Hello friends! 💜
It’s been a month since our demo landed on Steam, and after a well-deserved short break, we are finally back working on some pretty major aspects of the game. We have a long way ahead of us, with a lot of content to add and systems to improve.
So we thought:
"Hey, why don't we show our friends on Steam and on every other platform our progress?"
And here it is, Nova's Diary: a monthly column where we'll talk about the main things we've been working on, post sneak peeks and get to know the various members here at Safe Place Studio.
How about we start with me, the person writing this.
Hi! I'm Giacomo, but you can use my nickname TrustAlpha. I'm the Community Manager of Venice 2089, aswell as its Narrative Designer, meaning that I pretty much have to deal with words 99% of the time. I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunities in the future to know me aswell as my colleagues, but at least I've introduced myself.
So, lots of things to do. In fact, we want to first and foremost add more days to the game. To do so, we'll need a bigger map! With tons of new interesting places to visit and people to meet. Our artists and designers are working to let you see more and more streets of Venice and capture the magic of the city.
It'll be a while before we can see an actual level design in-game, but here's something to keep you interested!
Study done by our Concept Artist Federico (Orwellian black&white filter not included)
Meanwhile, our fellow animators are creating new animations and facial expressions for our beloved characters, in order to make them feel more alive and expressive during gameplay.
New trick animation done by our 3D Artist Fabiola. That hoverboard do be spinning doe
Something we stumbled upon watching you guys play our demo: while riding Nova's hoverboard in Venice is fun and works well for players, we haven't yet achieved our goal of creating a meaningful change in gameplay experience for each play style (are you the active, jumpy type or the contemplative explorer?)
So we're currently reworking vibes (currently the colorful light rings that you find around the map while on the hoverboard) to be more fun to catch, feel more personal, and be more integrated within the game world and how Nova sees it. Get ready for something completely new!
Rework concept made by our Game Designer (and blue vibe enthusiast) Marina
On a last note, we are also updating the dialogue system by using Yarn Spinner, an open-source dialogue editor developed by Secret Lab (and found in games like Night in the Woods). This way, it’ll be easier for us both to add more features and also to make localizations.
Mockup dialogue written by our Game Designer Matteo
And that's all for our first issue of Nova's Diary, I hope you guys enjoyed it! Feel free to try out our Steam Demo and add us to your wishlist, and remember to follow us for some sneak peek at our (mis)adventures and more devlogs like this.
See you next time!