally flowed from the story…the games are so immersive that that I actually find it difficult to judge one aspect of them. As I think of this it seems more and more surprising to me–because with other adventure games, even great ones that I love, I can easily judge the separate aspects.
There are other great adventure games I can think of where the puzzles, while part of the story, can easily be taken by themselves and examined. I would say maybe one reason the GK games feel different is because she does not drag her characters all over the world, something that can feel like such an artificial way to say “See, the story is moving forward! New location means new puzzles!” — but you end up doing the same, obviously placed puzzles in different and often arbitrary-feeling settings.
In GK games, you are not constantly confronting “physical” obstacles such as “I need to go in this building but the guard won’t let me in, I need to figure out the combination for this door” — but rather the story develops around you even though you are in the same areas as time passes, and the puzzles naturally grow out of the changing questions and circumstances. I’d compare it to running a physical obstacle course in a straight line, constantly hitting walls, versus something more mental and circular, if that makes sense…you are surrounded by the story.
November 21st, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Whow, that looks awful!
November 21st, 2008 at 7:58 pm
damn, of course i mean awesome!
sorry
November 21st, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Not to worry, Maik! Awful originally meant the same as awesome: inspiring awe. That assessment definitely fits this design philosophy.
November 21st, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I can only be looking forward to this game. It’s rather incredible that the 3D rendering of the garden shown is way better than the 2D concept art. Usually it’s the other way round.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:27 pm
[...] 21, 2008 Jane Jensen - she of the old “Gabriel Knight” adventure games of yore, has been working on a new project called Grey Matter. Basically, a bunch of college kids at a place called “Dread Hill House” - yeah, [...]
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:38 am
Maik, Freudian slip if ever there was one, LOL [=
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:03 pm
And thank you guys yet again for this entry!
It shows that you take your work with all the seriousness and care it deserves, kudos! I wish you all the best in the making of this most intriguing and anticipated of games in the not so recent history.
Cheers,
TC,
Israel.
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Wow it looks good, really good! Thanks for the nice update! Cant wait to play lol!!
November 25th, 2008 at 9:54 am
That’s the right idea : games based on story and characters. Although the ending is very important too : it must be satisfying too. Gabriel Knight sins of the fathers is the perfect example : each scenery, each charachter was interesting on his own ; The voices fits perfectly with the characters, the music of each place was great. It’s not 3-D what makes a game interesting.
I’m eager to by your game and hope it isn’t delayed again.
November 26th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
kudos for the post!
“the game is, as she puts it: “Gothic Romantic”. To decode that, we first isolated the different themes in the story and worked on them separately, and then tried to blend it all together harmoniously.”
Wow, credit to you guys there, from a writing perspective, that is very painstaking to do. But, from an artistic perspective, that’s probably a lot more fun and flexible. Still, my hat is off to you guys there, I’m sure it took many hours to do all that. It’s nice to see Jane and you guys are a perfectionist ^_^.
OH, ABOVE ALL:
THANK GOD you guys are concentrating on the story. If I have to play one more Agatha Christie ‘find 25 things starting with F to move on” type of game, I’ll explode! Everywhere! Like a bomb of frowny faces went off!
November 27th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
this sounds amazing. I can’t wait to finally play the game. I’m sure it’ll be worth the wait!
December 14th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I’m really excited to hear there is still a lot of energy going into it. My advice would be to take your time and perfect. We have been waiting for years and another year won’t hurt. It’s better to have an engagid, full-fledged story than just another run off the mill-adventure. I’ve seen loads of them these past years.
January 10th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Hi Dinga, I’m thrilled about Gray Matter being released. If it’s ok with Jane and yourself please would you realease the minimum and recommended system requirements for the game? Keep up the good work - Jane’s watching you! LoL
All the best for 2009!
Take care
January 19th, 2009 at 1:39 am
At last. The stale and damp air of my crypt which has been tightly shut since I was torn away from the warm embrace of Jane Jensens stories about the Schattenjäger, that air has finally carried a scent of freshness, of roses, of springtime, to my withered and dried up nostrils, and persuaded me to take, finally, after oh such a long time, a breath, filling what is left of those mouldy and shrunken sacks in my chest cavity with this new air, filling me like liquid fire, and giving me just enough to lift the lid of my coffin and rise up from my resting place, to make my way to the entrance and push open that barrier between me and the world of the living. At last.
February 28th, 2009 at 12:13 am
Hi,
I just heard about Gray Matter by Jane Jensen and I am so excited. These days it is hard to find something good to play, especially an adventure. Thanks for such great news, I keep my fingers crossed.
Rinu, little nostalgic fan from a small country named Czech Republic (That’s the reason of my weird grammar, after all :))