Saturday, September 19, 2015

Whim Independent Studios - Development Log #35

Hey readers! It's been a few months, so I thought I should update with what's going on with the game studio.

ANTics: 

First and foremost, we released the iOS version of ANTics along with a new trailer! You can check out ANTics at our itch.io page! If you don't have an Apple device, we also have versions available for PC, and Android!


Special thanks to Jessica Jacuinde for putting the trailer together!

 

 

Selatria: 

State of Future Auditions

I wanted to start off by talking about the future auditions for the project. All future casting roles and auditions on hold while we work with the current cast on getting their roles completed with the project. Due to the large cast and amount of retakes, a large backlog of submitted lines and retake suggestions has built up, and that has taken higher priority than casting new people. Once most of the lines for the current cast are done and implemented in game, we will open up to more of our uncasted and missing roles.

Our goal is to change our recording development cycle for Selatria to which a casted actor can be compensated and completed with their role in a few weeks-couple months time depending on the severity of the role. Up until a few months ago, we were struggling with writing, as well as developing and editing. Since the story is written now, it takes a lot of burden off of us as we can cast with all of the scripts available to us.

And now for the new stuff!
 

I apologize for the long wait on new information on the project! We're currently fine-tuning the details of a new public demo for the game. This version will be 1.4 and will be the first demo we've released in about eight months! The new build of the game will include the new logo, various graphical improvements, new music, and some new features! Check out a preview below.  

Graphical Improvements!

The new build of the game will have upgrades to the look of the terrain and interactive objects.

 



Updated Environments!

The art shown was developed by Deborah Groves and Jennifer Gilliland. There will be more unique looking terrain and areas to explore going forward in development logs!

New Music!

Below is a new theme you'll be able to hear in the Pub areas in the updated demo build. Composed by Christopher Nuno.



Gameplay Changes for Upcoming Demo Version!


We have changed the term "Reserved Points" to "Reserved Selatria" in-game to better match the lore.

The Journal will be usable as an in-game item to be able to track player progress if they decide to stop playing for an extended amount of time and need a recap on what's going on. The player will also be able to get an inside glimpse of what's going on in the story from Mage's point of view.



And one last important picture, one that's been on the request list for many.


Players will be able to skip the intro with one button press if they would like to hop right into being able to play the game or if they didn't do too well in the Trial Cave and would like to start over quickly. In the last update, we had a menu button for this at the beginning, and it was cumbersome deciding through multiple windows. This actually took a while to implement, and I can't promise being able to skip every single cut-scene, but for extraordinarily long ones, you will be able to skip.

Possible Android/iOS/Mac release in the future:

Since the last development log, there was an announcement of a new RPG Maker engine coming out, RPG Maker MV, which allows exports to platforms other than Windows. Due to this new engine being in JavaScript rather than Ruby, it would be difficult to move Selatria over, but we also don't have enough information about the new engine to see if it's worthwhile. Music and story assets would be easy to carry over, but everything else would have a hurdle to it. So I'm keeping my eyes peeled and prioritizing finishing Selatria on the engine we have available.

Game Production being increased to three days a week from one!

For the last few months while going through a move, development of the game had to be cut to one day a week, while using the others to do managerial tasks with the team. As of this past week, it will be increased back to three days a week. Wednesday/Thursday evenings and Saturday noons. There will be a lot more content and more frequent development logs with the game as we get back on track!


That'll do it for this development log. Look forward to the new build of Selatria available to the public sometime in October!