I feel like I need to start off every update with an apology for how long the game is taking. Many of you have told me not to worry about the time and just focus on making the game as good as it can be. A few others have expressed frustration about how long things are taking. As I’ve mentioned probably a million times before, this project turned out to be way more ambitious than what I expected when I started down this path. Thanks to the team's perseverance and everyone's patience though, we've been able to overcome every obstacle before us and create something we're all very proud of.
The exclusive Blue Canary familiar for $50+ backers will attack foes and retrieve dropped items. So where are we now? The game has been fully playable for a couple months. It is a game with a beginning, middle, and end. There’s a ton of polish we’re working on now to take it from being a functional game to a great game. Maybe one analogy is that we’ve just built a skyscraper, including all of the electrical, plumbing, elevators, etc., and now we’re going through floor by floor adding the furnishings.
Some old enemies have gotten bigger, more detailed designs. One must-have bit of furnishing is the Kickstarter rewards! We've been working hard on them for the past few weeks, but here’s where they stand right now:

• Exclusive items for $15/30/50 backers - Done
• Backer’s Tome (name in the game) for $50+ backers - Done
• Backer's Tavern (Hidden room) for $1000+ backers - Done
• Special gameplay feature for $2500+ backer - In Progress
• Stretch goal: Achievements for all versions - Done
• Stretch goal: Extended Soundtrack Album - Done
• Stretch goal: Alternate Chiptune Soundtrack - In Progress
• Stretch goal: Arena - In Progress
• Stretch goal: Crafting - In Progress

Speaking of the Extended Soundtrack, here’s a sample for you! Our musician James Stevulak put together a number of remixes for the album including this one. If you played the early build, you might recognize the theme of the track as the Catacombs: https://soundcloud.com/bitkidgames/catacombs-dark-king-remix I’m hoping to get the other Kickstarter rewards and stretch goals done in the next few weeks so those will all be out of the way. In the meantime, we’re playing through the builds over and over and asking ourselves the hardest question in game design - what’s not there that should be there? We’ve identified several features we want to add that will kick up the experience to 11 and have added those to the to do list. That said, it’s very easy to fall into the trap of continually polishing and adding new features and pushing out the finish line so far that the game is never done. We’re very conscious of that trap and will be questioning every new feature as we pin down our plans for the final push. The finish line is in sight, and we don’t want to stray too far from the path!
The travel scene has gotten some polish like twinkling and shooting stars.

[ 2017-06-27 07:14:13 CET ] [ Original post ]