Fixed a game-breaking bug that caused progress to be stuck and prevented the player from finishing the story.

Thanks to Sam Sempere for playtesting to help me fix this!

Added Japanese, French and German language support for SteamDeck and Linux

Finally added Japanese, German and French language support for the entire game for Windows. Linux update should be out soon, just need to test it a bit.

Huge thanks to Hiroshi Ashida for the Japanese translation, Suley for the German translation, and Adnane Rihani for the French translation!

Also (hopefully) fixed a rare bug that soft-locks the game.

With this latest update to the game all text in menus and dialogue has been fully translated to Spanish. The game now starts with a Language Select screen if no saved setting is detected.
I also added the option to change the language at any time in the settings menu, on the main menu and in the pause menu.



A lot of care and attention went into this translation and I'm so glad the the game will be available for a completely new audience to experience.



I hope a lot of new people will enjoy taking this memorable and emotional walk with Yiayia!

-Trent

Spanish translation by Eric Montiel Lpez.

The full game is now available in Spanish! In addition here are other small changes:

-The Conversation Log now properly displays ALL lines of dialogue and doesn't randomly change to the wrong color anymore
-Bumping into Yiayia in the beginning of the game isn't so jittery and weird anymore
-Fixed some typos
-Probably a lot of other stuff I forgot about

Upate 1.2 Notes:

-FINALLY actually fixed rare game-breaking bug causing dialogue to be stuck in the middle of the piano scene (thanks so much for the help Vex/DerEineSchwarzeRabe!)
-Fixed a few typos and text formatting issues
-Fixed some house colliders so you can't clip through them anymore.
-Fixed bug in Little Ruthie scene where music never starts playing
-Fixed Yiayia's flower in portrait appearing and disappearing with a delay
-Set hand-hold default setting to Hold in settings menu
-Set gamepad vibration default setting to ON in settings menu

Hey all!

Now that the dust is (sorta) settling after release last week, I'm getting around to tying up all the loose ends around the game so that I can move onto the next project.

Which means I was able to get around to uploading the game's soundtrack, which you can now listen to on YouTube!

[previewyoutube=g2l4eeRch28;full][/previewyoutube]

It's also going to be on streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify within the next month or so, AND I'm going to upload a purchasable digital download on Steam!

So what's next for Yiayia? Well, I still have some bugs and minor fixes to work on for the current release, then it's on to working on the Switch port which should take at least another month or so.

My biggest headache right now is a rare game-breaking bug that prevents the player from getting to the end of the game, and I've had two players report it so far. I've gotten both of their save files and tried to reproduce the bug on multiple computers, but I've had no luck, so this one might take a little while to fix.

It's at the scene after you play the piano, the dialogue for some reason won't progress at all after a certain line. If anyone else gets this problem please let me know what happened in your playthrough and your computer's specs so I can try to figure out what the heck's going on! And thank you for your patience if you get stuck here.

-Trent

See notes for v1.1 on Windows, should fix many problems.

Thank you,
Trent

Hey all, after watching streamers play and seeing user reviews on Steam I've added the following fixes and quality of life features (and some others):

>> Fixed a few save/load bugs causing some softlocks that required reloading the game or avoiding certain areas that retriggered previously-played scenes
>> Fixed player being able to trigger creek cutscene multiple times
>> May have fixed rare bug with piano scene becoming hardlocked
>> Reworked Shift input instruction sprite to be clearer
>> Added autodetecting of controller or keyboard at game startup
>> Made input instructions change at runtime when changed in settings menu
>> Added in some missing sound effects
>> Fixed audio bug where when player walks too slowly with analog input, Yiayia's walker clacks rapidly
>> Fixed rain ambience not playing when player loads their saved game after rain starts
>> Fixed issue where player could get stuck trying to put flower in Yiayia's hair, or propel himself in the air
>> Fixed controller vibration setting not saving
>> Screen resolution auto-detects now on first load
>> Fixed bug where after end credits, starting a new game doesn't restart the story properly
>> Fixed gravity bug where player and ball can get stuck floating in air
>> Fixed yiayia being able to push the character (rude) into weird places in cutscenes
>> Fixed bug where player's reflection could disappear after certain conversations
>> Fixed being able to inspect the TV when it's turned off

This first update is for Windows only, the next one will add these changes to the Linux/Steam Deck versions.

Please contact me if you run into any bugs that are ruining your experience! You can email any bugs you have to awalkwithyiayia@gmail.com

Thank you so much for playing!
-Trent

[h2]It's finally finished![/h2]

And here's the final release date trailer:

[previewyoutube=BSrYm22VHzU;full][previewyoutube=BSrYm22VHzU;leftthumb][/previewyoutube]
[/previewyoutube]
A Walk With Yiayia is coming out on November 3rd at 1PM EST for PC, Linux and Steam Deck!



I'm excited and nervous to finally get this thing I've been working on for almost three years now out into the world. I've been working so hard on it to get it ready for release and I've learned so much.

It's really hard committing to being done with a thing and there are still tons of ideas I would've liked to put in the game, but at some point you just have to let it go and move onto the next project.



The reactions I've had from playtesters, friends, and family who have played it so far have been so positive that I really think I've made something that will resonate with a lot of other people too.

Oh, and one more thing:A Walk With Yiayia will cost $14.99 USD, but on the first week after launch it will be on sale for 10% off, at $13.49, so if you get it early you'll save a little bit of money!

I can't wait for you to play it!

-Trent

[h2]Still Almost Done[/h2]

I'm sure most people know this by now, but I'll reiterate it:

The last part of game development is really hard.

And not only is it hard, but also repetitive and boring. And yet every day is one step closer to release, and I'm getting reallllyyy close now.



[h3]Bugs[/h3]

Every time I think I've fixed all of the game-breaking bugs, another one appears where I least expect it.
Making a game with a lot of scripted moments and cutscenes allows a lot of opportunity for soft and hard locks, and those kinds of bugs are completely unacceptable, for a short narrative game especially.

If the first chunk of user reviews of my game are from upset people who find bugs that prevent them from finishing the game, it could really tank its favorability in Steam's algorithm and bury it from a lot of prospective players.
So I've been playing my game from start to finish over and over and over again and implementing fixes left and right to make sure everything works properly.



[h3]Playtesting[/h3]

But playing through the game on my own, no matter how many hours, has not been nearly enough.

Luckily, I have a good amount of friends and friends-of-friends who have been playtesting it which has proven invaluable these last few weeks.
They have found game-breaking bugs I never would have found on my own, and without their help, releasing A Walk With Yiayia would be a huge disaster.



[h3]Playable on Steam Deck?[/h3]

I'm happy to report that A Walk With Yiayia will be playable on the Steam Deck! I don't have one myself but I have a few playtesters who are running the beta on theirs and initial impressions are really good!
I'll release my recommended graphical settings for Steam Deck when the game releases so that you don't have to fiddle around with them on your own.

That's all I've got to report for now! And as always, I'm happy to answer (most) questions if you'd like to ask them below.

-Trent

[h2]New Accessbility Features[/h2]
Entering this last phase of development I've finally been able to implement some quality of life and accessibility features that I've been planning on adding from the start!

I think it's really important that devs take the time to do these things, even if you're just a solo developer like me. It definitely takes extra time to develop, but the more these things are seen as standard in games, the better the situation is for people of all ability levels to play as many games as possible!

So here are the features I've implemented so far:

[h3]Flashing Lights Toggle[/h3]



At the very top of the graphics settings menu (where you can't miss it) I've added a toggle for flashing lights for those with photosensitivity. Partway through the game it starts raining and thundering and lightning flashes occasionally,

In real life lightning is very unlikely to induce epilepsy in people with photosensitivity, but because this is a videogame and the way lighting in games works is a bit more unnatural than in real life, I've added the setting for anyone who might want it just in case.
When this setting is set off, all lightning flashes are completely disabled.

[h3]Hold Hands Input Toggle[/h3]



In A Walk With Yiayia a main mechanic of the game is having to hold Yiayia's hand to help her around certain obstacles and keep her close.
While I like the idea of making the player constantly hold down a key or controller trigger to mimic holding a person's hand, the reality is that some players have difficulty holding buttons down, or find it uncomfortable.
So to remedy this I've added a toggle setting to allow players to tap a button to toggle holding or not holding hands.
For gamepad players I have also set it so the player can either use the right rear trigger button or the top face button to activate the input, whichever one feels more comfortable for them.

[h3]Conversation Log[/h3]



There are a lot of words in this game. I've tried to let the player choose the speed of conversations wherever possible but for some cutscenes and gameplay sequences I've needed the timing to be very specific, so there are a few parts of the game where the dialogue continues by without the player's input to continue it.
Fortunately, I'ved added a conversation log in the pause menu, accessible whenever the player is out of a conversation. It logs every line of dialogue that runs through the game's dialogue system and filters out all the secret code happening behind the scenes.

Hopefully this can help players who read a bit slower than average, accidentally skip a line or two, or just tend to be kind of forgetful like I am.



I've made the conversation log the second option in the pause menu so you can't miss it!

All of these settings are accessible from the main menu AND the pause screen in-game to make it as easy as possible to tweak the game without having to restart it.

I've also made a point to make all text in the game large, contrasty, and hopefully easy to read for most players.

Even with all of these measures in place, I'm not an expert and I don't have a team helping me develop this game, so if there are any accessibility features I've missed that will help you or somewhere you know play through the game easier, I'm totally open to suggestions!

One final update: progress is going smoothly towards release. I'm hoping to have an updated release date in the next week or two. Stay tuned!

-Trent

[h2]Some news about the game's progress-[/h2]
At the Wholesome Direct this year I announced that A Walk With Yiayia would release on August 20th, 2022.
But alas, I'm just one guy making this game part-time and I made the announcement with only a medium amount of expectation that I might actually finish by that date.
What I was mostly hoping for was that it would force me to work on the game faster, and it definitely has!

[h3]So, is it done yet?[/h3]
Almost! But most likely I will NOT be finished with the game by August 20th (next week) unless I become superhuman. More likely it will be ready for a mid-September release date.

In fact, Steam doesn't let you release your game on weekends, so August 20th was never even possible, which I found out only after I announced the release date.
Whoops. Again, it's just me figuring out all of this so I'm kind of scrambled. Here, have a couple of tantalizing new screenshots as consolation:





Anyway, the game's main content is complete but there is still work to do with final polishing, bug-fixing, playtesting and boring stuff like finishing the settings menus and testing various gamepads.

The initial release will be on Steam only, with the Nintendo Switch port to be released in the coming months. The Windows release is the highest priority but hopefully I can release day one on Mac and Linux as well if I get enough playtesting done on those operating systems.

[h3]One last important bit of news[/h3]
The game will unfortunately only be available in English upon initial release.
However I have been in contact with translation services to get at least the most common languages translated with some of the money I make from sales, or with the help of a publishing company. Fingers crossed.

That all said, I'm still almost to the finish line and the positive responses to the game are really keeping me going.
Thank you all for your continuing support!

-Trent