Beyond the Western Deep

Yeesh, it’s like these two guys skipped their first semester of “Introduction to Tomb Raiding,” where one of the first rules of all successful tomb raids (and Uncharted games, for that matter) is made pretty clear:

LOOK UP.

One of the hardest things to do in video game level design, by the way, is to get players to look up. You’ll notice that any time you’re playing something like Tomb Raider or Uncharted, if the designers need you to tilt the ol’ camera upwards, there’s usually some guiding sightline or shape or color to draw your eye skyward.

There’s even a great gag in one of my favorite metatextual puzzle games The Magic Circle, where an early puzzle is solved simply by looking up when you discover check-in notes from the area’s level designer complaining that none of their QA testers knew they had to do that.

For guest art this week, a great piece by regular contributor and long-time Western Deep reader Jerijune!

This piece of Quinlan holding a sword is meant to evoke the vibe of the Redwall series (the “I am that is” in the background there kinda gives it away)! Anyone familiar with Beyond the Western Deep will know we’re majorly inspired by the Redwall books, Rachel and I both having devoured them growing up.

No doubt Quinlan’s feeling of having big shoes to fill vis a vis his grandfather has a little bit of that Redwall flavor to it, with many of those book’s stories having an A or B plot revolving around a character living up to expectation, legacy, or both.

In Quinlan’s case, it’s definitely both.

Thank you so much for the great art, Jerijune!