#Trent Garlipp

[satoshi-mochida]

Hand-drawn story-driven adventure game Vivarium announced

Gematsu Source

A currently unnamed studio that consists of creator Michael Nowak and collaborator Trent Garlipp (A Walk With Yiayia) has announced Vivarium, a hand-drawn story-driven adventure game inspired by Love-de-Lic cult classics Chulip and moon, as well as slice-of-life adventure games like Boku No Natsuyasumi, with visuals and audio inspired by 1974 to early 1980s anime and manga. Platforms and a release date were not announced.

Here is an overview of the game, via the developers:

About

Vivarium is a story-driven adventure game set in the world of a terrarium!

Key Features

Gameplay focused on exploration and character storylines—expanding on the RPG town concept from games like Stardew Valley.

Hand-drawn cel-animation graphics inspired by classic anime—akin to Cuphead‘s take on 1930s cartoons.

Story

Jenny lives in a quaint ranch house by herself in the whimsical world of Vivarium. …However, not all is as it seems in the terrarium.

Objective

Jenny finds the giant tree in the center of the terrarium has died—throwing off the balance of the world in Vivarium. However, a new sprout has taken root in its place. As Jenny helps characters, solves puzzles, and grows in her experiences, the tree sprout grows in size.

Characters

“Yulia” the talking Slavic Dog hermit

“Rishi” and “Gunter,” the local shopkeepers

…and more to meet in the world of Vivarium

Game Loop

Explore – Gain access to new locations and characters.

Find Quests – Take on quests and mysteries in the terrarium.

Solve – Solve puzzles with items, conversation, and ingenuity.

Grow and Repeat – Gain experience with your actions, causing the sprout to grow.

World

Explore a dense, hand-painted world in Vivarium—filled with scenery, nooks, and secrets to discover.

Art Style

Our style is inspired by classic animation, especially from 70s to 80s Japan. Vivarium features a totally hand-drawn traditional cel-animation process—reflective of the media it’s inspired by. Every frame of the game is hand-crafted with love! Vivarium‘s environments are rendered in rich, thickly saturated gouache painting. Every area features its own original art assets and highly detailed painted backdrop. Vivarium uses subtle post-processing, lighting, and color grading to achieve a retro-cinematic aesthetic. Hand-placed dynamic day-night cycle lighting. Grain, lens focus-blur, and a cel drop-shadow are all applied in-engine. These effects replicate the look of traditional animation photographed and printed on film.

Watch the announcement trailer below.

Announce Trailer

[vivariumgame]

(VivariumOST)

Today I want to introduce the talented composer working on Vivarium, Trent Garlipp! Have a listen to one of his compositions for the game’s soundtrack above.

Trent is exploring a combination of real, sampled, and electronic instrumentation to help depict the charming and uncanny world of the terrarium. His atmospheric style of music plays a critical part in communicating the emotions and tone I’m going for in Vivarium.

So far my favorite instrument he’s used in a composition for the game has been the dollar store wooden recorder.

Beyond his work as a musician, Trent is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, a multitalented filmmaker (cinematography, directing, writing), and a fellow indie dev! Right now he’s making @freedomlanes, a story-driven game about bowling in rural America.

Stay tuned because we’ll be posting more from the Vivarium soundtrack in the coming weeks!

[thedroprate]

'Fairy House' by Trent Garlipp (Itch.io)