NEW BLOG POST!! 🎺 Please enjoy the first half of an interview with Ethan, our game designer, and James, our game director, about the design of our upcoming game, The Hearth and Harbour 🥘 saltstonestudios.com/2026/01/13/g...

This weekend I wanted to get better at texture painting and using Trim Sheets. I painted over some photo references of Belfast alleyways and got the UVS of all these models to work off one texture. Safe to say I love working with Trim Sheets now :) :)

Hi! 👋 I'm ACY, a composer from Belfast, and I'm out here making vibey music for cool games and your stereos 💿✨ Here's a bit about what I do Any and all shares greatly appreciated! 💝

As you voyage through the crashing waves, you see the harbour city of Lewthport rise in the distance 🚢 @saltstonestudios.bsky.social A new land of opportunity awaits... Wishlist #TheHearthandHarbour on Steam today! 🍽️ bit.ly/HearthHarbou...

WIP rough pass for a little Wilbur & Harold short I've been working on the last couple of months! 😼

#artvsartist2025 ✨

#artvsartist2025 ✨

miss minerva appertton .. #thepalebeyond | #art

Take a little break and enjoy the peace of Lewthport under a dusting of snow (remind you of anywhere Pale?) ❄️ Happy holidays everyone 🩵 ~~~ #indiegames #thehearthandharbour

I love art. I love artists. I'm so glad I get to experience art

the crew aboard the Temperance having their Christmas eve-equivalent dinner :0) photo versions under the cut! 🎄✨ #thepalebeyond | #christmas | #art

Happy holidays from all of us at Saltstone Studios!! 🥂

What a year it’s been! We rebranded the studio, moved into a new office, started a creative games hub, announced a new game, and even released a physical edition of The Pale Beyond! 🍾

This has been a very tough year for the games industry, and we’re so incredibly grateful for the hard work and immense patience of our team, as well as the support of our friends, family and peers. Thank you for sticking with us, and thank you Fellow Traveller too for taking another chance on us!

Our little community has been growing too, thank you every one who’s played our game, who’s done fanart or left a nice review or comment. Yous are the best ❤️

I don’t know how to explain to AI art advocates that making the thing yourself is what gives it meaning. I was art director on a game called The Pale Beyond. You play as captain of an Antarctic expedition, and try to keep everyone alive and happy enough that they don’t mutiny you. (spoilers 1/8)

There’s a scene where we ask the player to decide the fate of the sled dogs. We ask them to put the dogs down or condemn them to the ice. We ask if they will spare the kennel master’s lead dog, or not. We make them look her in the eye. I drew this scene so my artists didn’t have to. (2/8)

Our narrative director Thomas had to spend a few weeks convincing everyone on the team that the scene was necessary. We were referencing real history and we couldn’t pretend that things like this hadn’t happened. We’d seen a lot of grim things in our research but this one hurt. (3/8)

Most on the team have experienced the loss of a pet. At the time, my family dog Maya was going through cancer treatment. She lay on my feet while I opened my ribcage, and I drew the dog scene in The Pale Beyond. (4/8)

I read the words my friends had written, and I created the visuals they pulled out of my heart. Cordell’s strained expressions from attempting to hide her grief, the wide trusting eyes of a dog looking up at you while you stare down the barrel. My shaking hand. Maya’s soft snores. (5/8)

But that’s so much work. Surely AI would make it more efficient. “Generate icy landscape, pink sunset, pack ice, sled dogs, sad, gun, sexy lady in fur coat, shoot dogs, choose how they die, huge boobs, depressing, make gamers cry.” (6/8)

I don’t think you can ask anyone to care about what you’re making more than you do. Making things is difficult, it’s a kind of endurance. Skills are hard to learn, but even scarier than that, we usually want to make art because we have something to say. And communicating is vulnerable. (7/8)

But the vulnerability is where the meaning lies. It wouldn’t be important if it wasn’t scary. Don‘t be afraid. You already have something to say. Now all you have to do is try. (8/8)

Every artist, get more self indulgent NOW! Draw your ships kissing, draw your blorbos, draw that idea you’ve been putting off (you’re good enough to do it!!!), redraw that old art, draw yourself wearing a cool outfit, draw a better world- just draw!!!

I don’t know how to explain to AI art advocates that making the thing yourself is what gives it meaning. I was art director on a game called The Pale Beyond. You play as captain of an Antarctic expedition, and try to keep everyone alive and happy enough that they don’t mutiny you. (spoilers 1/8)

Have you ever wondered how to make video game art look delicious? In The Hearth and Harbour, you’re the heart of a bustling restauraunt. For us, the food has to be more than just pixels - it has to look YUMMY ! (Thread: 1/4)

Our character and prop artist Katie didn’t just cook up one style though; we have two on the menu! First, the ingredients have a loose ‘pen and wash’ style, inspired by Edwardian illustrations, with a dash of playful Quentin Blake energy. They’re imperfect because they’re unfinished - WIPs! (2/4)

When you combine ingredients, we get a meal! These have one goal: be mouth-watering. For inspiration we looked to a master of richness and warmth: JC Leyendecker. Sculpted with light, delicious detail and lavish colours - created with love, just like every meal should be. (3/4)

The ultimate transformation from charming sketch to a dish served with love. What dishes will you serve in your greasy spoon? (4/4)

Our upcoming game The Hearth and Harbour is fully 2D, but with some neat tricks we’ve made it look 3D. Ethan, our environment artist, did this with a special type of texture called a Normal Map. (Thread! 1/7)

In a 3D game, Normal Maps are used all the time to make walls and floors appear to have depth when they really are just completely flat. In 3D modelling, ‘Normals‘ are the directions that faces of the model are… facing! (2/7)

But a Normal Map can fake this by colour coding which parts of a surface should be dark or light when a light hits it. In a 2D game like ours, we don’t have models - but more like many layers of flat cardboard cutouts. (3/7)

So, if a Normal Map can make something flat imply the direction of the light - maybe our game could have lighting from all directions! (4/7)

Ethan first painted the city buildings of Hearth without any strong lightsource, then took an extra step to hand paint these barbie dream house colours of a Normal Map as an additional texture. (5/7)

Now, plugged into a shader and with some finishing touches, the buildings can react to 3d light from anywhere! (6/7)

Thanks to this trick, we can really deliver the different vibes of days and nights passing in-game for the player, and make the city of Lewthport feel alive in the rain, snow and shine. (7/7)

Check out some of the other Fellow Traveller titles too!

The Pale Beyond currently has a huge 80% off as part of the Steam Winter Sale! This is a great chance to grab a gift for any of your polar-history- or hot-old-men-enjoying friends ❄️ ⚓️ bit.ly/3CY2jA9 ⚓️

Offer also extends to the artbook and soundtracks!! 🩵

Let’s talk about Game Design Pillars! If you know anything about games, it’s likely you’ve heard of them before. In dev, pillars are the principles you organise your entire game design around. 3-5 supporting THINGS that make your game what it is. (Thread! 1/6)

”Do you use AI to make your games?”

sonboy new design + ref sheet acquired. i think ill post his clothes lineup separately :} #thepalebeyond | #art

WORLD PREMIERE: Pack your dice and take a trip across a pocket-sized world of tiles, terrains, and colorful characters in Travel Pack!, a light puzzle game inspired by board games and travel. s.team/a/3571380 #WholesomeSnack2025

New dev blog today! Talking about Game Design PILLARS! saltstonestudios.com/2025/12/08/g...

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Thank you Dilf Destroyer on tiktok for reminding us who it is we make games for ❤️

Wee thread about our art team’s inspiration for how we changed the style for Hearth compared to Pale! ❤️