The Fire Pit

Essential to both the style of the Early in the Mourning and its narrative is the fire pit. It's a hub of activity and of great importance to the player character – a fire spirit.

Originally, the need for the fire pit came solely from the fact that electricity wouldn't be present in the game and having a really large source of light would be...well, useful. As work on the narrative and worldbuilding progressed, we realized the fire pit would be the centerpiece for ceremonies and town meetings within the village. We also wanted it to showcase Tibetan-style prayer flags and other elements of the village's culture.

Here are our initial designs:

We had everything from a small campfire to a full gazebo. We favored a larger, raised pit where smoke would not be hindered by a ceiling.

The fire pit has been through a number of applications, including Maya, Photoshop, and Substance Painter. It has technical importance in that it demonstrates what our wood and stone textures will look like and it sets a standard for how decorative the environment should be. Testing fire effects here is also essential. It is a keystone asset within the setting of the game and something that will act as a reference for future environment models.

Our game is vivid, stylized, and personal, so we need a centerpiece that embodies that. Just like the rest of our game thus far, this asset has been intimately crafted.

The fire pit in action