Introduction
Hello. I am Chris. At this moment I am 26, this is my first "real" game, and I made this entirely on my own. Obviously I didn't create every 3d model myself, there are free assets and some purchased as well. And, I understand this is not a perfect game. There are many areas, graphically (this is probably what you will notice first :p), performance, breath of content, and coding-related that I want to be much better. However I also want to release this game :). I have been working on this game since June of 2015, and I want to put it out in front of people to get feedback.
I do have a full time job as a software developer at a large international company. This has been...more than a hobby, it's been what I spend almost all of my time outside of work doing.
Q3 Release
Hide and Seek is planned to release in Q3 2017. The initial launch is actually significantly larger scope, looks nicer (hard to believe, huh? :p), and smoother network interpolation than my original plan.
There are many issues I know of coming into release and it is actually really hard to put it in front of everyone knowing these issues. However I also know if I try to make a perfect game it will never release.
So what is happening in Q3 2017?
- 2 Levels: Haunted House & Hedge Maze
- Single game mode: Standard hide and seek rules
- General Round Management
- Basic Stat Tracking (backend)
- Dedicated Client/Host (server) interaction
- Hats!
Immediately following the initial release I will be closely monitoring the community hub for issues reported & you can also email a bug report at: [email protected]
On top of this, if you followed the development progress after Hide and Seek was Greenlit, you may recall a teaser image of a Space Station level. This is still in progress, and while I can't give an exact timeline on release date, I'm really excited about it and am committed to releasing this and some other (not started) levels as well.
Longer Term Release(s)
In addition to the Space Station level, I have some ideas for other levels and would actually really love some input from the community on levels you would like to see in Hide and Seek. I feel like adding more levels really adds a lot of value and replayability to the game so this is a big focus and priority for me.
Additionally, I realize standard Hide and Seek rules may not be enticing for long gameplay periods for everyone so I am currently also looking at having different game modes available (including offline play). These other modes have not been started even as of release so these are still quite a ways away.
Patches/Updates
First, critical bugfixes will be my top priority so everyone can enjoy the game.
Dedicated servers are a huge deal for me. There were some technical issues really close to release that prevented their availability on day 1 release. I am working really hard right now to resolve these issues so 24/7 dedicated servers can be running.
If you followed the development post-Greenlight, you will be familiar with the weekly updates I have been posting over on http://hideandseek.llama.software/ . You can still expect the same level of transparency on what I am working on as before, but I think monthly posts will be more reasonable so I have a little more time to get new ideas flushed out, and really have some more substantial updates at a time for you to see.
Release vs Early Access
I never wanted to release Hide and Seek as an Early Access game. I feel like there are a ton of "Early Access" games that get kind of stuck there. Some because they are trying to experiment, some because they have a perpetual "we must add features" state, and various other reasons. The initial release of Hide and Seek I think is a pretty complete game with sufficient features to call it as such.
That being said, I have much larger plans for the game. I anticipate releasing many updates, changes, and improvements, some of which may be radical, like you may have seen in early access games. I am also really hoping for a lot of constructive feedback in general, and for features and levels.
Hide and Seek will not become P2P or P2W. I plan for all DLC to be cosmetic/non-game-impacting, and I do not intend to block people out from playing on levels because they didn't purchase a "Season Pass" or "Map pack XYZ".
That's it for now. I really hope you enjoy playing my game and I will keep you updated.
Cheers!