Dark Roads




ABOUT
Four friends are lost on a dark road at night.
Bad things happen to those that are lost here.
Only through sacrifice will they survive the night.
Made for Ludum Dare 43; the theme of the jam was “sacrifices must be made”. Placed 31st for graphics out of approximately 4000 entries.
Design Chat
Challenges:
Creating endearing characters players can somewhat identify with and will care about within a short amount of time.
Communicating to players that the characters are in peril; putting players in a setting without much context.
Artistic Vision for the Road Ahead
For the game’s visual style, I gathered inspiration from Darkest Dungeon, Borderlands, and Mike Mignola’s works as I felt that the style of heavy lines with an almost cel-shaded look would enhance the tone of the written passages and bring our setting to life. Colours are not saturated and kept muted to bring about feelings of grimness.
A Colourful Cast in a Bleak Setting
I had a blast designing the characters in Dark Roads! Our team wanted believable human characters whose personalities have been affected by their situation. Thus, characters have a distinct individual aesthetic that reflects their personality; no-nonsense Kate, heart-of-gold Rudd, sweet doll Wren, and sensitive “dude-bro” Elijah.
Tools

TEAM
Del Nordlund
Sebastian Scaini
Patrick Flattery
Reilly MacKay
Jay Menominee
James Pratt