Big Announcement Recap & More
almost 5 years ago
– Sun, Feb 02, 2020 at 01:31:27 AM
First things first, a quick recap of everything that's recently been announced:
- Got a Publisher: Top Hat Studios
- Added PS4 and PSVita to the platforms Thief's Roulette will release for
- Updated the Demo for Thief's Roulette
- Launched a Backerkit for preorders and purchases
- Released the Third Trailer for Thief's Roulette:
Pretty good!
I kept quite a bit under wraps during all this, so hopefully it makes up for the string of low content Updates.
Now I think I'll go over some of the new things you saw in the Trailer:
For starters, there are 6 different Challenge Rooms shown in that Trailer. I tried not to reveal too much of them, but that should say something about the progress that's been made. Along with the Challenge Rooms, you see some new puzzles and devices as well. The first shot of gameplay in the Trailer takes place in a Challenge Room I haven't shown yet (as it's very unfinished). You interact with a rotating Diamond and effect an on screen display. The visuals of the Diamond and the Monitor Display are still works in progress, but the concepts are mostly complete. It'll make more sense when I show it off later down the line.
There's a simple Keypad where you input numbers. That's a staple of puzzle games so that's good to have. The Rolling device from CRoom 1, and following that is a Computer screen. The Computer setup was pretty fun to make, but that is a pretty basic example of what I've started doing. It's just a webpage that you can read through. I'll be doing much more with Computers and Screens.
These devices are cool to get up and running, but they're ultimately based on the same concept. Player making very basic inputs, and having the device change in minor ways. Like a Keypad is essentially the same as the Wheel Rolling device in Challenge Room 1, except there are more variables. The Diamond Puzzle and the Computer Screens are a start, but I've got a lot of cool things I'm putting together. Going forward, I want to start working on more complex mechanics. As I said in the KS Campaign, I started this project as an Artist/Animator with only a bit of experience with code. So over time I've gotten much better at programming, and more experience with Unity. I have some ideas that I couldn't tackle at the start of development, but I can now. So I can't wait to show more.
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That's all for the puzzle portion of the Trailer. After that there's walking and talking. Then that sequence gets broken up by a shot of the main character waking up in bed. I'll get it right out of the way now and say the game does not take place in your dreams. It does however, include dreams. Dreams and nightmares will play a part in the game. Stress and fear ramp up throughout the game, and it takes a toll on the Thieves. As you sleep each night after every Challenge Room, you will experience these dreams. They're all very different and will often be abstract/experimental. The dreams will reflect on your journey thus far through Thief's Roulette, and the effects its had on you.
The dreams will be very memorable. I've already worked out all 6 Dreams(you sleep in your dorm room after every Challenge, but obviously not the 7th as that's the last). You see just 2 here, but the rest have been worked out in concept/sketch form. In the next demo, I will include the first Dream, so you'll get to experience that. The next demo will come a bit later, but will have Challenge Room 1, the Dream, and more character stuff. I will also include CRoom 2 in that same Demo, but put it into the Menu so that you can just decide whether you want to play it or wait for release. The Demo will be the actual start of the game from beginning of the game, to the night after Challenge Room 1. It will be a decent chunk of content, so it will take a bit longer to get done.
But back to the Trailer, I mentioned the waking up scene, but didn't say much else about it. Technically, that is an animated scene, but it's not on the level that I want it to be. It's just 3 frames, but it gets the job done for now.
I want to improve this shot and have it become the recurring animation that plays after each Dream. So I have to make sure its of much higher quality when it comes time to show it in game. Improve the art and put in some more frames. If it's going to show up multiple times it needs to look better than this.
On top of that scene, I will have other animated scenes in the game. I'll have to be smart about how they're designed, of course, as that will be a lot of work. I don't want to make scenes that are too complex or they'll take away from the time I could spend on the game itself.
This scene at the very start of the Trailer was meant to be a more extended animation, but the quality wasn't that good so I decided to scrap it.
It had the MC in a "face to face" encounter with Lady Luck. The scene would show Lady Luck first, then cut to the MC. Now, this could have been a pretty neat concept, but I just wasn't feeling the art I guess. It didn't look good enough, and it would have taken some more time to get it looking as good as I would want it to be. So I decided to just get rid of it and focus on the rest of the Trailer.
On top of my coding skills improving, I also have a ways to go with my art. As the project moves forward, I'll improve my skills and present new work as I do. I want to refine my art and create a nice animated scene for the game. It's a lot different animating for animation's sake. When you're placing animation like this into a video game, I think you need to make sure it not only fits, but also deserves to be shown. I'll get to that point eventually, so I'll show it off when I get there.
That pretty much covers the Trailer.
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So lastly, the current Demo will continue to improve over time. As I create features, the Demo will be updated. I'll cover what changes over on the actual Demo page: HERE , but also in these Kickstarter Updates. I'm putting together an Update that I hope to launch either Sunday or Monday. It will be yet another change to Challenge Room 1, among other minor adjustments. When the Demo is fully loaded with all of the features I want it to have, and the quality of the full release, then I'll stop updating it. I think 3-4 weeks will be enough for that. By then I can confidently move forward with the project as a whole.
This journey has been pretty great for me. It's sometimes stressful, but I've learned a ton, and the project has come very far. So I'll keep working, and I hope people are still excited for the game. It's becoming something bigger than I had initially thought it would be, and in many ways its become something very different. I'm more motivated to work on the game than I've ever been, so for me things won't slow down. I can't wait to show you all more of the game, and eventually get it into your hands.
That's all for this Update!
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But, before I go, I want to shoutout another developer working with Top Hat Studios (my publisher). They're running a Kickstarter campaign for their game, LAZR right now:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lazr/lazr-a-cyberpunk-clothformer
Looks pretty cool to me. If you like what you see, check out their campaign. I think it's developed by one guy, like this game is. I haven't investigated them too much but I believe that's the case. So they could use the support.