Happy new year!
I think many of us would agree getting past the year 2020 is a huge morale booster, even if only psychologically. There’s still quite a slog ahead, but we're hopeful this year will be an improvement.
For us at General Interactive Co., 2021 is already feeling so much better - it’s the year of Chinatown Detective Agency’s release!
We’re excited to bring you all up to speed on the progress of the game’s development. So let’s get started:
A more concrete release date
Last year was a two-steps-forward-one-step-back kind of year for the game’s development, as the team ran into all manners of unforeseen challenges - including one of our team members catching COVID-19 (he’s totally okay now!). There was also the growing pains that came with expanding from a 7-person team to what is now a 12-person team. Team expansion takes time, as new members will have to be onboarded into the project. But that also means we’ve got more talented and passionate people working on Chinatown Detective Agency than before (and we’ll be releasing team member spotlights on Steam and our social media that introduces some of these new folks to our followers, so stay tuned for that this year).
After a few sessions of reworking the schedule with the whole team, we’ve set the working release date to SUMMER 2021.
It’s a bit later than the projected release window of “Early 2021” that we had last year, but this was estimated based on a game in the pre-Alpha state with a smaller scope. Today, we’ve got a clearer, more concrete production schedule that leads to a summer release that we’re confident we can make work.
How’s the game doing so far? What new content have you implemented?
The game has already passed the final Alpha stage - in fact, a fully playable prologue is already available for free download on Steam, in case you missed it. Virtually all of the in-game mechanics have been finished, and we’re in the process of testing and polishing off the last ones. We’re now currently working towards Beta - that means putting all the case missions, dialogues, art assets and animations, music and SFX and most of the localisation in the game.
During the past few months, we’ve finished writing about half of the case missions already, and the programmers are catching up pretty quickly. We’ve added quite a lot of new and interesting characters, like Sergey, the Russian hacker that helps Amira in the Rupert Zhou story arc (please give the gifs a moment to load):
Each story arc introduces a character that's tasked with helping Amira finish missions. Sergey is one such character, assisting Amira on an adventure that sees her needing to break into high-security locations and disabling security systems. Who knows, he might even end up as a permanent employee at Chinatown Detective Agency...
We’ve got Caeleb Yeo, the founder of a private megachurch that plays a central role in the Tiger Lily story arc:
Without revealing too much, the megachurch - the Temple of the Self - is at the heart of the missions in Tiger Lily's story arc. If you've played the prologue, you'll remember meeting Caeleb's son, Lucas Yeo, who's trying to get rid of his unwanted inheritance. Let's just say the stamps weren't the only thing Caeleb left behind for Lucas. Expect family feuds and lots and lots of traveling around the world.
One of our priorities in terms of new content for the Beta is making more objects clickable - here in the gallery, clicking on the paintings will reveal more about them, and some might prompt a monologue or observation from Amira. That's something we hope to do with all of our in-game interactive environments.
Ricardo has been hard at work creating lots of new environments and locations. He's produced about 15 new ones since the last update - and much more are on their way!
The Kubrick is strong in this one. A hallway environment that's part of a larger in-game location.
Ciudad de México in all it's eclectic glory.
A futuristic rendering of the always bustling Bugis markets of Singapore.
Singapore's Toa Payoh neighbourhood.
One of the team's favourites - a duplex condominium owned by... well, we can't tell you. You'll just have to play the mission when the game comes out!
There’s quite a lot more we wish we could show you, but we’re conscious of revealing too much and giving too many of the surprises and other cool content away - we’d rather we left most of them til you play the final game to maximise the impression.
We’ve also got lots of new music, courtesy of Dmitrii and Sean.
What about the expansions? Do you have a release roadmap?
Yes, we do! After doing proper scoping of the work, we’ve decided to release the Hong Lim Mahjong Club as a DLC with accompanying missions (free to all our Kickstarter backers). The Marigold Empire DLC will then be released later in the year (also free for all Kickstarter backers).
Here’s how our release roadmap is looking like at the moment:
- End of March 2021 - First version of beta build
- End of April 2021 - Physical rewards will be sent out
- Summer 2021 - Final release on PC and Nintendo Switch
- September 2021 - Hong Lim Mahjong Club DLC release
- December 2021 - The Marigold Empire DLC
[EDIT] We'd like to be absolutely clear: we aren't chopping up the main game and selling parts of it as DLC - when the game releases, you'll get the full experience and full story, and absolutely do not have to buy the DLC to enjoy the game. They're actually stretch goals from our Kickstarter campaign, and are only included in this announcement for the benefit of our backers who are expecting this content.
And that’s it, that’s the year ahead for Chinatown Detective Agency.
Just a quick reminder that we’re on Discord, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
We also post updates here on our Steam page (please add us to your wishlist if you haven’t yet).
And finally, Chinatown Detective Agency: Day One is now available for absolutely free. Please give it a try, and leave us a review if you liked it - drop us a message on the discussion boards for any comments and feedback.
Thank you all very much for your support as we continue to turn Chinatown Detective Agency into a reality. We’re working very hard through challenging circumstances, and we’re very happy to be doing it because we know it’s a game that you’ll enjoy.
Happy new year, gumshoes!
The General Interactive Co. Team