Canicular: Unity

Canicular is a fantastical cross-media project in the style of a Nintendo 64 game with a companion project in the style of a Nintendo Gameboy Color game. The project is focused on a fantastical island perpetually at the end of summer built around seven different regions each centered around a color and a way of life. 

Canicular’s main character is Berdi, an almost 19-year-old scientist who just moved to the island and is traveling the island’s regions trying to make friends and learn more about himself before starting university. 
Throughout the course of the game Berdi and their friends learn of how the Lanark Corporation is slowly taking over the island and shutting down the local businesses and guilds that have helped keep the island self-sufficient and running smoothly. All the adults on the island have gone a little crazy for Lanark’s new stores and its up to the gang of kids to restore balance before Oryx, the new regional manager from Lanark is able to take over fully and change the way of life on the idyllic island forever.

During the Revival Jam 2024, the team explored concepts for the project via sketches and music, and developed some of the ground level gameplay systems.

You can download an interactive scene that features some environments-in-progress from our project lead Sam, and proof-of-concepts for our movement and dialogue systems by our coder Kevin.
Walk with WASD and interact with red NPCs/objects with E; gamepads are also supported.

Rosko, our musician, worked on a few tracks. A medley showcasing these is in our available downloads.

Emi, our artist, produced these area concept sketches: