Image courtesy of Ebb Software
Creating the Unreal dystopian surrealism and biomechanical horrors of Scorn
Brian Crecente
August 10, 2022
Ebb Software was founded in 2013 by a group of highly motivated individuals with the sole purpose of creating a different breed of video games. Soon after the small team started developing the company’s current flagship project Scorn–an atmospheric first-person horror adventure game.
Eight years, failed and then successful Kickstarters, privating funding, explosive studio growth, and a leap from Unity to Unreal Engine all paved the path for Ebb Software’s quest to create a different breed of video game.
Looking back, Ebb Software CEO and creative director Ljubomir Peklar still sees that fraught journey as the studio’s only path forward. The lessons learned along the way, he said, were essential to the team’s ability to create its flagship game: Scorn, which went on to receive an Epic MegaGrant.
Melding the dystopian surrealism of artist Zdzisław Beksiński and biomechanical horrors of H.R. Giger, Scorn is a survival horror adventure game that promises an unsettling experience powered by Unreal Engine and driven by themes and ideas that Peklar says are in lock-step with its artistic influences.
It is a game designed first to thematically reflect the tech-obsessed world we live in, and then later soaked in the horror of Beksiński and Giger, which seemed like natural fits. In a recent interview, Peklar spoke about the studio’s journey, its decision to shift–in early development–to Unreal Engine, and how the game’s design and mechanics managed to meld so naturally together.
Looking back, Ebb Software CEO and creative director Ljubomir Peklar still sees that fraught journey as the studio’s only path forward. The lessons learned along the way, he said, were essential to the team’s ability to create its flagship game: Scorn, which went on to receive an Epic MegaGrant.
Melding the dystopian surrealism of artist Zdzisław Beksiński and biomechanical horrors of H.R. Giger, Scorn is a survival horror adventure game that promises an unsettling experience powered by Unreal Engine and driven by themes and ideas that Peklar says are in lock-step with its artistic influences.
It is a game designed first to thematically reflect the tech-obsessed world we live in, and then later soaked in the horror of Beksiński and Giger, which seemed like natural fits. In a recent interview, Peklar spoke about the studio’s journey, its decision to shift–in early development–to Unreal Engine, and how the game’s design and mechanics managed to meld so naturally together.
Image courtesy of Ebb Software
Ebb Software was founded in 2013 with the purpose of creating a “different breed of video game.” Can you explain what that means and specifically how you’re hoping to differentiate your titles from games created by other studios?
Ljubomir Peklar, CEO of Ebb Software and creative director on Scorn: It's a marketing slogan, but there is truth to that statement. The idea is to put interactivity at the forefront, as video games are an interactive medium. This is also incredibly hard and produces results of variable quality. Some things are just not as solvable as it feels at first glance. There's a plethora of reasons why most games rely on techniques used by other mediums, mostly cinema.
Ljubomir Peklar, CEO of Ebb Software and creative director on Scorn: It's a marketing slogan, but there is truth to that statement. The idea is to put interactivity at the forefront, as video games are an interactive medium. This is also incredibly hard and produces results of variable quality. Some things are just not as solvable as it feels at first glance. There's a plethora of reasons why most games rely on techniques used by other mediums, mostly cinema.
Image courtesy of Ebb Software
Scorn was initially announced in the fall of 2014 and had an unsuccessful Kickstarter, a round of private funding, then a successful Kickstarter, and is now slated for an Xbox Series X|S and PC release this fall. Can you walk us through how that prolonged development impacted the team and the game itself?
Peklar: The path we took was the only viable option at the time. Everything that we did was done out of necessity. If you only look at the timeline, development seems extremely prolonged, but in 2014, we only had six people in total working on the game. Our team has grown to 60 members now and up until 2018, we were very invested in learning the craft and setting up the studio. Most of the game up until that point was redone completely. We were very lucky that people wanted to invest at such early stages.
What made you decide to develop Scorn using Unreal Engine?
Peklar: At the beginning of the project, we used Unity, but at the time, Unity was a 32-bit application. When we imported the very first level, the engine simply couldn't handle it properly so a few months later when Unreal Engine 4 released, we imported the same level into Unreal. Everything worked pretty smoothly and from that point, there was no turning back.
Peklar: The path we took was the only viable option at the time. Everything that we did was done out of necessity. If you only look at the timeline, development seems extremely prolonged, but in 2014, we only had six people in total working on the game. Our team has grown to 60 members now and up until 2018, we were very invested in learning the craft and setting up the studio. Most of the game up until that point was redone completely. We were very lucky that people wanted to invest at such early stages.
What made you decide to develop Scorn using Unreal Engine?
Peklar: At the beginning of the project, we used Unity, but at the time, Unity was a 32-bit application. When we imported the very first level, the engine simply couldn't handle it properly so a few months later when Unreal Engine 4 released, we imported the same level into Unreal. Everything worked pretty smoothly and from that point, there was no turning back.
Image courtesy of Ebb Software
Scorn is clearly influenced by the work of H. R. Giger and his images of biomechanical body horror. How did that influence go beyond shaping the appearance of the game to impact the game’s play mechanics and story?
Peklar: It's quite the opposite. The themes and ideas influenced the art style. Once you are in that realm, Giger is just a natural step as his art deals with similar topics and themes to Scorn in that regard.
What other artists and creations influenced the aesthetic of the game?
Peklar: Aesthetics wise, you will notice that Zdzislaw Beksinski also gets mentioned a lot. His portrayal of the decaying structures really is unmatched.
What approach did you use to design play mechanics that lean into the strong visual aesthetic of the game?
Peklar: Same as with the art, our game mechanics were devised by the themes we wanted to explore in the interactive form. Once you set it up that way, certain mechanics come up organically.
The videos you’ve released so far show a deeply unsettling game that features organic design and makes heavy use of the play of light and shadows. How did Unreal Engine help you create that game’s unique setting?
Peklar: Any engine is just a tool, the most important thing is how you use it. It certainly helps that Unreal can handle the necessary polycount for these organic shapes. Various lightpasses then interact with the geometry and fill out all the nooks and crannies beautifully.
Peklar: It's quite the opposite. The themes and ideas influenced the art style. Once you are in that realm, Giger is just a natural step as his art deals with similar topics and themes to Scorn in that regard.
What other artists and creations influenced the aesthetic of the game?
Peklar: Aesthetics wise, you will notice that Zdzislaw Beksinski also gets mentioned a lot. His portrayal of the decaying structures really is unmatched.
What approach did you use to design play mechanics that lean into the strong visual aesthetic of the game?
Peklar: Same as with the art, our game mechanics were devised by the themes we wanted to explore in the interactive form. Once you set it up that way, certain mechanics come up organically.
The videos you’ve released so far show a deeply unsettling game that features organic design and makes heavy use of the play of light and shadows. How did Unreal Engine help you create that game’s unique setting?
Peklar: Any engine is just a tool, the most important thing is how you use it. It certainly helps that Unreal can handle the necessary polycount for these organic shapes. Various lightpasses then interact with the geometry and fill out all the nooks and crannies beautifully.
Image courtesy of Ebb Software
How did you go about creating the look and feel of the weapons? They look as organic as the world and enemies you take on.
Peklar: Ideas describe the world. The way that technology works inside the world is then just transcribed onto the weapons. If you set it up this way, it all comes into place organically. In terms of the process of creating them in game, as with all our in-game elements, the design process begins with a concept. We consider how technology functions in Scorn and how that can be applied to weapons. After discussing what I want to accomplish with our concept artist, we’ll settle on a drawing that visually represents this. Once we’ve finalized the concept, then our 3D team creates a basic model to see how it looks from a first-person perspective with some basic animation rigging. From here, we make adjustments until it accurately reflects our initial concept. The next and most detailed part of the process is the high-poly modelling. Once completed, the model is passed on to the animation and VFX teams to bring the asset's final version to life.
How about the design of the interfaces for the puzzles, gates, and elevators? Again, they look very fleshy, like living things that require doing something almost repulsive to interact with them.
Peklar: This is the same principle as with the weapons. The world is structured in a certain way, and we then apply the same established principles onto every element of the game. Scorn has a very distinct style woven into every piece of the game, so puzzles need to be a continuation of that experience. Overcoming discomfort is an innate motivational factor that Scorn injects into its players. Maze-like structures tell their own story, pushing the player to explore the unknown to better understand the grisly world around them. That is precisely what we aimed for when designing the levels and the puzzles within them.
Peklar: Ideas describe the world. The way that technology works inside the world is then just transcribed onto the weapons. If you set it up this way, it all comes into place organically. In terms of the process of creating them in game, as with all our in-game elements, the design process begins with a concept. We consider how technology functions in Scorn and how that can be applied to weapons. After discussing what I want to accomplish with our concept artist, we’ll settle on a drawing that visually represents this. Once we’ve finalized the concept, then our 3D team creates a basic model to see how it looks from a first-person perspective with some basic animation rigging. From here, we make adjustments until it accurately reflects our initial concept. The next and most detailed part of the process is the high-poly modelling. Once completed, the model is passed on to the animation and VFX teams to bring the asset's final version to life.
How about the design of the interfaces for the puzzles, gates, and elevators? Again, they look very fleshy, like living things that require doing something almost repulsive to interact with them.
Peklar: This is the same principle as with the weapons. The world is structured in a certain way, and we then apply the same established principles onto every element of the game. Scorn has a very distinct style woven into every piece of the game, so puzzles need to be a continuation of that experience. Overcoming discomfort is an innate motivational factor that Scorn injects into its players. Maze-like structures tell their own story, pushing the player to explore the unknown to better understand the grisly world around them. That is precisely what we aimed for when designing the levels and the puzzles within them.
Image courtesy of Ebb Software
What can you tell us about the main character’s design? There seems to be a strong sense of body horror with how they are augmented and have to augment themselves to survive and explore the world.
Peklar: Thematically, it reflects our world. Technology is constantly augmenting us and it's so common that we don't even take notice anymore. But if you look closely, you will notice technological augmentation is everywhere, and it's going to be even more prevalent in the future. The same principle applies to the world of Scorn. These augmentations are quite common in their society.
The look of the game is compelling, but the sound design is equally creepy and captivating as its dark visuals. How did you go about creating the sound for the game?
Peklar: With sound, we decided to ground the game world closer to our reality. If we are talking specifics, the team did a lot of field recording and experimentation to create a huge range of organic and mechanical audio that led to the final soundscapes you hear in the game.
Peklar: Thematically, it reflects our world. Technology is constantly augmenting us and it's so common that we don't even take notice anymore. But if you look closely, you will notice technological augmentation is everywhere, and it's going to be even more prevalent in the future. The same principle applies to the world of Scorn. These augmentations are quite common in their society.
The look of the game is compelling, but the sound design is equally creepy and captivating as its dark visuals. How did you go about creating the sound for the game?
Peklar: With sound, we decided to ground the game world closer to our reality. If we are talking specifics, the team did a lot of field recording and experimentation to create a huge range of organic and mechanical audio that led to the final soundscapes you hear in the game.
Image courtesy of Ebb Software
Were there any particular challenges that Unreal Engine helped you overcome? If so, can you walk us through them and how you managed to overcome them?
Peklar: Unreal is easy and intuitive to learn when you have a background in 3D software. This helped us with getting as many hands on deck as possible when assembling and dressing the levels. We extensively used the [Editor Utility Blueprint] system for the editor to create lots of custom tools for the team. The tools helped us to structure the production process and enable us to create much more in less time. There are many challenges when creating the atmosphere of the Scorn world, starting from materials, atmospheric effects, lighting, and such. All the systems work very well together and are easy to master.
What are your thoughts about the new features delivered with Unreal Engine 5? Are there any particular elements of the engine update that you’re looking forward to using?
Peklar: Lumen feels like the biggest game changer. Not having to deal with light baking will help with every other part of the production.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us. Where can people find out more about Ebb Software and Scorn?
Peklar: You can find all the latest information about Scorn on our social channels on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
Peklar: Unreal is easy and intuitive to learn when you have a background in 3D software. This helped us with getting as many hands on deck as possible when assembling and dressing the levels. We extensively used the [Editor Utility Blueprint] system for the editor to create lots of custom tools for the team. The tools helped us to structure the production process and enable us to create much more in less time. There are many challenges when creating the atmosphere of the Scorn world, starting from materials, atmospheric effects, lighting, and such. All the systems work very well together and are easy to master.
What are your thoughts about the new features delivered with Unreal Engine 5? Are there any particular elements of the engine update that you’re looking forward to using?
Peklar: Lumen feels like the biggest game changer. Not having to deal with light baking will help with every other part of the production.
Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us. Where can people find out more about Ebb Software and Scorn?
Peklar: You can find all the latest information about Scorn on our social channels on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
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