Hey folks, looking back on 2023, it's been a wild ride for our game development journey. Before we step into the new year, let's rewind and appreciate the significant milestones that made it special.

January

In January, we released our very first HeistGeist demo, offering everyone a sneak peek into the envisioned look and feel of the final game. The demo is continuously updated with each new feature implementation. Feel free to try it out anytime to get an idea of what it currently looks like. https://store.steampowered.com/app/2255200

February

In the week of February 6-13, we dived headfirst into the Steam Next Fest, swimming in a pool of positive and constructive feedback. This event marked our first opportunity to showcase the game to a broad audience. Despite our initial concerns, the reception was pretty great. It gave us a reality check on whether our game was hitting the mark. Throughout February and March, our focus was dedicated to reviewing player feedback and making crucial game design decisions and implementations. We concentrated on enhancing visual clarity and adding controller support.

March

From March 21 to April 1, we participated in the online festival "The Storyteller's Festival."

April

In April, we made a significant overhaul of the hacking mechanic. From April 24 to 26, we participated in the prestigious REBOOT Develop Blue conference in Dubrovnik (Croatia), where we showcased the game. This marked our fourth appearance at this conference, but the first time post-pandemic, adding a chill holiday flavor to the experience.

May

In May, we incorporated Guardian nodes into the hacking mechanic and introduced the combat simulator mode to assist in testing combat mechanics and balancing.

June

On June 2-3, we were part of the Game Access conference in Brno (Czech Republic), likely the biggest and coolest conference around. It was a lot of fun, meeting both familiar and new faces, and walked away with the "Best Art Award"!
Throughout the summer, our focus was on writing developing the story, dialogues, and events for each heist, methodically tackling level design intricacies one level at a time. We crafted dialogue scripts for voice actors, and proofread texts, and this has remained an ongoing task ever since.

August

In August, we added and reworked numerous VFX effects. We introduced several new status effects to spice up battles and included new enemy types. Furthermore, we wrapped up the implementation of the first iteration of full controller and Steam Deck support.
From August 28 to September 4, we participated in the online festival Steam Strategy Fest.

September

In September, we tackled the conceptual, visual, and mechanical design of most in-game enemies. Additionally, we successfully implemented a significant portion of UI screens and elements.

October

In October, our amazing composer, Robert Bruckmayer, completed work on a truly breathtaking soundtrack for our game. We had a blast at Game Days Kosice from October 26 to 28! It's the biggest (and only) conference for game developers in Slovakia and an awesome event, especially for our local community. The atmosphere is super friendly.

November

In November, we crafted an entirely new story trailer, featuring numerous fresh shots from the game, showcasing enemies, new battle screens, and a sneak peek into a couple of story elements from the final game. This trailer was featured in the showcase at the online Steam festival "Czech & Slovak Games Week," held from November 13 to 20. Additionally, we participated in the parallel online festival Turn-Based Carnival from November 14 to 21. Moreover, we finally implemented the long-awaited dynamic camera into battles, which, if you ask me, is pretty awesome. [previewyoutube=9XIj4TFq0jE;full][/previewyoutube]

December

December is like the Friday of the year, a time when we aimed to tackle unfinished tasks. However, the COVID gods had different plans, and practically all of us fell ill at different times during the month. This threw a wrench into our planning and management, disrupting things just before the Christmas holidays. Fortunately were all fine now. --------------------------- The next year is shaping up to be a significant one for us. We're gearing up to kick off the beta testing phase for our combat system and gradually move closer to the release of HeistGeist. It's a mix of scary and exciting stuff. In the meantime, enjoy your holidays, spend some quality time with your loved ones, eat some good food, and we'll catch up with you all in the new year.
Thanks for reading this far! If you haven't yet, we'd love for you to join our community on Discord. You can chat with us and be the first to know when beta testing begins. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter or Threads for the latest updates, and consider adding HeistGeist to your Steam wishlist. We greatly appreciate your support! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1982940/HeistGeist/