Hi everyone 👋!
We hope you've all been handling the heat ok this sunny, sunny July. To those new, thank you for signing up for our newsletter and welcome to the Haunted Cleaner community! We are so happy to have you and hope you're excited to see what's to come.
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First things first, we finally have a date for the Playtest! It will be 🥁drumroll drumroll drumroll..🥁
Wednesday the 8th of July - Monday the 13th of July!
Save the date and see the end of this update for more information on what to expect.
🧽 THE NEWS WIPE
It's been a while since our last post but in development news we've started up our engines, full turbo, to prepare for the playtest. That means updates!
Here is what we've been working on:
We've added more cinematic controls for our dialogue and cutscenes. Check out this snazzy scene overview at the start of the level courtesy of Cat (don't get dizzy):
Sticking with dialogue updates we now have variable facial expressions for characters. Wow! Jone's never looked happier, or sadder, or more concerned, or ANGRIER or more filled with ennui etc etc...
Joy's been working hard on a full UI overhaul. Her aim: make it cute, make it stylish! It's still a little rough but the vibe is coming out!
Meanwhile Phillip's been hard at work after last month's showing at the Main Main Game Festival at Universitas Bunda Mulia
👉Check the Short on YOUTUBE
And of course the forever task of fixing weird bugs. Clean code, clean mind!
🎮BETA PLAYTEST
Although the current build is not fully polished, we're looking for feedback from you to gather up some first impressions. Building with the community and working with you matters to us and we would love to get as many people involved as we can as we continue to build Haunted Cleaner.
With that in mind, as mentioned above, our first public playtest will take place on Wednesday the 8th of July - Monday the 13th of July.
It will be run via Steam so will be very straight forward. Either way, we will send out instructions a little before to make sure you're up and running and ready to tear us apart... 😈😈😈
So what can you expect in the current playtest build?
A full gameplay loop: Take a job, meet the client, clean a room and maybe just help a ghost...
Tasks to complete, lists to check off.
Optional puzzles. Can you figure them out?
A cat to pet. (Is this the most important part?? YOU DECIDE!!)
What we want from you:
Playtests are a vital part of game development. It's an opportunity for us to have a direct dialogue with our players. In particular we are looking for impressions on:
Control of the game - Object placement and feedback
Overall art and sound (although It's still work in progress)
Story, narrative
Tasks - Are they easy to follow? Confusing?
Feel - Does it feel relaxing? Stressful?
More cats? More frogs?? Other animals???
We are looking for open and honest feedback; don't hold back, we won't cry (probably), and if you have points outside of what's mentioned above, feel free to bring them up too. All input is equally loved. 🌈🌟🌷🤸
That's all for this time. We are really excited to show you the game!
See you next Wednesday for plaaaayteeeeeessstinnggg! ✨✨✨
If you haven't already, 💌Join our mailing list to save your beta spots 💌
Joy & Philipp
HeadKino Games Team