A Puzzling Thriller inspired by the Zero Escape and Danganronpa series.
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Latest Updates from Our Project:
Update! - New Character Art, Screenshots, Feature and More
almost 5 years ago
– Sun, Jan 05, 2020 at 01:50:29 AM
First up, the Character Update:
Adhira
A bigger Update, much like Joy's.
Not much to say about that. She's more aligned with the other Characters now.
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Some Screenshots that I meant to put in the previous Update:
Ignore the little Red guys, I use them as a reference for the Player's size.
This location was in the previous Update, but I only showed it in a short video. So here's a better look. It's a long Subway for self driving cars that has since been abandoned. I'm still finalizing the visuals here, but it's very close to being done. Something you will experience during Thief's Roulette are short, playable vignettes that help build the world outside of the Facility you're all trapped in. Since the MC is the only one that's lost his memory (a lot of it), when you speak to other Thieves during Break Time, they might wind up telling you a story that you are pulled directly into. And then you'll play through that story.
Since this specific moment happens earlier in the game I could detail it more. Li (remember him?) is a Cop, and he tells you a story about a hideout in this abandoned Subway. You are pulled into his POV and get to playthrough that story. There will be a good deal of instances like this, that will bring the world to life, and help give you a better idea of the Characters they deal with.
That's just one way I plan to make Thief's Roulette surprising and engaging. I want to do some very interesting things with this game and hopefully that pays off. When the Trailer is out, you'll get a glimpse of those things.
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The Thief Device
I'll be changing that name the moment I think up something better:
What the Thief Device will eventually be, is a device that is given to every one of the thieves. I guess you can think of it like the handbooks in Danganronpa. This here is just a quick visual concept. There will be a Home Screen, that will look pretty nice when I make it... then there is the Thieves page that has a list of every character and information about them. The Notepad option takes you to an actual Notepad that you can write on. Actually pretty simple thing to code, but I didn't implement it yet. You can sketch things, take simple notes, and check it out whenever you want. It should be very helpful during Challenge Rooms. Unfortunately drawing with a mouse doesn't look that good, but I think that could make it fun in a way. Lastly there's the "Calc" option that takes you to a Calculator. Another option that will be very helpful during Challenge Rooms. Those 4 buttons (on the left) will be much prettier and have a unique icon rather than just text when it's all done. Well, everything will be much prettier when I spend some more time on it. I don't think it will be done in time for this upcoming Demo update, but that's alright.
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That's all for the content side of the Update. Lastly I want to talk about the Trailer, then we can wrap this up. There's going to be some nice surprises in the trailer. Lots of new content, visuals, locations, and more. My goal is to have your idea of what this game will be change just a bit. The deeper into development I go, the clearer it all becomes to me. So my vision of the game is a lot more refined now than when I first made the Kickstarter. My tentative, "this is the latest I'll go" Release Date for the Trailer is January 20th. I've got the majority of the footage in place. I'm waiting on some music and finishing up some of the final visuals. This should be good, and lead to a nice spike in the attention the game is getting.
When the Trailer is finally out, I will make a quick Update following it to give another rundown on where I go from there. I will also talk about all of the new things you've seen...
The next Update is on the 18th, so that should fall either right before the Trailer or right after. Best case scenario is that it lands on the same day, so I'm really hoping for that. I'll get back to work now.
Updated Art for Roland + MC and More
almost 5 years ago
– Mon, Dec 23, 2019 at 04:39:42 PM
Roland:
You probably won't notice too much, but the size/resolution is much bigger now, the quality is better as a result. Very minor changes in his design, but I didn't do much else in regards to Character work so I thought I should show him anyway.
Now to the MC:
The MC's progression from left to right (old to new).
I imagine some people will prefer the 2nd to the 3rd, or maybe like the 1st over the other 2, and I think that's because this Character in general is pretty lackluster. Beyond the mark on his face, there's not much to him, and I haven't done much to address that issue VISUALLY. When it comes to the Character himself, his backstory, and his development over the course of the game, I think people will be very surprised. Especially when it comes to his development, I'm planning something pretty unique in that regard. My mindset for this most recent change was that he was a little too tough/confident. So I changed him accordingly. He's much more reserved and passive here, and that's something that will actually change as the game goes on, among other things... :)
But visually, he still really sucks. If he changes for a 4th time it'll happen in the next couple weeks if at all, but I'll probably just stick with this version. His progression visually and mentally will make him a lot more interesting than his first impression.
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An early look at a Challenge Room I haven't showed before. I'll include a closer look in the upcoming Trailer. The Room isn't close to finished yet, but the part of it that is (this section), will be in the Trailer. Even this part needs some attention, however, the ceiling for one is not going to just be the Unity Skybox, but I wanted to show the cables that connect around the environment. I'll keep polishing this part and you'll see it again in that Trailer along with some other new locations that I will hold off on showing until then.
Speaking of the Trailer, I have more news on that and my Plans moving forward:
Trailer releases in January, aiming for 'as early as possible', but January is a good enough date for now. The Trailer will show off new Locations, finally include updated Character Art, and have some very special artistic elements. Much of the footage is done, but I'm working on that special stuff now, which takes a while. Should be exciting.
WIP Shot from the Trailer
Along with that Trailer, I've decided to Update the first Demo after all. Previously I had said that I wouldn't touch the Demo for a while until I had something big to Update it with, but since the Trailer is coming up soon and the Demo still needs time, I need to update the Demo. I imagine there will be a considerable spike in attention for the game after this Trailer releases, so I wouldn't want those potential players trying out the Demo and dealing with things I've actually fixed in the game's current build. So that's on the way. This Updated Demo will include changes to Challenge Room 1, have Updated Character Art, VERY Improved Performance (I spent a lot of time on that), and updated Dialogue for the Elevator Cutscene. I'm going to chop off that Lady Luck scene I had originally, and replace it with a general recap of the game's story. I intend to create better Menus and refine Controller Support, but those wouldn't be too bad to hold off on for now. I want the Trailer and Demo Update to launch around the same time, if those elements end up stalling the Demo too much, then I'll just leave them out.
Then, further down the road will be Demo 2. No exact release date on that, but it will be a very substantial amount of added content on top of Demo 1.
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Finally, something else I decided to play around with is the Side Game. I actually have a pretty good idea for what to do with it, but I'm not going to go all in. I still need to prioritize Thief's Roulette right now, so I'm just doing either very simple coding tests, or writing out scenarios for the Side Game. So recently I put together this simple concept:
During Dialogue there would be a button in the top left corner that drops down a list of "Key Words" and a side option for a list of "Items." This is an idea I explored in a previous little game of mine called Digital Chain (which I will totally revisit in the future, get excited for that please). I didn't put enough time into that game and its systems, but the concept stuck with me, and I think it could make for something really great if done right.
You can play if you'd like... but it's a little rough!
In the video there, you click on one of the various Words or Items, and the character will respond accordingly. It isn't totally functional here, but the Words/Items Lists work, and that's really what I'm showing off. Using that system you can ask Characters about certain things as you learn them. Each character would have a different response to each Word/Item you present to them. So alongside general exploration and problem solving, talking to Characters will also be needed to progress the game. Morgan will not be in the game, but it would take place in Thief's Roulette's world, and contain references to it. A Detective style game in the Thief's Roulette universe is the idea.
Again, I'm not putting much time into that right now, just playing around with smaller aspects of it. I'm keeping most of my attention on T-Roulette until I get the Trailer and Demo 2 completed.
And that's it for this Update. Christmas is in a couple days, so Merry Christmas to those that celebrate. Next Update will have a tentative release date for the Trailer, a Full Character Rework and some other things that I've been working on.
A big picture of Isaac. His changes were more about how he was drawn/rendered than anything major design wise. He is now more visually aligned with how I want the Characters to look. Still a couple more to go, but it won't be too long now.
And here is the Side by Side comparison of Old and New Isaac. I think he's good like this... if anything I might make his eyes smaller, now that I'm looking at it here!
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Now to the "Eye's Return" mentioned in the Update Title:
If you remember, Thief's Roulette was initially going to have a system I referred to as HEM (Hand, Eye, Mouth). You would be required to choose one of those before interacting with something. I scrapped that idea in favor of giving all things just one mode of interaction, and reflecting what that would be through the Crosshair changing. So Hand (for interacting) made a return, and so did Mouth (for speaking). Now, I've finally gotten the EYE back in:
You can't do this with everything, but specific points of interest will be Marked when you approach them. When you see the EYE, that means you can take a closer look. I've been working on some smaller environment pieces to bring them to life. Posters, advertisements, notes, and things like that. I want to create a bunch of them, and let you interact in this way. Additionally, using the EYE will be necessary in some of the game's Puzzles.
Speaking of Puzzles, I've applied that same Smoothing technique to Interacting with them:
It could be a little bit smoother... but I think some of that is due to the compression. It feels fine when I'm not recording, but it can definitely still be improved.
I've been doing little things like this since the last Update. Trying to make the game feel more "legit." I don't remember if I said this before, but a hurdle I still need to get over is trying to make the game more presentable. I want it to not scream "Indie" I guess. I'm getting closer, but it has a long way to go. Little things like this help a lot, so I feel good about the progress that's been made.
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I'm putting together Trailer 3 now, and my goal is to have it done in January. It won't go up the same day as the Demo like I had planned, though. I'll give the Demo the time that it needs, but I think Thief's Roulette is way overdo for some press. I haven't done much of a push in regards to publicity or marketing the game really at all since the Kickstarter Campaign. Since then I've created a lot more content to show off, and I think that will bring in some much needed attention to the project. Trailer 3 is going to be pretty cool, and will include a ton of stuff I haven't even shown in these Updates... I'd like to call this the first real deal Trailer for the game. I'm debating whether I should make one more trailer potentially a week before or after Trailer 3 that's more constructed as a Character Trailer. I don't want to overload Trailer 3, so unless I find a clever way to show everything I want to show AND all 15 Characters, I might need a smaller Character focused trailer to come alongside it.
As I mentioned in the previous Update, I'm considering bringing back the Side Game plan. I wanted to spend some time thinking about whether it would be a viable option, and I think I've come to a decision... as of now I'm going with it. A SMALL game, set in the same world as Thief's Roulette, that could help expand on the game's world. This and Thief's Roulette itself could work together and really bring players to both games. If you're interested in Thief's Roulette try Side Game, and vice versa. I think that's something worth including in these upcoming Updates. I can give an idea of what this game would be like.
And that's all. Next Update I plan on getting another Character Art rework done and probably some Environment stuff as well. I also want to give details on the "Side Game" and show whatever else has been done.
Update Finally - 4 Character Art Reworks & More
almost 5 years ago
– Mon, Nov 25, 2019 at 11:59:50 PM
Had some internet troubles, so the Update was delayed but I've still been working on the game just fine.
This was going to be a pretty drawn out Update at first, but since it's been so long I should keep things to the point! So here's a group photo of the Characters that hard work done:
The biggest change, of course, is Joy. I hope she's still recognizable, but I redrew her from scratch and made some adjustments from there. Next in line is Roger. This one was a more simple adjustment. His art was pretty low resolution, and the way his clothing fit on his body felt extremely stiff - which some of the other characters also suffer from and I'm now addressing. So I upscaled the base drawing then redrew everything that needed improvements on top of it. I think this looks much better. Then there's Ruby, it might not be clear with this picture alone, but he actually got changed quite a bit. Again, his clothing is rendered much better, and I've also redrew him in the same fashion I did Roger. Last is Viktoria who you really didn't see much of in the first place. Really only her head stayed the same. I redrew the rest of her body and changed her outfit just a little.
Since Joy and Ruby changed the most, these could also be nice to see:
And that's all for Character stuff. I'll continue doing this until the Cast all looks good together. There will probably be 2(?) full reworks like Joy... I'm not sure yet, but I think that's going to happen. One thing that's tough about this process is knowing when to stop. As I improve, I'll likely want to keep updating the Character Art, but I'll have to restrain myself. When the cast is all done, I'll be a lot more confident about talking about the game online. My social media usage has been pretty low, and that's one of the big reasons. I want the cast to be solid, that way whenever someone looks at the game for the first time, they know it's not a work in progress.
Now, Character Art isn't all I've been doing. I've spent a good deal of time getting all of the Writing down, instead of just the basic Plot Outline and major events I had at the time. This means I'm working on the Script, and trying to get it 100% written out. As I've been making progress with this, I've been getting a much better understanding of how I want this game to feel. That's something I had been struggling to get a grasp on, but now I think it's all falling into place. I don't want to keep teasing, but I can say that Demo 2 will be the true Thief's Roulette experience (or did I say that about demo 1). The 2nd Demo will take you through the Introduction of the game, followed by an updated Challenge Room 1. After that you play through your first Marking Roulette, and a Break Time. The demo will end with Challenge Room 2. I anticipate this Demo will be at least double the playtime of 1, if not more. It will be a solid chunk of the game, and give you everything you need to know about Thief's Roulette. All without spoiling what will make the game memorable. I think the release of Demo 2 will be a turning point for the game and bring it to the attention of a lot of new people. There's no exact Date on when Demo 2 releases just yet, but I will keep you all in the know.
Progress on Challenge Room 2 is still going well. I'm into the Puzzle side of things now since the Blockout is finished. This part isn't that interesting to show in its early stages. Things just don't work. When the Puzzles actually start feeling good, I'll show them off. I think I can get one or two into the next Update.
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Now onto something I brought up a long time ago: a Thief's Roulette 'Side Game'
I was once pretty dead set on making a Side Game as a supplement to Thief's Roulette, and as a way to make additional funds for the game's development. Then I decided to maybe approach a Publisher with the Project, and the Side Game idea was pretty much ended right there. Now, a Publisher is totally still on the table, but a part of me thinks a Side Game should be as well... I guess you can say I'm not really sure about what to do, so I'm just talking about it here.
The benefits of making a Side Game would be the potential to make money that would go back into the development of Thief's Roulette. Additionally, people who are exposed to that Side Game could be more likely to purchases Thief's Roulette when it's finally released. So the two games work off one another. The other benefit here would be a more personal one. Kickstarter as a method of getting this game made was actually pretty hard for me to do. I'm typically not one to ask for help (which is a good and bad thing at times). Although I obviously appreciate all of the support I got through Kickstarter, I really wish I could do something a bit more direct to earn money. That's part of why I like the Side Game idea so much. I could create something that you would play right then and there when you pay for it. I can't help my mind from wandering to new ideas, so having a smaller project, and one that is connected to the main project to spend some time on could actually be a great thing in the long run.
Not sure... if I did do one, I would need to start soon. I don't want to draw anything out and hurt Thief's Roulette's actual progress. Assuming I actually do it, the goal would be creating a small game, contained in the same world as Thief's Roulette. Probably aim for February as a release. It's doable, but I'd have to work smart. I guess I already talked about all of this months ago when I first brought up the idea, but it might have been a mistake not going through with it. I think by the next Update I will have made up my mind. No big deal.
And that's all I got. It's funny that when I proposed a schedule in the last Update, I had problems right away. As far as I can tell, things should be fine and I can stick with this routine now. So, that's every other week, Saturday.
M Updated & More Challenge Room 2
about 5 years ago
– Sat, Nov 09, 2019 at 07:16:46 AM
This will be a pretty straightforward Update. I changed M's design a bit. I also finalized the Art for Morgan and Viktoria but the changes aren't that noticeable so I'll leave that out. Then we have more Challenge Room 2, and a look at another location I'm working on.
I don't know if people would prefer to see the whole body rather than just the Bust/Sprite? I did this same format for Ice and characters before them. Just looks better presenting them this way lol.
Didn't do anything drastic here, just some changes to her clothing and how they were rendered. I've already accepted that I've got some practicing to do before I'm where I want to be with my art, but this is much nicer than before.
I'm working on other Characters but most are very minor changes. I'm doing Full Reworks for 3 of the Characters. You'll still recognize them, but I'll be redrawing them from scratch. One of these Characters should be done for next Update, but if not, I'll still have 2 other minor reworks to show at that time.
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A new Location after Challenge Room 1. Once you complete the Room, you take an Elevator back up, which leads to a new room. That Room is where all other Teams will arrive after the Challenge Room. From that room is this Corridor here, which leads back to the Main Room where you started before the Challenge Rooms. You'll see.
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Now the new Challenge Room Shots:
Still working on colors, textures and all that but I've made a good deal of progress with Challenge Room 2. It will be much different from 1 in terms of how it looks and how it plays.
Confirmed right now, there will only be the 3 Item Slots. I was going back and forth thinking about whether I wanted an Inventory to look through during these Challenge Rooms, but I think sticking to this concept is another way to separate Thief's Roulette from games like it. Having the 3 Item limit means there's no Item Combination, and that you don't ever hold a large amount of Items at once. Obviously, once you've gotten everything you need from the item it'll go away. Because of this, the Puzzles I end up creating can be much different than Zero Escape's, for example, which is still a major influence on the game.
In Challenge Room 2 in particular, there is a Tool you keep with you throughout the whole Challenge Room. It's a tool that lets you "Translate" things you see. There will also be minor items to acquire, but this one stays with you.
When I get it working right (lol) I'll show it off! It's pretty neat, and is a perfect example of how I want Puzzles in future Challenge Rooms to be. Tools that have direct influences on the Challenge Room itself. That's something I can do since you aren't dealing with a large list of Items.
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And that's the end of this Update, I think I'll stick to releasing Updates on Saturdays. Later.
