Hi everyone,
We have been hard at work to get the vertical slice/new demo of Swan Song ready. Here are a couple things that we have done and are planned for this year.
New Demo
We have been hard at work to rebuild the whole game to make it more stable compared to the Gamejam demo version. The new demo that has been uploaded to steam now has the following features:
New "shorter" tutorial.
New levels & pacing in chapter 1.
new levels & pacing in chapter 2.
Environments change depending on what chapter you're playing.
Added a lot of SFX & VFX.
Added more player feedback.
Updated a lot of models & textures.
Lots of bug fixes (but do report any you find).
Work on the vertical slice continues
Like we said in the previous part, we have been hard at work to get the vertical slice of the game ready! This means the whole back end, internal level editor,... should be finished so we can start adding more levels & more story objects for the final version more easily. Here are some examples of story objects, new environments & the internal level editor. Some of these objects will be present in the final demo that will release during Gamescom 2025.
The environment will also change depending on what chapter you are playing. It serves the purpose to give the look of the game a bit more variety, but also to set the mood for the part of the story you are currently experiencing!
Gamescom 2025
And then, some big news! We will be attending Gamescom 2025 at the Indie Arena Booth. We will be presenting the full vertical slice of Swan Song there, so this means:
Chapters 1 - 3 will be playable.
The first part of the story will be present and playable.
We will be doing some giveaways to win a copy of Sizeable OR a copy of Swan Song for the future!
Some merch will also be given away when you drop by and have a chat with us, play the game and wishlist! :D
That's it for now! We hope you are as excited about Swan Song as we are, and that the new demo gives you a better look at how the game will feel in the final version/demo (tho the pacing and difficulty still needs some work). Make sure to join our discord if you would like to participate in the playtests we are currently hosting!
Cheers,
Sander Ambroos & the Business Goose Team