Futureperfect studio
'Void CLimber'
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DESCRIPTION
INCworks was contracted to do art direction and technical art for FuturePerfect studios 2025 video game 'Void Climber', a roguelike platformer in which the player climbs to the top of a collapsing universe, and has to survive within the game's hazardous, decaying environment.
INCworks created all aspects of the game's visuals, including the character design, level design, modeling, texturing, visual effects, and more.
We collaborated with FuturePerfect to hone the aesthetics of the game to match their ambitious vision and gameplay design, and to design graphics systems that worked in synchronization with the game's unique procedural level generation.
TOOLS
→ Unreal Engine
→ Blender
→ Maya
→ Zbrush
→ Substance Painter
WORKFLOWS
→ Art direction
→ Level design
→ Character design/sculpting
→ Low poly game asset creation
→ Unreal Engine shader programming
→ Unreal Engine vfx design
Character Design
The main character of 'Void Climber' is 'Noise': an interstellar scout sent to investigate an anomaly on a distant planet. The player soon discovers that the planet is 'Earth- fractured, in a state of endless decay, its skies shattered, and time frozen.'
For Noise's design we wanted to emphasize an alien, cybernetic quality, while also keeping a human element. Densely layered metallic panels and lights are combined with tree bark and rock textures in various parts of the character design, to create a biomechanical look. Broad, organic shapes are utilized to emphasize the quick and agile movements of the player. We kept the colorscheme of the character bold and simple to stand out amongst the dense and highly detailed world of 'Void Climber'.
Asset Design
In keeping with 'Void Climber's backstory of a fractured, decaying earth, we divided up the game into distinct sections that were inspired by four different broad historical periods, which we referred to as 'epochs'. Each epoch’s models were created to reflect the visual motifs pulled from each time period. This gives the player a sense of progression and passing time as they ascend upward.
Epoch 1- Prehistory
Epoch 2- Antiquity
Epoch 3- Industrial
Epoch 4- Contemporary
Consumable Resources
A variety of consumable resources are scattered throughout the world of 'Void Climber'. Minerals and biomatter are nestled in between the various structures in level, which provide the player with energy. The platform spawners are a set of different kinds of platforms the player can spend energy on. These platforms are essential for helping the player on their run, and are designed to fit within the futuristic art-deco look of the player's alien technology.
Procedural Environment Design
We were tasked with designing an environment that not only fit the aesthetic of a shattered earth, but also collaborating on a unique procedural system that would shuffle the game's skybox, background, and gameplay assets on each new playthrough. The resulting environment combines a shifting weather system with a 'fractured sky' generator, which creates a new and distinctive skybox on each run of the game.
a collage of images showcasing the 'fractured sky' system, which reshuffles the background and environment on every playthrough. Each shot is taken in the same location in the same level.
This shot, taken from a bird's eye view, features the visual effects of the void itself. The void sits at the bottom of the map, and will consume the player if they are unlucky enough to fall into it.
Screenshot Gallery
