Scarlet Deer Inn is a new adventure with beautiful embroidered animation

A Stitch in Time

Every day we read stories about the potential (inevitable?) end of human creativity due to advances in AI. But meanwhile, in the Czech Republic, a brand new developer is creating a game utilizing embroidered animation, hand-painted backgrounds, and traditional musical instruments.

It’s titled Scarlet Deer Inn, and it is being produced by Attu Games. This studio consists of a husband and wife team that decided they wanted to craft a video game entirely in-house, and I’ve never wanted to cheer someone on more. While Eva and Lukas Navratilova have been tweeting about their game since 2021, it’s a recent Twitter post that seems to be catching the internet’s attention.

Hi, I'm making a game where all characters have embroidered animation. pic.twitter.com/nMgNOsCNKc

— Eva Navratilova (@EvaBalikova) April 29, 2023

“Hi, I’m making a game where all characters have embroidered animation,” wrote Eva Navratilova in a succinct comment. Eva also attached a brief video of said animation as well as a fascinating clip of the embroidering process. Twitter users were full of praise for how cool the idea is, and the footage has received high praise from curious video game fans.

The process seems very time-consuming. Eva, who serves as the game’s writer and designer, as well as Attu Games’ community & marketing manager, described the basic process for Twitter users. Firstly, the animation frames are drawn out, before being stitched over. Once these embroideries are scanned and digitally cropped, then outlining and shading are added. While the embroidery process itself can add an outline to the character, Eva notes that it is much smoother when added digitally.

The frames are drawn, stitched, scanned, cropped. Then we add lines and shadows.
There is a little sneak peek video. https://t.co/EdIC8lLQo3

— Eva Navratilova (@EvaBalikova) April 29, 2023

So why add this extra step? Why go to the additional trouble? Does it tie into the story in some way? Nope. The team simply enjoys and takes pride in creating handmade things and producing different animation styles. Admittedly, the excitement of being the first to do so also has a hand in the decision.

Clearly, Eva and her husband Lukas, who serves as programmer, designer, artist, and animator, aren’t afraid of a challenge. The two are even attempting to produce the game’s soundtrack themselves! Using traditional instruments, they are composing a score stylized after medieval-inspired folk music to go along with the Slavic folklore-inspired story.

I’m excited to see some wholesome and traditional artistic creativity. Not every game needs to be a hand-drawn masterpiece, of course, but the few that are should be celebrated. Given the meticulous nature of its design, Scarlet Deer Inn doesn’t have a release date yet and it’s hard to say whether Attu Games can do everything on their own, or how long it will take them.

I do know that I will be adding this game to my Steam wishlist though.