Team Ugly is a studio or workshop, as we prefer to name it, shaped by 4 entrepreneurs and builders blinded by the romanticism of the indie recreation world. It all began greater than 5 years in the past when Gerard Singuerlin, the primary stray bullet of this story, was trying to rework some serviette drawings right into a online game.
This man along with his head within the clouds went on to have his first assembly with a programmer however, even with plenty of preliminary enthusiasm, Ugly didn’t go ahead… The concepts weren’t sufficient to drive the sport’s growth, and the encounter ended as a failed try, with Gerard stuffing his napkins in his pocket. He saved dreaming whereas his coronary heart sank as he toiled away as an animator for a mega-commercial F2P recreation.
One day the skies stopped being so grey, and Gerard attracted the eye of one other programmer – David. He noticed in him one other alternative to convey his concepts out to create one thing. This new duo clicked, and the technician’s obsession with squaring the circle helped the indomitable artist, and little by little, they started to develop the primary prototype.
The central mechanic of the sport is a mirror, and the sport stars a prince who’s as ugly as a potato. Using the mirror, gamers can create a replica of the prince, who, properly, mirrors your whole actions. This mechanic was expanded and allowed for a wide range of puzzles to unravel. When platforming mechanics had been launched, the sport started to turn into very addictive. Designing the mirror mechanics and determining all of the potential methods the mirror might be used was a vital step within the course of.
In addition to the mirror mechanic, one other key component to fixing puzzles is gathering keys. There had been now two principal mechanics to the puzzle design. When the mechanics had been applied, we might see how enjoyable they had been working in tandem. Next, we targeted on the sport’s story and lore. We additionally knew we needed to focus on round 5 or 6 hours of gameplay, and we needed the artists to concentrate on the small print in every room. The recreation depends on plenty of visible cues, so every room deserved plenty of consideration to element. Before beginning manufacturing with the entire crew, we determined that solely the very best degree designs would survive. We began playtesting and picked out essentially the most enjoyable puzzle rooms, then labored on the storyline.
The recreation and crew behind it was coming collectively, and the clouds round Gerard’s head dissipated, regardless that an vital piece was nonetheless lacking. Gerard and David weren’t accustomed to – and even comfy with – pitching their recreation to get funding, nor did they even understand how a lot growth would price. They fulfilled the previous stereotype of introverted recreation builders with little need to place themselves on the market. They had higher relationships with Unity and Photoshop than with actual folks. Plus, there have been too many fingers lacking to have the ability to rework this little recreation into one thing achievable.
That’s after I, Rita Fortuny, got here into the image. At coronary heart I’m an artist, however on the time I used to be working as a venture supervisor and artwork director for an e-learning firm. I left every thing behind, traded in my excessive heels for some trainers, and my enterprise jackets for a Crash Bandicoot t-shirt. Now my passion had turn into my career! I might assist with portray backgrounds, making logos, main the communication. I took the function of the front-woman, and I talked about Ugly in all of the locations that I might probably consider. We obtained plenty of recognition and managed to enter a enterprise incubation programme (Game BCN). After that, we already knew the scope of the sport, and subsequent can be speaking to publishers to get funding. We had a plan. And what I all the time say is: Better to have a foul plan than no plan in any respect. I used to be the one driving that plan.
During the pre-production part, a glow appeared on the highway to launch. We thought it was a star or perhaps a treasure chest to be opened. In reality, it was Jaime Vicente, an artist, and the subsequent member to affix the crew. I’ve by no means met somebody so distinctive in my life – he’s a kind of individuals who sees the potential of an overflowing glass in an empty glass (or perhaps he doesn’t even see the glass in any respect, however a ravishing unicorn). It was the sensibility that we wanted. Ugly didn’t have any visible results (VFX), no fancy lighting – it was lacking that particular glow. Now with Jaime’s inclusion, we had been able to tackle the massive number of duties at hand.
Oh, however yet another factor. Money. We didn’t have it but. At this stage, every thing we did got here out of our personal blood, sweat, tears, and pockets. Then David, our engineer, left the venture. Time was tight, I used to be dwelling on financial savings and so was Gerard. Team Ugly was 3 artists with a failed plan proper now. But the battle shouldn’t be misplaced when you don’t hand over.
We managed to boost some cash with the prizes we received in indie contests and used that to pay a brand new programmer to assist us crystallize a demo. But then he left, rightly so, as we… had no cash once more.
We put out a name for programmers as soon as extra, and it was Francesc Porta who replied, coming to save lots of us all from bugs! He was simply as keen about indie video games as we had been. He was a programmer, however he had an absolute empathy and understanding for artists, and he additionally performed music in a band. He began debugging and iterating mechanics with Gerard continuous. Franc had an unimaginable symbiosis with us.
And unexpectedly, our pitching to publishers paid off. We met and signed a contract with Graffiti Games to publish the sport. With their assist, we had been lastly going to make it occur. We might fortunately feed ourselves and dwell quietly whereas we end the event of Ugly.
From that second on every thing turned simpler. Composers joined the venture in addition to an audio crew (Jan Fité, Andre Nascimbeni and Pau Busquet). A crew of unimaginable artists (Nerea AAAA, Miriam Miriam Ocaña, Nerea Cano, Javi Roldán, Javi Chaler and Manel Soto) joined the ranks to assist out. The crew was full, and the sport was rising and getting higher each week.
With a plan and the very best teammates we might think about, we spent the subsequent 12 months ending the sport and, now that we’re about to hit launch day, we’re so excited for players to expertise all of the exhausting work and love that went into making Ugly.
Ugly involves Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One on September 14.
Ugly
Graffiti Games
$19.99
$17.99
In this darkish and twisted fairytale, nothing is because it appears. Explore the desolated recesses of a tormented nobleman’s thoughts as you progress by way of difficult puzzle rooms and topple towering bosses on this reflective puzzle platformer.
Use an progressive mirror mechanic to create a shadowy reflection of your self which you can swap locations with to unravel puzzles and make your manner round this depraved place filled with secrets and techniques and awash in tragedy. It will take logic and talent alike to outlive this perilous journey of self-reflection.
A deeply stirring narrative is ready to be found as you try to untangle the cobwebs obscuring your previous. The mirror reveals all…however beware. Sometimes, the reality is ugly.
