A Puzzling Thriller inspired by the Zero Escape and Danganronpa series. All purchases help support the development of the game.
The Demo is now Live:
It covers the first Challenge Room, its Cutscene, and a bit more.
It currently only runs on Windows, but I am working on a Mac build. Linux is a possibility... I will make an attempt to get Linux support.
That's all, enjoy.
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The first Demo Releases August 7!
Going for August 7 because it gives me 2 Weeks + a little leeway. Chances are the Demo is finished before then, but I'd rather be safe than sorry with Release Dates from now on.
That took a while, but things are going to start picking up now that so much of the game's core systems and mechanics are all up and running. The dialogue system is much better now and can still improve, movement feels good, I've been slowly making the game run faster, I've arrived at a solid visual style for the environments, and more good things. This is the biggest project I've ever done and my first venture into commercial game development. I've still got a lot to learn but I think I finally have the hang of things now. My experience with a project of this size was almost nothing when I first started developing the game. I was mainly an Artist and Animator, with the only real gamedev work I had under my belt was making short projects in Game Maker and RPG Maker... So the state that the project is in now (FINALLY) is amazing to me, and it's only going to get better from here.
Last week I got some feedback on a smaller version of this upcoming Demo. It had consisted of 1 half of the Challenge Room, and I was looking to find out how the game ran on people's computers. The feedback was very positive and it looked like the game ran very well. I was informed that it did not run on Linux and I would assume Mac either, but that wasn't tested. I had already expected that would be the case, and I will definitely look into how to make the game compatible. This will not happen in time for the August 7th Release unless I wind up with a ton of excess time. I would gladly release a fixed version afterwards if I get those problems solved. Besides that, the response was good, I even had a couple testers attempt the puzzle in game and relayed some very valuable feedback. So I ended up improving the puzzles a lot, and I've already begun making the game run even better.
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This Update won't go much longer, so onto the Cutscene Stuff
Just a look at that same room again during a Cutscene with Lady Luck. You'll have a nice chat with her at the start of the Demo. Writing her has been a lot of fun.
You may have noticed that this Screenshot is a bit different than previous Shots of Dialogue. That is because I've recently setup a special Camera just for Cutscenes. Right now the only obvious changes is that the Background is not dimmed, there is another Character in the shot, and there is a slight vignette around the edges. The vignette might get removed... I'm still thinking about it, but I mostly want to add a slight blur around the Speaker to make them pop and have the background out of focus. That shouldn't be too hard to add in.
What makes this Camera special (and a lifesaver), is that it is linked to the Conversation and Dialogue System. What this allows me to do is track who is speaking, what line of text they're on, and other useful details and relay that back to the Camera. From there, I can have the Camera react accordingly. The most important thing that it lets me do is have the Camera automatically move to a Set Position in the Scene based on who is speaking. Setting that up has saved me a ton of time, and I'm upset that it's taken me this long to get that implemented. What I had been doing was more of a Traditional Visual Novel style for Cutscenes, so there was a Set Background for the Scene, and whoever was speaking would appear in place on top of that Background. It looked fine, but it didn't take advantage of the whole 3D Environment that I want to be something of a selling point here! So now we have Cutscene Camera. Danganronpa has a similar style for their big Cutscenes, where the "Camera" would jump from one character to the next. How this differs, is that Danganronpa would present the full cast of Characters usually standing in a row; with the system I have in place, I can make use of the entire 3D Environment for the Characters to populate, and the Camera will know what to do. It's opened the door for some really cool cutscene ideas...
I'm making it sound more complex than it really is, but it felt good to get that implemented.
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And with that, the Update is over. I may do the Next Update a bit earlier so that it doesn't come so close to the Demo Release Update that I'll have to do.
That's all, bye for now.
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LINKS
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This will be another Quick Update. The Next Update will announce the Demo Release Date.
So to start things off, Demo Title Screen:
Nothing too crazy. It uses some visual elements from the 2nd Trailer I released. This will most likely change in the future, but for now it's a suitable Title Screen for a Demo.
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Now, onto the New Location:
This is the Tutorial Challenge Room that you will Playthrough at the start of the Demo. Everything here is fully up and running, and I've moved onto getting all of the Visuals in place. I want this location to feel similar to Challenge Room 1 so that it's not too jarring when you get transported there.
It's going to have more of a Nighttime look once I'm done with it. Still not sure whether I should put something outside these windows.
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That's really all there is to this Update.
Now, along with the Challenge Room, the gameplay section of this Tutorial Challenge also runs. There will be a Cutscene in this location, and I still need to finish that up. Title Screen is done, Pause Menu works (something I never mentioned, but I finally added it to the game).
Next Update will include the Demo Release Date and a look at a Cutscene. Maybe something more, but I'm thinking that's it.
So, that's all for now!
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LINKS
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To start things off, here's a look at the changes made to the game's HUD (or UI, whichever you prefer).
Firstly, the HEM is officially gone in Challenge Rooms. It has been replaced with a reactive Crosshair that changes based on your target. This change made gameplay smoother and it honestly needed to go for a while. I was only holding onto it because it made the game feel like an old Adventure Point & Click, but that's not exactly the feel I want anymore.
If I can get the Item List at the bottom to get smaller all while having the item it's holding still look clear, I will do that. I want the HUD to be pretty light, but I also don't want there to be any Menu usage during the Challenge Rooms.
At the moment 3 is really as many Items as you'll be holding at any given moment. From here I can take that in 1 of two ways: the first would be to extend that number to 5 potentially, if I think I will design a Challenge Room that requires that many Items on hand at once. And the 2nd way I can go about this is sticking to 3, and making an effort to keep Item usage in Challenge Rooms down to 3 at any given time. Which means you'll only be put in a scenario in which you'll ever have 3 Max items in hand. This really doesn't sound too bad given a lot of puzzle solving is built into the environments. This particular Challenge Room (1), only has 2 Items. Clues and other devices are all built into the environment. I can't say for sure which way I take Item Usage yet, but I'll let you all know when my mind is made up.
Since I just thought of a third idea while typing this I might as well add it: I could have an Item List that's designed like a wheel on its side. As you collect items, more are added along the wheel. You "rotate" it to cycle through to the item you want to use. Could be neat, I may play around with that after the Demo.
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Here's more Item Stuff:
Some stutters in the video, but that's due to the recording software not the game's performance! It's actually pretty lightweight at the moment and I plan to keep it that way.
Item Rotation! Pretty sweet. What you see here is two ways of examining an item. The first way is to physically rotate the camera. If you think about it, it's kinda silly for you to spin your whole body just to rotate an object, and honestly it was a mistake in coding! But... it kinda feels fun so I'm keeping it in. You also have the ability to do a full 180 Rotation with the press of a button if you prefer that. This item will help you solve one of the Puzzles in this Challenge Room, so you have to examine both sides.
Closer (and clearer) look at the Item Examine Mechanic. Works good, feels good, I'm glad I got that implemented. It made the game feel real if that makes any sense. All of the planned mechanics I wanted are coming together, and I've been learning a lot along the way (my coding isn't so bad anymore).
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Since I mentioned it early in this Update, here is that look at the HEM changes and the new Crosshair:
Everytime I link a video I feel the need to defend myself! These started as WEBM recordings, but Kickstarter does not accept WEBM, so I then convert it to MP4, then Kickstarter encodes that here. So, it looks better when you actually play, I swear!
So, here you see when you approach the Door, you see the old Hand icon, but when you approach Morgan, you see the Mouth icon. And no you can't switch the two (maybe in the Casino you can). So Hand for things you can interact with, and Mouth for Characters to speak to. I'm thinking I should make a Foot icon or something for Doors, and use the Hand for boxes, devices and items. That's not in, but it probably should be the case.
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Publishing
Many of you guys, and some people outside of this group have been telling me to seek a Publisher. I admit I was a little stubborn in not doing it right away. I thought I should do it on my own and as cool as that may have been, it's pretty silly, especially for my first game. So, I'm officially on the hunt. I think I can get one, but I won't get too pushy until the Demo is out. That'll be an excellent proof of concept for Publishers to see. That's really all I had to say on that matter. I'll keep you all posted.
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Demo News
Like stated in the previous Update, Challenge Room 1 is totally playable. Now, I've begun setting up a Cutscene, refining some art, and implementing all the dialogue for the Characters in that Challenge Room.
Those Characters will be: Morgan, Isaac, Inamori and Ruby
I wanted to let you choose a set of Characters to have on your team for the Demo, but that was just going to make this take even longer to come out. So for Demo 1, you will play with that set of Characters. The Cutscene will also revolve around chatting with them and discussing your new situation. This is the first Challenge Room for the Full Game as well, so emotions are high and everyone is still a little shaken up by the realization that their lives are on the line.
The Special Thing
I was probably being annoying by not telling you guys what that special thing I was adding to the Demo would be. I'm done with that. What it is is a mini Challenge Room. I previously had it locked behind some set of tasks to be completed in the Demo, and that sounded a lot funner as something for the Full Game. So, goodbye to cryptic way to unlock a small additional Challenge Room; that has now been re-purposed as a Introduction/Tutorial segment that you play before you enter the Cutscene and Challenge Room phase of the Demo. So all of that content will still be in the Demo, but I'm going to make some small changes and attach it to the Start of the Demo. So more content for everyone, without the secret steps. You'll be introduced to the controls, and all of the puzzle solving mechanics in a short Challenge Room, then Lady Luck will have a word with you...
After that, the Demo "begins", you meet your Team and take on the first official Challenge Room.
If I never made it known, the Demo will be Public. Initially I thought to keep the first Demo to Backers only, but this first Demo seriously took a while... If I want to get more eyes on the game, I need to make this Demo Public and get as many people to try it as I can.
I've learned to keep my mouth shut about precise dates, but know that the Demo is very close to completion!
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Post Demo Thief's Roulette
Let's start with how Updates change after the Demo is out. I will likely tone down how much of the Challenge Rooms I show off. Going forward after the Demo's launch I should stick to Challenge Room 1,2 and 3. If I show beyond that, it has to be a Teaser at most. Because of that, future Updates will be more text, less footage. I have some Character and Art Updates to do down the road so those will be included in the Updates, but not so much environment footage. I still need to polish up the Casino and show that off, so that will be coming soon after the Demo launches.
A basic rundown of my Development Schedule Post-Demo will be something like this:
Pretty BASIC idea of what I'm going to be doing once the Demo is released. I'm sure I left some things out, but I got the big stuff. Again, Dates are not my strong suit, but for once I feel like I'm on track again! So I'm comfortable in saying that the game is going just as planned, finally.
Designing Challenge Rooms is incredibly fun, and I've learned so many new things while setting up this first Room. Knowledge that I can bring right into the next 6. I've shown off some shots of 2 other Challenge Rooms, and you'll get to see 1 of them again a bit after the Demo is complete. This feels like a turning point in Development, so I can't wait to kick Thief's Roulette into high gear.
I did a lot of rambling here, so if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. Twitter, Discord, here, etc. ask me anything you want.
And that will end this Update. Bye.
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LINKS:
For the time being, Donations of $20 are essentially reduced price preorders. After I have the Publisher, I think I would have to stop doing this. Probably not the best long term business strategy, but for now it is helpful for me. So if you still don't have a copy, you can reserve the game at a reduced price for a little while longer. $20 will not be the game's Full Retail price, it will go up.
That is all, bye for real this time
Just a quick Update on what I've gotten done, what comes next and some game changes.
First, the new Puzzle:
It's a simple one. You have to select the correct pattern, but you may only have 1 Bulb per row active. The Solution is hidden somewhere in the Challenge Room. There are two of these Walls on both sides of this room. Both walls must be solved in order to progress in the level.
This is the last bit of Puzzle designing required for this first Challenge Room, meaning that it's now playable from start to finish. Good news.
From here on I have to get all of the Narrative moments in place. Things like Dialogue among characters in the Challenge Room and the couple "Cutscenes" that will be in the Demo. After that, well, the Demo will be complete. So, we're not too far off.
One change that I'm going to incorporate is removing the HEM System from Challenge Rooms. At the moment it may stay in for the Casino/Free Play sections, but for Challenge Rooms I don't think I will keep them. Just from general playtesting, the first step of selecting your form of interaction, THEN selecting what to interact with is becoming a nuisance. Especially when you know what you're doing and you can't go as fast because of that first step. So... for now, HEM is not required in Challenge Rooms. When you want to speak to a Character, or interact with a Puzzle device in the game, you no longer need the HEM system. These actions will all happen with the same Input.
Because of that change, I will be making some adjustments to the HUD. This is a much needed update, as I have needed to implement an Inventory for a while as well. It will be an on screen inventory that you can cycle through and select which Item you want to Use or Examine. This first Challenge Room does not make much use of Items (there are just 2), but it will still be good to incorporate the Inventory.
The next Update will include these HUD changes, probably some more Demo info, and whatever else I happen to finish.
Short Update this time, so that's all I've got right now.
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LINKS:
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