Hello everyone! ːsteamhappyː
We hope you’ve had pleasant holidays, however you chose to spend them. This year sure was a bumpy ride, but 2020 is nearing its end. Hopefully, 2021 will be much more agreeable and the situation improves worldwide.
We at the Perun Creative studio were not left unaffected by the global pandemic. Some members of our team had to self-isolate and governmental restrictions did not make the situation any easier. That has caused some delays in our plans and difficulties that needed to be overcome. However, despite all of that, it has been a very eventful year for Hobo: Tough Life.
In March, we made stealing from buildings a bit more interesting with the addition of interior locations for residential buildings and warehouses. The March update also introduced thugs into the game, which now make the streets of Praslav that much more dangerous. NPCs also started wearing weather appropriate clothes and put on more layers the colder it gets.
The Narrative Update in August was our biggest update to date. At the first glance, it did not add much; just some quests, items and a bunch of texts, right? Well, let us put things into perspective. Currently, there is:
7 factions
165 unique NPCs
186 narrative quests
657 unique items
488 pages of text (164 351 words)
That’s right, 488 pages! Hobo is basically an average Dickensian novel, down to the focus on the members of the lower classes of society. Our writers are actually crazy. Some people have questioned that amount of text in our game: “Is it really necessary?” It was always meant to be this way. Hobo was supposed to be primarily a narrative experience, survival game second. We’d like to think that we have succeeded in that and the game is full of small stories and personal dramas inspired by true events.
After the release of the Narrative update, we immediately started work on the 1.0 version of the game. That has resulted in the current limbo-like state for the game. The updated version we are currently working on is no longer compatible with the public version on Steam. That means that even the smallest fixes now have to wait for the 1.0 release in January (hopefully).
Following the Narrative update, we have also called upon the community to help us translate the game. We were humbled and honestly quite surprised by the response. It was heartwarming seeing the community come together to work on the translations for the game. We have learned much from that process as well, which will hopefully let us coordinate such efforts in the future more smoothly and clearly. Huge thanks to everyone who participated.
So, what’s next?
We are currently polishing the game and preparing it for the final release. We don't want to spoiler all the surprises that we've added (or improved) since the last update, but here is glimpse of things which you can look forward to!
New locations
Improved visuals - volumetric clouds
Improved visuals - new fire VFX
Improved visuals - reworked flashlight
Complete sound redesign, expanded soundtrack, new sound effects...
Achievements
New game mechanics like fast travel using public transport
Enhancing visuals and adding more effects overall for more immersion
Reworking character manager
Redesigning buffs
GUI polish
Crushing dozens of bugs and so much more!
2020 has been a rough year for multiple reasons, but we made the most out of it. However, none of that would have been possible without you! Big thanks to everybody who’s been supporting us along the way; players, fans, community translators, testers, streamers, youtubers, our friends and families. Thank you for all your support from the bottom of our hearts.
This has been going for long enough. We are sure you want to get going and get ready for the New Year’s celebrations. Go right ahead and remember, take it easy.. We’ll see you in 2021, folks! ːsteamhappyː
- Perun Creative