Hello, dear readers!
We hope you’ve had a fantastic week. Now that the weekend is ahead of us, we wanted to share some more bits of information about our upcoming game, Delete After Reading. Today, we want to focus on the game’s mechanics. If you played our previous title, Unmemory, you will remember they are very unique.
One of the benefits of developing Delete After Reading was to take advantage of everything we learned , game mechanics-wise, from our previous project.
We learned with Unmemory that if some puzzles were too complicated, they would end up frustrating and demotivating players causing them to abandon the story, something we don't want. We want everyone to get to the end and know how the story ends.
So for Delete After Reading, we have taken two important decisions: we have worked to improve the design of the puzzles (to avoid frustration) and we have also reduced the story’s length, shrinking it from 8 to 5 chapters.
Let’s take a look at the mechanics. We have tried to keep mechanics from Unmemory that players loved the most while adding some new ones. For example, we have designed a whole chapter with “room” navigation (as in Chapter 7: Betrayal of Unmemory). The mechanics consist of moving through a labyrinthine mansion to find a secret room making decisions and rescuing the most anticipated videogame of the decade from the villain's safe.
We have also implemented one of Unmemory’s most valuable features, the one we called Text-Action (as in Chapter 6: Kill Jay). By using only text we have created a series of puzzles and skill challenges that need to be overcome under the pressure of a countdown. This mechanic adds a very important layer to the project, replayability, at least partially, so that’s why we have dedicated a whole chapter to it. Unmemory’s players will also find other familiar mechanics such as infrared lights, hidden texts, or sound puzzles but with a new twist, to give them a fresh look.
We are satisfied with the final result. The first chapter may be simpler in terms of puzzles but it responds well to what you always expect from an introduction to a story. The second chapter raises the level and introduces the main characters. But the real challenge starts here, as each remaining chapter (3, 4, and 5) features a totally different mechanic than the previous one (and with the extra difficulty that any mechanic must be text-based). But then is when the fun begins: once it seems you couldn't get one more turn, we found a new loophole to exploit the possibilities of text as a mechanic. But that’s something you will have to experience by yourselves. You don’t want us spoiling all the fun, right?
We are very expectant to see if everything we had in our heads if all the previous learning finally leads to an attractive experience. And the best part is that you will be able to test it real soon. Remember that Delete After Reading’s demo will be available next week on the Steam Next Fest, on June 13-20, so we hope you can take a look at it and give us your most sincere feedback.
Until then, have an amazing weekend!