If you haven't seen our latest Patreon update for Sierra Ops, please check it out first: Our friends at Traitorean Games has released their new game demo on Steam! Traitorean Games is a game dev team run by Kemeo, our former lead programmer for Sierra Ops. The gameplay is similar
Our friends at Traitorean Games has released their new game demo on Steam! Traitorean Games is a game dev team run by Kemeo, our former lead programmer for Sierra Ops. The gameplay is similar to Lapis mode but on full steroids without Sierra Ops' universe restrictions. Please do support the game by wishlisting the game or trying out the demo or joining their Discord for feedback!🤍
When the game releases, a portion of the sales will help fund Sierra Ops development. We're crossing our fingers that everything will go well.🙏
Heyo, it's Youko and it's time for the first public monthly update! ːashtonglareː In case you missed it, we've updated our news schedule (under III. Patreon - Ship Captain Recruitment). I will be updating the general progress for this month in short form. We're still working out
Heyo, it's Youko and it's time for the first public monthly update! ːashtonglareː
I will be updating the general progress for this month in short form. We're still working out the exact format of these posts so please be patient with us if it's a little wonky to begin with. ːtiredadmiralː
🌙Monthly Summary🌙
We've brainstormed 15 new CAST types to add into the game over the next few months. Their details have been listed in the public Trello, so please check them out if you're curious! We would love to hear some feedback. At least one new CAST will be featured in the first public beta (but we are aiming for 3).
We've been working on a leaderboard for arcade mode and more stages. These will likely be released along with the first Beta, but no promises!
Due to some great feedback we've been given, we're updating the exoframe UI to make it possible to see the general hp of opponents along with their character bust. Since the intention isn't to make you fight massive multi-part enemies with Lapis alone, we think this is a good compromise without cluttering the screen or covering up GTDCarthage's modeling work.
Writing is coming along somewhat slowly, but it's progressing. The slow work speed is mostly due to the sheer complexity that's been building up since the beginning of the game (to give you an idea, one optional mission had literally 50+ potential variable changes alone based on the outcome and prior actions). The majority of these will massively impact events in the future and your direct relationship with certain crew members. Not all missions will be like this, of course, but it's worth it to consider what ramifications your actions will have on a grander scale.
We've started making progress on mid-to-end game battle mechanics and boss mechanics! No spoilers. ːclaineohohoː
Heyo, Youko here! 🎊Happy 2022! I hope it’s going well for you so far (even though it’s a bit chaotic right now). 🎉 ✨We’re starting off the year right with our new roadmap in the form of a Trello board: and celebrating our 2nd anniversary!✨ Sierra Ops will be on sale for 33% off
Heyo, Youko here!
🎊Happy 2022! I hope it’s going well for you so far (even though it’s a bit chaotic right now). 🎉
✨We’re starting off the year right with our new roadmap in the form of a Trello board: https://trello.com/b/xUlhjh9o/sierra-ops-roadmap and celebrating our 2nd anniversary!✨ Sierra Ops will be on sale for 33% off for three days starting from Jan 16, 10:00 AM PST, so grab the game while it's hot! ːashtonglareː
You can now track our progress in real-time as we work our way to the beta release which is currently scheduled for February/March. If you're not sure about the state of affairs, please check our last news update here regarding the future of the game and how we’ll be progressing from now on https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/364210/view/3129437417965113646.
We can’t express how thankful we are for those of you who’ve decided to pledge to our Patreon to help us complete Sierra Ops. 💕💕💕
Funding has been a running issue for a long time. Members of the core team have been forced to divert our attention to freelance jobs in an attempt to make the ends meet when sales don’t cover our base costs, dramatically decreasing the amount of time that could be spent actually working on the game. With your support we’ll be able to put a lot more focus on getting things completed in a timely manner.
Budget concerns aside, we're really looking forward to what sort of ship captains will be joining us in-game! Sierra Ops' side characters have always been an oddly collaborative effort between us and our original indiegogo backers. We're glad that we get to carry that spirit all the way to the end! 💖
Hello everyone, Happy New Year! We've made a lot of major decisions over the past few weeks based on the current state of the game, and all the nitty-gritty details are available here: But if you just want the summary, here are the key points that you need to know: Initially, our
Hello everyone,
Happy New Year! We've made a lot of major decisions over the past few weeks based on the current state of the game, and all the nitty-gritty details are available here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/patreon-game-and-60146928
But if you just want the summary, here are the key points that you need to know:
Initially, our plan was to launch three games based on our current roadmap:
Original Plan
Game 1: "Sierra Ops"
- Episode 1 and 2 (prologue, chapters 1,2,3.)
Game 2: "Sierra Ops 2"
- Episode 3 and 4 (chapters 4,5,6,7,8,9,10, +many endings.)
Game 3: "Sierra Ops 3"
- New game+ Episode 1,2,3,4 (chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and finale.)
However, after much talk and discussion with both our publisher and team members,
we've decided to condense the first two games into one.
This means the second game / Episodes 3 and 4 will be restructured to offer a meatier experience that links better into the next entry.
The third game will continue as originally planned but will become the second game instead:
New Plan
Game 1: "Sierra Ops"
- Episode 1,2,3,4 - (prologue, chapters 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, + many endings.)
Game 2: "Sierra Ops 2"
- New game+ Episode 1,2,3,4 (*chapters 1,1.5,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 and ??? finale.)
(*note: the finalized chapter structure may not be exactly like this)
Here's a summary of what'll happen based on the changes above:
I. Restructuring Into Full Game
Chapters 4 to 10 or Episodes 3 and 4 will be restructured and added to the end of the current game (we'll refer to them as "remaining episodes" for brevity). This means that Sierra Ops will have an expansion update that covers everything up to the actual ending for this installment.
Access to the remaining episodes will be limited to Season Pass owners and Steam users who bought Sierra Ops.
The DLC pages of both Episodes 3 and 4 will be delisted on Steam.
If you're unable to access the expansion once it's released, please contact us and we can work something out.
The base price of the game will increase to $24.99 USD once the expansion has been released.
II. Free Package Owners
Free package owners are Steam users who added Sierra Ops to their library for free before it transitioned into a paid app. If you're one of the Free Package Owners who played the game, just know that we're very thankful for your interest and hope you'll stick with us.
All free package owners will get to keep the current version on Steam that has both Episodes 1 and 2, which has about 6-20 hours worth of content! We'll also keep providing stability updates for free.
If you're a free package owner who's interested in playing the remaining episodes, we'll release a new DLC to grant you access to the remaining episodes. (Season Pass owners and paid package owners don't have to buy said DLC.)
It's also possible to get a key to the game through lifetime Patreon pledges along with early access beta if you would prefer that instead.
III. Patreon - Ship Captain Recruitment!
We launched the Patreon to help fund the game, share behind-the-scenes content, early access beta builds, and other rewards. Here's a detailed breakdown of the tiers and explanations on how the early access beta(s) will work: https://www.patreon.com/posts/beta-access-and-60148479?
In exchange for your help, we offer you the perks mentioned in the above link, the most notable one being having your very own character with custom alias and/or portrait in place of the usual faceless NPC battleships.
Weekly updates centered on the expansion will be moved to Patreon.
We will still maintain a monthly update summary on Steam and Discord for non-Patreons.
To Season Pass Owners:
You will be automatically given access to the first early access beta without needing to become a Patreon.
In the next few weeks, the roadmap will be updated to reflect our new schedule.
If you have any questions, we highly recommend checking out the main post on Patreon first. Feel free to reply to this post, or send us an email at [email protected].
Thank you for supporting us through everything! ːaiheartː
1. Options menu - You can now change the key binding for next dialog. In case you want to swap spacebar with enter key for proceeding text and hiding textbox respectively: 2. Options menu - Fixed an issue where window/full screen mode doesn't reflect the toggle buttons properly w
1. Options menu - You can now change the key binding for next dialog. In case you want to swap spacebar with enter key for proceeding text and hiding textbox respectively:
2. Options menu - Fixed an issue where window/full screen mode doesn't reflect the toggle buttons properly when using alt+enter.
3. Intro - Camera movement tutorial will only be cleared if the player moves the camera to the right. We just added a 30 second time limit before automatically proceeding to the next phase of the tutorial.
4. Intro - Camera zoom tutorial will only be cleared if the player zoom out the camera. And just like the camera movement tutorial, we added a 30 second time limit.
5. Battle/Arcade - Updated assigned voices for Harbinger cannon.
6. Battle/Arcade - Changed the color for cleared objectives in the objective window, and added a slight animation so it's much noticeable for players.
7. Battle/Arcade - Added EMP Warheads for launchers, and adjusted Valorous Launcher so it's slower than Raptor Launcher.
12/22 small patch notes: - Fixed unintentionally overly thicc hardpoints. - Fixed issues related to saving data. - Changed combat reminders execution for first-time players. (We just added "click to reveal" and disabled exiting. Existing players who wish to preview just need to d
12/22 small patch notes: - Fixed unintentionally overly thicc hardpoints. - Fixed issues related to saving data. - Changed combat reminders execution for first-time players. (We just added "click to reveal" and disabled exiting. Existing players who wish to preview just need to delete or rename system.pdata2 inside %USERPROFILE%\AppData\LocalLow\Innomen Productions\Sierra Ops , then run Venus tutorial.) - (10:29 PM PST) Added and Updated EULA text to store page and matched it in-game.
- Logs can now be accessed freely even when there are obscured messages around. (prologue) - Improved the user interface for opportunities. - Removed the desaturation effect in Title Screen when starting the game since it no longer directly links to the nightmare. Also improves s
- Logs can now be accessed freely even when there are obscured messages around. (prologue) - Improved the user interface for opportunities.
- Removed the desaturation effect in Title Screen when starting the game since it no longer directly links to the nightmare. Also improves startup time. - Fixed some capitalization in UIs.
Hi everyone! It's time for another fixes and tweaks patch (build 7874779)! We've added a bunch of QoL changes and fixes that'll make your time in the Sierra-verse smoother! ːclaineohohoː Let's start with the Major fixes: Issue with pronouns and AU!Junius, UK spelling, and some mi
Hi everyone!
It's time for another fixes and tweaks patch (build 7874779)! We've added a bunch of QoL changes and fixes that'll make your time in the Sierra-verse smoother! ːclaineohohoː
Let's start with the
Major fixes:
Issue with pronouns and AU!Junius, UK spelling, and some minor typos plus punctuation. The majority of the week has been dedicated to trying to automate this process along with some punctuation issues and remaining UK spelling. All visual novel scenes, battle scenes, and overworld scenes should be problem free. We are still manually checking them during the directing process, but this is a great backup system to see if we missed anything. There are two victory lines that need to be re-recorded, but we'll slot them in as soon as we receive the lines. If you see typoes we missed after the next patch, please let us know and we'll fix it ASAP! This also applies to all other issues with Junius selection like og!Junius appearing randomly during breaks. ːjeanthinkː
Issue with retained settings and resolution changing. There was a bug that caused things like menu text and side quest text to overflow/display incorrectly when the resolution or fullscreen/windowed mode is changed. This should now be resolved. The game show also actively maintain your settings for both resolution and volume upon reboot without needing the menu to be accessed.
Background alignment bug on reload. Sometimes the background during visual novel sections would be misaligned when reloading a save twice. This should now be resolved.
Minor fixes:
There was a small issue with routing during the Strange Ships route that's now been fixed.
Fixed a minor bug that made it so you couldn't switch back to Sierra while in exoframe mode.
Improved stability.
There was still an instance of Sierra's barrage ability being accessible before the main battle of Chapter 3. That's been resolved now, but still keep an eye out just in case!
Fixed an issue where small projectiles (like Lapis' guns and CIWS) disappear halfway to their target.
Next we have some quality of life changes!:
Combat Reminder - In an effort to give players a bit more support, combat wise, we're including a mini reminder guide to the menu under a new "help" button. In the case you're confused or have forgotten what something did, pause at any point to take a look! They will pop up automatically in some earlier missions so consider them a mini reminder tutorial.
Upgraded Textlog - The textlog has been upgraded! It will now record battle dialogue and retain lines until the max number of lines is reached or the game is rebooted. In addition, we also made it possible to access the log during battle cutscenes via the mouse scroll wheel or accessing the menu via ESC, pausing the action until the player exits the menu. This only applies when dialogue boxes are present so it shouldn't interfere during actual combat. ːallenshockː
Opportunities - Opportunities are now specified to give hints on how to obtain them or tell players if it's inaccessible.
Plus one minor QoL change:
- Expanded on the Venus tutorial that explains turning off vector shields and allotting more EN has them regenerating faster.
We're still working on some big behind the scenes stuff so stay tuned! Thanks for supporting the game! ːaiheartː
Heyo, it's Youko and time for the weekly update! We have something big brewing in the horizon, but it'll be a while before we can talk about that so let's just focus on the upcoming fixes this week (probably the middle of the week). 1. In an effort to give players a bit more supp
Heyo, it's Youko and time for the weekly update!
We have something big brewing in the horizon, but it'll be a while before we can talk about that so let's just focus on the upcoming fixes this week (probably the middle of the week).
1. In an effort to give players a bit more support, combat wise, we're including a mini reminder guide to the menu under a new "help" button. In the case you're confused or have forgotten what something did, pause at any point during battle to take a look!
2. We totally know about the issue with pronouns and AU!Junius. We're working on a more reliable solution to our current system. It should all be fixed by the next update (hopefully for good along with some persistent UK spelling). If you see one we missed after the next patch, please let us know and we'll fix it ASAP! This also applies to all other issues with Junius selection like og!Junius appearing randomly during breaks. ːjeanthinkː
3. We fixed a minor bug that made it so you couldn't switch back to Sierra while in exoframe mode.
4. We fixed an issue where small projectiles (like Lapis' guns and CIWS) disappear halfway to their target.
5. There was a small issue with routing during the Strange Ships route that's now been fixed.
6. There was still an instance of Sierra's barrage ability being accessible before the main battle of Chapter 3. That's been resolved now, but still keep an eye out just in case!
Episode 2 aka Chapters 1-3 weren't accessible to some players. This patch makes sure everyone's able to access it. Please relog on Steam to obtain the patch. The new build ID is 7786629 We also fixed a visual bug with one of the Squadron ships.
Episode 2 aka Chapters 1-3 weren't accessible to some players. This patch makes sure everyone's able to access it. Please relog on Steam to obtain the patch.
The new build ID is 7786629
We also fixed a visual bug with one of the Squadron ships.
Here's a list of changes for build 7778509 : Fixed an issue where character voices other than Rutherford play during prologue. Fixed a couple of text issues, ie. incorrect or missed "sir" to "ma'am" swapping instances. Fixed a critical error related to weapon groups. Fixed a crit
Here's a list of changes for build 7778509:
Fixed an issue where character voices other than Rutherford play during prologue.
Fixed a couple of text issues, ie. incorrect or missed "sir" to "ma'am" swapping instances.
Fixed a critical error related to weapon groups.
Fixed a critical error related to MIRV weaponry.
Changed some parts of the asset system so future updates are no longer heavy.
We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience. Please update your build again to access chapters 1 to 3. To know if your game version is updated, open the updates tab and check the build ID. The current latest build is 7776061 7778509 .
We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience. Please update your build again to access chapters 1 to 3. To know if your game version is updated, open the updates tab and check the build ID. The current latest build is 77760617778509.
Heyo, Youko here! It's been a while since I've written the update, but I'm here to finally give you the full load down on our upcoming major update! We're still ironing out some bugs at the moment, but it'll be up soon! ːallenshockː Here's our new adjusted trailer and opening ːai
Heyo, Youko here! It's been a while since I've written the update, but I'm here to finally give you the full load down on our upcoming major update! We're still ironing out some bugs at the moment, but it'll be up soon! ːallenshockː
Here's our new adjusted trailer and opening ːaiheartː
Let's break down each of the above in more detail! ːashtonglareː
1. Female Junius
For those of you who don't know, one of the ongoing memes in the Sierra Ops dev team is that I, personally really want a female protagonist option and that Junius was always written to be more or less gender neutral so it'd be a relatively easy switch. Lo and behold, the pipedream is actually becoming a reality! ːallenshockː
Now, what does that actually mean in terms of contents?
As much as I'd like to give a Person 3 Portable experience, that's just not feasible for the size of our team and the scale of the game plus the resources we have on hand. As a result, the difference between the two protagonists will be relatively minor, but there will be a few instances of gender specific dialogue and scenes, but for all intent and purposes, feel free to pick whichever you like based on personal preferences. This also applies to character routes/ romances (if you care about that sort of thing).
Since I know people are going to mod in gated off pairings anyway, we flat out decided to allow free access to all character routes for both protagonists to give everyone the best experience possible. Go and pursue your yuri and yaoi dreams (though it's technically shoujo and shonen ai)! I won't stop you! ːclaineohohoː
That said, if you're concerned about accidently romancing someone (I've had those nightmares in Mass Effect), don't worry. You have to explicitly pursue a romance to actually trigger it and the best friend route is always available if platonic relationships are more your jam. Keep in mind, the romance aspect of the game was always on the lighter end and we are very PG-13, so temper your expectations. :sweatyJess:
2. Story mode
Due to the nature of Sierra Ops being a hybrid visual novel/RTS/Shoot 'em up????? ːjeanthinkː, we've had a lot of complaints on both ends in regards to gameplay difficulty/ease/obtuseness and story length/ too much dialogue/ not enough gameplay. Story mode is our solution for those who just want to focus on story.
Story mode is designed for those players who want to just experience the story and completely trivialize the gameplay. That said, because Sierra is a game that's impacted by gameplay performance, playing story mode will limit certain outcomes (most of them bad). We think this is a fair trade-off since the majority of players prefer to see good outcomes only, but at the end of the day, we're still gating off certain aspects of the story. It's definitely not an incomplete experience, but it's something to keep in mind. There's nothing wrong with practicing in story mode and then eventually moving to normal mode once you're more familiar with the gameplay.
That said, this doesn't mean that all bad outcomes are barred from story mode. Story bad ends are still completely accessible! We hope that's enough to sate your story curiosity.
3. Arcade Mode
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have Arcade mode! Arcade mode is for everyone who would prefer to completely skip the visual novel and dish it out on the battlefield instead!
This mode features completely new stages, scenarios, and upgrades not available anywhere else in the game. It's completely uncoupled from the narrative of the game, so experiment to your heart's content with different load-outs, weapon configurations, etc.
Even if you enjoy the narrative aspect of the game, this'll hopefully sate your appetite for new combat scenarios while we work on the next instalment of the story!
We'll be updating this mode soon with new CAST and Lapis content at a later date so look forward to it!
4. Voice Acting
As mentioned in earlier updates, we've been working to include some limited voice acting to the game. Due to the way scenes are structured and cost, we've largely limited voice acting to combat, victory, development port, side mission selection, and some other minor bits and bobs. Hopefully, this adds the little personal touches we're looking for so crew members actually feel like crew members!
You'll notice a new little pop-up in the bottom right corner of the screen that indicates who is talking and what they're saying if you ever get mixed up. A big thanks to all our voice actors who've devoted time to being in our game!
We've tried to balance how much they play, so any feedback would be highly welcome. ːjeanthinkː
5. Pretty much everything else
Along side the explanation heavy stuff above, here are a few more additions that'll be coming into your hands along with everything else!
A. Controller support It's exactly what's on the tin! As mentioned before, we've been looking into making Sierra controller compatible so you can play on the go with systems like steam deck and potentially in future console release (this is really far away). We're very interested in feedback, so please feel free to share it in our discord or the steam forums. Thank you ahead of time!
B. Tutorials + We've expended on the tutorials somewhat so certain mechanics and systems are better explained and have accompanying visuals. We hope this helps clear up whatever confusion there is, but let us know if it needs to be adjusted again!
C. Improved Visuals Our amazing environment artist, Tobby, has given the battle graphics a total overhaul! Everything from weapons particle effects to backgrounds and ship damage states has been adjusted to be cleaner and more cohesive! Overall, everything has a cleaner and brighter look, and we're super thankful for his hard work!
He's also the one responsible for the new banners on Steam! Make sure to give him a round of applause if you like the changes! ːclaineohohoː https://store.steampowered.com/app/364210/Sierra_Ops/
That's it from me! Thank you for supporting the game! ːaiheartː
Sorry for the silence, we've been working hard on the upcoming major patch! ːtiredadmiralː We'll be releasing the major patch around the 20th-23rd of November. ːfreijasipː Female Junius implementation is complete. New tutorials are added in. Controller support is complete, hopefu
Sorry for the silence, we've been working hard on the upcoming major patch! ːtiredadmiralː We'll be releasing the major patch around the 20th-23rd of November. ːfreijasipː
Female Junius implementation is complete.
New tutorials are added in.
Controller support is complete, hopefully this carries over to Steam Deck.
Gameplay voices - we're just waiting for 1 more VA to send their lines.
Improved battle visuals and performance - almost there, we just have to review each stage.
Arcade mode (alpha) - Kemeo's doing his best to implement it soon.
Story mode difficulty still needs to be tested thoroughly.
We're currently updating trailers, banners and other store page elements on Steam.
To everyone who's been waiting for a substantial update: We're really close to getting the major patch out. It should be ideally released on November 15th, and latest would be 20th. We're still waiting on two voice actors to submit their gameplay voiceovers, but if they don't mak
To everyone who's been waiting for a substantial update: We're really close to getting the major patch out. It should be ideally released on November 15th, and latest would be 20th. We're still waiting on two voice actors to submit their gameplay voiceovers, but if they don't make it, we'll push the voice acting forward and have their voices at a later date. The patch will have the following: 1. Female Junius option 2. Additional tutorials 3. Controller Support *new* 4. Gameplay voices 5. Improved battle visuals *new* 6. Arcade mode (alpha) *new* 7. "Story" difficulty mode
For the second game, it's the same as last week - Youko has been writing Chapters 4 and 5 while also handling her dice business. There's also a new background artwork by Tobby! It's the Hero's Monument located in Mondshire, Central Sector:
Lastly, on a more personal note: We apologize for pushing back the update schedule ːtiredadmiralː, we'll try to recover and go back to updating every Fridays once we have our irl stuff sorted out around January. Why January? Because that's the only time we can see if all our efforts in improving the game were worth it or not. We expect two upcoming major Steam Sale to happen, and if we still can't break past the bare minimum, we still have our last stand which is the 2nd game early access, but it'll be delayed the more we get negative income.
We had a rough launch, 1.5 years of little to no support, and we've only started recovering recently. We try to stay positive that things will work out, that the game can stand on its own eventually. Once the major sales come out, we hope everyone can share Sierra Ops to their friends/colleagues so we can bring the rest of the story sooner to you. We promise that the journey in seeing Sierra to completion is worth it - after all, we aim to be one of the great sci-fi/mecha stories to be ever told.
Heyo, Youko here and it's time for the weekly update! ːclaineohohoː After receiving some great feedback, we've been working on polishing the current game while progress on the second is chugging along! To get down to the nitty-gritty, here's what to expect in the upcoming patch:
Heyo, Youko here and it's time for the weekly update! ːclaineohohoː
After receiving some great feedback, we've been working on polishing the current game while progress on the second is chugging along! To get down to the nitty-gritty, here's what to expect in the upcoming patch: ːashtonglareː
1. Refining capture toggle, free roam, and dock upgrades tutorials with visuals. 2. Switching default ally ability from EMP to blitz since it has better utility for repositioning. 3. Adding on hit effect to CIWS guns and Lapis so it's clear whether or not you're actually dealing damage.
We're still waiting on three more VAs for their battle lines so expect that to be completed sometime in November along with AU Junius and story mode! ːallenshockː
Current game aside, we've started putting together the assets for chapter 4. Here's a few sneak peeks here and there. More info on the second game soon. ːrutherfordwː
Hey everyone, Hel (Jason) here covering the update for this week! As the title says, after a few hours of listening to 176 submissions and a tiebreaker between 3 participants, the team has decided to cast Patrick Kenneth Langner for Rutherford's voice! ːrutherfordwː Now that the
Hey everyone, Hel (Jason) here covering the update for this week!
As the title says, after a few hours of listening to 176 submissions and a tiebreaker between 3 participants, the team has decided to cast Patrick Kenneth Langner for Rutherford's voice! ːrutherfordwː
Now that the main characters have their respective voice actors, that's one less thing to worry about! ːclaineohohoː Thanks to the voice actors who auditioned for the role, rest assured we'll have more in the near future!
As for the game itself - we're still in the process of improving visuals and special effects. This time Tobby (aka gtdcarthage, our background artist) will personally oversee the process from ship artwork to weapon particle effects, so expect screenshots/gifs in the coming updates! ːashtonglareː
To make the process straightforward, we'll have a test stage which will serve as the foundation of arcade mode (basically it cycles between development screen and stage battles, then autosaving progress), so hopefully that hits two birds with one stone! ːjeanthinkː
Fun fact for people new to Sierra Ops, we originally had side-view ship visuals. That kinda spiraled out of control due to our inexperience in programming at the time, as we knew little about optimization so the game became slower and slower. We even switched to 3d to not make the models look too flat, but that limited the number of ships displayed on-screen further. Eventually, we decided to knife it and just simplify to top-down view which honestly gave us lots of room for customizations. ːtiredadmiralː
Last but not the least, as for episode 3 progress - we're working on an animated sequence for one of episode 3's important scenes. It's gonna take a bit to complete but here's a WIP so far:
Youko will finish writing the intro for the second game within the week, this will help me and Tobby decide which CGs and mechs to be produced. The new artworks will also be shown in the coming updates, please look forward to it!
Thank you for supporting the game as always.ːaiheartː
Heyo, it's Youko and it's time for the weekly update. We've decided to delay this update to Monday so we can officially say that Rutherford auditions are closed! Thank you for everyone who've applied for the role! We'll announce our final selection next Sunday. We likely won't be
Heyo, it's Youko and it's time for the weekly update.
We've decided to delay this update to Monday so we can officially say that Rutherford auditions are closed! Thank you for everyone who've applied for the role! We'll announce our final selection next Sunday. We likely won't be able to contact everyone due to the overwhelming number of applications, but thank you for applying either way! ːaiheartː
I'm happy to announce that we are on our way to completing the story sections of chapter 4 and part of 5 this month. We'll be releasing it as early access as soon as it's ready potentially sometime in the next three months so please look forward to it! ːclaineohohoː
In other news, Glean's officially finished with the new voice system and we've moved onto testing for bugs. We still need to slice the voice lines, but that'll likely be done this week. ːjeanthinkː
In a similar vein, AU Junius is right around the corner! We're just missing two CGs, one of which is partially done so we've just decided to open the floodgates and make her playable early. ːjuniusfglareː The differences between the two Juniuses are relatively minor, so please pick based on your personal preferences. Expect to see her some time very soon~ ːashtonglareː
The last bit of news we have is that we're officially looking into Steamdeck! We know a lot of people enjoy playing VNs on the go, so we're definitely invested in seeing Sierra work on the platform. The game works, but we're still considering how to adjust the controls for a handheld experience. The issue mostly has to do with zooming, but we'll keep you updated when we come up with a solution. ːjeanthinkː Many thanks to Sekai Project for suggesting the idea and testing it for us!
Heyo, it's Youko and time for the weekly update. Since the majority of last week was dedicated to planning, it's a bit hard to explain without a few spoilers. We really want the beginning of the second game to be impactful so we're taking time to really think about it properly. L
Heyo, it's Youko and time for the weekly update. Since the majority of last week was dedicated to planning, it's a bit hard to explain without a few spoilers. We really want the beginning of the second game to be impactful so we're taking time to really think about it properly. Let's just say that there's lots of action and intrigue ahead, so look forward to that! Since we've been thinking so much about planning the game out at large, we thought it would be a good time to talk about our development process!
Before that, let's quickly go over last week's notable updates!:
1. Thank you to everyone who applied to our casting call! We'll get back to you as soon as possible as we go through each submission properly! There are currently 100+ submissions again so, uh, we'll do our best to finish going over everyone's auditions asap... ːtiredadmiralː We're also considering potentially voicing Arne, Dermot and Floris (the other CIC officers), but that's up in the air at the moment. ːjeanthinkː
2. We've been massively revamping the voiced-line playback system so implementing voices is easier and no mishaps happen (lol wouldn't it be awkward if someone came back from the grave to tell you that you did a good job in battle???)
3. We will be releasing Sierra Ops 2 in early access with arcade mode and story mode available from the beginning. Hopefully, this will be enough to balance the needs of all our players! Arcade mode in particular will feature a lot more parts, upgrades, and arsenal than in story and normal. The programmers are working hard to get the balance right on this and give you the combat freedom plus challenge you crave (if that's your thing).
4. Anddd your weekly AU Junius update!
(Click to enlarge)
Now, onto the main topic of the day, the narrative development process:
When we started working on the modern iteration of Sierra, we had several key points we had in mind for where the story and gameplay would end up and where things started. The question was how to actually get all the way to the end. ːjeanthinkː
Sierra is a complex game in both its narrative and gameplay mechanics. We aim to give players a sense of choice by making sure the world reflects your actions in a way that both makes sense and is engaging. That often means trying to consider what possibilities exist and how far we could realistically let them extend before things got unreasonable. ːallenshockː
If you're a fan of the Mass Effect series, you understand this struggle all too well. You want to give your players freedom, but you have to prioritise the best experience for most people with the limited amount of time and budget you have. Bioware decided to largely contain the impact of choices to its specific story beat/ mission. We've attempted to emulate that approach with the way we've structured our side missions, but the same can't be said for the main missions. ːtiredadmiralː
Unlike Mass Effect, we focus on dynamic and fluid character relationships that are both impacted by your direct actions and that specific moment in time instead of the more instance-based design of other games. As a result, we've had to consider all the possible range of reactions from each person for each moment in pretty much any combination you can think of. The end result is the script exponentially expanding no matter how much we try to streamline branches into something manageable. ːashtonglareː You can almost think of it like being the dungeon master of a role playing game, only instead of reacting to player choice in real time, you have to write every possibility out instead. Sadly, we don't have infinite amounts of time to flesh out every minor possibility, so we've settled on a few guiding principles to the narrative design:
1. If it's a major plot point that can potentially change the plot or story progression in a very major way, we will funnel players into making an informed choice as much as possible without being too rail-roady before we decisively split the branches.
2. If it doesn't fit the above, it's still possible to get to the end of the game as long as you try hard enough during battles, even if the end result isn't what's considered "ideal".
3. All "bad" results or endings will have some merit in terms of information revealed or narrative purpose, even if it may just be teasing at further events we are unable to make with the scope of the project.
We'll have to see how effective all these measures are, but we hope it's something you can be excited about!
That's the end of our brief development process blog for today! Thanks for supporting the game! ːaiheartː
Heyo, it's Youko and this week's update is more on the state of affairs rather than game progress. ːjeanthinkː That said, we have made more progress on the game in the form of more art and gameplay stages. We're working on adding more interesting allied and enemy ships to the gam
Heyo, it's Youko and this week's update is more on the state of affairs rather than game progress. ːjeanthinkː
That said, we have made more progress on the game in the form of more art and gameplay stages. We're working on adding more interesting allied and enemy ships to the game to make the battles more enjoyable so look forward to that. ːclaineohohoː Tobby has been making new fancy backgrounds for chapter 4, while Tooaya has also been non-stop working on AU Junius art - she's almost done with everything! ːashtonglareː
Now, onto the actual topics of discussion, two weeks ago we said we'd be posting a casting call for Rutherford. Considering he is a crew member you meet often and he plays an important role as the lead engineer for Sierra, it's important he has a presence in the game and his number of lines reflects that. After some careful consideration, we decided to scale back voice acting to gameplay only for now as it would seem strange for certain characters to be voiced while others are not.
Please look forward to the upcoming patch for Sierra Ops! - Gameplay voices (voice can be turned off via slider in game settings) - WASD as default keys for battle camera scrolling. - Updating extras in gallery images so they would reflect new voice actors we hired recently. - There will also be visual improvements to effects, ship lighting and some animations to UI.
