Overview / Usage

Legends of the past come back to life in a charming European mystery adventure.

Milda, a girl from Chicago, unexpectedly receives the last will of her deceased grandfather – it appears that she is an heir and the last guardian of a mysterious family secret. Following a handful of obscure hints, Milda is thrown into an adventurous, puzzle packed search for the truth.

Crowns and Pawns, inspired by point-and-click classics such as Broken Sword, Still Life, Syberia and others, brings the less explored history of Europe to the world of adventurers. Experience the legendary stories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, beware of the villainous branch of the KGB, solve puzzles and follow hints to reveal the secrets of the king who was never crowned.

But be wary – he could trust no one. Can you?

Key Features

• A blend of history and myths set in a modern world.
• Directed by the art director of a highly acclaimed fan adventure Broken Sword 2.5.
• A refreshing look at the classic point-and-click adventure genre.
• Hand painted HD art with a touch of modern graphics features.
• A world that reacts to your decisions.
• Customizable character looks.
• Featuring real life locations all around Europe.
• Fully voiced dialogues.
• A control scheme designed for both a mouse and a gamepad in mind.

Methodology / Approach

In Crowns and Pawns we use Unity and implement various custom visual features and effects to achieve the best possible stylized look, as well as functional variety. The goal is to have a classical feel with a touch of modern features.

We use 2D hand painted backgrounds that we project on a 3D world and blend them with 3D characters – it has its challenges, but it gives us the opportunity to have various effects in the game. For 3D characters we use custom-written shaders with lighting calculations refined specifically to fit the painted backgrounds. For backgrounds, we have implemented custom shadows to be able to have the best possible look for the style we are aiming for.

Projecting 2D art on a 3D world allows us to apply reflections, particles, custom-built volumetric lights and other effects like that. It also enables us to have a 3D depth effect (parallax) in the game depending on the main character's and the cursor's position on the screen. Many of the scenes in the game have various perspectives and camera angles (from traditional side view to top-down) and are invigorated by close-up puzzles that completely eliminate monotony from the picture. To perfect the experience for different types of players, we are building the best possible control schemes for a mouse and keyboard (traditional point-and-click interface), as well as gamepads (direct control of the main character).

Technologies Used

Unity, Inky, Oculus lipsync.

Other links

• Steam
• Website