The Sundew (tuxdb.com)

Screen & hotspots bugs fixed

With your help (thank you!!) I fixed some defects and bugs, in particular :

Problems with some hotspots (action on objects/characters) that in one particular case could disappear.
Problems with changing screen size when the screen was not a 16/9 screen. Playing with a 16:9 screen is always preferable if you can.
Some minor corrections (texts, character orientation, etc.)

I hope you enjoy your game experience, don't hesitate to contact me if you have any problem :)

[ 2021-10-29 08:52:28 CET ] [ Original post ]

Bug fixed - Intercom click in final room fixed

The bug reported by a player that happened sometimes after clicking on the intercom in the final room has been fixed.

[ 2021-10-18 13:26:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Thank you all for the support!

Hello! This is Agns, founder and only developer at games studio 2054. The Sundew just launched and I feel very happy about the support many of you have given my game. Knowing lots are out there playing in the world of The Sundew is nerve-wracking, exciting, humbling, and fills me with joy. Let me share some of my favourite commentary Ive read from games media: The Sundew looks fantastic. It's dark, wet, and a bit of a downer but in a beautiful way. You want to stand in Anna's apartment and stick your hand out of the window to catch the falling raindrops. Rock Paper Shotgun This pixel-based point-and-click adventure still had me hooked to the end. All the more remarkable for being a solo effort, The Sundew is a real treat for adventure fans, cyberpunk aficionados or anyone whos sick of being a chirpy chosen one. GameSpew The Sundew is an unrivalled modernisation of the point-and-click genre. Its stunning, engaging and best of all, feels like it might just usher in a subgenre renaissance. That Film Blog I bet you can imagine how I felt when reading these. <3 Many comments from players have also been very uplifting! If you play the game and enjoy it, Id like to ask you to please leave a review here on Steam. Reviews go a long way in getting Steam to recommend The Sundew to more people who might like it, so Id appreciate it if you can do that and keep the fire on indie adventure games!
Poster artwork by Lammakian Samsenesena If you have any comments or problems at all with the game, please leave your feedback or questions in the Steam Community Hub. Ill be monitoring those and helping everyone who needs it as best as I can. Im already working on some small tweaks based on feedback by you. You can always reach out to me there or via social media (linked below) and ask any questions, but Ill also be doing a Reddit AMA on r/Games about my journey as a solo developer! This is happening on Tuesday October 19th at 7AM PT / 4PM CET. If youre a Redditor, come by and ask away! I hope you keep having fun and let me know what you think of Annas journey in Shibukawa. All the best, Agns Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-10-16 10:18:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

Announcing the release date!

Hello! This is Agns, founder and solo developer at games studio 2054. I've been a bit silent these last couple of months as I've been 100% focused on the last stages of development, which as you may know, are usually the toughest ones. It's been demanding and intense, but things have progressed well and today, I'm pleased to finally announce the release date for The Sundew. I prepared a new trailer for that. Enjoy: [previewyoutube=cDs9rqMhc7k;full][/previewyoutube] The Sundew is launching on October 14th. This is very exciting for me and I hope that all of you point-and-click fans enjoy the work I've been making over the last couple of years. I see The Sundew as a love letter to the classic style of adventure games of old, and I put a lot of love into it. Your flight to Shibukawa, Japan, is set to depart soon... All the best, Agns Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-09-30 19:16:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Meet The Pillbox, an activist organization in The Sundew and story key players

Hello! This is Agns, founder and solo developer at games studio 2054. Previously, I wrote a blog entry about Sagi Electrics, a corporation that plays a central role in the story and events of The Sundew. Now, I want to introduce you all to another group of people that are key to the events, but they are so from a completely different side.

Meet The Pillbox

The Pillbox is a group of anti-globalization activists based in the Republic of the Philippines that grew out of the anti-globalization movement Homeport and works jointly with it, but in a clandestine manner. The Pillbox operates mainly in English-speaking countries, but also in some non-English-speaking countries when they consider that they are likely to cause serious human rights violations through their policies or actions. The Pillbox as a group is not aware of the entire project The Sundew, but has identified the link between the Police and Sagi Electrics and does not see anything good in it. In the story of the game, it is the Pillbox that organizes the release of Anna in order to get the cyborg back to her cause. Ciel is one of the thinking heads of the Pillbox, for which he has dedicated himself body and soul since a close friend, a high-ranking member of the Pillbox, saved his life by having his brain connected to a cybernetic body. He is the first human being with an artificial body to have survived the operation and to have recovered the ability to use his new body in an almost autonomous way. His twin brother, Rick, also works for the Pillbox, although he feels much less involved because he is more opportunistic.

I want to thank you for the very helpful feedback some of you shared during the last Steam event, all of that is very important and I take it greatly into account to further improve Annas adventure. Development has been intense but Im nearing the final stages and getting close to finally sharing a release date! Stay tuned, were almost there. <3 All the best, Agns

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-07-20 14:08:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Playable demo available for a limited time #SteamNextFest

Hello! This is Agns, aka Clemenc, founder and only developer at games studio 2054. Today I have a small but very important news update:

As part of the Steam Next Fest happening right now, a playable demo of The Sundew is available here for everyone!

Development has been quite intense and Ive been hard at work preparing this slice of the game and the full adventure for release later this year. In this demo, you will discover a dark apartment on the outskirts of Shibukawa, during the rainy season, Akisame. It's the apartment of Anna, a cyborg of the Japanese police. And you will especially start to discover that something is going to happen, something that will change Anna's life...

The demo is available until June 22nd!

All feedback is very welcome and appreciated, feel free to comment here on this post or create Discussions on the Community Hub. Im a solo developer so any new perspectives and thoughts really help me a lot. I hope you have fun and let me know what you think of Shibukawa through Annas shoes. All the best, Agns

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-06-17 20:17:41 CET ] [ Original post ]

New video: Discussing the world of The Sundew

Hello!

This is Agns, aka Clemenc, founder and only developer at games studio 2054. Not long ago, Pocket Gamer aired a video interview with myself as part of a livestream show they were hosting. I wanted to share this video with you, as it contains some insights into the universe Im building with The Sundew, the events that led to the games story and the protagonists quest, as well as some new gameplay. Its almost four minutes long, so sit tight and enjoy! [previewyoutube=fYA2lMY8Gkw;full][/previewyoutube] As shown on that last sneak peek at the end of the video with the gameplay segment in the castle, The Sundew plays much like a traditional point n click leaning on exploration for puzzle solving. Youll be traversing various environments and rooms in search for tools and clues that will allow you to open new paths. All of this with a modern storyline that explores complex moral topics in a world where robotics and cyber augmentation are present in society. Recording this was an adventure! I was a bit nervous but I think it came out alright. Making a video game and creating videos are completely different jobs. In the second case, you have to manage the microphone, try to express yourself in the most comprehensible and pleasant way possible, we are far from a universe where you can imagine everything. But it's also fun to learn new things. It was a good experience. Would you like to see more video content like this?

Thanks for watching and reading!

Whether its here on Steam or on Nintendo Switch, I hope youre looking forward to The Sundew when it launches later this year. All the best, Agns

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-06-03 14:35:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Sagi Electrics: A money-driven dark conglomerate

Hello! This is Agns, aka Clemenc, founder and only developer at games studio 2054. Ive told you before a little bit about some of the characters in The Sundew in previous developer updates here. I want to shift gears today to another equally important part of the story, a mysterious group that is key in the events of the game.

Introducing: Sagi Electrics.

Sagi Electrics Corporation, spelled in Japanese as ( : sagi = heron, : Electrics, : Kabushiki-gaisha (KK) = company) was originally an energy supplier in Japan and a precursor in the use of thorium as an energy fuel. In 2054, Sagi encompasses a large number of companies, including:

Sagi Robotics

Division focused on the creation of industrial robots and robots for armament, including those used by the police headquartered in Shibukawa.

Isetan & Mitsukoshi

Major Japanese retail chain (hyakkaten or depto ), bought by Sagi Electrics in 2032.

Konoyume

A chain of virtual reality game centers (Geenmusenta -) highly criticized for its marketing tactics aimed at capturing and keeping a maximum number of gamers dependent on their titles by using very advanced cognitive techniques.

Konoyume Research Center

Research center dedicated to the establishment of cognitive and marketing models used by the previously mentioned Konoyume centers. : konoyume = children's dreams

Sagi Organics

The subsidiary of Sagi Electrics dedicated to the study of living organisms, Sagi Organics is a research center with 52 people divided into two sections, Animals and Plants, of 38 and 14 people respectively. The Animals section of the company participated in the beginning of the Victoria program, a project to create cyborgs capable of drastically reducing crime, in partnership with the Police, but was sidelined from it, at the time, in 2031, after a worldwide media scandal. The Plant Section of Sagi Organics resumed research activities jointly with the Police during World War III in 2049-2051, with the greatest secrecy, in a program called The Sundew, in collaboration with a team of Sagi Robotics. Today, in 2054, a cyborg called Anna Isobe, created during the Victoria program from biological parents, will find herself once again in the clutches of the Sagi Electrics conglomerate. She is going to discover what the famous program The Sundew is all about, and maybe prevent the company from taking even more grip on the Japanese society. Find out more by playing The Sundew :) Thanks for reading and I hope you find it interesting! Please feel free to ask any questions and provide feedback on what Ive been sharing! If you missed it before, you can watch a short interview I did for ActuGaming here. All the best, Agns

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-05-18 14:04:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

Meet more of the characters in The Sundew

Hello! This is Agns, aka Clemenc, the founder and only developer at games studio 2054. Development of The Sundew has continued as smoothly as it is possible, building more of the game content and playtesting to make sure the final product is as thrilling as I can make it to be. Its set for launch this Summer for PC, Linux, and Switch, and I wanted to share a bit on some additional characters featured in the game. For this entry, Ill focus on backstories that arent explored too much in the game, to complement the experience youll get to play later this year.

Arabella Fujiwara

Arabella is Anna's (our protagonist) superior. She is incisive, determined and knows how to make the right decisions at the right time to achieve the desired result. Arabella sees Anna as a rebellious late teenager and would like to give her a stricter framework so that she can make better use of her abilities. She is homosexual and invited Anna on a date which Anna refused, causing Arabella great upset. When Anna is sent to prison, she is secretly happy and wants the prison to discipline Anna. She has ties to Sagi Electrics, a conglomerate of several companies, in the form of bribes, but does not know the plans of this company. Sagi Electrics, with its subsidiaries, supplies energy, created robots for industrial and police use, owns a retail chain, virtual reality gaming, a research center, and more.

Nao

Nao was enlisted by Ciel (read more on him here) in the Pillbox, a group of anti-globalization activists based in the Republic of the Philippines, to connect to one of the biovegetal antennas of The Sundew project. She is one of the few cyborgs from the Victoria project*, who, like Anna, has kept her mind pretty much intact. She is no more stable than Anna psychologically, her physical performance is better, but her intellectual and computer skills did not allow her to make the connection to the antenna as Ciel wished. She got involved in the activities of the Pillbox only because she fell in love with Rick and lives like an outcast, without ID, in the slum of Abashiri, waiting for the Pillbox to tackle the system currently in place, which would allow her to return to a more normal life. She is more or less jealous of Anna because she feels like she has been replaced, without being very sure that she really wanted to connect to the antenna, which causes ambivalent feelings in her. She fights this feeling to please Rick and Ciel because she is not aware of Anna and Rick's affair. *The Victoria Project was a project to create cyborgs capable of drastically reducing crime, and dedicated to the police. This project was abandoned in favour of the creation of police robots.

Jimmy and Donna

Jimmy and Donna are two computer scientists in the police computer research department. They work on the police logistics computer system and at the same time they have fun hacking into the police tracking system because they don't always agree with police policy. Jimmy is handicapped and can no longer walk, but he didn't want to wear artificial legs. He prefers his wheelchair which he can clip to his workstation very easily. Donna is a mixed race with an African-American father and Japanese mother and is very happy with the position she got at the police force because of her brilliant abilities in IT.

Thanks for reading and I hope you find it interesting! Please feel free to ask any questions about the story and the game. Also, if you missed it, you can watch a short interview I did for ActuGaming here. The interview is subtitled in English. All the best, Agns

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-04-23 14:21:55 CET ] [ Original post ]

A video interview with Agns (thats me!), solo developer of The Sundew

Hello! Bonjour ! This is Agns, aka Clemenc, the founder and only developer at games studio 2054. Last week, as part of an exciting French Direct livestream of independent games by games media site ActuGaming, an interview segment with yours truly was aired during the show! While this was mainly intended for French audiences, there are some cool insights and looks into the game and my life as a developer in the video! For example, did you know I like to read about human biology, psychology, and robotics for inspiration? So, I wanted to share it with everyone here, with English subtitles! [previewyoutube=41Nc-lS3OzU;full][/previewyoutube] Making the interview for Actugaming was a lot of work, but I did it with real pleasure, in order to share with you a little bit of the behind-the-scene of a video game making, and to demystify the subject. I discovered also with joy new little jewels during the show, and had the pleasure to see again the work of developers I had the chance to meet (Maratus, in Belgium, and 1P2P, my neighbors in Tourcoing). I wish all these games and studios a bright future! You can watch the full show here (with English subtitles too), featuring a wide range of games from Inspector Waffles, Astrix & Oblix Baffez-les-Tous, Arisen, Young Souls, Tandem: A Tale of Shadows to Deathloop! Thanks for staying with me on this journey and stay tuned for more updates as the release approaches. The Sundew is coming this summer!

Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-04-01 16:23:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Let's talk about women in The Sundew for Women's Day

For Women's Day, I'd like to talk about the women in The Sundew, and the women who made The Sundew.

Why is this important to me?

It's important for me to talk about women, about all that they bring to society and all that remains to be done to ensure that their work is better recognized or, for the worst-off among them, about all that remains to be done to ensure that they are treated more humanely. Because I do not forget that I'm very lucky - despite the difficulties - of being born in a country where I can work like a man and be free of my choices and my movements, while in other countries women have to fight to... barely exist. And the vision we have of women is also conveyed by the cultural products created and consumed. This is why I chose to create as many female characters as male characters in The Sundew. In this game, women have varied and interesting roles. Just like in real life!

The women in The Sundew

You'll play Anna, our favourite cyber policewoman, but you will also meet Donna, the computer scientist, Arabella, the boss, Karin, the forensic scientist, Nao, another cyborg, Yoko, a charming little girl... and each of them will have something to tell you! Except maybe Arabella, because she is not in a very good mood these days.

The women working to make this game coming to life!

Otherwise, as far as the game design is concerned, I'm an IT programmer and graphic designer myself, and I work with quite a few women. Providers, coaches, experts, and so on. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Houria Saoudi, coach at Plaine Images, Charlne Lebrun, who is in charge of press relations, Kallie Celeste, the translator of the texts, my mother, without whom I would not have done all that I have done, and all the others whom I cannot unfortunately mention but whom I am very pleased to work with.

And also...

Of course, this does not put men aside. Let's just not forget to open our eyes to all those around us, and to consider them in all humility.

Good Women's Day to all of you :)

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-03-08 15:52:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

An in-depth look at the main characters in The Sundew

Hello! This is Clemenc (Agns Vuillaume), the founder and only developer at games studio 2054. The Sundew is launching this Summer for PC, Linux, and Switch. As I continue working on the development of this adventure, I wanted to share a bit on some of the main characters youll meet in this tale. The Sundew focuses on the story of Anna Isobe and her journey through her life as a cop that will put her in a difficult spot: a global conspiracy that places the fate of the world in her hands. The main focus of the game is this grander scheme and the intricacies of its events, but while crafting the world of Japan in 2054, I built a set of characters with many backstories that might not be explored too much in this game. Id like to tell you a little bit about those.

Anna Isobe

Our protagonist, the woman of the hour. Anna Isobe, born in 2033, is one of the finest achievements of the Victoria program, a cyborg-development initiative led by Sagi Organics, in partnership with the police, in terms of stability and profitability. She was 16 years old when the program was abandoned, 21 in 2054, when the story takes place. She has had some high points in policing, her career having begun at the age of 14, but she is not always appreciated by her colleagues because of her overly angry and narcissistic nature. She has a high opinion of herself and is reluctant to go to work, which she finds completely uninteresting compared to what she has experienced before. She goes out a lot and is a heavy drinker, which is not really to the taste of her superior, Arabella Fujiwara. More on Arabella later. ;) At work, some people hate her, others worship her, which is not to help her stabilize psychologically. Sentimentally speaking, she moves from one person to the next, with no particular goal other than to have fun and forget about the discrepancy between her abilities and the work she is currently doing. For the past few weeks, she has been seeing someone named Rick, whom she met at a medical student party where two friends took her.

Rick F. Beckard

Rick and his twin brother Ciel are activists in the Pillbox, a group of anti-globalization activists based in the Republic of the Philippines. Rick is 30 years old in 2054 and is endowed with good physical strength augmented by cybernetic implants. He has been living in Japan for 11 years, has worked in the Japanese police and was appointed as a police officer due to his negotiating skills and his ability to manipulate others, making him a major asset in dealing with the yakuzas. He left the police in 2053 due to his involvement in shady business, but continues to work with the police as a freelancer. In order to maintain his cover, his file is kept secret within the police itself. He donates much of the money he generates from his various activities to his brother Ciel, who is handicapped. After he left the police force, he became involved as a field agent in Japan for the Pillbox. In January 2054, Rick was assigned the mission to get close to Anna to rally her to the cause of the Pillbox, in order to use her physical strength and her computer and cybernetic capacity in the fight against The Sundew project. He fell in love with Anna even before he met her, but hides this attraction in order to carry out his mission, and especially to get closer to her. He organizes a fake meeting in a bar, and knows her for a few weeks when the action of the game takes place in September 2054. He is officially Nao's boyfriend.

Ciel Beckard

Ciel is an activist of the Pillbox too. Unlike his brother Rick, Ciel is a stubborn person, and it is to his character that he owes it to be still alive. He lost his body in 2048 in a flying motorcycle accident and has a medium range cybernetic body, which unfortunately does not have a very great physical strength. For example, it is unable to run. When this incident occurred, he was pursuing a brilliant career as a lawyer, but was unable to conclude his studies. A close friend, a member of the Pillbox, helped him avoid death by having his brain connected to a totally cybernetic body, and he then became the first human being with an artificial body to survive this operation and regain the ability to use this new body almost autonomously. He connected his brain to this cybernetic body through will power and unceasing efforts during a rehabilitation that lasted 5 years, while using his intellectual capacities to help the activities of the Pillbox. Before his accident, Ciel was an arrogant person. He still has a slightly contemptuous side inherited from his former way of life, but his forced immobilization made him think a lot, and he now tries to be more tolerant, even if he keeps an inflexible side. He learned diplomacy during his long years of re-education. He is tortured by the fact that his brother is involved in activities with the yakuza and the money Rick pays him helps him cover his debts because of the huge expenses related to his body. Ill be sharing more with you as I can continue making content! Thank you all for your continuous support, the kind comments and wishlists mean a lot.

Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundewgame/

[ 2021-02-22 15:33:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Q&A with Clemenc (Agns Vuillaume), solo developer at one-woman studio 2054

Hi! This is Agns, aka Clemenc, the founder and only developer at games studio 2054. This week The Sundew was announced and I want to share a bit of whats going behind it and my story as a one-woman effort in game making. Id like to answer some of the more common questions Ive been getting from people and seeing online. I hope this helps to shed some light into how The Sundew is being developed.

What inspired the world of Shibukawa that youre building in The Sundew?

It may sound strange, but the initial idea for this story came to me when I was living in England, in Ipswich, Suffolk, 15 years ago. I had made up a story about a cyber police woman living there. At the time, I wanted to write a comic book. As I am someone whose imagination is 99% visual, I can still see, even now, images from that first story blending in with the story of The Sundew. Otherwise, inspiration also comes from plants, since I discovered that trees communicate with each other, from microorganisms, and of course, from my love for robotics and psychology.

When and how did you start developing The Sundew?

In 2016, I was working as a painter as well as in a company that manages the French apprenticeship tax files - to pay my bills, as it was difficult to sell my artwork. I worked in a team of very nice people and I liked my work, but I wanted to do a more creative job. That's when I met Fabrice Bacquart, the developer of the retro video game DreadStar. He converted me to pixel art, and I made the graphics for this game. It was a great experience! I learnt, thanks to Fabrice, how to transpose my experience as a painter in this pixel art which looks a lot like pointillism. An art form that suits me perfectly, because I am fascinated by colours :) But DreadStar is a shoot 'em up, and I like adventure games. That's why I decided, in 2017, to create my own game, to make the story I like, for people who like the same kind of games and stories as me. That's where the creation of The Sundew started.

As a one-woman effort, what difficulties do you experience in your day to day life whilst trying to develop a game and raise a family?

I have a life that is not really in the norm, because I have separated from my son's father, and we share his custody, between two countries, France and Belgium. My son is with me every weekend as well as during a good part of the holidays. I spend almost all my free time with my son, and a lot of time between the two countries. The rest of the time, usually, I work. It's difficult because it's tiring and leaves little room for social life, but I don't see myself having another life, because I really, really love my work. And working at the Plaine Images business incubator, which specialises in video games, has been an incredible opportunity for me. I just think that when you want to, you can. And I also have wonderful family and friends. It helps a lot.

With no coworkers to aid you in development, where do you go when you need extra hands or when you feel stuck creatively?

As I just mentioned, working at Plaine Images has been an incredible opportunity for me, it's a real video game ecosystem. There, and thanks to the experts from SpielFabrique, an acceleration programme in which I took part also, I met or heard about most of the people I work with today. Without this, it would have been particularly difficult for me to get in touch with competent people I can trust. In the Imaginarium of the Plaine Images, I used to meet and discuss with others video game studios everydays. I still keep in touch with some of them, waiting for the situation to return to normal. Otherwise, as far as creativity is concerned... when my mind is empty, when I don't get anywhere, I go out and walk in nature. And the images and stories start all over again. The current lockdowns are a great barrier to my creativity.

You mention that you have intentions of developing more games in the same universe. Will these be in the same point & click adventure style? Whats next for 2054?

Yes, I created studio 2054 to make retro point'n'clicks taking place in a dystopian universe. For now, I built the universe where Shibukawa became the capital of Japan after the 3rd World War. The next game will take place in the same universe as The Sundew, and we may find Anna back there, if she's still alive...

Stay tuned for more updates as I continue development and please consider adding the game to your wishlist if you like it. The support helps a lot! Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheSundewGame Also on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesundew

[ 2021-01-29 16:26:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Sundew
2054

Developer

2054

Publisher

Summer 2021

Release

Singleplayer