MY NEW GAME: “A Song Of Sunlight”
TLDR: I’m making a new game, it's called “A Song Of Sunlight.” The steam page is live right now, go check it out for all the details, and please wishlist it! (It helps the algorithm a lot!) Surprise, I’m making a new game. It’s been over a year in the making so far, and I would h
TLDR: I’m making a new game, it's called “A Song Of Sunlight.” The steam page is live right now, go check it out for all the details, and please wishlist it! (It helps the algorithm a lot!)
Surprise, I’m making a new game.
It’s been over a year in the making so far, and I would have liked to talk about it sooner but getting things this presentable took way longer than I ever could have guessed. In any case, I’m here now and I’m ready to start talking about it and promoting it- so here we go.
(I’ll also address ArmaCulture at the end, so keep reading...)
A SONG OF SUNLIGHT
A few things right off the bat- the new game is called “A Song Of Sunlight,” and it's a standalone game that doesn’t have anything to do with ArmaCulture. I know some might be a bit disappointed by this, but I have a feeling that if you enjoyed ArmaCulture, you will enjoy the new game as well. It’s set in an entirely different world than ArmaCulture, being a (hopefully) unique blend of sci-fi and fantasy. Another thing about it is that it's not going to be a strategy game, or anything strategy adjacent. It’s going to be a more traditional action RPG with a lot of the nontraditional Visual Novel type stuff like there was in AC (my signature formula for better or for worse lol)
One of my biggest regrets about the development of ArmaCulture is my lack of planning. I got so caught up in whether or not I could finish a game at all that I lacked the foresight to see that I had designed it with many problems it was far too late to fix. With those things in mind, I’d like to make a short list of things that I am deliberately going to try and improve over ArmaCulture with my new game, and a few things that will stay the same.
1.) Ease Of Play
This is probably the biggest complaint I’ve had about AC- it’s way too confusing, and way too hard. If you didn’t enjoy AC because of bad controls and confusing instructions, I totally get it. The game is poorly designed, and it shows.
A Song Of Sunlight (ASOS) is being designed with simple controls and clear gameplay in mind from the start. I want the game to feel natural and intuitive.
2.) Accessibility
With AC having such an emphasis on story, I always felt bad that the game was unable to support foreign language translations.
ASOS features the ability to change the in-game language as well as support for language translations of any kind in the future. Multiple control types are also supported, not just the keyboard. The game is actually designed around using a Controller (XBOX or PS), which is what I recommend, but other options will be available!
3.) Narrative
If you enjoyed the way that the story was told in AC, expect that but a bit... more?
ASOS will be very heavily story based. It will feature a mix of Visual Novel scenes and dialogue more reminiscent of the Nighttime interactions in AC (minus the choices). I’ve mixed these in with the normal gameplay in what I feel is a pretty dynamic and fresh way, so I hope that aspect of it remains cool for everyone.
I’ve heard and understand everyone’s feedback, so trust me when I say that I want this new game to be better in every single way than ArmaCulture. I’m really excited and passionate about this new game, especially the story. It means a lot to me personally, and I hope that other people will be able to get something out of it as well.
So, you might be asking, what is the game about? For an answer to that question as well as a lot more, head over to the Steam Page and see for yourself! If you have any questions about the game, use the forums on the new game’s discussion group. I’ll check it every once in a while.
I’ll say it a couple of times, but please wishlist the game if it looks interesting to you, It will really help the eventual release!
RELEASE PLANS
I’m going to be trying out something a bit different for the eventual release of this game. I’m currently working on a Demo of the first half (or so) of the game. When that demo is ready, it will be released for free on the new Steam page. Expect that sometime next year. Given how long it's taken so far, I would (conservatively) estimate that ‘part 1’ will be done around the fall/winter of 2024.
At that point, like with AC, I’ll collect feedback and make changes to the gameplay, fix bugs, polish etc.. before I work on the second half. When that’s done, the whole game will officially come out on the Steam page, as well as the soundtrack. Expect that finished game sometime in 2025.
To summarize, the game will “come out” in two parts, instead of three this time. So overall, less waiting between installments (more of a season 1 and season 2 of a story type of deal this time rather than a “the whole game was retconned and nothing from the last update is cannon anymore” lol) Hopefully, that sounds like a good deal.
ARMACULTURE PLANS
With this new game to occupy my time, I’m officially moving on from ArmaCulture for now. However, I’m not moving on from the ArmaCulture world. While ASOS is my current project, down the road I have big plans for another game set in the ArmaCulture world. The tentative title for this (prequel) game is “ArmaCulture: Zero,” and would focus on another, much larger war prior to the events of the first game that set the stage for the conflict in its story.
Another idea I’m toying around with is something like a ‘remaster’ of ArmaCulture that would overhaul the gameplay and art, as well as expand the narrative, to make it the robust experience I wasn’t able to when I developed it originally. (As in, the factory building stuff would be completely axed, lol. It’s pretty clear that there are way too many issues and I was never in love with it in the first place.)
WRAPUP
I know that was a ton of info, so thanks for sticking around. Please check the new game out, I feel that it's already a big step up from anything in ArmaCulture and better represents what I’m capable of as a designer (and please wishlist it if you are interested!)
As always, thanks for playing!