Get to Know Doug & Lucas

Nov 29

What got you started with art/game design and development/game dev?

*Doug getting very excited to order some Korean BBQ*

Doug: When I was younger, I had dreamed of becoming an animator. Throughout middle and high school, I was constantly making little sprite animations — usually from the Mega Man franchise — and sharing them on forums. I originally went to college for animation — where the story for Advent of the Reaper first started to turn into something concrete. I thought I was going to be able to make a short pilot — Avatar: The Last Airbender style — and snowball my way into a global phenomenon! Alas — that wasn't meant to be, and I ended up taking a different career path. Being able to dust off my story idea for Advent, transform the medium into a tactics game, and contribute the sprite animations over the past few years has been a dream come true!

Lucas: I've been programming for the better part of two decades now, but my Game Dev journey started around 2015. I wanted to build an augmented reality running game similar to Zombies! Run where you varied your route based on potential pickups, then used those pickups to work through a choose-your-own-adventure game. Someday I'll pick that one back up, I still think it has tons of potential. Covid hit and the Oculus Quest 2 launched, and I immediately became addicted to VR — as well as the idea of trying to build a VR experience. I built a little arcade of games that worked well for the device — Skeeball, Down the Clown, and the claw game. At this point I started to get decently comfortable with Unity.

What were early days in this work like for you? How is it different now?

Doug: When I first started the "revitalization" of the Advent project, it was during the height of the 2020 Coronovirus pandemic, and I was stuck at home trying to figure out how to direct my energy. As the idea started to form to translate the Advent story into a game, I was convinced I could do it all on my own — game design, programming, character design, pixel art, visual novel scripts, marketing — "Stardew Valley" style. Turns out that was ludicrous! Starting with my wife contributing character designs, a small team began to form and it's laughable I ever thought I could do this without help. It truly takes a village, and I'm so grateful that we have an awesome group coming together to make the game.

Lucas: Oh man, I had to start from scratch with Unity 2D. I worked through Unity's 2D tutorial before slowly trying things out and really just diving into the work. I had a lot of false starts! I spent an ungodly amount of time trying to make two different Pixel Perfect cameras work before realizing the benefit isn't worth the hassle. I still find Unity's Animation tools a little lackluster, and only recently realized they can be used to fire events on specific frames, which has been super helpful. This morning I rewrote some finicky code that I had working that didn't take into account the fact the camera could pan! I learn best when combining learning with doing, the drawback is that I often have to come back and rework things when I've learned a better implementation strategy.

Do you have a favorite part of working on the game?

Doug: Easy! Seeing the animations I create, as well as the story play out within the actual game is an amazing feeling. It fuels me to create more animations, lore, and story beats, resulting in a self-perpetuating dopamine cycle!

Lucas: I love putting together the broad game state mechanics due to the problem solving and degree of creativity. Figuring out how the game should keep track of where it is, what to show next, whether to turn over to the next player's turn, that sort of thing. It's also really fun to go deep on a problem, though. I heard a good quote recently from the Nice Games podcast that I'll massacre, but the jist was "reality is fractal" — there are interesting problems 10,000 feet high as well as deep in the mechanics of a single frame.

Are there any side effects of working on the game that you've enjoyed and didn't expect?

Doug: Chasing down bugs is actually way more fun than I thought it would be (...so far)! Even though Lucas is our programming overlord, I have a computer science background as well, so it's interesting to catch a bug and reverse engineer the steps to figure out what exactly caused or triggered it! (Lucas appreciates this! Somebody needs to keep him honest.)

Lucas: For me watching the art and story come together is amazing. I used some stock assets when I was trying to get the game systems working. It's not nearly as fun and honestly becomes hard to visualize the potential end product when you stray too far from the goal. I think the great story and artwork set Advent apart. For so many bigger studios the story seems like a rushed afterthought.

What is your favorite game?

Doug: Now that's a tough call! I don't think I could pick an absolute favorite, so I'll run down a few standouts. My "first" favorite games were probably Mega Man 4 on NES and Mega Man X on SNES — they started a lifelong love of the Blue Bomber (and platformers in general) for me. As I was growing up — middle school/high school era — I was in love with the GameBoy Advance Mega Man RPGs (the Battle Network series) and, of course, the newly-stateside Fire Emblem games. Around this time I also discovered JRPGs, which solidified the Tales of series as a favorite of mine as well. Some additional favorites over the years include Hollow Knight, the Extreme Escape series (especially Virtue's Last Reward), and NieR: Automata.

Lucas: When I was a kid I grew up with a Game Boy, then I got a Sega Genesis for Christmas. I loved the Sonic games but my friend had an SNES — I remember going over to his house and watching him fight Lavos in Chrono Trigger thinking he was playing interdimensional chess while I was playing checkers. That sparked something in me for JRPGs. I'm a Blizzard fan and clearly have an overdeveloped nostalgia gene so I'm one of 5 people that still play Heroes of the Storm. In the past ten years Undertale, Disco Elysium, and Hyper Light Drifter stand out for me.

What does a day in the life of working on Advent look like for you? Do you drink 10 cups of coffee a day? Do your best work at 2 am? Have a pet familiar?

Doug: This will be fun, because Lucas and I are almost polar opposites in this regard. I've never, ever been a morning person — I would happily sleep until 10 or 11 AM every day for the rest of my life if given the chance. As such, during the week I don't usually finish my day job until 6 or 7 PM, then unwind, eat dinner, etc. Advent work tends to kick off at 8 or 9 PM, when I can churn and burn until the wee hours of the morning, rinse and repeat. Weekends are a little more freeform, and Advent tends to become the "day job" of the weekend — working for most of the day or afternoon. While we have two cats I wish would hang out with me while I worked, the fact of the matter is they just like my wife more!

*References are important, even for pixel art!*

*Doug, his wife Lisa, and a cat that will tolerate being held for about three more seconds*

Lucas: Yeah, he's right. :) My wife and I go to bed early, so I'm often sleeping by 10. I wake up at 6 am and get a few hours of Advent work in prior to a workout at 8 am, then my work morning meetings start. My wife and I like to take long weekends to get some project time in! Occasionally we'll travel a few hours away and stay at an airbnb to have an excuse to get out of the house and crank away on our projects (she's writing a book). Our cat Annie has a love/hate relationship with Advent because I’m often on the couch while working — she gets pets while I’m thinking things through, but her preferred seating is occupied by the laptop.

*Annie has had enough of Advent meetings*

Doug, what inspired you to write the story of Advent of the Reaper?

Doug: Great question! In the very beginning — almost 20 years ago — Advent was just called "Reaper Story"(original, I know) and was a self-insert story featuring medieval fantasy versions of myself and friends. It was a dark, fun take on what my friend group would get into as a group of scythe-wielding rogues! As the years went on, though, the story transformed into a larger fantasy world with standalone characters and fleshed-out story arcs. Now, while there are certainly a few echoes from the original characters, Advent has completely evolved into a dark fantasy epic spanning hundreds of years of history and so many great stories to tell.

What do you do for fun that isn't Advent-related?

*Doug and Lisa at Otakon 2021 next to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Relay Torch*

Doug: My wife and I are huge nerds, and we spend our free time playing both traditional and video games, attending anime & game conventions, and hanging out with our ever-growing friend group! As I evidently cannot maintain an inexpensive hobby, I'm also a LEGO, Magic: The Gathering, and collectible figure enthusiast.

*Getting a run in during a work trip to L.A.*

Lucas: I'm a pretty boring person :) But I like staying active, so I'm a daily runner when the weather is nice. My idea of a fun night is settling in with an indie game and a glass of red wine.

Where can we find you online?

Doug
He isn't very active on social media, except to re/post Advent content. You've been warned!
Gamedev Mastadon: @douggers
Twitter/X: @_douggers
BlueSky: douggers.bsky.social

Lucas
Gamedev Mastadon: @lucasgray
Blog: lucasegray.com

Leigh Gray