Autumn Sale Save 25%! From November 27th to December 4th, journey into the unknown with The Abandoned Planet at an exclusive 25% discount during the Steam Autumn Sale! Experience a captivating blend of mystery, exploration, and challenging puzzles at an unbeatable price. This is the perfect time to begin your adventure and uncover the secrets that await. See you on the planet, The Abandoned Planet Team
In this patch, I fixed a minor bug in Act 4 and I added support for resizable game window. While the game will auto-launch in full screen mode, you can toggle out of that (according to your OS) and then resize the window how you'd like. All the menus will anchor to the 16:9 aspect ratio of the gameplay window.
OUT NOW!
It's out! The Abandoned Planet is out now! It's normally 14.99 USD but you can grab it for 10% off for a limited time. If you didn't catch the news, here is everything in the full game:
- All 5 puzzle-filled acts with short story-beat cutscenes
- Epic final cutscene
- Fully animated credits scene which recaps the entire adventure
- New Game Plus (Escape Mode : complete the game in 2 hours... not easy!)
- Artwork Gallery
- Game Script (like a movie script of the game's story that you can read)
- Flappy Ship mini-game
- PC, Mac, and Linux support
- Text localized in 11 languages
Hello everyone,
I am happy to let you all know that The Abandoned Planet is launching for PC, Mac, and Linux on Thursday August 29th. That's in just 3 days!
First of all, I appreciate your patience in waiting for the game. I've polished it as much as I can think to do (at least, until more people get their hands on it haha).
Good Reviews!
My publisher, Snapbreak, organized an open beta and over 25,000 people got their hands on The Abandoned Planet. Here are some things people are saying: There is a very well known saying that First Impressions Last & Oh WOW, what a first impression I received, I personally love Adventure/Puzzle Point and Click games, & this has absolutely all of them perfectly designed & developed into a wonderful rare example that I think most players yurn for. To top it all off it's been wrapped up in brilliant story for those looking to flex their imagination. It's not very often I spend the time to rate a game in such detail, but this was worth it Fantastic game. Good storyline, characters, atmosphere, and world building. The puzzles were sufficiently complicated to be enjoyable, but not hard enough to be impossible to solve. Definitely hoping for a sequel. This game was fun! I found it to be a bit challenging at times but that is a good thing! It took me a few days to complete the game instead of a few hours like in other games of this type. Super mega interesting, as always you do not disappoint, although I only played the first episode, it is very good The Illustration:10 The sounds:10 The controls:10 The logic:10 The gameplay:10 The story:10 I love them keep creating
We did it!
Releasing a game with literally every feature you wanted rarely happens, but somehow it worked out this time (probably because of the delays lol)! That said, here is everything included in the final game:
- All 5 puzzle-filled acts with short story-beat cutscenes
- Epic final cutscene
- Fully animated credits scene which recaps the entire adventure
- New Game Plus (Escape Mode : complete the game in 2 hours... not easy!)
- Artwork Gallery
- Game Script (like a movie script of the game's story that you can read)
- Flappy Ship mini-game
- PC, Mac, and Linux support
- Text localized in 11 languages
Final thoughts
Finally, if you haven't seen the final trailer, check it out! [previewyoutube=5qyI6zV3M9k;full][/previewyoutube] Again, thanks for your patience and support. I hope you all enjoy the final game! Jeremy
Hello everyone, Thank you all for patiently waiting for "The Abandoned Planet". While the game is technically "finished", there are a few things left to do, like localization, which has been delayed. So, in talks with my publisher, Snapbreak, we have decided to postpone the launch of the game until August 29th. It will 100% come out on this date. Even so, I am so sorry you can't pick it up on May 23rd. My sincerest apologies. I do hope you all can understand. There are numerous factors to consider when picking a release date. We discussed it at length and we believe that August 29th will be a more ideal date than the one we had previously chosen... especially considering there are still some important things left to do. But there is good news... there's a new demo!
NEW DEMO
I wanted to wait until the localization was complete to release a new demo, but I've decided to just go ahead and release it with the English, Spanish, and French localizations. As you can see in the above screenshot, the new demo features the following:
- New Menus
- New Voice Actress; the British actress Erika Merchant.
- New Puzzles / Animations
- Quality of Life Improvements (like clicking on a doorway to advance to the next scene instead of having to click the directional arrow or use WASD)
- Flappy Space Quest - a Flappy Bird-like mini-game
New Puzzles and Animations
If you played the demo before, you'll notice a few new animations, like the one below:
And, you'll see some new cutscenes, like the one here:
Additionally, I replaced some of the puzzles that I personally wanted to improve. Take a look here:
Flappy Ship Mini Game
On the Main Menu, click on the Fusion Scanner icon in the upper right... and you can play a Flappy Bird-like mini game! Take a look at what it looks like:
Thoughts
Despite being able to play a new demo, you may be thinking -- "Why do developers always do this? They promise a release date, and then push it out. How incompetent are they?" To that I'll say what you likely already know; games are complicated. They have thousands of moving parts, and even when you are a solo-developer like me, you likely have to rely on other people to do things you cannot... like localizing into 10 world languages, or fixing a bug that actually exists at an engine level and waiting for those developers to fix it. It's not easy, but it is very fun! Even when you cannot meet others' expectations. So, again... I'm sorry that the game does not come out tomorrow, but it will come out soon! This I promise; pinky promise. Please let me know if you have any questions or even if you have complaints! I'm here to chat. Thanks. Jeremy Fryc
Hey everyone! I hope everyone has been doing well over the last few months. I've been busy, and... elephant in the room... I did not meet the Q1 release date. So sorry about that. It's my fault really. With my last game I underestimated how long the final stages of making a commercial game take, and this time I repeated the same mistake. Even when you "finish" a game, there is somehow so many administrative things to take care of; screenshots, trailers, bug fixing, platform optimization, localization, Steam Achievements, etc. Each one of these can take a week or more to complete.. I am just one person after all.
IT'S DONE
That said though -- The Abandoned Planet is complete! Yep, you read that right; it's done. And there's a brand new voice actress, Erika Merchant, who voiced the astronaut. She's great, and I think everyone will be pleased with the change.
NEW DEMO SOON
Once localization is complete (which is the very final thing that's left to do), I will upload an updated demo which showcases Act 1. This new demo will feature the new voice actress, be localized into 11 world languages, and even have some new puzzles, animations, and cutscenes for Act 1. (NOTE: New demo saved games will not be compatible with old saves).
EXTRAS
Additionally, I was even able to add all of the extras I wanted, which are unlocked once you beat the game the first time:
- Escape Mode! Complete the game in 2 hours before the planet explodes. (this is not easy, and you basically have to have all the puzzle solutions memorized). There's a Steam Achievement for it.
- Script - read the script to the game. This is only in English, but it's a complete script of the entire game, which was one of the first things I did after completing the initial vertical slice/MVP. Really cool to see what changed and what stayed.
- Artwork Gallery - you can look at sketches of puzzles and areas that I used in development and some final pieces of artwork I created for the game.
OFFICIAL TRAILER
So, without further ado, check out the official trailer here: [previewyoutube=5qyI6zV3M9k;full][/previewyoutube]
RELEASE DATE
And here's the big announcement -- The Abandoned Planet will come out May 23rd, 2024. That's exactly one month from today! So, get ready. It will be released on PC, Mac, and Linux, and it will be available in these world languages:
- English (text and speech)
- Spanish (text only)
- Italian (text only)
- French (text only)
- German (text only)
- Japanese (text only)
- Korean (text only)
- Portuguese (text only)
- Russian (text only)
- Chinese Simplified (text only)
- Chinese Traditional (text only)
CONCLUSION
I want to thank you all for patiently waiting for this game. It's a really fun, unique adventure, and it turned out better than I ever hoped. You'll definitely want to play it until the end -- you'll never guess what happens! I'm really excited for you all to explore this exciting alien world when it releases on May 23rd. Let me know if you have any questions. Take care everyone! Jeremy
HELLO!
I hope all is well as we kick off 2024. First of all, I want to assure everyone that the game is coming along nicely and is almost finished. I'm working on the final cutscenes and wrapping up some puzzles in Act 5 (the final act). Thank you so much for your patience!
Before we get into the nitty gritty, you can check out a bunch of gameplay and an overview of The Abandoned Planet in this video that it was showcased in. It's a video about upcoming adventure games in 2024. Here is the time stamp of when my game is showcased:
https://youtu.be/zAtzAfV9waQ?t=4040
Setbacks & Game Length
So, elephant in the room... I did not meet the 2023 release date. I'm so sorry about that! It was not my intention, but game development is very difficult to predict. Launching a game that meets developer and player expectations is no easy task. I want to make sure that players get their money's worth; a fun game with challenging puzzles and an engaging story. It also can't be too short! While not everyone equates game-length with value, I definitely don't want my game to be too short.
I have played through the game and for me, as the developer, running through it, knowing all the puzzle solutions, it came in at around 3 hours. So, you can imagine that players NOT knowing all the puzzle solutions, a first time play-through, will be considerably longer. I can definitely see some people spending 10 hours in the game. I'm happy with this! Point and clicks are not 100 hour games, nor do I believe they should be. They are finite experiences. Enjoyable experiences. But finite.
Extended Game Modes & Extras
There are two things that I want to add to the game that I haven't yet: an "escape mode", and extras. Escape Mode: My idea is that once you've completed the game the first time, you unlock "Escape Mode". The game was originally titled "Escape the Abandoned Planet", but my publisher suggested we shorten it to just "The Abandoned Planet". This is a great change. When I was discussing this with my brother, he suggested it would be cool to have a new-game-plus type situation in which, after you beat the game, you can try to play through it a second time, but with a timer. Basically, the idea is that you have to finish the game before the planet explodes! I love this idea and I hope that I can publish the game with "Escape Mode" included. If not, it will be in an update. Extras: As far as extras go, I have a few photos I took of my development notebook (before I lost it at a hotel... ugh) that I'd like to include. But the main extra would be the script I wrote for the game. Each Act has a script, that reads more or less like a movie script (sans dialogue). This would be a really cool addition, as it provides more detail that isn't directly apparent in the gameplay itself. Here is the first page from the script I wrote about a year and half ago:
Wrapping Things Up
There is a lot to do in the next month or so, and I'm working everyday to make The Abandoned Planet the best I can. Here is what needs to be done:
- Complete Act 5 (final puzzles and cutscenes)
- Localization (which is completed by a localization team and then easily imported)
- Re-record all dialogue with new actress (should take a week total)
- Escape Mode
- Extras
- Bug Fixes
Hello everyone, What a couple of months it's been! I honestly should have posted an update sooner, but alas, I have been head-down working on my next milestone; completing the background artwork for all 5 acts. Yes! That's correct, I have completed a total of 303 individual scenes for "The Abandoned Planet" (TAP).... with more to come as puzzle development commences. Maybe you're thinking, "that doesn't sound like a lot". Well, it is! While games like Myst and Riven, with their pre-rendered backgrounds, contained 100s (maybe 1000s) of backgrounds, those games weren't hand drawn. They were pre-rendered using 3D assets and then just moving the camera and taking snapshots. A huge task, for sure, but nothing compared to hand-drawing the backgrounds. On the other hand, games like Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle offer around 100 backgrounds each. This is because hand drawn artwork is extremely time-consuming. For TAP, I draw each background. I choose each color from a pre-determined palette. Each pixel has to be precisely placed. So, 300+ backgrounds is a lot, especially for a solo-developer who also has to animate, do puzzle-design, program, and bug fix. Yikes!
Preview of Scenes in Acts 4 and 5
Despite this huge challenge, It's been really fun! Getting to slowly see the story of the game come to life is really satisfying. Here are some backgrounds from Acts 4 and 5 that I haven't shared before:
As you can see, some of the backgrounds are static, while some of them have animations. I like to animate all the non-puzzle related animations along with the background.
Puzzle Programming and Animations
But that doesn't mean I haven't done any of the puzzles or programming along the way. I do actually some of the animations related to puzzles and this leads me down the rabbit hole of programming some of the puzzles along the way. Here are two examples:
In the first gif, the astronaut picks up a vial from the hand of a dead alien. I really needed to create this artwork and program the associated actions to feel like I completed that zone. The same is true of the second gif, since that animation is necessary for the context of the scene. Oh yeah... and I also do the SFX for these animations as a I go along, instead of leaving it for later. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today! I digress... as you can see in the above previews, the astronaut travels a long way from the crash site in the demo. She truly goes on an adventure that will change her life forever.
Conclusion
I'm really motived and excited to complete TAP and get it into your hands by the end of the year. I know I previously said that The Abandoned Planet would be released Q3 2023, but it's going to be Q4. There's just no way I can complete it before then. I want to make sure I deliver a premium indie-game experience. Thank you all for your patience and for following along in the journey. Let me know if you have any questions. I wish you all the best. Jeremy Fryc dexterstardust.com
Welcome to Puzzle Fest! By now you've likely realized that you've found the most technologically progressive... nay... the most high fidelity... nay nay!... the most puzzlely adventure game OF ALL TIME!!!
I don't know if any of that is true, per-say, but it's not not true-ish. Regardless, "The Abandoned Planet" will undoubtedly scratch that retro-classic, point and click adventure itch.
Expanded Demo?
While the public demo contains Act 1, there is a closed expanded version of the demo that contains Act 1 and 2. This expanded demo is open only to those in the media (influencer/streamer/blogger). So, if you qualify, please reach out to dexterteamgames@gmail.com and I'll be happy to set you up with access to that Expanded Demo (promo branch). Either way, have fun and enjoy the demo!
Hello everyone, I apologize for not publishing a development update sooner, but if you follow me on Twitter, you likely saw that I've been quite active. There is lots to talk about and it's all good news! So, let's get into it.
New UI
The game now has a new UI! I got great feedback here and on social media about pixel-art UI vs. an HD UI. Obviously, each one has it's advantages and disadvantages. But I think I can summarize it by only listing advantages:
- Pixel-art UI advantages: Aesthetic perfectly matches the in-game graphics
- HD UI advantages: More detailed UI (which means it can be smaller and leave more in-game graphics visible), more contrast between the UI and in-game graphics, better for legible text, easier implementation for localization and different characters/alphabets, more accessible all-around.
New Key Art
Key Art is so important in any game. It's meant to show any potential player a preview of the story, what genre the game likely is, and the overall tone of the game. That said, I have changed the key art to this:
What do you think? It was certainly fun to draw and I like the pulp-comic book type aesthetic.
Localization
I was always planning on localizing TAP into several languages. Of course, I cannot personally localize TAP to every language. However, I do speak Spanish and Haitian Creole, in addition to English. While I'm interested in localizing the game into Haitian Creole towards the end of development (maybe the first Haitian Creole game ever?), at the moment, I wanted to set up the system of localization by starting with localizing the demo into Spanish. That means that the Steam demo is currently localized into Spanish! Si hablas espaol, actualiza el juego y djame saber qu piensas. Me interesa saber si comet algunos errores en la traduccin. Gracias! The final game will likely be available in the following languages:
- English
- Spanish
- Italian
- French
- German
- Japanese
- Korean
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Chinese Simplified
- Chinese Traditional
Additional Progress
Performance Improvements
While I was completing the bulk of artwork for acts 1-3, I noticed that the farther you play, the slower the game was getting in terms of frame-rate and performance. I checked out some things and I realized that I was caching the MoveDirection menus incorrectly. They were piling up and getting loaded into each scenes. That's potentially hundreds of menus in every scene. Yikes! This led to an overhaul of how the MoveDirections work in-engine. While the player won't notice any difference, this is a huge change and it took two full weeks to fix. Unfortunately though, it means that previous demo saves won't work when you update the demo.
Act 2 nearly completed
I like to build my games in stages. You may remember that I did a rough draft of the entire game using sketch art-work. This is still the case for Acts 4 and 5. But Acts 1-3 are completely navigable with completed artwork. Now, before I go and finish the artwork for Acts 4 and 5, I'm taking a month to completely finish Act 2. This was requested by my publisher, Snapbreak, so that we can send out an expanded demo (Acts 1 and 2) to influencers and streamers, as well as for a Brazilian festival that will showcase the game. This means that I am knee deep in puzzles and polish. I'm almost done and it's been super fun. Check out a teaser/preview for Act 2: [previewyoutube=AvyRVwXQmiA;full][/previewyoutube] That's it! That's all the progress I have made so far. I've been super busy with work, my family, and other responsibilities, but I love working on The Abandoned Planet. I'm working hard at making it an amazing game that people will enjoy and want to share will others. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks! Jeremy Fryc dexterstardust.com
Hello everyone! Welcome back for another development update for TAP. I'm happy to report that things are coming along nicely. First of all; where am I at with the game?
Game Progress
Well, I'm working hard completing more backgrounds, animations, and puzzles for Act 3. I'm almost done with the artwork for that Act.
My plan is to complete the background artwork/animations for all 5 Acts, then go back through the game and add some additional puzzles and artwork where needed. It's always easier said than done, but my game design philosophy is this; no artwork is sacred. What does that mean? You may have noticed that many modern adventure games leave you sitting on one or two backgrounds (or maybe a handful) for 30-40 minutes of gameplay. Just going back and forth between those few areas, and jamming them with head-scratching puzzles. I personally don't like this. This ends up feeling like an escape room game, which have their place in the entertainment world, but ultimately leave narrative by the wayside.
Instead, I like a greater sense of physical movement and exploration. When you played the demo to TAP, you likely noticed that you quickly move from one area to another; a puzzle on one screen opens a path on a another. Some backgrounds don't even have a puzzle or an item to pick up, but they are essential for communicating the space and feel of the overall area. That's something I enjoy and that's what I am including in TAP.
I believe there are something like 270 backgrounds (not including cutscenes) in TAP; each one unique. It's a lot of work, but it all contributes to an exciting adventure game experience.
UI Changes
Now, on to the main topic -- I'm reworking the UI. I wouldn't call this a "major" change, because I'm not altering the aesthetic of the UI, but the position of the UI elements and possibly, the fidelity of the UI. For context, here is how the UI currently appears in the game:
While I do like this, and while it technically "works", there are a few issues:
- The portrait/inventory take up a lot of permanent space on the bottom.
- For those who wish to click the arrows on screen (as opposed to using the WASD or arrow keys, which is what I prefer to do), the arrow buttons are far apart on the screen. This means that the player has to constantly move their cursor across the entire screen to navigate.
- The pixel art font is no good for localization
- The pixel art font is terrible for accessibility
This fixes the issues described above:
- The portrait is now on the left side and the inventory opens on a button click, thus freeing up that space on the bottom.
- The arrow buttons are all located on the right side, making it easier to click on them (if that's your preferred method of interaction).
- The use of an HD font is perfect for localization.
- The HD font is perfect for accessibility.
So, what do you think? Personally, in my opinion, I like the pixel art UI with the HD font. Not only do I like the way it looks, but the font is so much easier to read. I feel that the HD UI really clashes with the overall retro/pixel-art aesthetic of the game. But what's your opinion? I'm making this game for YOU to play it. Which UI would you prefer to interact with? I look forward to hearing your feedback. Thanks again for following the development, and don't forget to tell you friends about The Abandoned Planet! All the best, Jeremy Fryc dexterstardust.com
Hello to everyone who has wishlisted the game so far! No doubt you are wondering how development is going. So, lets get into it and here's a little teaser video to check out: [previewyoutube=JHS2A6W9uIc;full][/previewyoutube]
Broad Overview
The full game of The Abandoned Planet (TAP) contains a total of 5 Acts. Likely, you noticed that Act 1 (the demo) is on the shorter side. From comments Ive seen, first time playthroughs range from about 15 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the player. This is good! Personally, I like to design my games with a quick descent into story and gameplay mechanics. While Acts 2 through 5 vary in length, they will be considerably longer in gameplay than Act 1. This is especially true of Acts 2, 3, and 4. No spoilers, but as the Astronaut continues through the Acts, shell travel further and further away from the crash site, uncovering the mysteries of the planet.
What have I been working on?
When I developed my first commercial release (Dexter Stardust: Adventures In Outer Space), I developed the final artwork without even storyboarding or sketching out an entire zone/area. This was not the wisest course of action. It means that I had to go back and completely redesign and redraw this final'' artwork; doubling, and sometimes tripling, my efforts. What a waste of time! We always learn from our past mistakes. I cant promise I wont make any mistakes again, but Ive certainly learned its wise to sketch out the entirety of TAP before creating final artwork. And this is what Ive done. I sketched out every background in the game, roughly planned out major puzzle elements, and Ive placed those sketches into my game engine. Ive also set up the directional move system for the entirety of the game. You can see what this looks like here:
Yes, its pretty boring to look at, but its essential to the process and a huge time saver in the long run. It took a few months to do this, but now Im full steam ahead on final artwork. Additionally, its important to note that I design environment sounds and SFX as I put the final artwork into TAP. This can be quite time consuming. However, its something I enjoy a lot!
How much of the game is completed?
So far, only Act 1 is playable, complete with puzzles, dialogue, and polish. However, I have completed final artwork on Act 2, and Im well underway on Act 3. Im not programming all the puzzles yet, but Im making sure to implement door opening puzzles, travel elements, and elevator stuff (yup, theres elevators).
Its important to remember that it was only about a month ago that I reached the milestone of completing the sketches and directional move system for TAP. So, it took only a month or so to complete the final artwork for an entire Act. I think thats pretty good progress!
Conclusion
TAP is coming along nicely. Ill try to keep everyone up-to-date about the progress. As for the release date, my publisher and I were originally shooting for the end of the first quarter in 2023, but well have to move it back. The reason is that I spent a lot of time porting Dexter Stardust to iOS (where it has done really well!) and trying to port it to Android (Google has a frustrating maximum base_master.apk of 150MB for app downloads, and I cant get mine below 178MB. I spent about a month on this. ARGH! No dice. Well see!). So, I think you can likely expect the game sometime mid-2023. Personally, I feel this is still really great. Im a solo-developer who has a full-time job and a family. Our daughter is almost 2 years old. Shes a climber. So, trying to draw while shes climbing all over me is a challenge, but I wouldnt change it for anything. :) Thanks for wishlisting TAP! And please let me know if theres something youd like to see in the game, and if you have any questions about the development. Take care and stay safe. All the best, Jeremy Fryc dexterstardust.com
During NextFest, the sole-developer on "The Abandoned Planet", Jeremy Fryc, will be providing commentary on the first part of Act 1. Get behind the scenes insight into how the game is made and learn more about the planet that the Astronaut is marooned on.
Don't forget to download and play the demo before you watch the commentary/live-stream!
During NextFest, the sole-developer on "The Abandoned Planet", Jeremy Fryc, will be providing commentary on the first part of Act 1. Get behind the scenes insight into how the game is made and learn more about the planet that the Astronaut is marooned on.
Don't forget to download and play the demo before you watch the commentary/live-stream!
Play an Astronaut, sent through a worm hole, and stranded on an abandoned planet. Where is she? Where did everyone go? Is she truly alone?
Enjoy this 15-30 minute demo which includes Act 1, "The Crash", which is likely to be the shortest of the final game's 5 Acts. Download and enjoy!
The Abandoned Planet
Dexter Team Games
Snapbreak
2023
Indie Singleplayer
Game News Posts 15
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
Very Positive
(50 reviews)
https://www.dexterstardust.com
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2014470
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Unique Navigation & Amazing Scenes to Explore
Solve Puzzles
Chilling Cutscenes
- OS: ?Memory: 4 GB RAMStorage: 1 GB available space
- Memory: 4 GB RAMStorage: 1 GB available space
- Storage: 1 GB available space
- OS: ?Memory: 16 GB RAMStorage: 1 GB available space
- Memory: 16 GB RAMStorage: 1 GB available space
- Storage: 1 GB available space
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