Current project
A ski-resort game
A ski-resort game with skiers by day, snowcats by night, and a mountain with a life of its own.
This game is a project from Unruly Matter, an independent game-making label run by one developer. The title is provisional; the development diary follows the game as it takes shape.
The published footage shows tiny skiers, snow-covered slopes, chairlifts and snowcats grooming the mountain after dark. The scenery develops alongside them, from terrain and forests to clouds, sunsets and a star-filled sky.
Each short development chapter looks at a particular experiment: making skier poses readable, breaking up repetitive peaks, giving clouds depth, or keeping small stars visible as they move. Watch the episodes below to see the changes in context.
Development diary
- A first look at the ski-resort game
Riders by day. Snowcats by night. A first look at a small mountain with a life of its own.
- Animating tiny skiers for a ski-resort game
It started with tiny people. Their poses, turns and carried equipment had to make sense before they had anywhere to ski.
- Building procedural mountain terrain
Noise, height maps, different terrain, snow and forests. A simple slope becomes a whole mountainside.
- Shaping and lighting clouds in a game
Strange early cloud shapes lead to a closer look at noise, density and the light that reveals their depth.
- Rendering stars and the Milky Way in a game
Disappearing stars become a mountain sky full of starlight and dark dust lanes.
- Building a day cycle with directional sky gradients
From lighting presets to a sky shaped by time, direction and height.
- Designing ski runs with terrain-aware turns
The shortest route was not always the gentlest.
- Shaping snow into a ski run
The same route becomes less difficult after snow shaping, with its path and width held fixed.
- Making my ski lift feel alive
Sagging ropes, swaying chairs and tracks in the snow bring the first working resort to life.
- How my skiers choose a route
Queues, crowds and skill turn a simple lap into a route decision.
- Giving tiny skiers feelings
Tiny reactions make a day on the mountain easier to read.
- Making snow remember every run
Ski tracks became a surface that traffic, snowfall and grooming could change.
- Giving twenty snowcats a night shift
A fleet needed assigned work, coordinated trips and a route home.
- Making snowstorms leave a mark
Falling snow became a coat on the trees. Then it needed a way to fade.
- Giving tiny skiers more character
The first redraw was too similar. The next gave tiny visitors clearer shapes.
- Giving tiny skiers room to move
Wider turns, spread-out entrances and paths back into motion help tiny skiers share the slope.
- How my skiers share directions
Working backwards from destinations gives tiny visitors shared directions around the mountain.
- Building a new ski run
A planned descent becomes a real addition to the mountain.
- Optimising a ski-resort simulation
Cutting repeated work to make room for a busier mountain.
- Fixing ski-resort bottlenecks
Following queues and collisions through my ski resort—and improving the flow.
- Expand or maintain? A ski-resort reward choice
A new lift or another snowcat? Choosing expansion gives my resort a harder run—and leaves upkeep waiting.
- Can this skier save it? Skier control and recovery
A fast turn, rough snow, and a skier finding their way back.
- Freeriding, snowmobile trips and ridge jumps
Fresh powder, snowmobile trips into the mountains, and a little airtime.
- Ski resort game cycle timelapse
You asked to see the whole cycle of my ski resort game. Here it is, day by day and under the stars.