Hello everyone! It’s been a while. I’m Maopi, the producer of City God Alice.
First of all, we have some exciting news to share!
After several months of development and multiple rounds of on-site testing at events in Korea and Germany, we’re confident that the current build is now running smoothly and reliably.
That’s why we’ve decided to make the same test build we’ve been using at offline events available online for a limited time during Tokyo Game Show!
Even if you can’t make it to the venue in person, you’ll finally have a chance to play it for yourself.
What can you play in this online playtest?
This playtest includes the entire Prologue, along with an early look at some of the core hub systems and our current turn-based combat system.
After completing the Prologue, which focuses primarily on exploration and escape-room-style puzzles, you’ll gain access to the main hub. From there, you can take on three test combat missions through the “速報司” and get an early look at the pre-mission preparation process through the “供桌” interface.
The current build offers approximately 30–40 minutes of gameplay.
Please keep in mind that this is still a test build. Some systems, tutorials, and content do not represent the final version of the game.
One of our main goals with this playtest is to see whether first-time players can naturally understand how exploration, puzzles, combat, and the hub systems connect with one another.
What’s next: From Playtest to the Full Demo
During Tokyo Game Show, we’ll once again be collecting player feedback through a survey.
Once we’re confident that the foundation of the experience is solid, we’ll begin adding content from Chapter 1, gradually expanding the cast, stages, enemies, and core gameplay systems.
When the game contains enough content to support a complete section of the main story and showcases most of the core systems we want players to experience, we’ll release a free, permanently available demo.
At the moment, we expect the full demo to offer around 2 hours of gameplay.
The exact release date of the permanent demo will depend on the development and integration progress of Chapter 1.
More than half of the art assets for Chapter 1 have already been completed, while work on the story, stages, and enemy designs continues.
The current build is already running quite smoothly, and the likelihood of encountering serious bugs has been greatly reduced. However, we still believe there is room to improve the tutorials and overall player guidance.
At this stage, what we’re most interested in hearing is: “What was difficult to understand?” “Which controls didn’t feel intuitive?” and “What could we improve?”
We’re looking for feedback that can help us make the game better, rather than asking players to judge this work-in-progress build as if it were the final product.
That’s also why we’ve chosen to release it first as an online playtest rather than immediately launching the full demo.
What happens after Tokyo Game Show?
Although this online playtest will only be available for a short time during Tokyo Game Show, it won’t be your last chance to play it.
After TGS, we’re planning to attend more events in Australia, Shanghai, and beyond. The playtest build will continue to evolve alongside development and may become available again for limited periods around future events.
We’ll continue exhibiting the game, collecting feedback, and improving the experience until Chapter 1 and the core systems reach the level of quality we’re aiming for. At that point, we’ll transition to the permanently available demo.
If development continues smoothly, our goal is to release the permanent demo around Steam Scream.
We need your feedback!
Since this is still a playtest, you won’t be able to leave a Steam review as you would for a fully released game.
But we absolutely want to hear what you think after playing!
We’ve prepared a player feedback survey. If you encounter any issues or have thoughts about the story, controls, combat, puzzles, UI, tutorials, pacing, or anything else, please scan the QR code below and let us know through the survey.
Player Feedback Survey:
We’ll carefully read every response and use your feedback as an important reference as we continue improving the game.
Thank you, as always, for following and supporting City God Alice.
See you at Tokyo Game Show!
— Maopi, Producer of City God Alice