Clea 2 will be released on March 25th cleasunnies! As we approach launch day, this feels like a good time to reflect on the original Clea. For the first time, I will dive deep into each chapter and share my design thoughts, things I would change next time etc. If you have not completed Clea, I recommend reading these after a playthrough to avoid spoilers. Okay, let's dive deep into chapter one, the clock tower. Did you know that originally, there was no tutorial room planned? The controls are shown before your game begins, which I figured was sufficient. Thankfully, I showed Clea at several conventions and saw my mistake firsthand. Almost no one knew to peek through doors. Some did not recognize running would alert your foes, either. I recall showcasing Clea on day one of a convention (Smash!). That night, I rushed home and added a tutorial area, just in time for day two.
Admittedly, I witnessed several players who did not understand what the peek through doors painting meant. Most figured it out soon afterwards, but with infinite resources, that is something I would have loved to perfect. I had feared a tutorial room would take players out of the experience. To an extent, it does. But first, Clea's primary goal is to provide a challenge. Second, avoiding confusion/frustration takes priority above all else. In Clea 2 (and no doubt beyond), when all else fails, I will not hesitate to show players directly what steps to take. When players think of Clea's inspirations, Clock Tower, Resident Evil etc come to mind. A title far less known is Hexen. I love Hexen's "hidden objects" style of puzzles. One tiny button hidden behind a statue. Miss that, and you are lost for the next two hours. Two bad. No guidance. Pay closer attention. Let's face it. A puzzle approach like that nowadays will lead to mixed reviews if you are lucky. Another issue I soon realized was, there are far less places to hide objects on a 2D perspective. In the end, I came to a compromise. Each chapter has two candles. One is in the open, while the other is more concealed. Those more hidden ones? I had once wanted to hide essential items there. The M piece, for example. Once again, demoing Clea at conventions showed I had best forfeit the idea.
Gamers know all too well the joy of spotting a locked door, memorizing its location, then returning to it later with that key in hand. Again, Hexen had plenty of this. The door to Florine's room shows Clea will test your short-term as well as long-term memories. Well, mid-term, perhaps. You never have to backtrack more than one chapter to access these bonus doors. One, excessive backtracking sucks. Two, if that key is a long way ahead, players truly would have forgotten where the door was.
That is more or less everything for chapter 1. A short level to show players the basics. The up/downstairs doors confused players at first, since you never see Clea walking up or down the stairs, so I added staircase and floor number labels. Cosmetic improvements of that sort. A small, yet vital improvement to finish up. For a long time, only the MT key would open that final door, not the TM key. This confused many players, yet somehow, I had neglected to fix this in a timely manner. For some reason, I had assumed it would be a difficult patch. After several more players flagged this as a bug (and I had to explain), I at last made the TM key work as well, and breaking news, it only took 20 minutes to resolve. In future, I must fix these pain points much faster.
If you enjoyed your time with Clea 1, please consider wishlisting the sequel: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Your support will give Clea 2 a boost, and if you can tell your friends, that would also be super cool. Thank you for reading cleahappy!