Hello everyone!
Welcome to the very first devlog of Midnight Heist, our upcoming co-op horror game where you work alone or together as a relatively inexperienced hacker to complete tasks for organizations by sneaking into companies and stealing their data. Just like our previous title Psych, you can expect behind-the-scenes insights, exclusive sneak peeks, and of course discussions with the community about content we're developing in these irregular devlogs so we can always incorporate and consider your feedback. We will keep our development the same as with Psych and always keep your opinions in the foreground, as well as let your ideas inspire us. Now let's get started!
Improvements in our technology and way of working
Many of you do not know how and with what we work. We mainly use the Unity Engine, Blender, Substance Painter and various other tools to create games. The biggest bummer with Psych was that we were using an old, in beta, so-called "HDRP" (High Definition Render Pipeline). Because of the HDRP, lights and shadows looked more realistic, however, the version was so broken that we gradually got more and more bugs that we couldn't fix. Porting to another version didn't work either, because that led to more bugs and we didn't want to start from scratch. That's why at Midnight Heist we start with a brand new version of Unity, which supports our work with rich features and stable functionality. Not only does this give us less headaches, but it also has a positive impact on development in the long run. After all the work of Psych, we have learned a lot. Often only thanks to you, our community.
The idea for Midnight Heist
We already knew during the development of Psych that we wanted to create a multiplayer game as our next project. There are many colleagues who have released good games, so we were even more inspired to create something new and fresh. It should also be horror, but related to hackers and thieves who have to complete tasks for organizations to increase their reputation and build up their own hideout. Just something that should also motivate in the long run. We also plan to have a character customization reward system, entirely without season passes or other monetized methods, to deliver you an honest "buy only once to enjoy" experience. The BIGGEST aspect is on gameplay and exploration. We want to deliver a great subliminal story that can be followed, but doesn't have to be. With that, we want to cover as many players as possible. Those who love story and the story behind games and those who just play for fun. Midnight Heist is meant to be easy to understand, but with difficulty levels you can choose how challenging you want the game to be.
New challenges
Since Midnight Heist will be our first online game, there was also a big learning curve around network technology this time. We have already successfully completed most of it, but are constantly working on improvements. With the idea of being able to customize the character, as well as the hideout, we are adding new features that we have never done before. Your feedback will definitely be important here to help us with the development. Another big challenge will be the AI from the threat (No spoilers!). The idea is to be able to let the player hide or run away when the threat approaches. However, the AI is supposed to be intelligent enough that it will also notice something is wrong during the course of the game round and take a closer look. For example, you can hide in the closet once or maybe twice, but the AI would open the closet at the latest the third time to take a closer look - that's the idea.
Hacking
In order to fulfill the mission and satisfy your employers, the large organizations, you'll have to steal data. With your Smartphone with the latest Hack OS, you will get access to various tools that will only enable you to hack the electronic devices of the companies. In order to hack a device, you will have to connect to it through your Smartphone. Once access to the electronic device is gained, the data transfer process will start. The closer you are to the device to be hacked, the faster it will proceed. If the hack is successful, the transferred data will be stored on your phone and the hacked device will be locked.
Looting
As hackers and thieves, loot will be of great importance to you. You can loot not only digital data of the companies, but also physical valuables such as important documents, jewelry, cash and so on. There are numerous cabinets and drawers that you can open and search. There is always something different hiding behind each one. Also, there will be sections in companies that are especially protected. These are difficult to reach, but contain especially valuable valuables. The loot that you acquire can be exchanged for cryptocurrencies, which you can use to expand your hideout, for example.
Companies
Each map in Midnight Heist will represent a company in some way. We have already completed the first map. A large company with three floors called Cemax Agency, where you can hack more than 40 electronic devices such as computers and laptops, to steal their data. We'll also have variations of companies, as well as secrets such as locked rooms that you can only open with certain items. Basically, each map will have its own challenges. Here you can see a few glimpses of the Cemax Agency:
The current state
Yes, we would also like to be ready and play right away, but unfortunately we are not there yet. Thanks to Psych we were able to adopt some scripts and models, but we have to and especially want to do a lot of things better and take our time to make things good. We can't give you a release date yet, but we promise that it won't take more than a few months. We're pretty far along, but we still have to tie all the systems together and test, test, test. We will keep you updated and share upcoming features and ideas with you!
We hope to have picked you up with this first devlog and are already looking forward to the next one!
Feel free to write us your opinions and ideas, we are looking forward to it.
Until then,
Dan and Andreas