Author Archives: Gratian

Rendering Fear Redux – Project Announcement

The Rendering Fear project is not all abandoned – but the old version will not suit my needs anymore, for what I’ve planned with the game. Instead – I will create a redux version for it – to have it tell the story of the Rendering Fear universe. A dark, fantasy tale to unfold.

Skar City – Cyberpunk Warehouse Level Design

I’ve created a new level design assignment – trying to create a futuristic / cyberpunk style warehouse, using Unreal Engine 4. Also I’ve included in the level my new song called “Bad Implants”.

This is a project meant to reflect texturing, lighting and geometrical design work.

The Dying Oak Tree – Project Announcement

Prömov Ducat. Polova. 1328.

The peaceful lives of the peasants here are about to change. A series of unfortunate events and the people not understanding them will seal the fate of many.

A family established at the outskirts of this little town, will face the wrath of the entire community.

Innocence or guilt? Punishment or forgiveness? Life or death?

Read this letter under… The Dying Oak Tree.

Skar City – Project Announcement

I somewhat obsess about the cyberpunk / vaporwave culture.

The neon language of a bleak future, an advance technological movement set in a decaying society.

Corruption, violence and a glowing spark of innovation. A corporation set to rule the entire world and the people opposing it.

Skar City will be a light novel that I am writing. Along with the text, I am preparing a few level design assignments, some artworks and soundtracks to create the world of Skar City. A world dominated by greed, augmentations and people fighting back the oppressions.

The first level design assignment is finished. Take a glimpse at the City of Skar, the ever-changing metropolis.

Lands Of Gnora [4/30] – Thel’Aghaz Caves

The “Lands Of Gnora” project consists of a collection of 30 level design assignments – in which I am creating 3D environments related to the fictional universe of Gnora.

The fourth assignment is the scene of the Thel’Aghaz Caves.

Built with Unity.

ATOM 2 – Project Announcement

My first video-game project ATOM has reached more than 12200 individuals. For an experiment of learning the Unreal Engine, I’d say that the game made a pretty impressive score.

So I thought that I should use some of my spare time to create another game set in the A Tale Of Madness universe. ATOM 2 will be my next video-game project. This time, all the mechanics will be built using Unity.

Prepare for more evil and madness because ARIA Corporation returns. Below you can see the announcement trailer I’ve compiled up.

Lands Of Gnora [3/30] – Kayan Farmlands Redux

The “Lands Of Gnora” project consists of a collection of 30 level design assignments – in which I am creating 3D environments related to the fictional universe of Gnora.

The third assignment is the scene of the Kayan Farmlands.

Built with Unity.

Lands Of Gnora [2/30] – Outskirts Of Kel’Thaz Redux

The “Lands Of Gnora” project consists of a collection of 30 level design assignments – in which I am creating 3D environments related to the fictional universe of Gnora.

The second assignment is the scene of the Outskirts Of Kel’Thaz.

Built with Unity.

Lands Of Gnora [1/30] – Lower Vulnik Canyons

The “Lands Of Gnora” project consists of a collection of 30 level design assignments – in which I am creating 3D environments related to the fictional universe of Gnora.

The first assignment is the scene of the Lower Vulnik Canyons.

Built with Unity.

SCP-1107-Delta

SCP-1107-Delta is part of the [DARK:CODE] fictional stories. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Item #: SCP-1107-Delta

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Studies showed that Anomaly can be contained in any large space made entire of concrete walls. The humidity in the cold concrete reduces the possibility of having its micro-cells multiply and travel across dry portions of low-atmosphere. 

Since its usage wasn’t permitted before – nobody knows exactly what happens to the human body once it enters the gates of teleportation. Nor it is known how many times an organic structure can be held together after being ruptured and reconstructed.

Also, thousands of hours of footage revealed that sometimes distorted screams seem to emanate from the vicinity of Anomaly. 

Another required and suggested technique to keep Anomaly from traversing the barriers of spatial and momentum sequences is to have a relatively large number of object in the vicinity of it – empty spaces seems to induce XoC-02 rays that determine how Anomaly can manifest itself in the time-space continuum.

Description: SCP-1107-Delta, also known as “Anomaly” is a microfibrous asynthetic mineral that resembles plasmatic cryo-fiber – holding the potential of teleportation. 

Discovered in September 1999 by Dr. Richard Gruwe while excavating one of the ancient Khalladi tombs in Peru. Note: Addendum 1107-Delta-2 reveals Dr. Gruwe’s diary logs related to the discovery of the tombs and their content.

Initially perceived as a single unit of mineral and catalogued as Site Delta Retrieval no. 11-07, in contact with oxygen and mainly exposed to carbon dioxide and the CS2 formula, SCP-1107-Delta is capable of changing its structure and multiplication. 

And by multiplication – we mean that instances of the substance appeared in several locations, across 200 square feet, only being visible at certain moments and within a short radius from its nucleotide. 

It is believed that Anomaly has an organic structure, permitting it to devour the atoms of subjects that enter its gates of mono-synchronous transmission. Also it has been discovered through a series of ARIA V2 tests that it radiates large quantities of radio-waves. 

Nobody could establish what exactly it is transmitted but it is firmly believed that Anomaly is a gate-way to another dimension, making it invaluable.

Through a further series of ARIA V3 and V5 tests – it has been concluded that the human DNA is a blocker for its radio-waves – which allows humans to remain for larger periods of time near Anomaly.

A Global Governamental Force has been established in order to prioritize the study of SCP-1107-Delta.

A new series of laws now permit the usage of Anomaly. Someone has to discover what lies beyond its micro-cell barriers. 

Addendum 1107-Delta-1: Excerpt from “A Case-Study of Anomaly” by Dr. Richard Gruwe.

It came to my attention that it has been recorded a 2.0866 seconds sound variation while video-investigating Anomaly. The cameras were put up 3 weeks ago, almost to the day, in order to have footage of Anomaly manifesting itself. A plasmatic, ghastly substance continuously moving in a 360° quantum-arc – engaging with our atmosphere and at times, having a behavior similar to the distant, enigmatic black holes. 

The sound variation occurred on the 23rd of September at 06.09 AM. Tempering with the audio file, increasing its volume and clearing up the background noise – the clearer version of it seems to be a sort of voice screaming. 

I am more concerned with what it can be heard other than the fact that this came from this unknown Anomaly. It is a male voice. It says “Save Yourselves. Repent.” in an old forgotten Inca dialect. Could it be that we disturbed some native ancestors of the people who sealed up the tomb? Intriguing and disturbing at the same time. I keep looking at this exponate and I get cold shivers.

Addendum 1107-Delta-2: Excerpt from Dr. Richard Gruwe’s 1999 diary logs.

06 September – An entire summer without any success. Only hard work and hoping that something might reveal itself to us and see the light of the Sun again. Inti is not pleased with us. The weather getting cold, only depressed us even more. We are all tired. We still dig and dig and find nothing.

07 September – Brian and Jocelyn left for Mexico today. The others look at me with tired eyes and I can see on their faces they want to leave as well. I try to take an afternoon nap and I find myself dreaming of an empty cold chamber. Suddenly I can’t breathe. I woke up to the sound of jungle birds and dissipated chatter. And a distant thunder.

08 September – The villages near us got flooded. We are now in danger. The site accumulates water more rapidly than we can drain it. I’ve been soaked for hours now. Luckily it wasn’t so cold today, so we could try and save the site. Still it has been re-shaped.

09 September – The mud washed up and from afar, Toryamo saw a block that seemed man-made. Thank Heavens and the Inti God. It is a crypt, a buried tomb, a lost hope for us. We will start digging immediately. Everyone’s eager to see if we found something of value here.

10 September – We managed to open the tomb. A suffocating, ancient cloud of dust greeted us. When we first shed light into the empty chamber we could only see stone columns and decayed wood. We decided that we should enter and explore further. One step into the cold chamber and I felt like stepping into another reality. It must be really old. 

The architecture of it is simplistic enough, the total space sums up 45 square meters. It has the form of the “T” letter with a stone cylinder sculpted in the middle. This seems to be some sort of covered well. 

Or it could have been used as an altar. In any case, the upper part of it seems to be independent from the rest of the structure, so we can try to displace it and see where it leads.

Almighty Inti and the Council of Viracocha! We found something!

It might be a gate-way to another dimension. It continuously shapes and reshapes – and it feels abstract. When we first opened up the lid from this fountain, it ascended towards us. Then it gave birth to two more. One of them swallowed all our tools. Tomiyocha wanted to touch it – but we all agreed this thing might hurt him or even worse, cause his demise. We are not sure if it is safe. One part of me wants to go through it – the other fears the evil it might contain.

11 September – We named it Anomaly. And it silently strikes fear into everyone.

[DARK:CODE]

Welcome to the [DARK:CODE] site.

This is a presentational site where you will find information about all the projects I am involved with, regarding video-game design, writing and doing conceptual art.

Being an avid gamer will always put-up-front that question: what if I was about to do my own game, write its story, set up the mechanics and let people experience it.

And this is what the entire [DARK:CODE] project is meant to do.

The whole idea of creating my own video-game had the starting point of wanting to create an interactive story – not only that you would read it – but you’ll make the decisions for the protagonist. It was meant to be a visual novel – but it became so much more different. I still plan to release a visual novel at some point – but the current period is about focusing on level design.

With quite a few projects in progress – you’ll be able to experience what I had planned for the collection of games / design assignments I will create.