--- title: Indie Devs Film Themselves as Animation Reference for... description: The indie developers behind the cinematic platformer Deer & Boy filmed real-life footage of themselves as animation reference to bring the game's characters to... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/indie-devs-film-themselves-as-animation-reference-for-deer-boy-qcrkmzvug twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Indie Devs Film Themselves as Animation Reference for Deer & Boy | daily.dev og:description: The indie developers behind the cinematic platformer Deer & Boy filmed real-life footage of themselves as animation reference to bring the game's characters to... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/indie-devs-film-themselves-as-animation-reference-for-deer-boy-qcrkmzvug og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/QcrKmzvug.png og:image:alt: Indie Devs Film Themselves as Animation Reference for Deer & Boy og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Indie Devs Film Themselves as Animation Reference for Deer & Boy **[80 LEVEL](https://daily.dev/sources/80lv)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The indie developers behind the cinematic platformer Deer & Boy filmed real-life footage of themselves as animation reference to bring the game's characters to life. The game, developed by Lifeline Games and published by Dear Villagers, follows a boy and a fawn through a silent, emotionally driven story. Released on June 23, it has been praised as a hidden indie gem for its cinematic visuals, calm gameplay, and touching narrative. The post highlights the character creation process from sketching to 3D modeling. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Scarlet Deer Inn, a Platformer Using Real Embroidery, Is Out on Steam](https://daily.dev/posts/scarlet-deer-inn-a-platformer-using-real-embroidery-is-out-on-steam-anuo8nsp0) · 80 LEVEL · 3 upvotes · 1 comments - [In This Beautiful Cinematic Game You'll Have to Be a Bearer of Light](https://daily.dev/posts/in-this-beautiful-cinematic-game-you-ll-have-to-be-a-bearer-of-light-3tdz76d8q) · 80 LEVEL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Indie game trailer pulled from BAFTA Games Awards ceremony](https://daily.dev/posts/indie-game-trailer-pulled-from-bafta-games-awards-ceremony-rfckuw4dz) · Game Developer · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#game-development](https://daily.dev/tags/game-development), [#gaming](https://daily.dev/tags/gaming), [#3d](https://daily.dev/tags/3d) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/indie-devs-film-themselves-as-animation-reference-for-deer-boy-qcrkmzvug) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Indie Devs Film Themselves as Animation Reference for Deer & Boy","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/indie-devs-film-themselves-as-animation-reference-for-deer-boy-qcrkmzvug","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/indie-devs-film-themselves-as-animation-reference-for-deer-boy-qcrkmzvug"},"datePublished":"2026-07-13T07:44:56.739Z","dateModified":"2026-07-13T07:45:16.521Z","description":"The indie developers behind the cinematic platformer Deer & Boy filmed real-life footage of themselves as animation reference to bring the game's characters to...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/bf139d113ce0a2dac0ac40459267d6e0?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/bf139d113ce0a2dac0ac40459267d6e0?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"80 LEVEL","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"80 LEVEL","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/78eebcd76c154e6bbfd565fed7dc4093","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/80lv"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/indie-devs-film-themselves-as-animation-reference-for-deer-boy-qcrkmzvug","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"game-development,gaming,3d","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"80 LEVEL","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/80lv"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Indie Devs Film Themselves as Animation Reference for Deer & Boy"}]} ```