Hi Townies!
Hope everyone is doing well.
By this point, it is safe to assume that most players have probably already finished the demo journey, and I truly hope you all had an amazing experience thus far!
Over the past few weeks, the team has been working hard on the game, delivering the demo on Oct 29th, with constant hotfixes to address issues reported by players in the community.
We've had a lot of players checking out our game since demo releases and it's been an absolute pleasure to see our game getting recognized by the playerbase and even have our own little growing community (don't forget to join our Discord if you haven't already!)
As a thank-you note, we would like to answer some of the most frequently asked questions within the community and share our plan for the future with you all.
Developer Q&A
Q1: Do I get to keep my progress from the demo all the way to the full game?
A: Since we are still optimizing the game flow and core systems, it would be an unwise decision to allow the transfer of save files from the early demo version directly to the full release. With that being said, the team is considering allowing partial transfer of some in-game content, with details to be determined at a later date (The programmer who played over 30 hours in this demo said she would be the first to oppose if the save files can't carry over at all :)
Q2: Is there any plan to support multiplayer?
A: We do! But we figured it would be best to polish up the singleplayer gameplay content first before moving onto something else. We shall see the singleplayer version once it's developed later and decide whether there's a need to develop the multiplayer version.
Q3: Is Doloc Town more leaned towards an RPG game with rich stories, or it is farming first, story second?
A: Doloc Town has a fixed main storyline, but the main purpose is to guide players to move further into the game. For the most part, players are on their own to discover new things. However, Doloc Town does have some RPG elements, with a bit more story aspects than traditional farming sims. We hope to portray a vibrant, post-apocalyptic society through these little stories and various side quests.
Q4: Need fast-travel systems, walking is just too slow at the moment.
A: We're aware of it and will add mechanics in-game later to improve players' travel experiences. This includes map optimizations, more fast travel points, as well as the ability to increase travel speed of players.
Q5: I hope there could be more town-related events and NPC interactions to help us better understand this universe.
A: There will be! We're working hard on adding more content to this game, and the current demo version is more of a display of our base game mechanics. There will be more main storylines, side quests and dialogues to present this post-apocalyptic universe to all townies!
Q6: Is there any plan to adjust the visuals? The visual clarity in the demo is quite low.
A: The team will continue to optimize the visuals, adding guidance, details while enhancing the visual presentations of backgrounds etc. We also hope to provide more visual settings to players if possible.
Q7: Can we expect more diverse weather, seasons, and festivals in the future?
A: Compared to seasons, our team is discussing potentially focusing on weather changes to create a similar ‘seasonal switch’ experience. Festivals are part of our production plan and will be continuously added in future updates!”
Q8: Will Doloc Town support customized controls in the future? Some of the controls feel a bit off.
A: It is in our to-do list. Meanwhile, we will also optimize the default controls to improve players' current experiences.
Q9: Is there a costume swap system for the protagonist?
A: Considering the animations surrounding the protagonist can get quite complicated, allowing complete customization is tricky. However, hat swap will be enabled in the later versions to provide some collecting elements in-game.
Q10: Hope there could be more hidden game mechanics, weapons and enemies! And will there be any boss fights in the future?
A: Of course! The plan is to add more interactive elements, weaponry and enemies to improve combat experience and sense of discovery. Our plan at this point didn't involve any boss fights, though we do have ideas to enrich & optimize the current combat system.
What's Next?
The team will soon pick up the development of Doloc Town again, after the recap and internal reflections on the demo feedback.
There is still a long road ahead of us as we try to prepare new content & features for the final release (sometime next year?). Starting today, you probably won't see any updates on the demo version, apart from the regular bug fixes. We sincerely thank all players for your continuous support along the way, and regular dev updates, including devlogs & sneak peeks on new content are expected so be sure to follow our social media and community for more!
Doloc Town is Participating WePlay Expo!
Last but not least, we're delighted to announce that Doloc Town has been nominated for the indiePlay Nova Prize and will take part in the WePlay Expo in Shanghai, China from November 16th to 17th. There will be a small booth (S01-I-30) where we will showcase the game, with developers on-site so be sure to come and say hi if you're around Shanghai this weekend!
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