“Unveiling Coarse Evolution: Exploring the Cosmic Roots of Artistry”

The IGF (Independent Games Festival) aims to foster creativity in game development and to honor exceptional game creators who are advancing the medium. This year, Game Developer engaged with the finalists for the IGF’s Nuovo Award and the Seamas McNally Grand Prize before GDC to delve into the themes, design choices, and tools behind each submission. Game Developer and GDC operate as sibling entities under Informa.

Nuovo Award contender Coarse Evolution: Drive to Divinity is a journey of motion and transformation across stunning, exotic realms where you’re tasked with bouncing, flinging, and leaping through.

Game Developer caught up with Sam Atlas, the creator of the Nuovo Award-nominated game, to discuss its unique origins in body horror, the concepts and design processes that contribute to shaping the game’s vibrant environments, and the challenges of integrating visual accessibility features in a game that can sometimes verge on visually-overwhelming with its dynamic cosmos.

Who are you, and what was your role in developing Coarse Evolution: Drive to Divinity?

I’m Sam Atlas! I handled everything apart from the music and some additional sound effects for Coarse Evolution, which were composed and recorded by DL Salo. 

What is your background in game development?

This is my fourth standalone game and a follow-up to the Gap Sequence trilogy. Before creating my own games, I developed mods primarily on the Source (Half Life 2) engine (I mostly made single-player mods in a level pack style). I have a technical background, so I approach game development from a holistic/synergistic perspective (i.e., blending technology and design).

How did you conceive the idea for Coarse Evolution: Drive to Divinity?

It started as a vague project titled Flesh, which was intended to be more of a horror game about an organism seeking humanity through the mechanical accumulation of human parts. It involved a mind in a void, and the gameplay would have been in first person, utilizing real-life images of hands/organs as the tools you engage with. These tools would be used to, for instance, move your hand to guide the psychic-mind around. Themes of accumulation and the imitation of humanity were present; however, it leaned heavily into body horror.

What development tools were used in the creation of your game?

Unity, chatGPT, VSCode, Blender (primarily for 3D modeling), Unity ProBuilder (for creating most custom 3D meshes), Paint.NET, DaVinci Resolve for editing, Audacity, and my smartphone camera! I capture videos and photos of natural patterns, such as waves or reflections of light on water, or fire, and loop these within the video editor (by manipulating and tessellating the footage).

Coarse Evolution: Drive to Divinity explores a variety of movement styles as you navigate its breathtaking visual landscapes. What considerations went into developing the diverse mechanics players could evolve to move around? What made certain types of movement genuinely intriguing for you to incorporate into the game?

A core design concept for the game was “a platformer where every pickup extends your range.”  The primary design idea here was to start from a stumbling position—a speck of dust or a rolling stone—and by the end, to be an ultra-empowered platformer (i.e., propel yourself, power up walls, remain airborne indefinitely, and so forth). So much of the design emerged from trying to find a balance between “can go anywhere” and “can only shuffle along the ground.”  The title “Coarse Evolution” reflects this: beginning from the most basic (a clunky, oblong egg) and eventually achieving the most powerful form (Deity, a floating orb that fires projectiles that resemble pickups and count as part of your being). “Drive to Divinity” also pertains to this, serving as another literal description of the game.

Movement continuously brings unique shapes that feel alien, yet also communicate some of their functionalities to the player through form and design. What ideas influenced the creation of movement that feels distinctly special while preserving an air of mystery?

In this regard, I believe the key is to establish consistent rules for the environment and to employ visual cues to indicate how objects interact. Additionally, I always provide a brief descriptive text for each design, which, when paired with its name, serves to convey some efficient expectations to the player. For instance, “Cor” is “the oblong vehicle,” and it functions as both a corrupted bike and a distortion of the word “Car.”  However, much like in the natural world, the “Car” remains present in the environment as well. I aimed for the universe to possess a sense of logic and consistency, intertwining earthly references with elements that seem otherworldly.

You invest a great deal of thought and effort into the visuals of your games, creating a sensation of traversing through heightened realities of color and form. What emotions were you hoping to evoke in the player through the cosmic visual elements in this game? 

My goal is to create an environment that you haven’t encountered before. I feel the thrill of the

The game follows a cyclical pattern of asking “what’s over there?” and responding to gut feelings. I strive to enable players to truly embrace the essence of their expedition. I create video games by immersing myself in them at a leisurely pace, building the environments in front of me as I explore. Consequently, any game I develop tends to express my emotions during the creative process or the sentiments I wanted to convey.

What considerations influenced the creation of this entirely unique visual universe? How do you design environments in such a way that they evoke a sense of the extraordinary and extraterrestrial through your use of color and shape?

Repetition, a readiness to trim ideas/areas, and gradually honing in on the focal point of my work as the level advances. It requires numerous layers of detail (and sometimes significant cuts) to ensure that each area conveys the right atmosphere. For this game, the final overall section was deemed “playable” a year prior to release in an alpha version, but everything underwent major revisions thereafter.

Typically, I become more focused and editorial as I delve deeper into development, but each level starts with a relatively straightforward concept (for instance, “Thyroid” originated as “Jump,” a delta where you are presented with multiple exits to choose from; the title “Thyroid” was selected due to its geographical implications as a passage from the head to the body). Often, the title of the level serves as a remnant of that original idea, unshackling the actual level (which can sometimes be amusing, so I keep it). Generally, levels become more refined at some midpoint in development—the most noticeable elements, the greatest number of pickups, etc. Over time, akin to a sine wave, I edit and amend elements until it feels right.

What obstacles do you encounter in creating visuals that can be so striking they verge on overwhelming? What is it like to immerse yourself in these visions as you stitch them together during game development?

I aim to develop the game instinctively, so the line between “too much” and the optimal amount often only becomes clear at the project’s conclusion (but in reality, sometimes years later). I also occasionally revert to an earlier version while incorporating a single aspect from the latest (cut) revision, resulting in a hybrid that is primarily the former but enhanced by specific improvements. I have also learned to be perceptive (and not offended) by how people respond to visuals; individuals often react in a very particular way.