How Studio Created Atmospheric Adventure Game About Shepherd Dog in Unreal Engine

Introduction

The core team is me, Milan, and my colleague, Martin. We met during the development of Mafia: Definitive Edition at Hangar 13. Martin was leading the cinematic team, and I was working on a photogrammetry 3D scanner. After the Mafia was finished during the COVID pandemic, we moved to freelance jobs. So we rented a small office (where we still stay) and worked from there. We worked on our projects separately, but the idea of starting something together seemed appealing. Then the opportunity to do gameplay animations for the game Last Train Home appeared, so we created a company, named it Brocap (Brno Mocap), and that was it.

Since the conception of the company, we have had the opportunity to work on interesting projects, such as the story DLCs for Crime Boss: Rockay City, some of the cinematics for Forgotten But Unbroken, or a few cutscenes for Mafia: The Old Country.

And what do we enjoy the most? The creative process. Sometimes, for example, we get into a creative and technological clash. And looking for a solution is actually the fun part. And of course, when people play the game we worked on, especially if it’s perceived well, it is the most satisfying reward for all the hard work that precedes it.

Game's Story & Perspective of a Shepherd Dog

First drafts

After finishing one of the client jobs, we were eager to create something of our own. Since our focus is on cinematics and animation, we originally planned to create an animated short movie. Martin pitched three ideas, and one of them was about a dog. The idea sounded interesting, but more like a game rather than a short movie. That’s why, instead of an internal animation jam, we did a game jam, where we created the prototype. However, after the game jam, we realized the scope was too big for our small team.

Second Concept & Prototype

Next, we descoped the idea, created a very basic prototype, and again realized it’s still too big. From the original concept, the only thing that was left was the dog. 

After a few prototype iterations, we added a simple story, a human character, and a threat. We called this dirty prototype a “naughty boi.” It was planned from the start that this version was for quick experiments, and when we decide on the direction, we would start with a new project. The final version of the prototype was roughly 30 minutes long, it had 2 levels, and based on the feedback, players were more interested in the story between the dog and his owner, as well as what happens with the wolves. It gave us a clear idea of what the game should be about.

Then, after finishing outsourcing for Hangar 13 on the project Mafia: TOC, we jumped into the full production of Hubert with a fresh Unreal project, and after roughly three months, we launched the Steam page and showed an early demo to the world at Game Access 2025.

We try to keep the story grounded in realism (with little creative freedom in the form of the dog talking to himself). The mystery comes more from the world itself and from the characters’ pasts. Hubert and Lily are just passing through places that already have their own history, and it is up to the player how deeply they want to explore and piece those stories together. Someone can simply follow the main journey, while another player might spend time investigating abandoned places or following scent trails to learn more about what happened there.

Since the player experiences the world through a dog’s perspective, we also had to find our own language for things like smell and instinct. That led to systems like visualized scent trails and Hubert’s internal monologues, which help communicate how he perceives situations and people around him. We wanted those mechanics to feel less like “magic powers” and more like an emotional or instinctive interpretation of the world.

Balancing warmth and tension is probably one of the hardest parts of development. We want the more difficult or emotional moments to make the calm scenes feel more valuable in return. Sitting quietly by a fire after a long journey, listening to the wind hitting the leaves on the tree. Those little peaceful moments are really the emotional core of the game. Even when the tone becomes more serious, we still want Hubert to feel comforting at heart.

Development: Engine, Software, & Custom Tools

The first prototype was made in Unity, but since the game is supposed to have plenty of cinematics, it was much more comfortable to work in Unreal. We try to keep as many pipelines as we can within Unreal, but sometimes we have to jump into Blender. For example, recently we modified the dog’s fur and a little bit of skeleton weight-paint, and that is still much more convenient to do in Blender rather than Unreal, even though it offers solutions for these problems as well.

One of the tools helping us simplify detail and deconstruct realism into stylized art is FotoSketcher by David Thoiron. Its brush filters and styles save us a lot of time. Repainting only the albedo textures will not automatically make the game look stylized or visually appealing, but it gives us a strong first pass to build on. 

To keep the pace of development fast, we created a few internal tools.

• One of them creates Blender projects from FBX files and adds control rigs. We open the Blender project, and we can animate right away without the need for any manual setup. Very useful for processing many motion capture data.
• Another useful tool helps us synchronize localized texts with a Google spreadsheet. Thanks to such a tool, we have all the texts in all supported languages in a single spreadsheet, and we can share it easily with translators, and then synchronize it back to the editor.
• One of the most recent tools helps us save files. In the past, we copied the save file if we wanted to debug a feature further in the level. Now we can press a button to create a copy and restore the backup by pressing another button.

Herding Mechanic

Two of the main inspirations are Farewell North and The Last Guardian. There is a very nice herding mechanic in the former. The sheep there follow the player very nicely. We wanted the herd to feel a bit more chaotic. In The Last Guardian, Trico sometimes doesn’t do what the player wants, and that’s actually the fun. It feels alive. In our case, then, sheep join the herd, but sometimes, when there are too many of them, the ones that are further from Hubert might misbehave. And maybe not just those that are far.

Visual Direction: Creating a Painterly Style Reminiscent of Storybook Illustrations

The visual style of Hubert came from failure rather than from a master plan. Early on, we tried to make an extremely realistic cinematic game with a tiny team and quickly realized we were basically attempting “Red Dead Redemption 2 with a dog,” which was completely unsustainable. For a while, we even considered going in the exact opposite direction and going full Okami stylization instead. Eventually, we found inspiration in games like Life is Strange and The Witness, especially in their more painterly and impressionistic approach to simplifying and “deconstructing” reality instead of chasing photorealism. That idea resonated with us strongly and slowly pushed Hubert toward a more atmospheric and emotional visual direction.

One of the things that differentiates Hubert from many other animal games is that the world itself is not magical. There is no explicit sorcery or supernatural fantasy. The “magic” comes more from the atmosphere, relationships, and little quiet moments. Sitting by a fire, hearing wood crackle, watching the wind move through the grass, or simply existing in silence for a while.

Balancing Tension and Tranquility in Gameplay and Narrative

This is the hard part of the development. We should serve the intensive parts carefully to not break the coziness and vice versa. However, we also try to keep a slightly uplifting mood even during the intense moments. Hubert’s VO lines help with that significantly, but we are aware that not everyone will like that.

Creating Picturesque Locations of Northern Wilderness

The northern wilderness in Hubert was shaped a lot by stories and films that romanticize the idea of the “last frontier.” Authors like Jack London were a big inspiration for us because their worlds feel both beautiful and unforgiving at the same time. We also love films like Into the Wild and the story of Christopher McCandless, especially the idea of searching for something meaningful in the wilderness and confronting nature on its own terms.

For us, the northern setting felt like a perfect canvas because it can be incredibly peaceful and harsh at the same time. One moment you sit quietly by the fire watching snow fall, and the next you are trying to keep the flock together before night comes or wolves appear nearby. That contrast became very important for Hubert. The story is intentionally small and grounded. It is not about saving the world from an alien invasion. It is about protecting the flock, surviving the wilderness, and maintaining the bond between characters in a place that does not forgive mistakes easily.

Demo, Feedback, and Support

We released the demo a few weeks before the February Steam Next Fest. And despite our marketing efforts, it did not seem to catch the interest of many players. The first day of the SNF, when the magical Steam algorithm serves all games evenly to players, we did not see much traction, and we even considered quickly finishing the game and moving on to the next project. We even paid a couple of streamers to play the demo (and they did, for which we are grateful). By the end of the second SNF day, the wishlists suddenly started growing, and our TikTok and Instagram feeds were flooded with comments. For some time, we stayed on the first page of the SNF games. That caught us by surprise. Heartfelt and supportive comments started appearing, and of course, some bugs we missed were discovered. One of our favourites was the so-called “Jesus bug” when Hubert started to run into the sky while playing the level sequence. Overall, the perception was better than we expected, and it scares us a bit if the full game is as good as the demo.

If players would like to know more, we are most active on Discord, Twitter/X, and TikTok. We also have some more info on our website. What would help us the most at the moment is adding Hubert to the wishlist. Every wishlist counts and makes the game more visible for the magical Steam algorithm, and we appreciate every one of them.

Brocap Studio