Kilonova

Embark on a journey of revenge as Sol, a warrior of the celestial cosmos, fights to repel the corruption that has shackled the creatures of a fractured world. Wield her cosmic strength to shatter your foes and expunge the malevolent influence of the cosmos' most ancient enemy; The Kilonova!

Kilonova is now available for download on both Steam and the DigiPen Game Gallery!

Kilonova underwent a massive art pivot between pre-production and production. From muted coral shapes and a circus-inspired character to the basalt columns and lean-mean-fighting machine Sol, Sleepy Spirit used the following mock screenshots as our ‘true north’ throughout development. 

Join our Audio Director, Erik Libouban-Gundersen, as he dissects his approach to the mix of Kilonova.

The creatures of Kilonova have been a critical aspect of the game since its conception. Given their importance, we knew we wanted to push their appearance further. To provide visual interest, add additional feedback to the player, and remain consistent from a narrative perspective, we decided to give each creature a constellation that acted as their ‘skeleton’.

To accomplish this look, our rigger, Reggie Arnold, had to create additional logic within the rigging (which the first video below goes over in detail). Once the technical requirements were met, each creature was given a translucent material for their bodies to mimic stardust and allow the illuminated internal skeleton to shine through (demonstrated in the second video below).

The world of Kilonova is composed of encapsulated arenas where the player engages in combat with the corrupted creatures of the world. To accommodate the design department’s need for rapid iteration, the technical department took it upon themselves to create a tool that gave the designers complete control of the arenas. This tool allowed them to determine wave count and cadence, enemy spawn locations and amount, and the overall composition of the encounter. The video below goes over the tool in more detail.

The Fragment is designed to be imposing, daunting, and all-powerful. To push this point further, the audio and VFX departments teamed together to link the Fragment’s scaling to match the voice acting. Through Niagara-to-BP communication nodes, the Fragment’s overall scale fluctuates on an eased curve to match the cadence of its speech. This is evident in every cutscene between islands and becomes more pronounced as the player gets closer to the final arena (and, by association, the Fragment).

Art Department

Reggie Arnold - Art Director & Rigger
Carolyn Francisco - Visual Developer & Character Artist & Producer
Isabel Warn - VFX & Technical Artist
Janay Jerez - Concept Artist & Environment Support
Ashley Wee - Texturing Artist
Tyler Ward - UI Artist & Generalist Support
Riley Rawald - Storyboard Artist & Animator
Devon Stratton - Environment Artist & Prop Modeler
Tracy GK Leung - Gameplay & Cinematic Animator
Emily Hogue - UI Artist & Generalist Support
Margo Silcheva - Texturing Artist

Audio Department

Erik Libouban-Gundersen - Audio Director & Sound Designer
Erik Landskov - Sound Designer

Design Department

Zach Johnson - Quality Director & UX/Level Designer
Yongwon Cho - Associate Quality Director & UI Designer
Peiling Lee - Systems & Gameplay Designer
Joseph Kirum - Quality Director & UX/UR Designer
Oscar Monzon - Level & Narrative Designer

Technical Department

Emmaline Lewarne - Technical Director & Audio Programmer
Jasmine Widgery - UI Programmer
Maddie Slockbower - Graphics Programmer & Technical Artist
Mary Khuu - Gameplay & Animation Programmer
Braedan Nevers - Gameplay & AI Programmer
Mason Kaschube - AI Programmer & Encounter Designer
Liam Sarett - Creative Director & Gameplay Programmer
Steven Kugies - Gameplay & AI Programmer

Production

Jennifer Assid - Producer