It's been a week since Amadeus was featured at the Indie Games Expo at MAGWest, and this is intended as an update both for people who attended and found this game at the event, and people who have been following this game and are awaiting updates.
For those from MAGWest: the version of the game presented at the booth isn't publicly available yet, but will be this month. The currently live demo is from February and does not include most new mechanics featured at MAGWest. More details follow.
A longer version of this log can be read on itch.io here.
MAGWest Recap
The MAGWest demo build with all new mechanics was received very well. The reception at the event from people who played was overwhelmingly positive, with high praise for its music, art, sound, narrative, and atmosphere. Thank you so much for the support.
Based on feedback, the following are the most highly-requested items to be addressed in the upcoming new public demo:
- It's unclear that after exhausting all 3 options, selecting one again will progress the story.
- Collision on a particular interactible needs to be adjusted.
- Instead of reducing opacity on the non-active speaker in dialogue scenes, it would be less visually confusing to add a grey overlay.
- Keyboard controls for scrolling backlog tome need to be adjusted to account for length of backlog text.
- Will add an option for an "instant" text appearance speed.
New Public Demo
This will be the build showcased in-person at MAGWest but with a few more scenes so it roughly covers the content from the existing demo. It will be released later this month, and will likely have its own store page so it can be reviewed by those who give it a play.
That said, the full game is set to release not too long after the demo update, so whether you feel it's a must-play or not is entirely up to you. Its most important role is to accurately represent what the full episode will be like for people considering purchasing the game.
Brief overview of everything new coming in the updated demo:
- Rich text & more fonts
- Witch redesign
- UI indicates what you are interacting with before you click
- Background is highlighted along with cursor change when hovering over interactibles
- Speaker name is no longer part of the spoken text itself and is displayed in its own box above
- Text appearance can pause mid-scroll for pacing/dramatic effect
- Menus and settings now navigable with keyboard controls. Also fixed an issue where some text scroll settings weren't working properly across scenes
- Backlog redesign
- "Cycle through all interactibles" mechanic
- Glossary mechanic (to encourage big brain theorizing)
- Save + load from 3 save slots
- Opening cinematic
- Narrative adjustments to reflect more thorough planning
- Secret new mechanic :)
Full Game
The full game is coming very soon. A November release now feels overly optimistic, but by the end of 2024 seems possible. A realistic timeline will be confirmed after the demo update is published.
In lieu of a release date, here is a status update on the game's development:
- Music - all tracks are written but a few need more TLC/development.
- Sound - release-ready, but more sound design assets may be added as time allows.
- Art - still need to draw a few more backgrounds and portraits.
- Narrative - fully written, but most scenes post-demo need revision.
- Mechanics - nearly release-ready. The small number of tweaks listed from the MAGWest build need to be implemented, but otherwise it is feeling great.
- Build - this is what is going to take the most time, and is why a release estimate can't be given until the new demo is public.
Thanks to MAGWest for being an important goalpost and momentum boost on the way to a full game release for Episode 1. Look forward to a big update to the public demo this month, and Episode 1 will come shortly after.
Happy werewolf season!