It’s been a busy month or two at Puzzle Spy International headquarters: We spent July prepping for showing the game at MAGwest, including a fun stand-up of Agent Epsilon, a nicely-decorated table and an extra monitor that never quite interfaced with our laptop correctly. But because MAGwest is a relatively mellow con, folks who sat down to try out the demo were happy to sit there for the ~45 minutes needed to solve the entire demo. We encouraged people to work in groups as that’s the most fun way to play and crack the game in our opinion. Some people came with a pile of friends, while other groups formed up as they all gathered around the demo and eventually cracked it as a team. Everyone had a great time trying it out, and we gave out postcards and the last of our stickers.
Currently we’re in the process of making Puzzle Spy International a bit longer. The original story ended after eight puzzles, and the ending felt somewhat abrupt and arbitrary. So we’ve gone back to the drawing board to give the ending a lot more punch. We’re really happy with the new additions: It’s much more along the lines of how an exciting world-spanning spy adventure should end, and we think people playing the game are going to feel a lot more satisfied with the conclusion. We’re certainly a lot more excited about this new direction. With the extended adventure come three additional puzzles. One of them is fully designed and we’re having folks test it out on paper right now so that we don’t commit to the coding process until we’re sure it’s solid. Another puzzle is in process, and we made a lot of headway on the third (and final) puzzle of the game this past weekend and are really excited about it. While this extra work will unfortunately push out the release date of the game a bit, we’re certain that you’ll enjoy the final results a lot more!
Adding an entire new location at the end also requires a lot more art, but fortunately I love to create it! I’ve been doing lots of research on 1960s vehicles, retro-futuristic architecture, costume design, and what a certain [classified] country’s landscape looks like to pull the final scenes together. They’re going to look really cool! We also are getting to add some really funny conversations with some new characters designed for the end of the game as well, and looking forward to your getting to see them too.
Anyhow, that’s all the big news. If you want to catch more, don’t forget to follow us on Bluesky at @agentepsilon.bsky.social... Be seeing you!