Update.
over 2 years ago
– Sun, Jul 10, 2022 at 04:37:22 PM
Since the game is finished, there isn't any progress to report on that end. Now I've been putting my time into the backer art for the $400 tier, and the backer rewards. I've made good progress on the Artbook. It's got a full outline in place, so now I just need to start filling it out.
There's going to be shipping and other logistics that I'll be dealing with for the first time, so I've been studying up on how it all works.
When it comes to the status of the console ports, I'm trying not to be too annoying about it. The publisher is a pretty small one (which is actually a big reason I wanted to work with them), and they aren't just publishing Thief's Roulette. So things aren't always going to go as fast as I'd like. This does make me think releasing on PC first, then releasing on consoles later could be the smart thing to do... but that's something I'll have to decide alongside the publisher. I'll know for sure what we're going to do over the next week.
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That's all I got for today. Just keeping the update schedule going.
There's been a couple Game Jams that have been tempting me... if I release a little game out of the blue then you'll know what happened.
Update!
over 2 years ago
– Sun, Jun 26, 2022 at 06:22:46 AM
The reason this isn't a big announcement, though, is because the porting is still not finished. I'm mostly to blame for that, as I had to work on things and fix other things and that would pause the port process for a little bit. Porting shouldn't be much longer now, and after that we (Publisher and I) have to figure out a release plan. I'll be doing what I can in the meantime to polish up art (if needed), but besides that I won't be touching any of the actual game/code.
I'm starting to feel like I should release the PC version first, then just release the console versions when they're done... but since this was a Kickstarter project I feel like that wouldn't be fair. So that's something I'll have to think about.
The final trailer is done as well. When everything is settled I'll have the release date, and that's what I'll add to the end of the trailer. The trailer will drop pretty close to release, or maybe that same day. That's something else I'll have to figure out.
Really not much else to say here. This took much longer than I had expected it to, but this is just my first game so I had repeatedly overestimated how much I could get done. I've learned a ton about game development after all this, so I can say for sure that my next games won't take so long to develop. Hopefully it won't be much longer, and you guys can finally get to play Thief's Roulette.
That's all I got for now, thank you for your support!
Update
over 2 years ago
– Sun, Jun 12, 2022 at 08:02:15 AM
What I did during the last two weeks:
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Fixed the controller issues. I'd say it feels pretty good to play using one now.
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Down to just 1 remaining CG Art. The last one is really more of a sequence for the game's finale and it's a little complicated (not just a still image). After that's done, the game will be 100% gameplay finished, and 100% art finished.
There were a couple setbacks, but this is finally the end. I just gotta finish that last CG/Scene, and the backer content that I've been neglecting. That being the backer characters for the "Unlucky" tier of backers. A fitting name given these delays, but now I've got the time to really focus on them.
I can officially say the game will have truly "gone gold" by the next update. There's no more work that needs to be done on the game besides the final CG and the backer content.
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I'll end with two screenshots so that this isn't super short:
Update
over 2 years ago
– Tue, May 31, 2022 at 03:49:02 PM
I've been a lot more involved on the porting side these two weeks. Mostly related to controller support. The one thing that's clearly becoming an issue is the controller cursor I had setup. It's essentially a floating image, but it activates buttons and such the same way the mouse cursor would for a PC player. The issue, though, is a mouse is obviously way more precise than controlling a cursor with an analog stick.
So I've unfortunately been going back over previous puzzles to refine them. Certain puzzle things needed to changed a bit so that you don't control them with a cursor at all. So navigating with inputs instead, and by extension, the analog stick.
This is the most straightforward example of what I did. Here, you first click on the keypad in the bottom right, then you use the analog or WASD to navigate the keypad. Then you'll click off to go back to normal. You can still use the cursor on the other parts of the screen, but since that keypad is so small, you would have to be obnoxiously precise while using a controller to actually hit what you want to hit. Don't worry about the 2 cursors there, that's just for testing on my end. But having both cursors visible revealed the 2nd issue of the controller cursor still moving as you make inputs on the keypad. Something that can easily be addressed. ALSO for these specific situations, you can choose to just use the mouse cursor if you're playing with Keyboard + Mouse. So you can stick with the original design if you prefer.
Here is another change I made. Originally you would zoom into this keypad and use your mouse/cursor to interact with it. Now, I've made the colliders a bit bigger, and allowed you to just interact with the keypad using a crosshair. It feels fine with a controller because there's just the right amount of leeway in your aiming. Not to mention you could just step closer to be even more precise. I redid several keypads in the game to work this same way.
This is the reason you need other people testing your game lol. I'm not much a console gamer, so my mindset was more like, "this is good enough" when it came to moving the cursor with a controller.
I'll likely be working a couple more days just to make sure it's all feeling good.
After that, we'll be back on track. I still have some backer related content that I need to finish, but after that's done and the controller stuff is done, I believe that will be all the work I'll need to do. Who knows what else will come up, but as of now things are looking very good.
Short Update
over 2 years ago
– Mon, May 16, 2022 at 12:16:59 AM
At this point I'm not doing much actual development. For the last update I said that I needed to work on the controller support a bit more, but that's all done now. I've caught typos here and there, and made some performance improvements, but overall there's not much to do.
Just waiting for now! Waiting on the console ports, followed by planning the release.
I've even completed the game's final trailer, but I can't show it yet...
Until then, here's 2 shots from it:
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By the way, and this is just my feelings and other creators may disagree... but the actual completion of the game really hasn't been as satisfying as gamedevs led me to believe. And I can't imagine hitting "Submit" on the Steamworks page will change that. I enjoyed the small victories way more. Getting the Player to be able to pick up an item and have it be added to your Inventory was 100x more satisfying than calling the game finished. I don't want this to be discouraging to people interested in game development, though, I really think it should be the opposite. If you can embrace the journey, you'll wind up accomplishing things you didn't think you could. That's why I'm so excited to get started on my next projects.
I'm not trying to do some guru talk or anything, just stating how I feel. I just don't believe in the idea that you have to "complete" something to feel accomplished. Going back to that Inventory example, the first iteration felt amazing to get working, but that first version isn't the same as what it ended up being. Adding the additional layers of polish wasn't as exciting as actually making it function. I don't really know where I'm going with this, but if you're someone that wants to start doing something, just start from the smallest point and take satisfaction in the progress you're making. Don't let the daunting task of creating 100% of what's in your head stop you from doing what you want. Just start with the 1%, feel good about getting that part done, and look forward to the 2%.
Is this good advice? I don't know!
But I felt I should say it, so there you go. That's all for this update, have a nice weekend.
