PLEASE START US OFF BY INTRODUCING YOURSELF:
Hey! My name is Winston Powell - otherwise known as Acorn Bringer - an independent game developer from Massachusetts currently working on the stylistic horror game Of Love and Eternity. I started making games in college and was fortunate enough to have been working in the industry ever since. After a while of working on larger team based projects as mainly an artist, I decided to branch out and try my hand at solo game development. Since then, I moved to Brazil to live with my then girlfriend and it wasn’t long before we got married. I’ve been here ever since learning the language and culture of Brazil as well as continuing my work as a solo game developer.
TELL US ABOUT OF LOVE AND ETERNITY.
While I didn’t start working on Of Love until I was already living in Brazil, the idea for it came to me while I was living back home in Massachusetts. At the time, my wife had returned to Brazil and we spent a year living a long distance from each other. The pain, fear, and doubt of separation was prevalent in my day-to-day and became worse as the cold winter months arrived. I remember being up late one night during this time, watching a movie alone and because of everything I was feeling, one scene in particular had a strong affect on me. The powerful music and visuals pulled out from my subconscious, tragic images of a knight come to save his love and arriving too late. From that point, I started writing the story of these two lovers, separated by death, and seeking to reunite in the afterlife.
It wouldn’t be until about a year or so later - when I was already living in Brazil - that I would revisit this story. By then, I had learned quite a lot about solo game development from my smaller projects and was eager to approach something at a larger scale. The story of Love and Eternity and my desire to create something in the horror genre seemed like a great place to start.
HOW HAS THE DEVELOPMENT JOURNEY BEEN
The path to creating Of Love has been one of lots of learning and personal challenges. While I already had a couple years of solo development under my belt and I was feeling pretty confident that I could pull it off, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. Outside of the artwork - which I created most of within the first year of development - there was the challenge of creating the cinematic 3D third-person adventure horror game that I set out to create. Each of those five elements brings with them their own set of challenges which, when brought together only became more complex.
Because of this complexity, I set out to first create a simplified vertical slice / proof of concept demo. Making a playable demo allowed me to quantify and create most of the game’s functional needs in addition to having something nice to share with people after so long of keeping the game to myself. While releasing the demo was a really exciting and proud moment for me, it unfortunately marked one of the most difficult times in my life.
Around that same time, my mom died of cancer and left our whole family feeling lost. In my case, I began finding it harder and harder to focus on my game and ultimately put it aside to figure things out. I remember having this growing paranoia about my own death and the safety of my loved ones during this time and working on a project with such morbid themes wasn’t helping. It’s hard to say because that whole time is pretty much a blur to me, but I imagine I took a year or two away from the game. There were definitely moments when I felt I had abandoned the game altogether but it never managed to leave my mind completely.
The guilt of leaving behind such a passion project of mine eventually outweighed my own personal fears and I set back out to finish the game. Since then, I’ve been working away on a redesigned and rescoped version and I’m finally - after all these years - seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. While there’s surely plenty more work left to be done, I’m more confident now in the final project and eagerly await its completion.
WHICH GAME ENGINE DID YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
Ever since my time in college, I have been making games with Unity so it was really the only game engine I was familiar with. I think anyone who uses Unity can admit that despite everything, the engine itself - though pretty limited by today's standards - is very well structured and intuitive. It puts very little in the way between creator and creation and I always found this a very welcoming trait of the software.
On top of that, when I started the project there weren’t as many options for visual scripting solutions as there are now. Actually, one of the main reasons I began my solo dev journey was because I learned about a unique plugin for Unity that would allow me to script without writing code called PlayMaker. There must have been other options out there at the time but this was the first time I had ever heard of such a thing so I tried it out and immediately fell in love with it.
Within my first year of using the plugin, I felt like an expert and was making things happen on my computer that I never imagined I would be able to do alone. I quickly felt all these doors opening in my mind and started dreaming of the different games I could make. One of those games being Of Love and Eternity - which is mostly scripted in Unity using the PlayMaker plugin.
WHAT'S BEEN YOUR BIGGEST DEVELOPMENT HURDLE SO FAR?
This being very much a learning experience for me, there have been loads of hurdles I’ve had to overcome, but the largest I would say has been game design and scope. Having an artist’s approach to making the game, I had a bunch of visuals I knew I wanted to include but left the design that would tie them all together until last. This led to me having a lot of content demands and very few ideas of what the player was actually meant to do in the game. This problem has been made no more clearer than the player’s response to the demo release where it is often referred to as a pretty walking simulator.
Problems like these aren’t so easily fixed this late into development but after taking my long break, I came back to the project with a new plan. While I don’t think the game will ever be that much more than a casual walking simulator, I’ve made additions and changes to its scope and design to add more interest to the gameplay. Despite my efforts and the much improved state of the gameplay, most players probably won’t find what they're looking for in this game. But the few that can appreciate the atmosphere, visuals, and story should have plenty to keep them invested until the very end.
ADVICE FOR FELLOW DEVS?
For anyone out there looking to start or have already started their own game project, one of the most valuable things I learned making this game is the importance of planning. Because there was very little plan when I started, I’m now paying for it with convoluted internal systems and weak game design. Before I even start my next project, I’ll be sure to have all the mechanics and features mapped out. This way, when it comes time to implement everything, I should know how it all connects internally as well as have a much stronger starting point for what the gameplay will look like.
ANY FINAL THOUGHTS?
Thanks so much for reading and a big thanks to Rob from GameDev Journey for reaching out and letting me share about my game!
-Winston
❤️
