Goodbye from Tunnel Vision Games (June 2020)
This letter marks the end of the Tunnel Vision journey. We would like to thank everybody who has helped us along the way. The intention with this letter is to provide some context for how we came to this conclusion.
Note: this decision was made before the global pandemic began. We hope everyone is staying safe!
Tunnel Vision Games was founded back in 2016 by a group of friends who met at Aalborg University, Denmark. For our 2013 semester project, we wanted to develop a first-person puzzle game about lights and shadows. To our big surprise, our small 15-minute prototype demo received quite a lot of attention both on the Internet and at various game conferences. So after graduation, we decided to pursue the concept further and make a fully-fledged game. The goal was to develop a game from start to finish and release it into the world on our own terms. It was our first game and we knew we had a high level of ambition, but we also had a strong belief in the project and ourselves. With a lot of help from friends and many industry partners, all our hard work finally paid off when we released Lightmatter on Steam, January 15th 2020.
We are super proud of the game that we made — and we are tremendously grateful for all the positive response and support from players all over the world. It has truly been delightful. Observing how people react to Virgil, James, Ellen and Lux has been a lot of fun. We are also very happy with the Lightmatter Discord community; it’s awesome to see how engaged people have been with the story, the puzzles, speedrunning, etc. We couldn’t wish for a better reception for our little indie game.
That being said, it requires a lot of time, energy and money to make a game with the scope of Lightmatter (especially as newcomers straight out of university). The last four years have been a bumpy ride for everyone at Tunnel Vision, and there have been many times where we weren’t sure if we’d make it to the finishing line. We all enjoy games and game development, but we have decided that our part of the Lightmatter journey ends with the Steam launch.
Our goal has always been to be transparent about our development process, so that’s why we are writing this letter. It’s not an easy decision, but it’s something that has been on our minds for a long time. It’s with a heavy heart that the developers at Tunnel Vision Games now go their separate ways, which means that we will no longer actively be working on the game.
However, we are still exploring the possibilities for the future of Lightmatter together with our publisher Aspyr Media.
We want to give a BIG THANKS to everyone who believed in our project and has supported us along the way.
May the future shine bright!
Tunnel Vision Games
P.S. As long as there is interest, we plan to keep the Lightmatter Discord server running as always.
The members of Tunnel Vision Games are now seeking new career paths. So if you are interested in reaching out to any of us, here is our contact information and a brief overview of our main responsibilities while working on Lightmatter.
Philip H. Nymann – CEO
Company management to help the team focus on the game (economics, hiring, interns, etc.)
External communication with partners from Europe, Asia and North America
Responsible for initiating and maintaining ongoing contact with partners, publishers, platform holders and investors via conferences and networking events
Showcasing and pitching at conferences and events throughout Europe
Gustav Dahl – Producer & Programmer
Mail | Portfolio | Twitter | LinkedIn
Project management, planning and scheduling of roadmaps & milestone deliveries
Communication with platform holders, publishers, investors and external partners
Community management, PR and spearheading the Lightmatter Discord server, as well as coordinating public playtests
Gameplay and systems programming (shadow detection, gameplay prototypes, VO system, checkpoint/saving, triggers, UI, controls, localization, loading, etc.)
Managing the QA process, working on performance, optimization and porting
Benjamin N. Overgaard – Programmer & Narrative Designer
Mail | Portfolio | Twitter | LinkedIn
Graphics programming: CG/HLSL (custom deferred lighting & area lights, edge detection, shadow SSR, shadow death effect, crystals, beams, fog, glass, etc.)
Gameplay and systems programming (modular player state system, player controls, power cell mechanic, trigger functionality, system prototypes, etc.)
Narrative design (world building, plot, characters, storytelling techniques, communicating and integrating narrative into the process of level design, etc.)
Lead writer in a team of three writers
Co-directing voice-over for actor David Bateson & actress Natalie Hitzel
Lasse v. F. Sostack – Level Designer
Mail | Portfolio | Twitter | LinkedIn
Fully implementing levels from sketched ideas to rooms in the game
Fully implementing level functionality with an in-house scripting tool
Designing puzzles and game mechanics concepts within the rules of the game universe
Sequencing levels to control learning curve, flow and pacing
Framing and cleaning up levels for increased clarity and overview
Ulrik S. Christensen – Sound Designer & Audio Programmer
Mail | Portfolio | Twitter | LinkedIn
Designing sounds, SFX and composing 40+ music tracks for Lightmatter using Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, iZotope RX and FMOD
Implementing audio and sound systems in FMOD (events, snapshots, mixer routings, etc.)
Programming audio systems and tools for Unity (rectangular reverb system, sound obstruction, spline follower, surface detection, etc.)
Implementing audio in Unity (trigger sounds, reverb zones, animations sound triggers etc.) using FMOD and custom audio tools
Recording and editing VO with David Bateson, Natalie Hitzel and Lars Mikkelsen
Austeja M. Vaicyte – 3D & Environment Artist
Mail | Portfolio | Twitter | LinkedIn
3D modelling and implementation of all props in the game
Design of assets and environments, from color schemes to feeling of areas, to functions of the rooms to specific assets
Animation of both machinery and organics
UI design for the menus, as well as 2D decals
Level populating with focus on environmental storytelling and room decoration in Unity