September 24th is coming up and that means Neighborhood will be released soon! A few quick notes about the initial release just to be aware:
Since I am a one person dev team (for now), I have done my best to QA Neighborhood, but expect a few oddities here and there. I am hoping for nothing game breaking, but if something like that comes up, please let me know what happened to the best of your ability and I'll do my best to fix it.
I am in the process of creating new additions to the game to add a bit more variety. Since the current version is only one "area" I am working to bring value to replayability as well as expanding the game as time goes along. I consider the first area to be complete enough to give an idea of how the game should function on a basic level. It takes me roughly 45 minutes to an hour to complete. I would expect new players to take a bit longer.
Ok so the demo is short(ish). As a result there is no saving of any kind other than achievements of course. I intend to add a ton of achievements over time. For now, enjoy what I have added. Mostly I am testing the system out to make sure it actually is functional. Speaking of achievements; one of them might actually be impossible. I'm not actually sure, to be honest. "Skill Pro" is the achievement in question. It requires you to beat the entire area without taking a hit. A hit only qualifies as an attack that you didn't guard or parry. You can still get an X rank by taking damage. I've gotten close at 8 hits, but let's see if it's possible.
I'm working on 2 updates right now. One should be ready soon, and one which is a larger update that will take some time.
The first update is a weapon system. You'll be able to buy and trade weapons which will alter your character's base stats and allow slight range increases or decreases in some cases. This will tie into a progression system that I have a s future plan as well.
The second update is the story update where I will complete development on the first area by building the actual story of the game out. This update will change how adventure mode functions to a degree. More updates on that will be shown as I move forward. This is a large update since I will be getting voice actors for each of the characters to start. Also multiple new characters will need to be created. With the exception of Roy, the characters included in Neighborhood are not relevant to the beginning of the story. This means I'll need to create 3 new characters to round out Roy's squad. I'll also be creating cut scenes and all that stuff so look forward to that.
As a side note (concerning cut scenes), you can have a look at the video below if you like. It is intended to be a scene somewhat close to the opening of the game. It's a test scene I did a few years back for an annual film festival at my old job. While the visuals and overall styling of the film will change in many ways, it still gives a good idea of my plans for Roy and his character. Yes it's all a bit of a mystery, but it will all become apparent soon enough.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwm5wcLWXiA
That pretty much does it for now. More updates to follow as I move forward into development. I hope you all enjoy Neighborhood!