Project Overview:
Rust & Resonance is my large-scale passion project based off the rapidly-rising indie game Voices of the Void.
I Initially started this project off mid-2024, but canned that version because of improper planning. I restarted this project not long after Bug-off, after learning how a proper team is set up, as well as planning ahead on concepts and putting gameplay first instead of looks.
Something that always interested me about games like VOTV is having the freedom to do whatever you want to do, while still periodically pushing you to do as the game asks you to.
Another part is Audio. In Rust & Resonance And Voices of the Void, you essentially locate signals from space in an antenna farm. Once locating these signals, you can download them and play them as audio.
The audio is displayed in two forms, a spectrogram, and a system that works similar to an SSTV; the color of each pixel is decided by the amplitude of a soundwave. high amplitudes give brighter pixels, lower amplitudes give darker pixels.
In almost every case, the audio will come off as a mess of black & white pixels, but each show a different pattern based off audio data.
However, using a custom-written encoder, it's possible to convert any image to audio in a matching format, as long as the image is strictly 930x930.
Should this be set up and converted properly, you can display audio using this system as an actual image!
Currently, the team isn't very large. It mostly consists of me, one modeler and a friend who occasionally sends me horror content from the depths of the internet.
Despite having a modeler, I like to make models for this game as well. So far I have contributed to only one model, but it is the best model I have made to date.
A fully rigged and textured robot, acting as an extraterrestrial being that will roam the surface from time to time. For its quality, it is pretty optimized, only consisting of 25k tris total.
The green moss found on the robot has been applied using a shader, allowing me to progressively remove the moss during gameplay.
Another important part of gameplay, mainly visually and logically, is the radio telescope. Serving as the main gameplay elements, these are responsible for actually getting the signals you will download.
Just like the Effigy, this model has also been made in blender and textures in Substance Painter by yours truly.
So far, development is going well. Currently on schedule is having a drag and carry system implemented, and then we can start working on some of the visuals.
Hopefully we can keep this game updated periodically instead of it being a one-off.