Hi everyone! I'm happy to announce that after over a year of work, my new game Unwording is finally out! :) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1974250/Unwording The game launches at $4.99, with a 10% discount - so if you've been interested in the game, the best time to get it would be now! It also really helps in getting the game picked up by Steam's algorithm if it's bought (and reviewed!) in the first 24 hours. This would be SUPER helpful and appreciated! Thank you for all the support - this has been quite a personal game with a lot of learnings from my own life and experiences, and I sincerely hope you like the game and that it resonates with you! Lastly, below is the launch trailer. And if you need help with anything, or just want to get in touch, drop me a mail at armaan@frostwoodinteractive.com - Armaan [previewyoutube=LD2cMPQh2DI;full][/previewyoutube]

[ 2023-04-27 17:00:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! My new game Unwording comes out on April 27th! Unwording is a narrative-driven puzzle game about overcoming negative self-talk. Embark on an uplifting journey through the mind of Tom - Solve word puzzles, explore his neighborhood through multiple perspectives, and help Tom overcome his negative thought patterns as he finds a new perspective on life. It launches on April 27th. Be sure to wishlist it here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1974250/Unwording Catch the trailer here: [previewyoutube=WkOvj0VT0b4;leftthumb][/previewyoutube] As always, thanks for your support!

[ 2023-04-13 16:30:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! Just wanted to let you guys know about my upcoming game Unwording - a narrative-driven puzzle game about negative thought patterns, where you "play" with the protagonist's thoughts as you try to change his perspective on the world. Unwording is set to release this month! Be sure to wishlist it here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1974250/Unwording Catch the trailer here: [previewyoutube=7GZq96NeTE8;leftthumb][/previewyoutube] As always, thanks for your support!

[ 2023-04-09 16:30:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everyone! If you haven't heard yet, I've been hard at work on my next title - Unwording: A narrative-driven puzzle game about negative thoughts, and how they change our perception of the world. This is a short, experimental title that manages to tell a story without a single word of dialogue. Check it out and wishlist it here - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1974250/Unwording Here's the announcement trailer - [previewyoutube=vrkzA0NJBWU;full][/previewyoutube] As always, thanks for the support! -Armaan

[ 2022-09-18 16:12:14 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi The long-awaited v1.6 patch is now live! Check out the comparison video here - [previewyoutube=BDKbr6GXqwI;full][/previewyoutube] Fixes include: Major- - Overhauled first person movement. - Improved navigation in cramped indoor spaces. - Transparent walls that keep Sid always visible. - Free camera that can be rotated in every scene. - Improved visuals. - Tighter writing and dialogs. - Improved camera rotation with the controller. Minor- - Better animation transitions. - Balanced colors and brightness in some areas. - Fixed flickering shadows. - Fixed sinking car and bike movement in some scenes. - Fixed awkward neck turning animation. - Fixed camera clipping through terrain in some instances. - Fixed instances of characters teleporting to their locations. - Added distinct character speech text colors. - Plus many, many more minor tweaks and fixes! Of course, as with any major update, this patch may introduce new bugs. If you experience any, please let me know! Thanks for the love and support. -Armaan

[ 2022-02-06 19:58:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi As you may have noticed, Forgotten Fields suffered from a rough launch and didn't perform as well as I would've hoped. A lot of these were mistakes and oversights from my end and having spent a few months away from the project, I have a decent idea regarding the things that went wrong and could be improved. It's unfortunately left a bit of a sour taste, and I wish to fix that and improve the game - regardless of whether the improvements affect sales or not. The upcoming update will improve the first-person sections, make movement and controls better (they've been massively improved in the updates since launch) improve some visuals, and tighten some of the pacing and dialogs that, at times, seem to ramble a bit. If you've just bought the game, or are planning to buy it during the Steam Winter sales, I'd suggest holding off on playing it until v1.6 is out. And if you've already played and liked it, leaving a review would help immensely! Thanks for playing, and for the support :) Armaan

[ 2021-12-02 09:03:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! Patch v1.5 is live now, with the following fixes: * Fixed: Textures don't load on some Mac machines, and are instead replaced by pink objects. * Fixed: Camera rotation in the first scene is over sensitive. -Armaan

[ 2021-06-24 12:41:19 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! Here are the fixes included in patch v1.4:

• Fixed: The camera in the dungeon sequence is too sensitive.
• Fixed: Issues with colliders in the first-person beach swimming scene.
• Fixed: Issues with Bek in the dungeon sequence.

-Armaan

[ 2021-05-20 14:30:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! Here are the fixes included in patch v1.3a: Major improvements:

• Fixed: Camera rotation for some players is too sensitive and spins out of control, especially when using the mouse
• Fixed: Trees, walls and roofs often obstruct the player's view of Sid, especially when in Ethan's house. Most objects and trees now fade out when Sid is blocked from view by them.
• Fixed: The camera rotation when running through the fields outside Ethan's house is locked.
• Fixed: Added Vsync.

Minor fixes:

• Fixed: Sid sometimes faces away from the camera when changing outfits in Sid's room in the first scene.
• Fixed: The song that plays during the first-person car drive section doesn't loop.
• Fixed: Player can look at photos while fetching plates in Sid's mom's house, which in turn causes him to clip through the camera after looking at the photos.
• Fixed: Player can trigger the dialogue for entering the shower from outside the bathroom in Sid's mom's house.
• Fixed: When meeting Ethan's dad for the first time, Sid can get stuck on furniture and walk into it endlessly throughout the scene.
• Fixed: Attempted a fix for a rare shader issue on Mac where some scenes would render completely pink.

Let me know if there are any further issues with this patch! -Armaan

[ 2021-04-29 16:24:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! A number of issues regarding the camera have been reported. These are mainly: 1. For many users, the camera rotation seems to be too sensitive or it spins out of control, especially with the mouse. 2. At many points, the player's view of Sid is obstructed by a wall, roof, tree etc. A fix has been identified for the first issue and will be implemented in the upcoming v1.2 patch. More interestingly, for the 2nd issue, I'm in the process of implementing a feature that will make walls, roofs, trees and other objects fade/ disappear if they block Sid from the camera. Here are some gifs to show you what I mean: https://imgur.com/a/AF2nXIz The patch should be up in a couple of days! Thanks for your patience. -Armaan

[ 2021-04-27 16:34:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! For the final day of LudoNarraCon, we have a dev Q&A where you can ask me anything related (or not!) to Forgotten Fields, Rainswept, game development or just games in general! Time: April 26th, 11:00 AM PST The Q&A will be held on Fellow Traveller's Discord (the company behind LNC) and will be live here: https://discord.gg/qfKrxvG5J6 See you there, and hope you enjoyed the 4 days of Forgotten Fields @ LudoNarraCon! -Armaan

[ 2021-04-26 06:00:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! LIVE NOW! For day 3 of Ludonarracon, we have something really cool and special :) The soundtrack from Forgotten Fields will be broadcast, along with chill, atmospheric scenes from the game. This will be set to loop throughout the day (or as long as possible) so hop in at any time, chill out and listen to the tracks while soaking in the game's atmosphere, or just leave it running in the background while you work! Time: April 25th 10:30 AM PT The broadcast will be live here: https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/76561198963445312 You can also buy the soundtrack here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1614630/Forgotten_Fields_Soundtrack/ The final day will have a discord Q&A, where you can ask me anything about the game, or anything else on your mind! Learn more here (links to become visible 1 hour prior to the event) Day 4: Dev Q&A/ AMA, April 26th 11:00 AM: An AMA on Fellow Traveller's Discord See you there! Armaan

[ 2021-04-25 17:42:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! Here are the fixes included in patch v1.2 for issues reported by players:

• Fixed: Sid can interact with the other cows in the field outside Ethan's house, and start a cutscene out of order.
• Fixed: Sid can pet the dog from outside Ethan's house.
• Fixed: At some points the triggers blocking off the roads outside Ethan's house reappear and stop player movement beyond those points.
• Attempted fix: For some players, the camera rotates with high sensitivity in some locations. This does not occur on my end, but I've tried making a change to the camera that may improve this issue. At the moment the fix has only been implemented for the roads outside Ethan's house. If it improves things, I will then apply this fix across the game. Let me know if it works or not!

Fixes in previous patches: v1.1b

• Fixed: During the QTEs when jumping over rocks in the beach scene, the QTE for jumping back to the previous rock automatically pops up everytime the player makes a jump.

v1.1a

• Fixed: Looking at one of the books in Ethan's house can cause the camera to become stuck in "book view".

v1.1

• Fixed: Player can move Sid's head around in the first-person car drive section.
• Fixed: The fisherman near the boat can't be talked to when the player is supposed to fetch glasses.
• Fixed: If you miss cloth stuck in the tree QTE the first time, then the flashing QTE indicator can become stuck on the screen.
• Fixed: The QTE indicator while jumping over the rocks in the beach scene sometimes shows the prompt for the controller prompt instead of the keyboard.
• Fixed: The camera rotation in the beach scene becomes inverted.
• Fixed: The roof(s) when exiting Ethan's house from the front or the back obstruct the view and make it difficult to navigate. The roofs now disappear earlier.
• Fixed: The interiors are difficult to navigate in Ethan's and Sid's mother's house and it is easy to get stuck. A chair has now been removed in Ethan's house to make the living room more spacious and easy to navigate, and colliders have been reduced and tightened in both scenes.

-Armaan

[ 2021-04-24 10:34:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! On day 2 of LudoNarraCon, join Dustflower again as she continues her playthrough of Forgotten Fields! Broadcast URL: https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/76561198963445312 The stream will be run by Dustflower - Check out her streams and socials here: Twitter: @_Dustflower_ Facebook: https://facebook.com/dustflowergaming/ YouTube: http://youtube.com/c/Dustflower Day 3 will have a stream of the soundtrack from the game, combined with soothing visuals and ambient sounds from Forgotten Fields. Learn more here (links to become visible 1 hour prior to the event) Day 3: Soundtrack stream, April 25th 10:30 AM PT Day 4: Dev Q&A/ AMA, April 26th 11:00 AM: An AMA on Fellow Traveller's Discord See you there! -Armaan

[ 2021-04-24 05:30:17 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi I'm excited to share that Forgotten Fields will be exhibiting during Ludonarracon, from April 23 - 26! As part of this, there will be an event during each day of the digital convention, with the first of those being a gameplay stream. Time: April 23rd 10:30 AM PT The broadcast will be live at: https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/76561198963445312 The stream will be run by Dustflower - Check out her streams and socials here: Twitter: @_Dustflower_ Facebook: https://facebook.com/dustflowergaming/ YouTube: http://youtube.com/c/Dustflower After 2 days of gameplay streams, there will also be a soundtrack stream on the 3rd day, and a discord Q&A to cap off the convention! Learn more here (links to become visible 1 hour prior to the event) Day 2: Gameplay stream, April 24th 10:30 AM PT Day 3: Soundtrack stream, April 25th 10:30 AM PT Day 4: Dev Q&A/ AMA, April 26th 11:00 AM: An AMA on Fellow Traveller's Discord See you there! -Armaan

[ 2021-04-23 07:33:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

v1.1b is a quick hotfix that fixes the following issue:

• During the QTEs when jumping over rocks in the beach scene, the QTE for jumping back to the previous rock automatically pops up everytime the player makes a jump.

-Armaan

[ 2021-04-22 13:52:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi v1.1a is a small hotfix for the following issue:

• Fixed: Looking at one of the books in Ethan's house can cause the camera to become stuck in "book view".

-Armaan

[ 2021-04-19 10:27:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! Here are the fixes included in patch v1.1 for the issues reported by players:

• Fixed: Player can move Sid's head around in the first-person car drive section.
• Fixed: The fisherman near the boat can't be talked to when the player is supposed to fetch glasses.
• Fixed: If you miss cloth stuck in the tree QTE the first time, then the flashing QTE indicator can become stuck on the screen.
• Fixed: The QTE indicator while jumping over the rocks in the beach scene sometimes shows the prompt for the controller prompt instead of the keyboard.
• Fixed: The camera rotation in the beach scene becomes inverted.
• Fixed: The roof(s) when exiting Ethan's house from the front or the back obstruct the view and make it difficult to navigate. The roofs now disappear earlier.
• Fixed: The interiors are difficult to navigate in Ethan's and Sid's mother's house and it is easy to get stuck. A chair has now been removed in Ethan's house to make the living room more spacious and easy to navigate, and colliders have been reduced and tightened in both scenes.

More fixes and quality of life improvements are on the way for the next patch. If you come across any issues, you can report them here - https://steamcommunity.com/app/1296980/discussions/2/ Thank you for playing and supporting the game! - Armaan

[ 2021-04-18 17:44:32 CET ] [ Original post ]

Here's a list of bug reports raised by players, for which fixes are in the works:

• Player can move Sid's head around in the first-person car drive section.
• Reloading the game at the phone section in Sid's house can make the phone un-interactable.
• Talking to Aish again after she asks you to get the glasses (without talking to the fisherman) can make the fisherman un-interactable.
• If you miss cloth stuck in the tree QTE the first time, then the flashing QTE indicator can become stuck on the screen.

Expect fixes for these within a few days! -Armaan

[ 2021-04-17 16:01:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone I just wanted to say - thank you for buying and playing Forgotten Fields, for the love and support, and for leaving reviews! I sincerely hope you've enjoyed it. Forgotten Fields is a very personal and simple game, and I have been filled with doubts about whether anyone would relate to a game this specific and personal. So it means everything when I hear someone say that they're loving the game! A few bugs have also been reported, and I will be working on those over the next couple of days. Do visit the Steam forums to let me know if you've encountered any! Thank you :) -Armaan

[ 2021-04-16 17:26:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! We finally have a release date - April 14! That's less than 20 days from now! To celebrate, here's a new teaser trailer: [previewyoutube=2XMxYgo7adA;full][/previewyoutube] The game has come a long, long way from the initial idea that began around late 2019. Thank you for playing the demo, for your feedback and for your love and support- I can't wait to finally share the game with you! -Armaan

[ 2021-03-25 05:05:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! Due to an issue with the beach scene, the previously promised behind the scenes look has been replaced with a playthrough - this will also show a new scene and a cool new location (pictured below) that begins right after the demo ends! Baz (also the cool developer of the cool upcoming game Don't Stare) was kind enough to help me out here and record a playthrough for the event! Check out his other streams and interviews with developers here - https://www.twitch.tv/dont_stare_game The broadcast will begin on January 24, at 4:00 PM GMT/ 8:00 AM PDT. I'll see you there! :)
- Armaan

[ 2021-01-24 14:23:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everyone! On January 24, at 4:00 PM GMT/ 8:30 AM PDT, I will be broadcasting a behind the scenes look at some new locations from Forgotten Fields! Watch how the sea in the beach scene works, how the soundscape is created to make it more immersive, and much more! I'll also play through a bit of the game from past the demo levels. This is as a part of The Big Adventure Event organized by Hitcents, and a bunch of other lovely adventure games are a part of this as well! See you there! :) Armaan

[ 2021-01-22 07:53:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! A very Merry Christmas and soon, - a happy new year to you guys! It's been a long time since the last update. The good news is that this is because I was completely immersed and caught up in the development of the game, and now we're very, very close to getting it finished! The complete story and all the puzzles, dialogs, etc have been finished, and I'm now working on the epilogue and the credits. After this, I'll move back down to the earlier scenes and finish off all the unfinished scenes - incomplete dialogs, models, and anything that's missing. Once that is done, I'll get started with polishing the game and making it prettier where possible, improve UI, etc. Finally, it'll be time for optimization and bug fixing! Other than that, here's a glimpse at the new stuff that's been done since the last update - First of all, I implemented Enviro - a weather and time cycle solution. This allows me to add beautiful dramatic skies to the game, and have cool weather effects! Here's a preview - [previewyoutube=S-TGUbO6od0;full][/previewyoutube] Comes in handy for some cool closeups like this :) (the wet road itself is a different "wet" shader) I think the realistic look goes quite well with the rest of the simple aesthetic here!
Next, I worked on improving the visuals for the "storybook" sections, sticking close to an early Xbox 360 era action RPG style (lots of bloom!) inspired by games like Fable and Kingdoms of Amalur. Check it out in this gameplay video! [previewyoutube=sVTF4azECPk;full][/previewyoutube] And here are some more screens showing off this revised storybook art style - A cozy fireplace
And cold, mysterious woods-
That's all for this time! 2020 has been harder than any of us could've imagined - see you again in a (hopefully) much better 2021! :) -Armaan

[ 2020-12-28 07:48:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! It's been a long while since the last devlog. True to the themes of Forgotten Fields' story, gathering momentum and and keeping work going at a steady pace can sometimes be really difficult, and - for me - if the core development work isn't flowing along at a quick pace, writing devlogs/ marketing etc becomes lower priority and falls by the wayside. But having kept up development through this slow period, I now have a foundation of the new bits and can sprint through the remainder of the game - because there isn't much left! We're now at the final scene - Sid's house. Sid is back home for the party that we've been moving towards since the opening. Of course, if you'd rather see the house when the game is out, then maybe skip this devlog. The design for the house is something I've had in my mind from the beginning. It isn't something I'd planned for any specific reason, it's just the place that I saw while imagining the game's story. So first of all, here's a stop motion video of me building the house, set to classical music, because why not? [previewyoutube=ttMosP1ot-I;full][/previewyoutube] With Sid's house (mostly) completed, the next step was to make the backdrop. While you can't really explore the neighborhood, it was important make the bits that are visible realistic and believable, in order to make the atmosphere feel cozy and lived in. I must admit, I got a bit more ambitious with this part than I'd planned. But I really loved creating the little neighborhood, and it was a great learning experience! Here's some pictures of the neighborhood under construction. This area is of course, also inspired by the kind of places you'd see in Goa, while also maintaining some of that Ghibli flavor I've tried to have in the game from the beginning:




I've tried to add as many details as possible - wires, AC units, pavements, gutter covers, transformers, water tankers, satellite dishes - things that really make the neighborhood identifiable as set in India/ South Asia. I may add some more if possible! After that, I went and got myself a plug in for the skies and the environmental/ ambient lighting system (Enviro Sky and Weather) which will help me change the time of the day during run time in this scene. It also pushes up the lighting quality up a notch!
Plus, it allows me to add some beautiful skies and clouds to the game. Check it out (along with some more great music by Micamic) in the video below! [previewyoutube=MAmJheMJ1Ks;full][/previewyoutube] Finally, having finished up the neighborhood and lit it up with some Realtime GI lights, the next step was to focus on improving the performance. Of course, the final optimization run will be done once the game is fully finished content wise, but I also don't want the game to chug during testing! One of the steps I took was to dynamically turn off unnecessary lights in the neighborhood when the player isn't present in that spot/ when the camera can't see it. I did this by simply switching the lights on/off using triggers. So when the player is in the house, the lights in the front and back streets are turned off (and replaced by a single light to keep it lit when in the background), when the player is in the front street, the lights in the house and the backstreet are turned off, etc - you get the point. Only, switching them on/off abruptly didn't look good, so I decided to fade the power of the lights in and out by animating the properties. This took a little time, but was totally worth it! The framerate improvement was also the same as switching the lights off. Check it out in the video below: [previewyoutube=mt9kOh_ms0o;full][/previewyoutube] That's it for this time! The next devlog will probably be when the game is almost finished. If you've got any thoughts/ feedback, I'd love to hear it - send me a mail or leave a comment! I'll see you guys in the next post :) - Armaan

[ 2020-10-22 07:47:02 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! I've spent a lot of time working on the scene that the Forgotten Fields demo ends on - Ethan's house and the surrounding neighborhood area. A lot of that time has been spent on making this place feel atmospheric, warm and alive. Fun backstory - the vibe of this place has been inspired by a random dead end road that my friends and I discovered after we got lost and took a wrong turn. It's a pretty basic spot, but it's also special - there are fields on one side of the road, two railway tracks that run parallel to the road on the other side, and some old houses a little distance away on the third side. This place has become one of our favorite hang out spots ever, and so of course, I decided to add it to the game. The spot in monsoons-
The fields are golden and the rest of the foliage is brown in the drier months (which is when the game is set)
The focus of this post is on those previously mentioned trains, and how game dev is quite a bit like film making in that a lot of the things you see are actually illusions and magic. There's some weird stuff going on behind the scenes! If don't want to break immersion, maybe skip this post (or the last part of it) The trains are only set up as a part of the background to add atmosphere to the place and also as a reference to the place that has inspired this area in the game. You can't get on them! Now first of all, The trains are set up as "NPCs" (through the plugin Adventure Creator) which basically allows me to set up their back and forth movement on the tracks using AC's "paths" system. This helps me avoid having to animate the trains. The paths system also has the option to pause at every node, which means that the trains won't be running back and forth all the time and will instead pass by at more realistic time intervals. Simple, but nifty.
The blue boxes or bogies on one of those trains are the typical sort you see in Indian passenger trains, and are immediately recognizable to anyone that has traveled by or ever seen them.
Having got the movement sorted, the next most important part to figure out was the sound of the trains passing by. This sound should only play when the train is close to the player. To make sure that the sounds stop after the train is out of earshot, I set up these triggers (the red boxes) on either side of the playable area to recognize the train and only then turn the sound component on. The sound turns off automatically once the audio clip ends (it's about 20 seconds long only) as it is not set to loop. The triggers (also a part of AC) are set up to recognize if the sound is already playing, so that they don't launch the audio clip twice.
The sound component itself is attached to the train, twice - one at the head, near the engine, and one at the end, so that the audio plays continuously and seamlessly for the full duration of the train's passage past the player. Unity also allows you to set it up as a 3D sound with doppler effect. You can see it all in action here in this video - [previewyoutube=qzPIHEK3XAg;full][/previewyoutube] I think it sounds pretty good! Another fun little thing going on behind the scenes that amused me is that the house that you see in the picture below falls right on top of the tracks. This house is only seen once, in the shot seen below, and it had to be placed on that spot to fill up the scene and make the world seem more realistic.
Behind the scenes though, you've actually got trains running through it! But with the way the camera is set up (isometric) you'll never really see the train going into the house during gameplay. Check out the immersion breaking phenomenon below - [previewyoutube=IRiEQFZp224;full][/previewyoutube] Thanks for reading, and see you in the next devlog! :) -Armaan

[ 2020-09-11 05:54:06 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello! A lot of progress has been made since the last devlog. I've spent the last week or so working on one of the most important exciting scenes of the game - the beach! (Btw, I've saved the best part for the end of this post, so make sure to read till the end! BUT, skip it if you'd rather discover it yourself in the full game release :) )

Visuals

One of the things I love about making games is that you get to sculpt an immersive, beautiful world, and that once you get in the flow it almost becomes a spiritual experience. Sculpting the land and laying an ocean over it felt surreal. Check it out in this timelapse video of the process - [previewyoutube=mkuTMlPC2aQ;full][/previewyoutube] For the water, I'm using the free, open source version of the Crest Ocean System, and the quality of this is excellent. I especially love the subsurface scattering effect that allows the waves to be illuminated by the sun, giving it that Assassin's Creed Black Flag or Sea of Thieves feel. One of the reasons why I love those games is the peaceful, beautiful atmosphere created by their oceans, so it's really exciting for me to have something of that sort. One of the things I was disappointed about is the shoreline waves - my scene is on the beach, not the ocean, so waves on the shore are pretty important. By default, the shoreline remains pretty static in Crests, with nothing more than foam on the edges. Not being a programmer and knowing nothing about shaders, I tried to improvise a solution - I added a GerstnerPatch (from one of the example scenes in Crests) and tweaked the settings to ramp up the waves and make them sharper only near the shoreline. Another issue is that by default the shoreline remains static - in reality on a beach, the water runs up and then back down the beach pretty prominently. To fix that I animated my ocean "plane" to move slowly up and down. Here's a video showing the process - [previewyoutube=8px1TmtJBW4;full][/previewyoutube]

Sound

Now I had the beach set up and looking pretty great visually, I was pretty excited for the next bit - sound. Back when I was lacking inspiration and unsure of what I wanted this game to be about, a visit to Goa (my home) gave me that much needed spark of inspiration, and a visit to my favorite beach was one of the most impactful moments of that trip. In that moment when I was floating in the water, I wished I could accurately share and experience how it actually feels to be floating in the ocean. And one of the most important aspect of this experience is the sound - the flappy sound that wet, bare feet make on wet sand, how the atmosphere sounds on the shore, how the waves crash when standing on the water's edge, how it changes when underwater, and how it suddenly breaks into a large, expansive sound as soon as you emerge from it. For this I needed a more complex system than the one provided by default in Unity, as the default system only allows you to specify proximity to a sound source using spheres. The shoreline is a line, not a sphere, which meant I would have a mess of a 100 spheres everywhere denoting different zones. To fix this, I got myself the Volumetric Audio asset - This (among other features) allows you to specify a custom shape for your audio source. Perfect! Here's a video that shows the different audio zones as set up in the scene - [previewyoutube=pXQtxrA1riA;full][/previewyoutube] What do you think? There are 4 different zones set up playing sounds for 1) the wide, atmospheric sound of the overall ocean from a distance 2) the sound of waves crashing loudly when standing close them 3) underwater (heard in the next video) and 4) (my favorite) the wide, expansive sound you hear as soon as your ears pop when you come to the surface from underwater. Like I promised, I've saved the best for last - first person mode. As you would've seen in the demo, the game switches to first person from time to time. Making this scene playable in first person was super important for me to create that immersion and the accurate feeling of being in the beach that I mentioned above. With this, you're actually able to feel the movement of the water, the waves constantly crashing over your face, the constant change in sound as your head bobs under and over water, the sound of the wind on the shore, and wet feet on sand. Check it out - [previewyoutube=t714igKhmUk;full][/previewyoutube] Of course, some of the sounds still need a little tweaking and polishing. I think the first person video above really captures what I dreamed of creating and sharing that day on the beach, and I'm super excited about it :) See you next time! -Armaan

[ 2020-08-26 07:50:42 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! The latest patch (v0.1.3a) brings some major gameplay changes to the demo. After taking player feedback, and working on later levels of the game, I gained a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the gameplay in Forgotten Fields. For starters, the janky first person "mindspace" sections have been removed. It was obvious that these were the weakest parts of the game and were also difficult to polish. As I worked on the later levels, I added some story driven puzzles (almost "side quest" like in design) that had choices and could be solved in multiple ways with different solutions, that I felt made the game way more interesting, and I realized the demo paled in comparison to the new bits. The demo now consists of one of these puzzles - retrieving the tools from the next-door neighbor is a more involving affair than just talking to him and responding to a QTE. Now the player must resolve a spat between two neighbors, and this can be done in multiple ways. Here's some screenshots from this puzzle -


Try it out if you haven't yet! And let me know if this update has brought up any unforeseen bugs. -Armaan

[ 2020-08-15 17:22:48 CET ] [ Original post ]

Just a quick update to let you guys know that Forgotten Fields is a part of the Yogscast Tiny Teams festival! If you haven't played the demo yet, try it out now! Or if you have, go check out some of the other great games and exclusive demos that are a part of this festival: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/tinyteamsfestival The demo for Forgotten Fields can be found here- https://store.steampowered.com/app/1296980/Forgotten_Fields/ See you next time! Armaan

[ 2020-08-10 06:17:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! Welcome to the first devlog for Forgotten Fields! During the development of Rainswept, I kept quite a regular and detailed record of development through posts like these (24 of them!) and they were great not only for sharing information about my development process, but were also a great way of arranging my own thoughts about the game and feelings about the game's development. Kind of like a journal. Development of this game has been quite different from that of Rainswept in many ways, and the lack of devlogs this time is one of them. I've just had my mind completely on making the game, and haven't had the time and energy for the other important bits like sharing progress on social media and here, through devlogs. Being only a handful of months away from release, we may not get more than a half dozen posts out, but something is better than nothing! After wrapping up a successful Kickstarter campaign, I've hunkered down and put myself completely into making progress with the game. At the end of the demo, Sid reaches his friend Ethan's house - he's supposed to pick up some papers here, for his childhood home that's about to be sold off. This area is much bigger than the previous two scenes, and is one where I feel like the game really shines. There's a few "quests", some interesting gameplay, and some warm, peaceful areas to explore outside Ethan's house as Sid waits for the paperwork to be finished. But more importantly, you can pet the dog - [previewyoutube=tVxI9C-TNS0;full][/previewyoutube] Apart from being a fun feature that everyone loves in games, and one that improves any game, I feel that having a pettable dog really adds to that warm, cozy and homely feeling that I'm going for with Forgotten Fields. Another cool, fun feature that has been added to this area is a couple of NPCs playing football in the streets. If you've ever been to Goa, you'll immediately relate to the goal posts being indicated through bricks and slippers! Is this something you do in your part of the world too? Here's a video showing the step by step process of how I went about adding details to this - [previewyoutube=4cERdn4O11g;full][/previewyoutube] Finally, this devlog is numbered 0 because I wanted to keep this first, intro devlog short and focused on the introduction while also compiling the above (previously shared on social media) couple of clips here. I'll be posting the next one a few days after putting this one up, but I didn't want to merge the two as that would make it too long. See you in the next one! Armaan

[ 2020-08-09 06:27:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everyone! Just a short update to let you know that the demo for Forgotten Fields is now live on Steam! Try it out and let me know what you think of it :) Hope you like it! Armaan

[ 2020-06-16 19:24:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi! We're finally live on Kickstarter! We're looking to raise an amount of 9500 to bring the warm, nostalgic world and story of Forgotten Fields to life. Check out the campaign, and the cool merch available as backer rewards here - Kickstarter link - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forgotten-fields/forgotten-fields-0/ It would be amazing if you could check it out, consider supporting and spreading the word! Tell your friends, family and lovers of atmospheric narrative driven games :) You'll also be able to try out the demo tomorrow at 10am PDT - I'm excited to share a glimpse of the game with you all :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8XYvnGVW0A Thanks Armaan

[ 2020-06-15 15:29:37 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everyone! On June 17 I'll be hosting a live developer Q&A on Steam Chat where you can ask me questions about my upcoming game Forgotten Fields, my previous game Rainswept, or just have a chilled out chat about our favorite games, least favorite games or whatever else that comes to mind! The Q&A will be live from 5-730pm UTC on June 17 on the Steam chat - https://s.team/chat/P9rghnrm [previewyoutube=Q8XYvnGVW0A;full][/previewyoutube] See you there! Armaan

[ 2020-06-08 13:10:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone. Just a quick update - Steam has delayed the Steam Summer Fest to June 16-22, and as such, the Forgotten Fields demo will also go live on the 16th. The Kickstarter has also been delayed accordingly to the 15th. You can follow project and wishlist the Kickstarter page to stay updated on when the campaign begins: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forgotten-fields/forgotten-fields-0 And if you've got friends or family that would be interested in this game - show them this trailer and tell them about the campaign! :) [previewyoutube=Q8XYvnGVW0A;full][/previewyoutube] Thanks for your support! - Armaan

[ 2020-06-06 16:05:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Thank you for following Forgotten Fields on Steam. I've got some exciting news - Forgotten Fields will be live on Kickstarter on June 8. Not just that, but the demo will also be playable during the Steam Summer Fest June 9-15!
The Kickstarter preview page is already live - follow the project, wishlist it so you can stay updated on the when the campaign begins: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forgotten-fields/forgotten-fields-0 Please share this news, tell your friends and family about the game and the campaign - it would really help us in reaching the goal! Here's the reveal trailer, if you need something to convince them with ;) [previewyoutube=Q8XYvnGVW0A;full][/previewyoutube] Thanks for your support! - Armaan

[ 2020-06-05 17:03:52 CET ] [ Original post ]