Key Artwork by Nightmargin.
<aside> 🌧️ - Role: Designer, Programmer, Assistant Producer
</aside>
Kickstarter Launch Trailer, storyboarded by Nightmargin, with animation from Carlos Schvepper and editing by GIRakaCHEEZER. I assisted with trailer production, direction and gameplay footage recording.
I contributed game design, production assistance, and systems/content implementation in the team’s engine of choice, GameMaker Studio 2. I also spearhead the community management and promotion for the project, including its massively successful Kickstarter campaign, which raised 212k USD (and was funded in the first four hours).
MARGIN OF THE STRANGE is a farming-themed mystery adventure from the team behind prolific RPG Maker classic “OneShot”, where the player, as Ling, explore surreal dreamscapes, makes friends, and cultivates a garden with the intent of uncovering the mysteries around both the world and his own life.
<aside> ⚠️ As I cannot share my work on this project publicly, any requests to see visual examples of my work must be presented via direct contact (Discord, Linkedin, or Email).
</aside>
I worked on the implementation of this environment, placing the assets in-game and creating functional collision and properties.
Faced with the challenges of trying to design a top-down adventure game with mechanics beyond the scope of what RPG Maker can efficiently achieve, I was tasked with a team of other programmers to build a new foundation for the project meant to succeed the director’s previously critically acclaimed release. Working on this project was a dream come true - but also came with many challenges!
I worked on various engineering tasks, from UI implementation to Build Assembly, but I’m most proud of my work on the game’s core audio functionality, which allowed for basic (but effective) functions for enabling/disabling multiple tracks within a single song, as well as laying the foundations for easily implementing audio options and differentiating sound files by “music”, “sound design”, and “ambience”.
I also helped implement dialogue with the use of a external dialogue engine, GOSSIP 2 by joe-aqq, and initially built the Notion workflow that the project’s director and co-producer uses for organization. In addition, I helped with handling Steam store platform submission for the project.
I helped break down the systems that would eventually become this game’s mystery styled board.
With experience having designed past projects myself, I also contributed design pitches, documentation, and feedback to the game’s gameplay design. This work entailed proposing how we approached the game’s core loop, centered around a day-night cycle that focused on the game’s core fundamental between narrative-story scenes, farming / base building, and adventure-game styled exploration.
Aside from design and engineering work, I’m also helping the team plan for the project’s crowdfunding campaign following my work on campaigns for projects like UNBEATABLE. With the Kickstarter campaign, I advised on the structure, while also writing and editing the whole project draft with Nightmargin to emphasize the tone of the project while staying informal on the game and its goals.
I’ve been directing parts of the game’s marketing from its initial teaser announcement onward, advising on the distribution of the game’s teaser trailer, announcements on social media, and submission to upcoming press events. My contributions played a huge part in the success of the campaign, ensuring the project met its pie-in-the-sky targets for funding and production!
I’m also in charge of managing the Discord and Steam communities for the studio as I’ve done with both D-CELL GAMES and SKY HOUR WORKS projects, which are set to be new challenges for the studio leads to tackle. If you’re interacting in those spaces, you’re likely to see me there!