As winter winds fade and spring slowly approaches, the forces of nature move steadily onwards. We on the Epsilon team wanted to take this month as an opportunity to share with you what drives our creative forces and why we put the work and effort into our project. You’ll hear from our mappers, our musician, and one of our artists and writers each. We’re also excited to share with you a sneak peak into the Epsilon Soundtrack, as well as an important update to our future update schedule.
No two developers are alike, regardless of position. Whether artist, musician, or the various other dev positions, we all have different goals with the art we create. Whether its a personal goal we strive for or a way to express those hidden passages of our soul, we wanted to share with you the reasons we do what we do, in our own words.
Chase, Mapper
Mapping isn’t always easy, and for me it’s all about having a vision of what you want and putting your all into making it. There’s no use rushing it because it’ll end up sloppy. My goal isn’t just to churn out maps but to create a world and environment that people can enjoy being in; one that flows well with gameplay and isn’t a pain to traverse. I try to give more attention to detail on my maps to achieve this.
Additionally, I want to go to school for game design, and level design is a big part of that. Mapping and working on a team hopefully gives me the experience necessary to reach that goal one day.
Arma, Mapper
I love level design in general, because it involves both a technical and artistic side. On the one hand, you’re trying to make a functional map that’s fun to explore, and on the other, you want to make it look as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
This is my creative outlet, as I can’t draw or paint, nor do I have a way with words. Give me a good level editor and I will happily visually express myself. It’s like playing with Lego to me, except that my builds are more than just something that just “looks cool” - hopefully they’re immersive, fun, and leaves you wanting more.
Crimson, Concept Artist
I’ve always viewed art as a way to express myself creatively out of the box, and I find it helps me relax, too. Epsilon has allowed me to utilise creative energy on things I love. I honestly haven’t been drawing for very long but it’s become one of my favorite hobbies. I also use my art to show others appreciation; I used to do fanart for Epsilon before even joining the team!
I love the creativity inherent within this project. Between new megas, origins, armors, and costumes, to me Epsilon brings so many unique ideas and aspects to the “concept art” side of the table.
One of the things I’ve always loved is the unique story weaved through Epsilon’s lore, and the concept art is just one string of this tapestry. I hope that the fans, through my art, will be able to have the same love and appreciation for it as I do. Visuals are very important to me in games, especially Pokémon designs and sprites, so I want to make sure it’s the highest quality I can give. My goal is for the art to enhance the player experience as they travel through Vesryn and beyond, and hopefully our fans can enjoy the art as much as I’ve enjoyed making it.
LJ, Musician
This is my first entry into the world of video game composing, and it’s been a blast so far! As a classical musician, I like to use string instruments and brass in my tracks, but also take on composition techniques like using and expanding on specific themes.
For example, there’s an “Epsilon Theme” that I’m using for this project that you will first hear in the title theme (see below). I tweak it and use it in other themes as well, sometimes obvious, sometimes not so obvious - see what other tracks you can find it in and let me know as you spot them in future tracks! I’ve had a lot of fun writing the OST for Epsilon. Since it’s going to be 99% original music, I’ve got a lot of work to do, but I’m 100% up for it!
Yesh, Writer
Writing has always been a passion of mine. Whether as a form of expression or as a way to share a world only I can see, I love the immersiveness of what I do. To me, being a storyteller is all about connecting to the readers. Epsilon has allowed me to explore newer depths to my creativity through the characters and lore, the dex entries we’ve shared and all the little extra things I hope you discover along the way.
My goal is for the story of Epsilon to resonate with the fans and for the world I’ve enjoyed creating to inspire as many people as possible to find their own creativity and share it with those around them.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this little venture into the minds of some of our developers, and we’d love to hear in the comments what your goals are in your own creative pursuits. Maybe we can even inspire each other along the way!
For our final note this month, our update schedule is changing. While we love seeing your reactions, thoughts, and theories every month to our reveals, we also want Epsilon to be fresh and new when you experience it for the first time. Going forward we’ll still share our progress, but once every two or three months instead. Make sure to follow us on our Twitter and subreddit to stay up to date!
All reside, confined evermore, until stirred.