A Very Long Intro
Hey everyone!
To start off, we’d like to thank you all for being with us. Secret Neighbor is almost one year old, and if you’re counting all the alphas and betas - almost two years! We wouldn’t be here without you.
Communication with the players is one of the most important things for an online multiplayer game that is constantly evolving, and we want to take it to the next level. Our surveys, which are becoming more and more regular, is one of the ways to do that - they allow us to get to know you a bit better, learn what you enjoy and what you don’t like about Secret Neighbour.
This devlog is another way to build a stronger connection with our playerbase. We hope you will find it insightful and enjoy the transparency of learning a bit more about our development process, as well as get answers to some of your burning questions, such as “why do even minor updates weigh a ton” and “why sometimes there aren’t any updates for several months in a row”.
There is another reason we want to be more in sync with you - we don’t want you to just have a peek into the future of Secret Neighbor, we want you to have a hand in shaping it. Your feedback is very valuable to us, and by getting it even before we implement new content, we can make adjustments more easily.
Generally, we want to bring you these devlogs once every couple of months, in between major updates.
Alright, we’re done with this lengthy intro! Let’s jump into it:
Halloween Update
Our next big update, to no-one's surprise, is Halloween-themed. It’s not just the scary decor and pumpkins - we’re significantly changing the game’s visual presentation. The game is getting a bit darker, and the reasoning behind it is two-fold:
- Gameplay-wise, it would make a Neighbor’s life a bit easier, with his various traps and other shenanigans being harder to spot.
- It’s spooky. And we’re making a reasonably spooky game!
Besides, we know that a lot of you preferred that SN beta look. We see you. We appreciate you. If you'd like to see how Secret Neighbor has been changing from the first alpha on Halloween 2018 to this upcoming update, check out the video version of this devlog:
Apart from all the festivities that you can expect on Halloween, we’re bringing another major addition to the game. Please welcome, a new Neighbor class!
While we’re not gonna show what it looks like or discuss its abilities, we do want to talk a bit about the design philosophy behind the new class. We wanted a player to have a choice of playstyles not only when it comes to playing as a kid, but also as a Neighbor. Right now, there are two Neighbor classes in the game, and each serves its purpose:
- Clown Neighbor is a more stealthy, sneaky class - it has a lot of utility, but isn’t very good in direct confrontations with the kids
- Scary Neighbor is an all-rounder - a balanced class with a mix of offensive abilities and utility
Naturally, this leaves some space for the third Neighbor class, a more tanky character who’s going to excel in open confrontations with the kids, but without being oppressive. What would that look like? Well, you’ll have to wait for the Halloween week to find out!
Stuff we’ll be working on for the rest of the year
Level Editor
Like we mentioned a few times already, our long-term goal for the Level Editor is to make it into a tool that would not just allow our players to build their own maps, but entirely new game modes, inventing new ways to play the game. But we have to start by giving you more tools to build interesting maps within the current gameplay parameters first. Our first step in that direction - adding a system of levers for platforms and gates. Take a look at this work-in-progress prototype:
Xbox Porting
We have a dedicated team working hard on porting Secret Neighbor updates over to Xbox, and our goal is to have the two versions in sync. This means that in the future there will be an update to the Xbox version bringing all the content that is currently missing. As for the timing of this update - the date is still uncertain, but we will let you know as soon as things are set in stone.
New Map
Of course, we will continue designing new maps for you, keeping the rotation fresh. While we can’t show anything right now, we can tell you that it’s something Hello Neighbor players will be excited about.
Have Some Skin In The Game!
Skins are pretty fun. Like clothes in real life, they allow you to show off your personality and creativity, while simultaneously flexing on other people. Unlike clothes in real life, the choice of in-game skins is a bit more limited, and sometimes you can’t find something that truly suits you and represents you. We’d like to know what you guys want to see in the skins rotation.
So, today we’re starting our Secret Neighbor Skin Contest!
The rules are simple:
- Submit a sketch of a skin on our Discord
- It can be in any form - digitally drawn, hand-drawn, a collage - as long as it’s not anything copyrighted
- Vote on other players’ submissions
- The top 10 voted entries will be crowned as the contest winners… and who knows, maybe they’ll end up being an inspiration for the future in-game skins?
- The winners get all a unique Contest Winner accessory!
Check out the full rules on our Discord
That’s All For This Devlog
Thank you for making it till the end. We hope you enjoyed this devlog! There are so many other things we wanted to talk about, but it’s already a bit long as it is. We’ll be back soon with the second installment, and meanwhile, please let us know your thoughts. What would you like us to talk about next time?
Catch you later!
Peli & Hologryph team
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