Apr 15, 2024

FEROCIOUS - Tiny French Toast

Hey everyone, Leo here! Excited to be back with another look into FEROCIOUS! This time, let's talk firepower: the guns that'll be at your fingertips, and how we decide what makes the cut.

The gun designs in FEROCIOUS are mostly based on real world weapons, but modified, since we are in a near future setting. We also have a couple of more sci-fi weapons, but they are based on real-world concepts.

The models are highly detailed with high texture resolutions, often using multiple 4k textures per weapon. Additionally, animations are up to the modern standard - with detailed movement of each weapon parts and detailed animations for each action, like changing the fire modes.

There are a couple of factors to consider when choosing the type of guns for the game - mostly what role in the gameplay the gun is supposed to fill, how iconic the gun is, and whether or not it's different (both visually and functionality wise) from the guns we already have.

Melee Weapons, Grenades, Pistols, SMGs, PDWs, Assault Rifles, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, and Special Weapons (TBA) can all be acquired in the game. You can add attachments to the guns, paint them and even clean them. (There's also some rare weapon modifications the player can only unlock through exploration.)

Generally, ammo is a limited resource, but it depends on the situation - during combat with human enemies you will probably find enough ammunition. But in the dinosaur infested jungle, ammo is scarce.

Water, rain, dirt, mud and blood can accumulate on the guns, causing the weapons to degrade over time, but they can be fixed. As weapons degrade, they collect scratches and rust - and will eventually start to malfunction.

Sounds for all weapons have been recorded on site by a professional sound team shooting the real weapons! On top of that, I was personally there and I got a chance to fire almost all of the weapons we have in the game. (Including a 50 cal sniper, which happened to be the first gun I ever shot in my life!)

That's all for now. Keep an eye out for the next devlog!

Apr 15, 2024

STAPLE! Austin Retrospective

no signal - exodrifter

I've been working hard to show off the game at STAPLE! Austin, a two-day expo for independently created comics, zines, art, crafts, games, and more here in Austin, Texas. The event just happened last weekend. It was my first time at the event and it was the first time the event has been held since COVID-19.

A couple of other game devs were also tabling, though only two of us were selling video games that we made. Of the ones I know, there was:

Table 24: Akula Games (G.M. Gray)
Table 29: PIZZAPRANKS (Andrew Baille)
Table 43: exodrifter (Ava Pek, that's me!)
Table 43: Ennui GO! (Doc Glasgow)
Table 60: elefluff (Hanna Schroy)
Table 67: Tropical Heat Games (AJ Smith and Angela Sprecher)

Only PIZZAPRANKS and I were selling video games at the event. Tables costed $160, but even though I split half of the cost with Doc I wasn't expecting to make enough money to cover the cost of the table. Instead, I primarily wanted more people to know I exist, that I make games, and to wishlist my upcoming game no signal.

sales

This is what my (very scuff) table looked like:

Generally speaking, it seemed like people were surprised that video games were even at the event, and less prepared for the cassette packaging that Andrew and I were using to sell them. This isn't too surprising, since the vendors at the event are almost entirely comics, ttrpgs, and other print media. When it came to selling them, I noted a few things:

There were many people who bought the game without knowing much about it aside from my explanation that it is "a short 20-minute interactive fiction"
I frequently forgot to mention that the game is fully voice acted or that the game is about the negative experiences I had after coming out
One person commented that while walking by he assumed that the usb stick in the cassette would just be a mixtape.
The people who liked the joke of "Give the gift of ⭐ GENDER DYSPHORIA ⭐" usually did not buy the game.
Someone asked me if the game would help people with gender dysphoria get better, which was a bit tricky to... navigate. They did not buy the game.

All in all, though unfamiliar with it, people did generally seem to be very enthusiastic about the idea of buying a game in this kind of packaging. I made 16 sales total:

9 sales on the first day (4 card, 5 cash)
7 on the second day (3 card, 4 cash)

Not nearly enough to cover the cost of the table at $5 VAT per unit after production costs, shipping, and sales tax, but I'm hoping people will share the game with others and I'd like to return next year with higher margin products to sell.

plays

Unfortunately, the event is not really set up for showing off games and having people play them. First of all, the event doesn't have power, so I am very thankful to my friends that allowed me to borrow their backup battery generators. I borrowed multiple batteries from friends, worried that the power would run out during the event, but a single 240Wh unit worked well for the entire event.

Secondly, the format of the event isn't very conducive to having people play the game. As you might imagine, the table is essentially square in the middle of a bunch of a pop-up market. Generally, people seemed to feel awkward stopping in the middle of shopping to sit and play the game because, well, you'd be in the middle of foot traffic and you'd be sitting directly across from me (I've been told that my demeanor can be quite intimidating). When it came to playtests, I noted the following things:

The shortest playtime was less than 1 minute and the longest was about an hour.
The person who played it for an hour was the only person to complete the demo.
Most people played for about 20 minutes, long enough to complete the tutorial which turned on the lights in the first level.
Many people who played were not very familiar with video games
Many people expressed that they found the controls and storytelling progression of finding all the items to make the lights turn on in the room to be interesting and novel.
Some people either didn't notice the chair or wanted to avoid sitting in it, but everyone would use the chair after I suggested it to them.
Many people commented on being unable to focus on the game's narrative because the event was too noisy.
A softlock was discovered by the first person to play the game on the first day, and I was able to patch it after they left while on the show floor in about 10~20 minutes. No other bugs were discovered during the event.
I need to buy a mouse that can be used by both left-handed and right-handed people.
Quite a few people wanted to know what engine the game was made in despite not being game developers themselves.

In all, 10 people played the game on the first day and 9 people played on the second day. On the first day, I got 4 more wishlists on steam and on the second day I got 6 more. no signal now has a total of 86 wishlists as of this writing.

overall notes

Anyway, overall I think the event was a success for me. I made a lot of nice connections, a friend printed these wonderful bookmarks I made which I gave to each person that played the game, and I'm happy to know that there are more copies of Gender Dysphoria floating around out there. I'm hoping that my games will connect with more with people and that I can start building a reputation for making emotionally powerful games.

If you'd like to help me in my full-time indie dev journey, wishlisting the game does a lot because I'm terrible at marketing. It doesn't cost you anything! And in any case, thank you for taking the time to read ❤️

Apr 15, 2024

Weekly Update 186 - The Runner Wagon

Path to Prosperity - Essence Games

Hi everyone,

After last week’s quick introduction of fast travel, I decided to introduce another quick quality of life feature this week: the “runner” wagon.

The runner wagon is, at least for now, a slimmed down version of what will become the transport wagon in the future. It can be sent around the world similarly to the pioneer wagon, though much cheaper to build, and it obviously can’t create a village. The main reason for the runner wagon is to have more control over sending a variety of goods, and to collect a variety of loot.

Let’s take a defeated fortress, for example. The ruins offer lots of hard won loot to the player, but getting that loot to your villages was a frankly tedious process. The player’s inventory is small, so grabbing each piece of loot one at a time would take ages. An alternative, to simply add the loot to the closest village’s inventory would also be difficult - each chest would lead to a warehouse worker going back and forth, which could easily overwhelm the logistics of the nearby village.

The solution here is the runner wagon. It has lots of space, and can take more than one good at a time. Looting the individual chests and dumping it all into the wagon is pretty straightforward (and fun), and at the end, you can simply direct the wagon to go back to your chosen outpost.

Similarly, moving goods between outposts can be a strain on your logistics. Each warehouse worker will only move one type of goods, so moving 20 metal, 50 fruit, and 50 vegetables will take 3 trips by warehouse workers - or a single trip by a wagon. This gives you both an option to send many goods at once, and generally more control over the flow of goods in your settlements.

There are some obvious upgrades that the wagon could get - a function to automatically drop off the goods in the designated outpost and return to the player, for example - but for now, I think seeing how players will use the wagon is a good first step.

Until next week!

Apr 15, 2024

Rift Playtest #2

Rift of the NecroDancer Playtest - BYG Maddie

Hi folks! We've made a number of small changes to the build based on the feedback we received from the last playtest. As always, we would love your feedback on our changes. Don't forget you can hit CTRL+B to send feedback at any time during gameplay.

Any item noted by Cadence's Guitar 🎸 is something your feedback directly helped us improve or change, so keep it coming!

Changes

Improved Calibration Experience

Calibration test should make better corrections to calibration
Calibration process should yield more accurate results

New Score Results Screen 🎸

You can press X to view additional information in the Detailed Breakdown
Most of the screen is placeholder - we would really like your feedback on our planned additions, and would love to know if we've missed anything you want to see!

Improved Practice Mode 🎸

Set practice mode to start and end wherever you want
Choose to loop the segment or play just once
Hit ratings in practice mode will list if they're Early or Late inputs

Changed Monster Animation Curves and Improvements 🎸

Monsters move in a much snappier fashion to improve readability
Harpies have a brand new animation to improve readabiilty
Zombie animation curves were changed for the same reason

Changed Scoring Mechanics 🎸

We heard you loud and clear that combo-weighted scoring was not the preferred mechanic
We now provide a bonus based on combo multiplier (max modifier of x4)
Please let us know what you think!

Changed Vibe Power Mechanics 🎸

Vibe Power is now accumulated by completing Vibe Chains (there's a new tutorial!)

Added Quick Retry 🎸

You can press R at any time in a Rhythm Rift to quickly restart the level.

Removed Modifiers

Great feedback from last playtest - we're still working on incorporating that feedback! Watch this space ;)

Fixes 🎸

Leaderboards now display correctly in relation to your current position
Missing tutorial regarding monsters wrapping around the board has been added