The Past Within – Devlog 5

It’s been a while since our last devlog, but here we are, back at it again! First of all, we hope you all had a great start to 2022 and that you enjoyed our little puzzle-filled holiday treat, the Rusty Lake Advent Calendar 2021! Secondly, we assume that by now, you’ve seen our official trailer for The Past Within but just in case you haven’t (or just need a refresher):

In this devlog we’ll be sharing a kind of “making of” with some behind the scenes moments from when we worked on the trailer, as well as some exciting footage that didn’t quite make the cut! Since the very first game we released, we made trailers as a way to build up excitement for our upcoming release and this time was no different – just maybe on a bigger scale. This time instead of only using gameplay footage, we knew we had to show more of the two-player experience itself. This could only be captured by showing real-life people interacting with the game. The idea for a new trailer started when we partnered up with Juun and Klaas from the HoyngHoyng Images. They are very experienced in making trailers, films and documentaries which to us made them the perfect fit to create a more real-life trailer for The Past Within.

Not too long after the brainstorming started, we came up with the idea to have two actors playing the game while the environment around them is affected by the actions they take inside the game they’re playing. We then started looking for the right location. Despite us being very specific about what we wanted, an atmospheric place that could become more ominous if the scene needed it, in a somewhat sinister location – out in nature, preferably in the woods, something that would fit right into the Rusty Lake universe. And luckily enough, we found exactly what we wanted in a beautiful cottage from Fareen.

With the filming location crossed from our list, we then went on an extensive search for the right actors. We were very pleased that Mike Wijdenbosch and Angélique Jutand, who after looking over the script, both agreed to come over to meet us and act out the roles to see if it would be a good fit. They had great chemistry together and exactly the screen presence we had in mind. A big bonus was that they were genuinely engrossed by the game and quite enjoyed playing together which just made the whole scene look and feel natural.

So you can imagine how happy we all were that they ended up playing the couple you see in the trailer. Now that we had what we considered to be the hard parts sorted, all that was left to do was to make sure we had the set looking the way we wanted it to look. Luckily, our office already had some of the Rusty Lake decor like the stuffed raven, the books, but some objects like the mantel clock and the lamps were found in special stores in order to create a decor that would reflect the right atmosphere. We did however need someone with more experience to put it all together! So we handed over the reins of the art direction and wardrobe in the capable hands of Eddy from Atelier Clement – a good friend and office neighbour who, to our delight, often invites us over for pancakes! His invaluable experience and a great eye for detail simply added that special something to the project that made the final trailer turn out better than we could have expected! And, last but not least, we also played a role ourselves (you might have seen who…), but mainly as producer and hiding some secret stuff 🙂

After the shoot was completed we had some intense months editing, trying out different grading options and Victor Butzelaar who created the impressive soundtrack for the trailer. Once again, we want to thank everyone involved! Each of them contributed a lot to creating probably the most suspenseful trailer we’ve ever made. And now, as promised, here is the short scene which didn’t make the trailer:

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The Past Within development status:

It is also time to give you a new update on the development status! Last week we hit an important milestone, because after a week full of test play sessions of the latest build, we are now confident to say that we have 90% of the content ready. In the upcoming two months we will (again) focus on small improvements, adding effects, improving the tutorials and the ending, implementing different play modes and most importantly: we begin the Flash – Unity transition. Next to this, Victor Butzelaar is adding the final touches to the soundtrack and we are finally making progress with the audio design. This may seem like a daunting list but we’re making good progress and we hope to finalize everything before our next milestone which is April 2nd.

On April 2nd we want to showcase The Past Within to the public during our first in-person event in what feels like ages: Indie Showcase. It’s a physical indie game event organized by Noio and Second Maze. A lot of great Dutch indie games such as Cloud Gardens, Mail Time, Once Upon a Jester and of course The Past Within (to name a few), will take part and showcase demos and other fun activities! The event will take place in our office building A Lab located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. If you happen to be in the area make sure to come by and get some tickets!

But for everyone who cannot join this amazing event… We will also take part in an equally exciting online event: Steam Next Festival, where we will showcase a demo of The Past Within. The demo will consist of 10 to 15 minutes of co-op gameplay, however, please be aware that what you play during this demo may not be part of the final release version of The Past Within.

Thank you so much for your support and being part of our journey of The Past Within. There is a lot of exciting secret stuff going on which we cannot share yet, but 2022 will be an amazing year for all of you!

Ps. In case you missed it, we also helped release Johan Scherft’s very first game: Milo and the Magpies, through our publishing program Second Maze. Available now on all platforms.