“Hi, I’m making a game where all characters have embroidered animation.” /
On April 29, 2023, Czech user @EvaBalikova (Eva Navratilova) posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Hi, I’m making a game where all characters have embroidered animation.” The brief message, accompanied by an 11-second video, garnered almost 27 million views, over a quarter of a million likes, and more than 40,000 shares across X and other social media platforms.
The buzz around this project was instantaneous. The gaming community and the broader audiovisual industry quickly turned their attention to Scarlet Deer Inn, the name of this indie game, which had been in development since February 2021, following traditional animation techniques for video games.
The unique selling point? The tweet described it perfectly: a game where characters are brought to life using hand-embroidered animations. Thousands of users across social media platforms praised the ingenuity of this unusual approach, eagerly awaiting the game’s release, which is still unannounced.
A Personal Project with Big Ambitions /
Behind Scarlet Deer Inn is Attu Games, a small indie studio based in Znojmo, Czech Republic, made up of just two people: Eva Navratilova (writer, designer, community manager, and marketing lead) and her husband, Lukas Navratil (programmer, designer, artist, and animator).
The couple explains that their goal was to create something different and unusual, with a style and atmosphere inspired by Studio Ghibli films but set in a medieval European village. To achieve this, they developed their own process while creating this adventure platformer. The game’s story, described as pastoral and heartfelt, centers around Elise, a character who will explore various settings inspired by Slavic folklore. The developers promise an emotional narrative, a cast of interesting characters, and even a dark dungeon filled with monsters.
Embroidery as the Visual Soul /
Some have criticized the embroidery as not being as noticeable in the final product as they’d imagined. Addressing these critiques, Navratil and Navratilova shared their creative challenges: “we tried a lot of methods, like embroidering the entire scene, not using outlines, using embroidered outlines, many canvas and thread types and sizes, and much more. We also experimented with various digitizing techniques, such as using a photo box and various lighting settings, as well as stuff like normal maps and so on. And this is the best we can do while it’s still embroidered and suits our vision. The primary goal for us is to achieve a Ghibli-like style and feel, not the embroidery itself.”
They detailed their creative process: “The embroidery must be prepared on a computer beforehand. It means that the finished frame-by-frame animation must be replicated in vectors using embroidery software, with several options for threads, colors, stitch patterns, angles, and so on. After the embroidery is completed, the material is scanned back into a computer. Then, in Photoshop, each frame is taken out and the cloth around it is removed. Finally, the outline and shadows are applied.”
Looking Ahead /
Scarlet Deer Inn is expected to launch on PC and Nintendo Switch next year. Attu Games is also considers expanding to platforms like GOG, Xbox, and PlayStation. Meanwhile, a demo is already available on Steam.
With its mix of visual innovation, heartfelt storytelling, and exploration-driven gameplay, Scarlet Deer Inn promises to be more than just a video game—it’s a work of art that seamlessly blends traditional techniques and modern technology, embroidered to perfection by its creators.
