We are excited to finally be here at this point and introduce you to the release of the new update for our demo – the 1.4 update. This update took much longer than expected to release but is full of new features and is more technically stable than previous releases were. We took into account your feedback and added our own ideas for improvement to the demo.
What made it into the update
We have made a lot of changes to the demo. Initially we weren’t satisfied with the look of the level – especially the second part (Area 356) and with the events and length of the level. As a result of that we added two more parts of the level that replaced the original Area 356 parts with more than 50% new content. The theater level remains the same but it has been reworked and more details and environmental storytelling has been added. We also added a new narrative focus to the game. Marshall suffers from mental health problems – specifically depression and anxiety. There is a new mental health mechanic added to the second part of the level that will show how Marshall is feeling. His mental health will also have a minor effect on game mechanics. By adding this mechanic we decided to choose a narrative centered around the topic of mental health. We hope that with trained psychologists in our team, we will be able to shed more light on mental health. You can find all the changes and new features at the end of this article.
What didn’t make it in the update
Although we have a localization system in place at the time of release multiple language support in the demo is not available. However, it’s still on the table and we are still considering adding more options for you – the players. If we add new language support it will be in the form of text translation. As we are a small studio with no funding so far we are not able to re-record the audio in different languages. We also decided not to include a custom character model in the 1.4 update. It would take significantly more time and testing to get this feature done – a feature that is not essential to the demo – and we felt that you as a player have waited long enough to see the next update. We also wanted to expand the mental health features of the game but again for the same reason we didn’t want to keep you waiting for more months – leaving you with an old demo version that we were not satisfied with. But all of these will be considered in the future development of the demo and they’re not scrapped.
What happens next
We will be gathering your feedback as it is one of the most important things for us and in game development in general. We will also be fixing any existing bugs that we failed to spot during our internal testing. There is still more to come when it comes to the demo updates whether it’s implementing your feedback, adding new features, or just polishing what we already have. Our plans remain the same. We still hope to get funding from a publisher or investor to be able to work on the game full-time. Before leaving you with changelog we would just like to say a huge thank you to all those who played our game, made a gameplay video, reposted our posts on social media, gave us a like, or wishlisted our game on Steam. Small things like these are the greatest motivation for any developer and it makes us keep going. So from the bottom of our hearts – thank you!
Changelog:
- Save System
- New UI Design
- New Settings Options
- Multiple Language Support
- Better Inventory System
- Batteries Stored in Inventory
- Credits
- New Locations
- More Detailed Environments
- Better Optimization
- Shadow View Distance Increased
- New Particle Effects
- New Lens Flares
- New Enemy AI
- More Puzzles
- Re-Recorded Voiceovers
- More Lore Content
- Mental Health Mechanic