Research / Brightsite

A world taking shape,
day by day.

Brightsite is a Seleya world in development: places for agents to inhabit and characters through which they can act. This journal follows the work as it takes shape, including the Traveller movement study.

The faceted traveller falls backwards inside the timber training hall, arms raised and both feet off the floor beside the low edge of the practice area.

A fall, and a way back up

Strong earth-shaping hits can take the traveller off their feet, with a different fall from each direction and a recovery that brings them back into motion.

 The painted Loot menu for Gilbert, with the traveller's empty backpack beside a belongings grid containing a basket, plant fiber, arrows, logs, berries and clothing.

The things people carry

Belongings stay with their owner, villagers find a little room to themselves, and the grass gives way beneath their feet.

 A view from the snowy summit across the river, lake, ancient tree and wooded hills extending to the valley's distant rim.

The valley gets a skyline

The peak comes out of the haze, the hills carry on beyond the lake, and the valley begins to feel like one connected place.

 The faceted traveller beside the Appearance panel, with the Quiff haircut selected, hair-colour swatches and the Hair, Skin, Eyes and Face tabs visible.

A face of your own, a first harvest

Choose the traveller's look in the new Appearance screen, then turn a patch of earth into Brightsite's first turnip crop.

 A close view of the faceted traveller wearing a raised quiff with short sides, against the valley's trees and flowers.

Loose hair, softer movement

New hair shapes and subtle sway, a quieter standing idle, and hit reactions that move through the traveller a joint at a time.

 The faceted traveller among lavender beside timber houses on a lakeshore, under a partly clouded sky.

Somewhere to call home

Settlers arrive to sheltered beds, woodcutters bring logs back to camp, and the weather changes the feel of the same familiar shore.

 A small timber-framed house with stepped cross-gabled roof, double wooden doors and square window openings, set on a cleared plot beside lavender.

A fresh start, one block at a time

Brightsite returns to an empty valley, then builds a clearer beginning from gathered logs, a workbench and a house raised by hand.

 A faceted chestnut deer with pale belly and branching antlers walking across the flowered green before the timber town hall.

Footsteps in the valley

A deer walks the green, while woodcutters and haulers begin turning the forest into a town's supplies.

 The painted timber-and-slate inventory frame with arrows and plant-fibre stacks, a parchment detail panel and nine hotbar slots beside the faceted traveller.

A painted frame for the adventure

Timber and slate frame the backpack and settings, while woven banners and quieter water bring new movement to the valley.

 The faceted traveller facing the camera in a fitted pale long-sleeved shirt and brown trousers, with a bow slung across the back and flowers in the meadow.

Dressed for the road

The traveller's shirt, trousers and new boots get another fitting pass, while timber begins to share the world's faceted character.

 The faceted traveller in a pale shirt and brown shorts, holding a small axe low at one side with a wooden bow across the back.

The first tree falls

A woodcutter's axe gets a sideways swing, severed trees come down under their own weight, and daylight begins to move.

 Pale timber-framed cottages with green roofs along dirt lanes beside a lake, with a square tower at the village centre.

A wider valley

A lake, forested ridges and a village beneath a snowy peak give Brightsite a much larger setting.

 Five fire studies, from small torch flames to a broad bonfire, laid out beside the river beneath the ancient tree.

What you carry, what you can change

A backpack, earth shaping and fires built from wood give the traveller more ways to leave a mark on the world.

 The traveller's faceted hand holding the first wooden bow beside the forest trail, pool and small hearth.

The first arrows

A working bow puts something new in the traveller's hands, while movement and the open meadow get another pass.

 The enormous green Hearth Tree spreading above a timber inn and workshop, with snowy mountains behind the village.

Around the Hearth Tree

A giant tree becomes the village's landmark, with a lakeside market below and two buildings finding identities of their own.

 A turquoise river descending over several falls through the wooded village, with timber cottages and path crossings beside its banks.

Finding a way through the village

A river from the hills to the harbour, warm lights along the lanes, and a first journey between houses.

 Timber cottages and varied trees on the slopes above a turquoise lake, with the village reflected in the water.

A village beside the lake

Cottages climb the wooded hillside, winding lanes connect the neighbourhoods, and the lake begins reflecting the world around it.

 An experimental stone gatehouse with a green copper roof, timber-framed window and arched doorway beneath sandstone cliffs.

Grass underfoot, firelight after dark

A fuller forest floor, clearer pools, and early building experiments in brick, stone and copper. Then a little light for the night.

 The first Brightsite valley, with a block-built town, pines and sandstone cliffs.

Finding Brightsite's shape

The original faceted traveller, a first valley built from half-metre blocks, and early experiments in stone and timber.