Dec 21, 2018

Kynseed - Matt Allen

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Happy winter solstice!

Today, we come bearing gifts. As promised in our last development update, we've been busily preparing our very first batch of new additions to Kynseed. These additions are all fairly basic and won't contain any notably flashy content of any kind, but there's still a few cool things we've added which you can check out below. We've come to refer to this as "The First Steps Update", particularly because its focus was on preparing some basic systems to help pave the way for more complex systems in future updates.

Let us know how you get on with things here on the forums or over on our Discord, where you can come warm yourself by our server's fire and nibble on some cookies. Of course, if you experience any particularly itchy bug bites you can also let us know at Bugs@Kynseed.com.

PLAYER HAIR CUSTOMISATION

At the start of the game, players will be able to choose from 8 different hair colours
This is only our very first pass at character customisation, but more is likely to come in the future
Whichever hair colour you choose will also be reflected in your twin

NPC CHAT SYSTEM FIRST PASS

After your initial introduction to an NPC, you'll then be able to select from a few conversation branches
NPC's now have friendship levels which will tell you their current demeanor towards you
Gifting is now linked to an NPC's state as well as their preferences
NPC's can ask for basic favours of getting or delivering items that help progress your friendship status
Most of the system's dialogue text is largely placeholder for this first pass, but we'll be properly fleshing the text out in future updates

GOODS STORE SELLING TABLES

Goods stores will now have a selling table with which you can sell items for a profit
Each store has a daily maximum of brass it can spend - this resets each day
Stores will also have special "wanted" items that, if fulfilled, will result in extra profit
"Wanted" items will often be different depending on which region the store is in
Seasons may also affect the prices of some goods

MYSTERIOUS FAE WANDERERS

New curious wanderers, in the form of fairies and gnomes, will start appearing in villages from time to time
They haven't discovered their full purpose yet, but interacting will usually make them talk a tiny bit

MORE YULE CHANGELOG

You now have the option for multiple saves!
Player saves will also display your character customization and will even show what season the save is from
We've introduced a first pass of a player-created tasks system
- After the prologue, you'll be granted the ability to begin creating your own tasks
- There are a few task types at this stage
- The system should be flexible and expandable to offer player driven tasks for helping you manage your goals
A basic ownership permissions system has been added
- Fruit trees and bushes outside houses are now marked as being owned by the house and will require permission for the player to take (if the residents haven't harvested it first!)
- The basic UI to track whether you have permission can be found by interacting with the monuments for the building and requires you to raise the family friendship rating to a certain level
The darklight is now a standalone item to make it easier to use - further uses of it will come in later updates
NPC's should no longer mistakenly wake up for a short time during their slumber
And, as always, a slew of behind the scenes fixes and optimizations

We'll likely push out a smaller update not long after this one which'll contain any important fixes we need to make and probably even some bits of polish that we'll want to fuss over. When that next incremental update goes live, we'll be sure to post about it in the usual spot.

After that, we'll turn our attention to putting together a full roadmap which will chart out all the major milestones of our adventure together. Once we've plotted out all those nooks and crannies, our next step will be to work towards the second major update to the game! And of course, we'll be sure to share that roadmap with you all just as soon as it's ready. Honestly, we love maps. We'd be lost without them. Though recently, Yorkshire Police have had all of their maps stolen. A spokesman said they're searching for Leeds.

Once again, a most happy winter solstice to you all! Today is the shortest day of the entire year, which means we can all look forward to our days only growing longer from here on out. Soon there'll be warm sunlight gracing the tops of our towers. Though for now, snow still covers the castle grounds here at PixelCount. We even bought a snow shovel, but it melted by the time we got it home.

I'm sure we'll be talking with you all again very soon, but in the meantime you're certainly welcome to come visit our cozy community whenever you like. We'll leave the porch light on for you.

Love,
PixelCount

Dec 5, 2018

Dev Update: Fairweather Forecast Calls for Updates

Kynseed - Matt Allen 🦇

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Hello friends!

Here at Castle PixelCount (the magically metaphorical place we call home), we've been spending the last many months and countless hours building a charming and somewhat bizarre world from scratch - one square blade of grass at a time. As many of you know, we opened our doors at the very start and invited all who were interested to join our adventure. Many of you came along for that journey and have been helping shape not just that world but also the community that's grown around it.

It's hard to imagine that mere weeks ago we opened our doors even wider than before and invited folks from all corners to visit. New faces are now joining us every day and it's been incredibly humbling to see how everyone's been getting on with this early and unfinished version of things. For us, the days leading up to its release were exhilarating and the days after even more so. Many of you were there on its release day, eagerly checking over and over to see if it'd gone live. We do know how refreshing it is to hit the F5 key.

Now, just a few weeks later, we're already making preparations for some larger updates (when not amassing a chicken army, of course). We've even got a brand new trailer to boot, which you can take a gander at below. We also welcome you to rest a spell from your weary internet travels as we update you on our progress, as is our tradition whenever someone visits us here at the castle. So sit your buttress down and we'll tell you all about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL1CWWqDKws

THE FIRST STEPS UPDATE - COMING DEC 21ST

Ever since we launched into the wild and untamed land of Early Access, we've been keeping ourselves busy soaking in feedback and pushing out updates. Most of these changes (which you can see in our games update thread) were focused on taking care of some of the most commonly reported issues. But these updates are just us warming up. (We really should get our heaters checked.)

Kynseed has only just taken its first baby step. There are many more to go until it can start ordering alcohol. So these first few weeks were all about releasing fixes to make sure we first had solid ground beneath our feet. But from this point onward, we'll be shifting our weight from applying fixes to creating content. That doesn't mean we won't continue fixing things as we go, of course. Instead, it means we'll be balancing between the two. We'll squash bugs, create new content, that'll create more bugs, we'll squash those, then make new content again, get more bugs, and so on. The circle of life.

Our first major chunk of an update, which we're referring to as The First Steps Update, won't have any big or flashy features just yet. This one is all about setting up some basic things which we'll need in place before tackling larger complex systems. Below is a brief look at some things we'll be including in this update, but we'll also likely sneak in a few more bits and bobs as we can.

Selling boxes will be added to Good Stores for selling your items. Each Goods Store will also have a specific item they may want, which you can sell for extra profit. A Good Store's wanted item will also change over time. So for example, three days later there may be a new item to seek out (or to have stockpiled).
First pass of an NPC chat system to give more purpose to the NPC's. This very first rough system will include: talking to NPC's to reveal information about the world, discovering their favourite items, getting hints of their disposition towards you, and they may even ask favours of you.
Mysterious Fae wanderers will soon be seen throughout the land. Most curious.
Balancing of systems to create more of a healthy challenge where needed.
Control fixes based on feedback for Mouse & Keyboard. (Improving controls will continue to be a constant priority for us, especially as more game systems are added.)

There'll also be some behind the scenes engine preparations being made which, although not that glamorous, will be crucial in paving the way for some of the meatier features down the road. Speaking of roads, one of the things we were keen to do here in these first few weeks was to get a sense of what specific areas of content players want to see us prioritize. In fact, the whole point of releasing Kynseed at such an incredibly early state is so that players could actually help steer the game's direction on a fundamental level. We have a plan of our own that we're following of course, but ultimately we'll be working with you all here in these first many weeks to help us map out the full itinerary of things.

Right now, Kynseed's core gameplay loop is missing some chunks. So many of these larger early updates will be all about filling those chunks in. And as you've no doubt deduced from this section's header, our aim is to get this update sent your way on December 21st! Just in time for a stocking stuffer. (Though, not really. Our keen developer insight tells us that digital items don't actually exist in any physically meaningful way and thus make for poor stocking stuffers.)

SURFING COMMUNITY CHANNELS

For those of you who've just joined this game dev adventure of ours, feel free to hop by any of our community channels to let us know how you're getting on with things. Or heck, you can come to just hang out if you want. We're laid back and like chatting about pretty much anything, ranging from the game industry all the way to our strong opinions on how hot dogs are not sandwiches. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise.

You can find little pockets of our community just about anywhere you look (including the links at the bottom of this update) and we're active and accessible in all of them.

Oh, and if you're thinking of streaming the game or want to make a let's play, don't hesitate to give us a shout! We like to hang out in stream chats as we find the time throughout our workdays. (Though sometimes we lurk, creeping on all you players from the shadows.) Aside from being fun to watch, we've also found them pretty invaluable for getting feedback. In fact, one of our favorite things to do is watch players intentionally deviate from the game's path, often with amusing results.

As always, thank you for paying us a visit here at Castle PixelCount. You're welcome to drop by any time if you're ever in need of updates or awful puns. (Or both.) So much has been happening lately that it'll be interesting to see how far things have progressed the next time we talk.

All in all, these past few weeks have been pretty exhilarating for us. We've put so much of ourselves into this project that releasing it publicly felt a bit like we were sharing some intimate personal aspect of our lives for all to see. So when we kicked things off a few weeks ago, we were preparing ourselves for all manner of reactions. We even got a backup bouncy castle, just to have something to fall back on. But the support that you've all shown has been incredibly encouraging and it means the world to us to see that so many people understand the spirit of what it is we're trying to do. Seeing all your excitement and kind words has added immeasurable fuel to our fires.

Now onward to the next leg of our journey together!

Love,
PixelCount

Nov 29, 2018

The PixelCount Post - Issue #41

Kynseed - Matt Allen 🦇

Welcome to Issue #41 of The PixelCount Post, a periodically released update from Kynseed's team. In today's issue: Matt welcomes new players, Neal prepares the build and himself, Charlie rides a metaphor, and Matthijs seeks out inspiration.
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Hello there internet traveller!

For any of you who've just joined us on our game development adventure, allow me to introduce you to The PixelCount Post - a regularly released periodical where we chronicle development. In it we also share musings about the game industry, any challenges we're experiencing, and sometimes what we had for lunch.

Of course many of you already know that, but there are no doubt some new faces here from our recent release on good ol' Early Access. In fact, as you may've noticed, we're already up to Issue #41! (For the full library of prior issues, hop on over to The PixelCount News Vault.) We release new issues of The Post as often as we can, though in recent weeks we've had our hands busy pushing out some game updates. Speaking of, be sure to check back in less than a day for news on when you can expect the next larger content update!

For now, allow me to give you a quick crash course on the faces you're likely see in each issue. Neal is our programmer single-handedly making the engine. Charlie is our trusty game and world designer. Matthijs makes music and sound effects. And I (Matt) handle production and community.

We hope you come to enjoy these updates as much as we enjoy writing them. Our intention with each issue is to demystify game development and to keep an ongoing public log of what we're up to. We're not mysterious devs silently working on things in secret. We're actual tangible people that you could poke in real life. (Though try not to if you can help it. I'm ticklish.)

Ultimately, we want to foster the kind of community where it's not weird at all to message one of us directly. We mean that. Send me a friend request on Steam and say hello anytime. Or drop by our Discord, where the entire team hangs out with everyone near-daily.

Evident by the 40 issues that've come before, we've already been on our dev journey for a while, but now that we're on Early Access there's still a long walk yet ahead. Since it seems our internet paths have crossed, we welcome you to come walk along with us. We can keep each other company.

P.S. For lunch, I had rice and veggies. (I'm sure that's exactly the sorta fascinating dev updates you're all here for.)

8th NOVEMBER - 13:04

The Early Access build is planned to be going live very shortly. Much like the end of April when we released our backer build, it's been a frantic few days! It's mostly been fun I've found though - some natural breaks to sleep and I've tried to keep going outside for walks along with shopping and a few other normal day activities! The build has really started to come together in the last few days. That focus of limited time plus trying to be as cautious as possible not to break anything definitely keeps the pressure on, but it's balanced out by the excitement of seeing what happens next and watching numbers tick up on Google Analytics and wishlists!

It's been a humbling journey to have all the support for the game and we hope that the game will live up to that. There's a lot to be done, but it continues to evolve and this is a key moment in that process. I don't really know what to expect in terms of what happens next but mostly I just know that I've got a big list of improvements, features, and updates which I'm eager to get on with! I feel incredibly lucky to be in this position of working on what I love and having the flexibility of being my own boss. I wish some day everyone can experience that (if they want to and if the world stops making everyone afraid to try).

24th NOVEMBER - 12:15

I wish I'd kept a better journal of the emotional roller coaster of the last few weeks. There were such highs and lows that nearly every day felt at odds with each other and even sometimes hour to hour. What I hope we've succeeded in doing is launching off this momentum and getting straight into focusing on the issues encountered, improvements, and the amount of content/features to come.

Everything prior to the launch was all focused on that one moment, trying to anticipate what might happen. Coming up with contingencies and being as ready as we can be for what was a big moment for the project. Funnily enough, quite a few of those expectations didn't turn out quite the way we thought. (Mostly they veered into that 'everything is ok' territory where it didn't turn as good or bad as predicted!)

A lot of the issues that happened with the launch build were due to us keeping to our date and just time being this constant that can't be changed amidst unpredictability. The responsibility for that is with me and I'm hoping that taking in the lessons learned from it we can do better with practice and with more of a focus on putting the important things first. The trickiness is often determining those important things in the moment - often what seems obvious in hindsight is chaotic at the time. It seems in part about taking a step back, but also looking from too far away nothing makes much sense either at times because of the complexity and the way everything overlaps.

So I think we've emerged from that chaos with more of a passion than ever to fulfill the game's potential. The exciting thing for me is being freed from that single moment determining the game's future and instead it's now a new path opening up where things should get incrementally better and better until one day we feel ready for full release. Though that day won't be for quite a while yet!

Up and down, up and down. That's the roller coaster.

We experienced ours as we queued up in the Early Access Theme Park, ready for our turn on the ride. We had built up a head of steam, and were agog at the amount of discord in our ranks as we impatiently waited and fought for the last bits of popcorn.

As you wait for your turn, there is a thrill. An anticipation. But also lots of fidgeting. As a team, we were throwing things into the game, fixing bugs, hyping ourselves one moment, and readying for disappointment the next. We knew our amazing community would be watching the launch of our little train, and we wanted to make a huge splash. We had chosen to join the ride now as there were some spare seats and we didn't want the Theme Park to close early.

Finally, the moment came and we sat down - excited, scared, baffled. The train started moving and we headed into the first tunnel...

At this point, I realised that the Theme Park angle was getting boring and so I'll simply cut to the chase. Early Access was just the start of a long and tough journey, but an exciting and intriguing one. We did well, but not spectacularly. Better than we dreaded though. Way better. There is a solid base and the reviews have been mostly great. We know what needs to be done and the reaction has helped encourage us to continue full pelt.

We have to thank everyone who backed us, and believed in us, and who will hopefully be there when the train pulls in to the shed. There we will be, covered in popcorn, fizzy drinks, and our own vomit. But smiling ear to ear.

Now we just need to get cleaned up and queue at the next ride: Full Release. It's got corkscrews.

27th OCTOBER - 15:31

So this week will have me switching gears a bit. The secret scene I was working on before needs to make room for something of higher priority, which means clearing the mind and getting into a whole different vibe. Meanwhile, I've had to re-do the sounds for selecting your character at the start. They were found to be a bit too 'sharp', so I picked a much more gentle sound. Like last time, I matched the pitch with the music that's playing at the time. Once you select your character, you'll be brought neatly into the key that the music for the intro is written in. I also take into account how, when you've played the game for a while, you'll quickly skip the first screen and main menu and get right into the game. There's three pieces of music involved with starting up the program and then beginning your new game. When you skip between them quickly, they'll blend together in a way that doesn't feel like you're skipping between songs at all.

Original Fable composer Russell Shaw has a title screen track which is the first music you'll hear when starting the game. It begins with high strings in C. There's also a menu music loop that I'll soon add after Russell's track which also starts with that same high string C. And the character selection sounds finish up the other notes in a C major chord. Then the intro music also starts with that high C. They fade into one another, so it all sounds like one continuous piece of music. And now that I've altered the character select sounds, it doesn't jump out quite so much.

In anticipation of needing to make new game music, I'm using some Master Class courses as a palate cleanser. Sometimes a quick bit of work on some completely unrelated style of music helps me go into things with a fresh mind. I've seen interviews with composers who say they do the opposite; that they can't afford to listen to any other music during a project because they'll lose the vibe of it or get contaminated with the other music they're listening to. I can certainly understand that, but I don't think it works that way for my brain. I actually feel a need to increase the diversity of the music I listen to in order to gain more 'tools' to work with.

I've also been studying Wagner's work on the Der Ring des Nibelungen, a great opera where his use of leitmotifs is world famous. It's so educational to study how the grand masters incorporate themes into larger bodies of work. The Ring opera is a 14 hour massive epic, and Wagner had to think very long-term about the development of his themes. Games also happen over very long stretches of time, so his techniques certainly come in handy here. There are themes in Kynseed that I hope see very long-term developments over the course of the game. If only I had a fast-forward button to see how it'll all pan out...

10th NOVEMBER - 11:50

We're now past our Early Access launch and it's been fantastic! Though some things I was hoping to do before launch didn't happen as expected. The scene I described working on wasn't finished - it's in the current build in a more rudimentary form than what was planned. Also, the changes to the main menu music didn't get implemented yet either. So I was spinning wheels a little before launch.

After the launch however, I've been diving into people's streams to see what might need improving. I've learned a lot from watching everyone play. Like how much time people are spending at the blacksmith and how the music isn't quite long enough to avoid becoming repetitive. Or how certain transitions in Candlewych between area music and shop music isn't quite right yet. So I added a few things to my to-do list. With all the positive comments that I've seen about the music and sound, I'll start working on these things fully recharged and with increased determination!

One thing that definitely jumped out at me from my stream watching is how the scene I have been cryptically describing so far has impacted some of you. Laquetuph's reaction in particular was incredibly memorable! Despite not everything being properly in place yet, and the theme I wanted to bring back also not being in yet, it seems to have hit him like a falling anvil hits a carton of eggs. I almost feel the need to apologise for it...

24th NOVEMBER - 11:29

By now the launch is some time behind us and although the buzz of it lingers there's loads more that needs to be done. At present, my focus is on figuring out what one of the Fae realms will sound like. This one is based on Celtic mythology, but it's not as straight forward as just doing Celtic music. I tried that and it was too 'human'. I need something more otherworldly, but I do want to put Celtic vibes in there as well. This time I actually looked at Lionhead's Black & White soundtrack for some inspiration (which is also by Russell Shaw). That game deals with the divine, but it blends it with various cultures from our history. The soundtrack reflects this by being otherworldly on the one hand, and distinctly Celtic, Greek, Japanese, and more on the other. I want to achieve a similar blend, though without being a direct copy.

Luckily there's about a billion ways to blend the otherworldly with known cultures. As of typing this, I'm on my third draft already. Previous ideas included a very poorly played orchestra, which I felt ended up a bit too gimmicky. Long ago, I had grand dreams of always getting tracks right on the first go. That has long since become unattainable. But with all the love and support the community and the team have shown, I feel I can still hold my head high. I've learned it's not about never getting it wrong. It's about how you react when you do get it wrong. I try not to 'defend' my drafts too fiercely, unless I have exceptionally strong feelings about it. It's not inexcusable to try and fail a few times. And I'm not in danger when it happens. Growing up, it has long felt that way.

Meanwhile, I have some things ready and waiting for implementation. Among them: a longer version of the blacksmith track and a Poppyhill version of the shop tunes. There's also a plethora of things left on my to-do list. And occasionally, a new assignment will come in as well. A couple of days ago I was working on the sounds of a dispensing machine that needed to sound a bit comical in nature. Some whirring of clockwork mechanics, some clanking, a pause, and finally a spring that comes undone and dispenses the contents of the machine. (I'll leave it to your imaginations what the machine might be.) It was perhaps the first time I started to feel confident with sound effects. Once I knew Charlie wanted something comical, I knew I could deliver. And it was fun to work on.

In my own time, I've been studying Wagner more. I've acquired sheet music for his grand opera, Der Ring des Nibelungen. This allows me to get an accurate view of how he creates the sounds of his opera: which instruments he combines and how he uses them within a larger orchestra. Such things can help me increase the richness of my palate as a composer. It's not something one does in an afternoon though. Just the first part of this 14 hour opera is 321 pages long. But, much like this game, the notion that I'll be better at my craft when I get through it fills me with determination!

Nov 8, 2018

Kynseed is out on Early Access!

Kynseed - Matt Allen 🦇

Saddle up your pigs everyone, because Kynseed is now out on Early Access! We invite you to come visit this whimsical world as we build it piece by piece, tree by tree.

As a small ragtag team of developers, seeing our game appear around Steam's website is pretty crazy for us. But it's also a bit frightening, because it's not finished yet! For a sandbox RPG like Kynseed, we knew we had to get player feedback as early into development as possible. So most of the game simply isn't made yet and the bits that are made are as rough as a badger's bum. Our aim is to let players have a meaningful impact on shaping Kynseed from the beginning, one small step at a time. Of course, some of you have already been with us since the very first prototype! So a hearty and heartfelt thanks to all you community members who've been at our side on this game making adventure.

For those of you just joining this adventure, allow us to give you a quick "Previously On Kynseed's Development" recap: We're a tiny team of ex-Lionhead developers who worked on the Fable series for over a decade. Kynseed is one of the baby phoenix chicks born from Lionhead's ashes and it all started with a humble Kickstarter, which has since accrued over 10,000 backers (and trees)! After the Kickstarter, we immediately began toiling towards Early Access and hanging out with the community every day since.

There's still a great deal of development left to go, but if checking out wildly incomplete games is the sorta thing that strikes your fancy, then we encourage you to spend some time in this quirky world we're building and watch it literally grow one tree at a time. So go forth! Go explore this new bug-ridden world of ours. Then return to us with tales of your adventures, be they good or bad. And if you need anything at all, don't hesitate to get in touch. Our castle doors are always open.

LET'S HANG OUT SOMETIME

As players ourselves, one thing we always found frustrating was when companies would be secretive and toss people some company line. Or worse, just sort of...disappear, months at a time. It's the sort of thing we have pretty strong feelings on (especially on Early Access), so we've always been dead set on hanging out with the community each day we work on the game. We're always around and we try to be as laid back and approachable a dev team as we can be.

The easiest (and arguably most awesome) place to find us is over on the Kynseed Discord where we spend pretty much every hour of every workday - or worknight. You can also find us on our forums or on Twitter in addition to numerous other corners of the internet. So feel free to say hello wherever you bump into us. Plus, the entire Kynseed community is a really chill and welcoming bunch. We're lucky to have 'em.

GIVE US ALL THE FEEDBACK

All of it, I tell you! We feed on feedback. There'd be no point in us being on Early Access if we didn't. So don't be shy in telling us what you think, whether compliment or complaint. Have a suggestion that you think is the best thing since sliced bread? Let's hear it. Is there a game mechanic that you think is the worst thing since unsliced bread? Send it our way. Have strong feelings about our implication that unsliced bread is inferior? Sure, we'll take that too I guess.

The absolute best place to send us any kind of feedback is on here on the forums, especially when telling us there's something you particularly dislike. We like being able to jump into threads to have conversations with players. That way we can ask questions, or share future design plans, or even just toss around ideas with everyone.

HOW TO TREAT BUG BITES

All across Kynseed there are freeloading bugs who've decided to take up residence. The nerve! So to help, we need good folks like yourself to submit bug reports. To do this, you can drop by our bug reports forum or even email us directly at Bugs@Kynseed.com. When you do, just be sure to include as much info as you can about your issue. Bonus points for screenshots.

Make no mistake, the bug population is doing well for itself in this earliest of early version of the game. We're not a big team with big resources. We're a small team with big ideas. We have only one programmer, one designer, one animator, and so on. So we'll depend on you lovely players to alert us of any problems you run across on your travels.

ALL BACKER KEYS HAVE BEEN SENT!

We've dispatched our entire fleet of carrier pigs to all backers, bringing magical keys made with love. You will be receiving two emails: one from Humble Bundle and then one from us. The Humble Bundle email is the one that contains a special link. This will be the one link you'll use to access all your backer rewards when they get released in the future. So be sure to hang on to that link by either bookmarking it, saving the email somewhere safe, or by hitting "claim this page" to add it to your Humble Bundle account. (Note that if you opted in during the backer build, then your Humble Bundle link will not include a key because your backer build key has already updated to the latest Early Access version of the game automatically.)

Need help or have a question about your backer tier? Drop us a line at Support@Kynseed.com and one of us will reply back personally.

FOR ALL YOU STREAMERS

Put enough streams together and eventually you'll get a river. We're here to help with that however we can, so if you stream Kynseed let us know on Twitter and we'll help spread the word. Or even drop a link to your stream in our Discord's #community-videos channel for all our Discord peeps to see. We also try to personally pop into as many streams as we can.

Need any Kynseed assets for your stream? Check out our Media Kit and grab whatever you like.

Kynseed is a game about choosing how to spend each lifetime that you're given. We've chosen to spend ours making games. We're real people with real dreams, and making Kynseed is the sort of game we've always dreamed about. But what amazed and humbled us was finding out there were so many of you who dreamed of a game like that too.

A dream like that is one worth doing right. That means not only doing the game right but also doing right by our community. Moreover, making a game the right way takes time...and Kynseed's development will require heaps of it. So saddle up for a long ride. To those of you who've been with us from the start, our journey together is only now truly beginning. And for those of you who just joined us, you've arrived at an excellent time.

For great things can grow from the smallest of acorns.

Love,
PixelCount

Oct 22, 2018

The PixelCount Post - Issue #40

Kynseed - Matt Allen 🦇

Welcome to Issue #40 of The PixelCount Post, a periodically released update from Kynseed's team. In today's issue: Matt talks of Early Access on Nov 8th, Matthijs works on leitmotifs, Neal sees the future, and Charlie introduces Kane Hines: Master of Dogs.
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I'll be keeping today's update straight to the point (a far cry from last week's) so that I can highlight the recent news that the team's all jazzed about:

On November 8th, Kynseed will release on Steam Early Access!

Also of note is that the Kynseed Late Backer program will be coming to a close on November 2nd at midnight PDT (GMT-7), so if you fancy grabbing any rewards or upgrading your existing tier then be sure to do so before that time.

The team's hands, and probably even feet, will be incredibly full these next few weeks preparing the game and community for an influx of new players - many of whom will be hearing of this quirky game for the very first time. It's a busy but exhilarating time over here and we look forward to seeing new and familiar faces on Thursday, November 8th!

So, I'm very much a fan of leitmotifs. That's a melody that represents a character or other thing within a narrative. Wagner is known for them, John Williams has made some of the most memorable ones on the planet, and Kynseed uses leitmotifs too. I've planted them into various parts of the soundtrack, but so far there haven't been many opportunities to really make them shine.

However, with the release on Early Access, certain elements will be added that allow me to really make use of some of the leitmotifs I've put into the game so far. Thing is, I can't describe exactly what these elements are - too spoilery. Suffice to say that there's a hidden theme in the game so far that I hope to give some new meaning to when this new thing in the game happens (ah the confusingly cryptic wordings that come from trying to avoid giving spoilers).

The tricky part is that I don't make my themes super obvious. I weave them into things. And every time I use them, because they're woven into other things, they change. And just to make it more confusing, not all ingredients are in place. Many parts of the game where themes should become more obvious aren't in yet. But I do have to plan for them. This means that the musical puzzle that is Kynseed's thematic material won't truly come together until the game is finished.

Meanwhile, game development is more than a little unpredictable, so I have to change things along the way even though certain elements are already implemented in the current build of the game. I keep the notion in the back of my mind that by the end of it, I may have to go back in and alter certain tracks just to make them thematically consistent.

Feedback has also started to come in on combat and its sound effects. Some work well, some not so much. Do I try to work on them some more now, or do I wait for a more complex sound engine that can create more variety in the effects? Tough question. I've been spending a lot of time playing the game's combat system though. Even at this early stage it's fun - deflecting bottles being thrown at you is pretty entertaining! I'm glad the sound effect for it appears to be satisfying, going by the feedback so far. I'm also expecting a new trailer to be requiring music soon, which will be a lot of fun I reckon. I'm very fond of composing directly to picture as it's much easier to control the experience when every second of it is predetermined. I also hope to include some of the aforementioned leitmotifs in it...

This week follows our announce of a date for Early Access on 8th November! It's been an interesting time getting to a point where we feel confident to commit to a date publicly. In some ways I feel until it's said out loud in that manner you can't be truly sure of whether it is the right choice or not. The struggle is that without it, it's hard to ever know when to stop or perhaps when to push to fulfill a date as it feels fake in a way when not public. I guess it's about accountability and the narrative that we tell ourselves too and how much belief there is in it.

Another angle is perhaps the distance away from it. Estimates are notoriously difficult to make for any point into the future - it's impossible to predict what changes of circumstance might occur and what might turn out more difficult or easier than expected to produce on time. All that to say, at this moment we believe this is the best date for Early Access based on everything we know right now and what we predict of the future. Time will always tell whether that's right or not but whatever the outcome we'll still be aiming ever upwards to make this game the best we can!

PART 1:
KANE HINES - MASTER OF DOGS

Hello. I am Kane Hines. I live in Summerdown. I am known as being the Master of Dogs.

I love dogs. I even write books on dogs. Some people say I am very dull, because all I talk about is dogs. I think this is not true. There is so much more to who I am.

But back to talking about dogs. Did you know that there are different breeds of dog? There are small dogs, called Pugs, who were named after an ancient evil God called Pugsley Addams. These dogs are not evil! They are small and have squashed faces that look like someone has grown them inside a milk bottle.

There are other dog types too. Big dogs. Hairy dogs. Spotted dogs. Cats. Although cats are not technically a type of dog, but they do live in a house and they do have four legs and do shit all over the place.

I suppose I should tell you some more about me, Kane Hines. I like eating pork chops and I wear spectacles. I enjoy long walks, always with a dog. I worship my Goddess and sacrificed my wife on Offering Day. I also enjoy sunshine, candies, and the sound of water. Nature is beautiful, just like dogs.

Please read all my books. They are very interesting, just like me. And dogs.

Oct 17, 2018

The PixelCount Post - Issue #39

Kynseed - Matt Allen 🦇

Welcome to Issue #39 of The PixelCount Post, a periodically released update from Kynseed's team. In today's issue: Neal battles with combat boxes, Charlie chats about camaraderie, Matthijs picks at his nits, and Matt spontaneously climbs a mountain.
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Combat got a whole bunch of attention these last few weeks. First off, I'd been working on this overly complex system for weapon arcs where they changed shape and size over time independent of the animations themselves. After getting nowhere fast with this and with an imminent team review, I decided to pare things down and go with collision boxes based on animation frames. It's a decision that instantly got good results, made some reuse of existing systems, and massively simplified the headaches I'd been having. In retrospect, I can't believe I hadn't gone with it sooner and it definitely goes to show the use of a deadline for rethinking solutions which may be 'realistic' but don't justify the time and effort!

The team review was also really handy for putting things in perspective and being able to compare notes and see the system in use. It's something which I think is a trap development often falls into on a team, where it feels like there's such an overload of work there's never time to react or review it in-progress. Since time was made for it though, I've now pushed along bits that would have taken me a while to spot or get to and it makes for a more collaborative team effort.

The best time for review (and feedback) seems nearly always to be as soon as possible because that gives the most chance to course correct and leads to the least work being redone. We also had a review this morning which had a much smaller quantity of feedback to give, hopefully showing that the majority of the initial flow of it is in shape. Still to come will be the fine tuning and variations on a theme when we can add more variety to the combat based on creature type. It's another feature that'll need to jostle position for attention from now on. Hopefully there's not too many more of those and that they get the benefits of experience as the code matures and hands more responsibility off to data.

Another week rolls by...another Post update I forgot to write. Time at the moment just blurs along and it sometimes feels like crawling through honey. It is a sweet experience, but very slow and messy.

As new indie devs, we find that we live by the three 'ations'...organisation, communication, and motivation. These sometimes fall apart as we have so many plates to spin and people tire or personal lives get on top of them. There may be money worries, or just a bit of illness pop up, or bad internet, or just not feeling creative. Problems come and go, but throughout it all we have learned some powerful lessons.

The first is that we have great team camaraderie and spirit - when one flags, the others prop them up. The second is that we have amazing support from our backers and community. Every nice comment, every piece of art, every bit of excitement and encouragement...each fires us forward.

It is surreal to experience it all firsthand. At Lionhead, the excitement was more diluted among the entire team and more towards the big names. At PixelCount, we are the ones responsible so we feel more of that community sunlight (when not experimenting in our castle cellars). Of course we also feel the negative side of things, but we try take it on the chin and if we can't convert them we at least respect their thoughts and move on.

As for what I did this past week, more books! Better written older books! Prettying and collisions!

Now what day/year is it?

Last week I had to find out what it sounds like when you deflect something made of glass with a sword. I also did some experimenting with combining actual recordings of sounds with the more abstract 8-bit depictions of those sounds we know from the 8-bit era of gaming. They sometimes combine surprisingly well! I think Kynseed is in a remarkable grey area between an 8-bit experience and a more audio/visually rich one and I'm trying to walk that fine line between them.

Meanwhile, now that I have rough versions of all the music tracks we'll be adding to the Early Access release (lest more are added), the prettying of these tracks has begun. This is a time of a million small adjustments. A wee bit more volume here, a smoother note transition there - really small things. But a lot of them. And you need to listen with a much more critical ear to find them.

When I first start to compose something, I don't want to be critical, because nothing would get done. But as I do more polishing on it, I have to become increasingly critical. And sometimes I feel I'm not pushing it far enough. Then feedback from someone like Matt becomes increasingly valuable. I can rely on him to hold nothing back, and that's priceless for any artistic endeavor. Of course that doesn't mean you should be scornful of things you dislike, but that's not what I mean. Just to not leave anything unmentioned (kindly), so that we can make the best game possible.

By the time this 'nitpicking' stage begins, the track has already been approved and I know I generally made the right track. So the basis isn't 'if you don't fix this little thing, the track is bad', but rather 'if you fix this little thing, it'll be even better than it was'. And that's a motivating experience. I do reckon I need to become better at doing my own nitpicking though.

For a game that heavily features travelling through the countryside, we indie devs seldom seem to leave our desks. So this last weekend, I set out to remedy that.

Don't get me wrong, I keep pretty active by default. I live in a very walkable city, so I end up doing almost everything by foot. Tack on a few gym visits a week and I like to think I'm not too sedentary for someone who occasionally spends 16 hour days behind a computer. But being active and being in nature aren't the same thing.

So let's rewind to last week. I was barely keeping my head above water with everything that needed doing and new tasks were piling up. There were announcements to prep, a new trailer, screenshots, production spreadsheets, numerous team calls, and so on. Something I often struggle with is an incurable obsession with chasing perfection in my work, but combine that with having very little time to complete said work and concessions will invariably have to be made. I die a little inside every time I have to cut a corner.

I'm being dramatic of course, but things like that are an ever-present reminder of how workload and deadlines create a constant internal war in game dev. But to mirror some of Neal's observations in his above update, sometimes the easiest way to solve this problem is to shift perspective and find a new approach.

That's why people tend to have their best ideas in the shower. It's because during such moments, the mind goes into what scientists refer to as an incubation period. Disengaging from distractions allows the mind to wander, and when that happens your subconscious problem solving abilities can surface and plant ideas into your conscious mind. But this last week, I was finding it hard for my mind to disengage at all - as if I'd gotten permanently stuck in fifth gear. This was all due to mounting workload and approaching deadlines (some of which are huge). To me, deadlines often feel a bit like the horror movie It Follows (which has a stellar soundtrack by Disasterpeace, by the way). It doesn't matter where you are or whether you're ready - deadlines will eventually catch up with you.

This last week I'd also been uncharacteristically silent on our Discord as a way to help ensure focus and reduce distractions. But ultimately, I decided that what I really needed was to get out of the city for the weekend. So I grabbed a backpack and did just that.

I drove north out of downtown Los Angeles to a trailhead at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains, which is nestled just west of the (much colder) San Gabriel Mountains. My objective was to hike 12.5 miles (20 km) while climbing 1,600 feet (500 m) to the highest mountain summit. If you've ever played GTA 5, the areas I hiked are what that game's mountain trails are based on. Except, you know...life size.

The neat thing about this hike was that on the right side of the mountain was beautiful natural forest and on the left side was sprawling cityscape - both as far as the eye could see. I've always found both types of landscapes beautiful, so I really enjoyed this dichotomy. Untamed wild nature on one side, the peak of human civilization on the other.

After a grueling hike, I reached the summit. It was an unusually clear day without a cloud in sight and visibility was a little over 10 miles. Exhausted, I sat down on a small rock and took it all in. Behind me was the Angeles National Forest stretching off into the skyline. In front of me was the entirety of Los Angeles county with downtown looking very distant and small. To the right of that I could just make out the Pacific Ocean shimmering in the sunlight.

It was just the sort of tranquil moment I needed and I couldn't help ascribing some pretty cliched parallels between climbing to a summit and making a video game. But as heavy-handed as the metaphor is, it's still a hard one to shake. Though for now, the game's final summit is still a long distance away. But...we are beginning to approach our final ascent to a major mid-journey base camp. Though more on that later...

I returned from this excursion exhausted but satisfied. I have blisters on my feet, sunburns despite my best attempts, and more sore muscles than I care to count. I'm now back behind my computer once again, here in the heart of downtown. My windows are open, there's a light fall breeze, and the distant baritone hum of the city is interrupted only by the staccato sound of me tapping away at my keyboard as I write this update.

Yet no sooner had I written the above paragraph was there a knock on my door. I opened it to find a stranger on the other side who said, "Matt?" I replied with a slow "...yes." They said, "Sorry for the wait." I told them it was no problem (which was true, as I didn't even know I'd been kept waiting.) Then they handed me a cup and walked off. It was a cup of nitro cold brew coffee, something that I've developed a bit of a reputation for liking over in our Discord. How curious.

I sipped on this drink, confident (perhaps naively so) that nothing nefarious had been done to it, and figured I'd look into who the mysterious coffee faery was just as soon as I finished proofreading my unnecessarily wordy Post update. But before managing to finish, there was another knock on the door with another stranger asking if I was Matt. I was still Matt and, as a result, I was handed something yet again. This time it was a small paper bag. I opened it to find a Philly cheesesteak from a nearby restaurant, still piping hot.

At this point my curiosity became too much to continue working, so I took a break from my proofreading and did a bit of sleuthing. What I discovered was that a few members of the Kynseed community had decided to send me treats by coordinating with a certain sneaky composer who knew my address. Perhaps due to me having been unusually absent this last week, they had taken me for dead and this was their method to see if a corpse had taken up residence in my home. Thankfully, it had not.

So as I sit here sipping on my coffee and munching on a sandwich, I can't help but echo some of the things Charlie mentioned up above. Indie development is stressful, expensive, high risk, and it does a real number to one's health and social life. But each time those things get difficult to manage, there's always a community of people excited to see where this journey of ours goes. I know we mention it in almost every update, but that sorta thing does so much to propel us forward each day - more than you know.

I sometimes worry that all we do in our Post updates is wax poetic about game development and that we never really give direct progress reports on things. (Bless Neal and Matthijs for actually doing so this issue.) But if we're to place games on the same podium as other art forms, then it stands to reason that the act of creating games cannot be divorced from the psychological element necessary for creating art. Those sorts of things are just as important to the development of a game as the code itself.

But as far as progress reports go, you lot can expect some very big announcements from us in the coming weeks. Maybe even a particularly big one in the next 48 hours...

Currently the team is reaching new levels of excited anticipation and, as I'm fond of saying, things are very much afoot. Thankfully, my weekend excursion (along with the community's support and generosity) has had a very motivating effect. So as bonkers as the next few weeks are going to be, I'm looking forward to seeing it all through.

P.S. Just as I finished with this update, there was a third knock on my door, this time with a couple of Red Bulls. I love you goobers.

Sep 28, 2018

The PixelCount Post - Issue #38

Kynseed - Matt Allen 🦇

Welcome to Issue #38 of The PixelCount Post, a periodically released update from Kynseed's team. In today's issue: Neal discusses how to keep momentum, Charlie shares level design tactics, Matthijs takes a stab at sword audio, and Matt gets contagious.
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These past two weeks have seen the subdued rollout of Backer Build 10. It took a bit longer than expected to reach that point. Being honest about it, on my side I feel like I have twiddled thumbs on it and given myself excuses around not getting it done quicker. I don't say this to unduly get glum about the situation but to keep it in my mind.

Often with these posts I'm talking about my motivation, focus, and current aims - the reason for that is to try and note down lessons to help me for the future. Sometimes this works for a while too, but other times it doesn't help that much because I get trapped in cycles where it feels difficult to get past a specific obstacle (mostly that excitement fades with routine and life and worries which can't be ignored).

This last few days I've found another source of inspiration and focus which feels like a return of old strong feelings. Mostly that is a mix of passion and excitement that I am purposefully stirring for the push towards Early Access. And more broadly I am trying to feel more disciplined in my approach, be more aware of my self-imposed limitations, and take steps to embed habits that allow me to avoid the downward cycles.

I've read a fair few books and watched videos on the subject of improvement. Often it's easy to dismiss them individually because their situation doesn't match mine and the range of starting points for trying to change are very broad, so suggestions could be too easy/hard or just incompatible. The thing that was the tipping point in this case I think was reading about the four areas of well-being that we can look to improve (sleeping, eating, movement, mindfulness) and looking at small steps I could take from that to start to regain a sense of awareness of my situation and why I am in it. Additionally, to look at what narratives I have told myself that maybe contributed to it and see how they could be looked at in other more positive/hopeful ways.

I've also taken to writing personal notes to myself when I do feel the onset of bad habits and I think this helps with the awareness and realisation of how to deal with them before they take over. It's not been easy so far but I think I'm okay with that - I like a challenge and in order to reach my goals I need to call on my determination.

Finally got some momentum, and a ton of new prettying assets in the build, so the past week or so has been full on prettying the Summerdown region.

This is the time when I summon up the spirit of Bob Ross and start obsessively placing tufts of grass and flowers everywhere. The new brush really helps cover the blanker spaces with bits of detail to break up the space, but I still prefer the single asset at a time detailing.

With Summerdown, we want it to look different enough from the Vale, so there are new tree types, grasses, and flowers. Plus, the main ground is less busy and has a bit more in common with its neighbouring hub, Rivermoor. It's been nice to start developing the little nooks and crannies too as well as getting the house furniture in as it really starts to make the levels look more complete.

When designing a level, a lot of it is just made on instinct and feel. I know how many exits are needed and where they go. The rest is just playing with shapes and routes. Then the prettying is a case of making it seem a plausible place, and varied, while maintaining good navigation - so hints of paths when wandering to the sides, lighting, plus environmental places of interest to reward and intrigue the explorer.

Soon it will be bugs, collisions, and markers, followed by filling the levels with collectibles. And then, you all get to play them...and that's the best part for me.

There are a few tracks from the Vale that, in a new form, will be returning when you reach Poppyhill. Like Candlewych, Poppyhill will feature its own shops. And when you enter these I'd like to show you familiar shop tunes, but brought to you with the flavour of the town the shop is in. So just from the sound of the music you'll know what type of shop you entered.

Yet it won't be the exact same track over and over for each town. Once I have initial versions of each new shop music for Poppyhill, I'll have all the music files ready to be imported into the internal build of the game. After that I can still alter them, as I'll just need to replace the current version of a track with a newer one of the same name. This means I can keep on perfecting them even after the content lock will be in place.

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to create the perfect sound effects for combat. It's quite tricky to get this just right. The sound of swinging your weapon and hitting your opponent can be done in a bajillion different ways but they have to match the 'tone' of the game perfectly but also feel satisfying. I've gone through quite a few versions by now. Many don't even make it past the experimentation stage. Too real, too fake, too comical, too scary, too shrill, too bass-y. I'll be quite relieved once I finally get it just right.

I suspect a few more sound effects will be added to my to-do list as we play through the new areas and find new things that need to have a sound. You don't always think of everything right away. This makes development very fluid and hard to predict. But I'm confident you're going to love the new additions we'll put in the Early Access build! Seeing all the art assets come in has been wonderfully motivating as well. Some amazing work is being done! I can't wait to see your reactions to it.

In recent weeks my work has begun to span some wide and diverse categories. One day I'll be storyboarding a trailer, the next I'll be making production schedules. Then after that I'll do a logo treatment in Photoshop, followed by scheduling screenshot tweets in TweetDeck. A day later I'll be knee-deep in site analytics, and then afterwards I'll write an article for The PixelCount Post - literally this one, which you're reading right this very moment. All whilst having the good folks in our community Discord to keep me company with their conversation, their good spirits, and their questionable taste in GIF's.

In addition to these tasks, I've also been recently absorbed in conversation with my teammates about staying motivated during these long stretches of development. It's sometimes surprising how anything can become routine if you do it long enough and we were noticing in ourselves that we had fallen into a sort of daily grind mentality where we were just going through the motions of getting our work done. We'd hole ourselves away in our respective work bubbles and just tend to our tasks.

It's somewhat natural to get into that sort of rhythm without meaning to, especially when it's one of those periods of development when the work is important but otherwise unexciting. Thankfully, after a few weeks of this, we started to notice it happening and we began talking with each other to snap ourselves out of it.

It just goes to show the importance of the team dynamic when working on projects like these. Excitement and passion are contagious and it's important we keep each other engaged and excited about our work - even when the work isn't particularly glamorous. At the end of the day, we're still working on a wild and crazy idea that we believe in and if we're passionate about it then that passion will get smuggled into the game and will surely be all the better for it.