Hey Guys,
TL;DR:
Demo has been extended to be a little bigger. I released a new game (TEN BELLS) to help support development. I've started streaming development on https://www.twitch.tv/hillfortgames . I stream on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3044030/Ten_Bells/
Updates
It's been a little bit since my last update, so let's get straight to the good stuff.
LONG GONE is coming along really well. In Feb I promised a demo and that's still on track. Its going to include the now infamous front yard and a chunk of the first house that involves a few puzzles to play and get a good feel of the game.
Mechanics are pretty good and done and art is coming in for them.
Why is this game taking so long?
Honestly, its not. It's just that life has gotten in the way for me to really focus on it. In Feb i went into a little bit of detail about immigration stuff but things got a little hairy after that Dev log. This is the short and end of it: The job i had moved to the states laid me off within months of arriving and didnt pay my last paycheck for 6 months and then my Mother passed away so i had to travel home as well as some medical issues at home in the states which wiped out my remaining savings.
Being in a little bit of financial ruin from traveling back and forth from the UK to the USA, I made the difficult choice to pause development on LONG GONE to focus on a much smaller game to earn some money to support me in making LONG GONE. I along with the help of Acrylic Pixel released TEN BELLS in August after a short 3.5 month dev time. The game was very well received at 98% positive ratings over 130 reviews but because of Steam's algorithm not letting many games without wishlists before release rise to the top, its been a bit of a slow roll out, but hoping it gets there. Even Yahtzee liked it.
You can check out TEN BELLS here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3044030/Ten_Bells/
With Ten Bells out, i'm now on LONG GONE as full time as i can be. Since i announced a Demo, i've had a few comments on "I hope its more than that front yard." While the front yard has a pretty meaty puzzle, i think people are right; I can make it more than that so i've decided to add a some of the first house too which is what you can see in the screenshots above. In the past few weeks ive been streaming development on twitch which has been going pretty good so far!
https://www.twitch.tv/hillfortgames
In the past few weeks on twitch i've:
- Grey boxed the first house in more detail
- Populated foliage
- Added camera zones for a more cinematic look to the game overall
- added a new zombie
- lighting overhauls to have bounce and directional light
- added more lore
- added a bunch of items
- worked on some animations
- and more...
Feel free to join me if you're into games development. We've got a great little community going so far and the game is progressing really well.
If you're just excited for the demo and want to go in blind then be sure to check if you're wishlisted so you can be alerted when the demo will be in your hands in the coming months.
Onwards!