Article: Chronoscript: The Endless End - The Never-Ending Story by Marcus Stewart

Developer DeskWorks is no stranger to crafting games resembling pen-and-paper drawings, having created the similarly stylized RPG Time: The Legend of Wright. Despite the detailed intricacy of the pen art, DeskWorks lead artist Nam Namba confirms to me the game is literally hand-drawn and, perhaps most surprisingly, is being brought to life by only four main artists; one of whom is the sister of development director, Tom Fuji. DeskWorks views Chronoscript as an opportunity to advance its expertise in creating hand-drawn visuals, a style it almost has a slavish devotion to.

For example, the team tells me that on average, it takes about two work days to draw and animate a single enemy grunt. It’s an eyebrow-raising statistic after watching the trailer, where even the smaller foes are meticulously detailed. On top of that, the presentation features 3D elements, such as rats that scurry across a page during one segment, as well as the entire room the manuscript occupies, which players occasionally see when the camera pans out during certain sequences. And because of the game’s larger scale compared to RPG Time, the small team has enlisted the help of guest creators to work on sound and some character design, but it’s keeping the identity of these seemingly higher-profile contributors secret for now. The team is particularly excited to be working with its guest composer and teases that diehard fans of this musician may be able to deduce their identity from the reveal trailer’s music.