Hey everyone!
I'm excited to announce that the first public playtest of our super early pre-alpha prototype has been released! I'm excited to see what you all think of what we have of the game so far!
Please keep in mind, I'm a solo developer without the big AAA budgets that most studios making games like this have (and TBH while this isn't the first video game I've worked on, it's my very first I've done not only solo, but also in the role of the developer... apart from a little mini game I made over a weekend to try learning coding), so definitely expect some bugs, etc
A few important things to note:
This is an offline playtest, so you'll only be able to test the game offline against bots. This is because at the current stage, the online multiplayer is handled by Epic Online Services. Since the game hasn't been officially released yet, I have to whitelist everyone manually for access but can't do that en masse with the tools Steam provides me. If you'd like to play online before everyone else, you can check out our Kickstarter below or go to https://thecalling.buriedcandy.com and become an Early Access Supporter!
As I mentioned, there are many known bugs I still need to fix, but here are the highlights of the more obvious ones you'll encounter:
Currently the walking animation of the bots is broken (only for the person who creates the session, but works fine for those connecting to the host)
Sometimes the respawn timer goes wonky and starts super high and still counts down after you've already respawned. It'll go away the next time you die.
Please ignore the credits page... I'll get to it, haha.
The ability and class system hasn't been added to the game yet. It's in progress though.
Still trying to figure out how I can set the music audio to be at 50% volume by default. I know it's a little loud when you first launch it
Some of the abilities (ie Grenade, Dash in particular) trigger the voice lines for all of the characters on the field who currently have those voice lines setup. It's a known bug and already on my list to fix.
There is one broken teleporter in the map Sector One. It's also on my list to fix.
There may be others that I'm forgetting off the top of my head.
Controls:
Here are the controls for the game. Important ones to note are that Q will toss a grenade, E will melee, and H will bring up the character selection screen.
New Character Trailer
Check out this new character trailer from our friend Megabits (featured in the game):
Speaking of new trailers...
Check out the reaction from our new trailer debut at ReachConf 2025
Recently many of the streamers who are featured in the game attended a new growing gaming con called ReachConf, and to celebrate, I created a brand new trailer that got it's debut at the event and while I wasn't there in person to witness it, apparently the reactions (both in this video and afterwards) was nothing but hype!
Kickstarter launches next week!
Finally, some big news... the Kickstarter for The Calling launches Tuesday, November 18th at around 8am Eastern! As many of you may (or may not) know, this game is developed primarily by myself, with the help of some of the streamers (for some art and admin), and while I was building this game in my spare time over the last 7 months, I recently lost my full-time income (as a matter of fact, got laid off twice in the span of 3 months, both due to budgetary constraints as both of those employers really wanted to keep me on but had to make cuts).
Speaking to a lot of friends and veterans in the gaming industry, many believed that I should be focused fully on this game because of it's potential and the hype building around it, so I'm launching a Kickstarter to help me cover my own living costs while being able to be fully focused on the game, as well as potentially hire some additional help from additional developers, artists, etc.
Would love your support! We'll be offering Kickstarter-exclusive skins, etc during this campaign, and afterwards we'll be opening up the store here on Steam (and elsewhere) to be able to buy additional character skins, etc to both support the development of the game as well as the streamers featured in it.
You can follow / support the Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/buriedcandy/the-calling-1
Thanks and I hope you enjoy the game so far!