Hello fam, and welcome back to this new dev-blog!
How are you? I hope everything is fine:)
This dev-blog will be a bit different from the previous ones. We'll not talk about a single new feature, but it's more like a dev diary about what we have done in these last weeks!
Ok, we are going to start with one of my favorite things, we changed the artwork of the Steam page!
In our opinion, the artwork was good, but at the same time, it wasn't communicating what Hell si Others is about.
It's so hard to convey what Hell is Others is in a single image. We added some elements to the initial pic. We added some plants and Magnolia Bonsai's petals flying around the logo, as you can see below, and… I love the result! I think the artist did a great job with the logo. The plants are one of the main features of Hell is Others. Without the Magnolia, the time doesn't even pass in Century City!
I hope you like the new artwork as much as I do:)
BEFORE
AFTER
Any feedback about the artwork is appreciated. Please feel free to comment below with your impressions!
DEVELOPMENT
Quest
Let's talk a bit about the latest from the development.
In the last weeks, the dev team implemented a feature that I am so excited to share with you: the quests system.
To obtain a quest, players will need to go to various NPCs in the City and talk to them. Different missions have different tasks and due dates.
You will also have a notebook to keep track of the quest you have accepted or completed.
Anyway, I'll go more in-depth on the quest (and story) feature in a future dedicated dev blog.
Sound visualization system
We are now going to talk about the sound visualization system and how we improved it.
As you may know, you can visualize the nearby sounds while playing. This is made possible thanks to a feedback system that shows where the sounds come from by displaying yellow bars around the player.
We upgraded this system and the sounds in general!
Now the bar has three different status based on the type of sound:
Transparency 👉 The bar will be more transparent as much as quiet the sound is.
Size 👉 The size of the bar changes based on the distance of the sound emitted from the player. If the sound is near the bar is large, else the bar is small.
Oscillation 👉How the yellow bar moves, different movements indicate different types of sound.
New sound visualization examples
The visual assets are still a WIP, but the system is working so much better now!
We didn't change only the visualization system but also the sound system itself.
Now the intensity of the sound changes if there is a wall between the source and the player.
We also implemented different types of footsteps sounds based on the material you are walking on:
- Asphalt
- Grass
- Wood
- Marble
- Metal
- Dirt
- MetalDebris
- WoodDebris
- soft rubber
- Carpet
- Stone
- Manhole
- VaseDebris
- GlassDebris
The footsteps sound is also influenced by the wetness of the surfaces and by the movement. This means running, walking, and sneaking have different sounds!
BONUS TRACK we also added ambient sounds to the shops :D
PLAYTEST
Last but not least, we did a playtest with people from the Discord Server!
We played for a couple of hours with some friends from The Hell is Others' server, and we had a lot of fun!
The people who played the game also wrote us a LOT of feedback. That feedback will help us make a better game. It was entertaining and equally handy for the game itself. Amazing!
We had such a good time that we decided to repeat the test.
Slide-in our Discord server to keep updated on future tests!
That's all!
See you next time:)