February 2025
We're super stoked to announce that we have officially begun production on the Verticle Slice of Hine!
Concept art for Hine and her bestie, Ravini
Our small team of three has grown to six as we've brought on a super-talented programmer - Ludmila, and two awesome technical artists, Dorren and Naomi.
Just in time too - we're going to need to make a lot of art assets as we've committed to a 2.5D style.
Our first sprint in production is focused on developing our brewing mechanic.
We've decided to focus on this first as it's a core part of Hine's powers - she travels the land, foraging for ingredients to brew soothing teas and healing potions for the people and land. We want to get this brewing system to a polished, playable mini-game by the end of this sprint. It'll sever as our "gold standard" for everything else in the game going forward.
We're focusing on making this experience as immersive and cosy as possible. This has meant deciding to forgo menus and pop-ups that might break players' immersion. Instead, we're focusing on making this experience intuitive - and fun! We want to encourage players to experiment and be surprised and delighted.
With some rough prototypes produced already, we're excited by the potential of our little brewing system.
We've also started reaching out to musicians we can work with to create a unique soundscape for Hine, combining Māori, Hindustani and Western musical traditions. It's fair to say, production is full steam ahead!
That's all for now! We'll keep you posted on our progress.
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