The 5th Anniversary, Oceanhorn 2 and a new website

We know, we know – there hasn't been a blog update in a long time, but we're making up for it! Today marks the 5th anniversary of Oceanhorn first launch on iOS, the perfect occasion for a few things. First of all, we'd like to say 'thank you' to our incredible community – over the years and for each platform release we've seen an incredible amount of passion and support for the world we created. We wouldn't be here without you, and we'll always keep that in mind.

Solve the mysteries of the ancient Arcadians in Oceanhorn 2

It's also an excellent time to talk about Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm. The game is coming along great, and we're confident it will be worth the wait! We are targeting 2019 for the announced iOS release. Over the next few months we'll have updates on various aspects of the game, but for now, you can feast your eyes on the brand new Oceanhorn website we are launching today. It features never-before-seen screenshots and info about Oceanhorn 2, with more to come. If you'd like to cover the game in one of your channels, head to the Press page and download our Press Kit.

Oh, one last thing: we're also setting up an Oceanhorn newsletter, where we plan to send updates on the game before they become public and celebrate the fifth anniversary this whole year in one way or another. If you want to be the first to know what we are up to, make sure you sign up on oceanhorn.com homepage!

Until next time!
oceanhorn.com

Oceanhorn 5th Anniversary label! Let's celebrate the whole year!

Oceanhorn 2: Development update

All the roads lead to Capital

It has been too long since we gave you guys an update on the development of Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm. Well, all five of us have been focusing on the game, and when you're really concentrated on your work, the time flies!

Grand Core: The city sized machine in the heart of Capital.

It feels like it was only yesterday when we released our first gameplay video of Oceanhorn 2 and even let people play the game at Nordic Game, but the truth is it has been months! The reception of the gameplay video was awesome. We could not get enough of all the impressions from youtube and forums. The excitement of our audience really inspired us to work harder.  After we came back to our studio, we were determined to move to the next step with the production!

Capital's seedier backside

So, what have we been up to? We have been building an adventure! More gameplay, more story, more levels, more worlds. A city. Capital is one of the central locations of Oceanhorn 2's story and it offers tons of open-ended exploration for curious adventurers. In the heart of the city is the gigantic machine Grand Core.

Meeting with friends at Master Mayfair's penthouse study

We hope to bring you more updates in the future, along with some video teasers to give you a real good look at the game! Productions like this require a lot of time and effort, but the outcome will be a cool video game so it is all worth the trouble! When you are making your dream project, you don't count the hours.

Enjoy these iPhone screenshots folks!

Oceanhorn 2: First gameplay video and screenshots!

Since many of you can't make it to the Nordic Game conference in Malmö, Sweden – we decided to capture a video of our demo! The video is unedited footage that is captured on an actual iPhone 7 Plus.

If you happen to be in Nordic Game, come visit us at Epic's booth and try out the demo yourself! I will keep it short and let the video and screenshots speak for themselves.

 

Oceanhorn 2's Hero lives near ancient structure called Beacon.

Try and catch me!

Home sweet home and trusty old training dummy

So this is why the treasure is still here!

Arne Village is the starting location of Hero's adventures

Hero can carry and throw all sorts of objects

Owru houses

Journey will take Hero around the world

Galactoss will not suffer fools. Watch out for your healthbar!

Oceanhorn 2 demo in Nordic Game 2017!

It is news time! Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm will make a gameplay debut with a playable demo in Nordic Game 2017!

If you are coming to Malmö, head to Epic Games' booth and come and see what we have in store for the new Oceanhorn game! So whether you're a fan, a journalist, a publisher or a fellow game developer – we would be delighted to give you a tour on our game and talk more about Oceanhorn 2.

Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm is a continuation to Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas, a million selling action RPG title released for iOS, Mac, Steam, PS4, Xbox One, Android and later this year for Nintendo Switch. Oceanhorn 2 is powered by the unrivaled Unreal Engine 4.

Nordic Game 2017 17-.19.5. in Malmö, Sweden.
http://conf.nordicgame.com/

We could not be more excited about Nordic Game ourselves. In addition to Oceanhorn 2's big moment, Fumito Ueda is also going to be in Malmö! He is the mastermind behind Ico, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian and we are big fans of his work. It seems like Action RPG's are only now starting to catch up what Shadow of the Colossus did 12 years ago. The carefully crafted spirit of his games and the brilliance of his game designs are a driving force for game developers like us.

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Oceanhorn 2, Unreal and Beyond

The reveal of Oceanhorn 2's development got an amazing reception from all of you back in August. Thank you so much!

It has been five months now and we have been very busy working on the game, to fulfill our dream project one asset and feature at a time. Unfortunately, we haven't had time to give you guys any updates. Let's remedy that right here, right now!

Oceanhorn 2 looks stunning on mobile

Weighing our options

Over the years, we have learned that making a video game is a huge undertaking. For Oceanhorn 1 we did everything from ground up, from using a proprietary game engine, designing and developing our own full featured level editor to a highly laborious porting and upgrading work that had to be done for other platforms.

When we were dreaming up what Oceanhorn 2 should be like, we knew that we would have to do everything from ground up yet again if we would continue using our own tools. To meet the high expectations of the video game audience on mobile, high-end PCs and consoles, we decided to start developing Oceanhorn 2 on Unreal Engine 4.

New perspective takes you in the center of the action

Powered by Unreal Engine 4

Unreal Engine is a game engine that has proven itself in hundreds of big titles over the past 20 years. Its graphical capabilities and level editing tools are the best the industry has to offer. We have the artistic freedom, and to ensure we can achieve what we set out to do, Epic allows us developers to access the engine source code. With Unreal Engine 4, we basically have hundreds of man years of video game development backing us up, and delivering our uncompromised dream is still going to be in our own hands in the end!

"With Unreal Engine 4, we have hundreds of man years of video game development backing us up"

This project has introduced a lot of new and exciting things for us, from new ways of thinking to new tools and workflows. As an artist, I had to learn everything about physically based rendering. It provides an intuitive way to express the realistic properties of the materials for the renderer. It is a relatively new way to get realistic looking materials for a modern game engine that handles realistic lighting.

Our game has an artistically stylized look, but even our style benefits from the physically based rendering. Pixar animations have used it for years, but these days we can render it in realtime, even on mobile.

Good things come to those who wait

When setting up the renderer and materials, we wanted to make sure everything will work on both PC and mobile. Minor differences can be seen in some of the screen space effects, as all of them are not yet feasible on mobile hardware. We started optimizing the project for the mobile right from the beginning, and when we started to test out our game on actual mobile hardware, our efforts paid off.

The development and discovery

In our previous announcement blog post we shed light on some of the new gameplay aspects featured in Oceanhorn 2. These were just a few examples of the features that will make Oceanhorn 2 truly special. We will be sharing more exciting news with you in the upcoming months.

A knight's weapon Caster in action

There is a certain unrevealed element in the game that makes Oceanhorn 2 different when compared to other games in the same genre. We have been experimenting with this element right from the beginning, and we are starting to see the impact it has on Oceanhorn 2.

When developing new and exciting elements to the game, our main goal is always to improve the player’s experience and reinforce his or her emotional investment to the the world and story. We also aim to enrich the aspects that people loved in the original game, such as exploration.

In many ways, experimenting with features is one of the perks of being an indie company. If we come up with the best thing ever for an action RPG at any given time, we can go ahead and add it to the game.

Mobile graphics of 2017!

In our day to day development, we have reached a point where we can produce game content fast. More cutscenes and levels are being added to the game every week and the quests are starting to shape up. Still, we have a long road ahead of us to finish this game and I hope Oceanhorn fans can wait patiently.

We have received lots of questions about the platforms which Oceanhorn 2 will be released on. We can’t confirm all of the platforms yet. What we can say is that Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas sold over 1 million copies on all platforms combined, but let’s remember it started out as an amazing iOS adventure game.

Oceanhorn 2 will definitely come out on iOS.

Oceanhorn 2 in development!

I can’t believe it has been five years since we announced the development of the first Oceanhorn game on this blog. Now the time has come for another major announcement.

We are proud and excited to reveal the next installment of the Oceanhorn franchise, Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm. Here’s how it looks!

Oceanhorn 2 has been in development for little over a year

The boy has grown up? That’s right! But he is a different boy altogether! Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm is set in another time period on the Oceanhorn timeline. The game has a new Hero, a boy who has been trained to become a Knight of Arcadia.

Oceanhorn 2 will be built upon the same elements that were the heart and soul of the first Oceanhorn game: exploring a colorful world, a deep backstory with secrets and twists, amazing music, and most importantly – classic Action RPG gameplay with items, puzzles, battles, and badass bosses!

The Caster is a magical weapon that only Knights carry

The game is played from a third person camera angle that will take players right into the heat of action and allows them to explore even the smallest details of Arcadia. Our battle system consists of sword fighting, utilizing powerful spells and finding creative ways to use various items that Hero discovers on his travels.

One of the key items in the game is the Caster, a gun that shoots magical projectiles! It will have many uses on the player’s adventure, from puzzle solving to luring enemies and casting directed spells.

The game will feature a traversable world map

Oceanhorn 2 will also feature a traversable and vast world map that consists of fields, forests, mountains, and water. It works as a hub between levels, dungeons and towns, much like in many of the classic JRPGs.

"For us, Oceanhorn 2 is the fulfillment of a JRPG dream."

Oceanhorn 2 is an opportunity to create something new from the strong background that we established with our previous game. In Oceanhorn 2, we want to emphasize the elements that people loved and create something new and brave on that foundation.

The world of Oceanhorn has grown and so has our team. The core team working on Oceanhorn 2 is now a team of five!

Heikki Repo, Creator and Lead Artist
Jukka Viljamaa, Lead Programmer
Antti Viljamaa, Lead Programmer
Kalle Hämäläinen, Graphics Programmer
Miko Kiuru, Game Artist

Also, Kalle Ylitalo will return to compose soundtrack for Oceanhorn 2 and the famed sound designer and foley artist Tapio Liukkonen will be in charge of the audio experience.

For us, Oceanhorn 2 is the fulfillment of a JRPG dream. It is a dream of running down green fields with the warmth of the sun on your face. It is a dream of learning the secrets of ancient ruins despite the danger. It is also a dream of finding yourself looking at beautiful mountains on the horizon and imagining what’s beyond them. It will be an amazing journey ahead of us and we hope that you will join us on that journey!

In the upcoming months, we will have many things to show to you and many secrets to unveil regarding Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm. This is a dream project for us, but even more importantly, we are making this game for you to enjoy and experience. So, please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas on Twitter and Facebook!

And make sure to check out Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas on PS4 and Xbox One this fall!