Screenshot Saturday Sundays: Orbs, watercolours and a tea-sipping frog

Scream-shot Saturday Sundays? Not on your unlife, pal, it’s November. Halloween’s over. I have no contractual obligation to be “spooky” today, so let’s fearlessly dive back into the well of Twitter’s favourite gamedev hashtag. This week: A frog chorus, a living painting, an ominous orb, and a begrudging admission that yes, it’s the scary weekend, fine.

I’ll never cease to be amazed by folks who manage to make Unity scenes look like works of art, as is once more the case in this week’s first outing.

you will pass in the forest, under a cliff before being able to go to the river. Dordogne vertical slice on its way #screenshotsaturday #madewithunity #b3d #watercolor pic.twitter.com/8RD4zDJ3ZT

— Cedric Babouche (@Cedric_Babouche) October 31, 2020

There’s no getting around that Dordogne, from French studio Un Je Ne Sais Quoi, is absolutely bloody gorgeous. An illustrator by trade, Cedric Babouche has painted a forest scene with staggering depth, drawing us into just one step in the game’s nostalgic narrative adventure. It’s even more stunning in motion, and promises photography, scrapbooking, audio recording and more when it arrives on Steam sometime next year.

Oh gosh, someone’s turned out the lights for our next entry, but don’t worry. The orb is your light. The orb is your friend.

⚪️ Have a dark halloween everyone ⚪️ #morkredd #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/wOOoFYX5c9

— Hyper Games (@hypergames) October 31, 2020

I’m not sure what I expected next from the devs of platform puker Eggggg. But with Mørkredd, Norwegian devs Hyper Games have eschewed vomit-propelled flight for a more sombre, co-op puzzler played out in stark monochrome. I do love me a massive, unwieldy, slightly terrifying orb, and this one’s a good’un, guiding you and a pal through some pitch-black labyrinths on Steam and Xbox Game Pass sometime next year.

Now, I’d love to give you a bit of music this Sunday afternoon, but it appears the band hasn’t yet shown up to play. Some frog chorus, this.

Preview of a new area we’re working on. As part of the town’s anniversary celebration, the band will play some classic tunes. #gamedev #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/0gY20Yb5VR

— Smarto Club (@smarto_club) October 31, 2020

As a narrative adventure game about a frog in search of tea leaves, Chilean developers Smarto Club’s amphibious romp looks delightfully cosy. The artists use dithered pixels to give Teacup (both the game and the eponymous frog herself) this fuzzy, picture-book quality, something that’d readily sit on the shelf next to an Over The Garden Wall artbook.

A perfect game for popping open on a laptop in bed with a warm mug of tea, I reckon – though I hope my own quest for more teabags isn’t so convoluted as to form the basis of an entire videogame.

Finally… oh, fine, you can have one Halloween post, courtesy of the wonderful Weaving Tides.