Happy day friends! Thank you to those who played the demo, and who are diving in for the release of the game. I'm a Solo Dev, and this was a genuine labor of love. I really appreciate everyone who's taken the time to play my little cozy puzzle game.
There are some genuinely fun bugs that made it to live.
- Sometimes you can kick the gems into Orbit! (I have a fix I just need to implement it)
- From time to time the White Gem from the intro will respawn when you reload the scene.
- The load time from the Tunnel into the Castle is too long. It should be Steam Deck friendly, but I don't want it to take more than 20 seconds. And depending on your system it can take upward of 90 seconds. I'm working on a couple of fixes. Please stand by.
- The Timekeeper is oddly transparent in the final cutscene.
- The Watchers after Yellow don't want to spawn in this build. I know the cause, but will need some time tomorrow to fix it.
- The Maximum mouse speed isn't fast enough for some users. I'll need to playtest this one on my end.
- Sometimes Propp's dialogue doesn't write the text. I think it's a shader issue. I'm working that one out.
- Steam UI Pausing doesn't pause the game like the other Pause Menus.
Onto the fun stuff! Up next the first feature add is the Propp Dialogue triggers. There's a lot of lore around the castle. As you progress, Propp will appear and share things about the family, the history of the castle, and some of the more subtle story elements to be discovered.
I scripted about 200 achievements for the game. However I needed to use a different Steam Integration literal days before launch. So I need to rewire them into the game. At the top of my list is to add them back in incrementally.
There are so many fun little things in the Dev build I will be adding.
- Danny and Brian will be offering a 'Hear All the Music in the Game' side quest.
- The Skull-like Kid will appear on the Castle Grounds and offer gathering quests for his Masks.
- The Quick Tunnels will appear and allow alternative routes of travel once unlocked.
- The Kodama can be freed and rescued with a special item.
- Target and Parkour minigames will appear for you to chuck items at, and or jump into.
- Alternative Hunger Quests will appear to gather items for some of the achievements.
- ... and much more over time.
I have the Pun2 Lobby Multiplayer with the Mad King ready to be built and begin being tested. This will come with time, and is the largest update on this title. But you'll be able to do a 'Best of' battle in the lobby with up to three friends/strangers in order to unlock some bonus features and a bunch of achievements. But this content will take some time to build. Stand by! I may release the 'Beta' channel so people can playtest the content as it's built.
I will be launching content contests for anyone who wants to have some art appear in the game, or a minigame for the community. Keep an eye out for community events as we progress. I'm excited to see what fans of the game create! And I want this to be a community driven experience.
I just want to say a special thank you to the community. I'm one full time Dad, with two full time jobs, and Developing is my passion. I appreciate the support the community has given me in this little journey. And I'm really happy people will get a chance to play one of my creations. So... Thank you for playing. It means a lot to me. I was determined to publish a game to steam before I turned 40, and I'm writing this at 12:36 my time on my 40th Birthday as the build I released is building out of Unity. I really truly appreciate it.
I know this won't be everyone's game. But for those who play and love it, I want to be accessible. Feel free to leave your feedback, and any challenges you experience. I've got a Trello set up and I'll be improving mechanics, and experiences as the game ages. So if you let me know I will do my very best to stick challenges and desires into the backlog and get to improving the game, and adding fun experiences as we move forward. This game will never enter abandonware status. I'll make sure to tune it as time passes and content is added.
Thank you to everyone who plays! You've helped a dream come true for me. Have fun in the castle! And stick around as we grow the game into something amazing.
-Brandon