Hello everyone and happy holidays to you all! :re0greenherb:
A quick bit of reflection on the project. Skip to the bottom for your holiday-exclusive swag if you'd like! :)
Development of Z. has been... an experience. This year was another really tough one (the toughest yet, in some aspects), but it also saw Z. get fleshed out into something genuinely tangible thanks to Anthony’s hard work and programming talents. As the project ramps up towards its full release in the next couple of months he deserves a massive shout-out for all he’s done, and the professionalism he’s done it with. I am extremely grateful to be working with him on this project. (He may not see this post but I like to think that somewhere a single Christmas tear is rolling down his cheek right now.)
Likewise, a special thanks to J.R. and Shawn for all of the QA testing they’ve helped do, and a big congrats to J.R. for bringing Baby Reggie into the world! I don’t think that’s what he named it, but I tried... :/
I also added two of the most hardcore Steam players/feedback-givers to the QA team recently to really help hammer out all the rough edges, so thanks to Sam and Fabio for their continued contributions as well.
And thank you to everyone else who's played the game and submitted feedback thus far. I really appreciate it!
Lastly, and this won’t be the last time you hear this because she’s come to play an integral part in this game getting completed, but a sincere thank you to my girlfriend Meagan Marie. Like many of you, she has put up with five years of delays and endless frustrations, and she’s sacrificed so much to keep me going when times got really, really tough. I owe her everything (minus all the stuff I owe you guys, and what I owe my co-publisher, and what I owe the credit card companies... etc.). But you know what I mean. I owe her a LOT. :)
Steam Full Release Date
I will be making some actual concrete announcements in January, but the one I can comfortably say now is that the full release rollout for the Steam version of Z. is set for February 7th, with the slight possibility of being bumped to the 14th but certainly no further than that. In actuality we *could* launch sooner but there’s a little game called Resident Evil 7 that launches on January 24th and I feel like of all the games that could negatively impact our big launch for Z. it’s that one.
We have several months of work and content that isn’t in the current Steam build (look for that ASAP January), so the game has come a really long way since the huge Halloween update. Aside from testing for bugs and balance issues, I’m not fully happy with the visual polish and especially the audio just yet, so that’s something I intend to put a lot of focus on between now and launch.
The Saint
I also want to take a moment to point to the above image of The Saint, the holiday-themed Fallen Horror. We shot that image way back in December of 2012--four whole years ago. But it took us until just recently to finish the image. We tried on several occasions, and with several different artists, but the end result was never satisfactory for one reason or another. As a last ditch effort I turned to Hidrico Reubens and he provided what you’re seeing now, which is how The Saint will appear in the final game. I’m pretty happy with it, but it also kind of a metaphor for the game overall. A lot has gotten done each and every year, but this year and especially these last few months we’ve been going down the checklist and knocking off some massive milestones. Just yesterday I watched the booster pack opening animation for the first time and I was as excited as I’ve ever been; not because it’s the greatest animation of all time or anything like that, but because it’s progress. It’s one more thing that completes Z.
Also, it’s a big deal because Ross was a) such a great sport about being in a bloody Santa costume for an entire day, and b) was actually the one to push the 2015 Kickstarter over its goal in hopes of finally seeing his picture. So to both him and you guys I hope you like it, and Merry Christmas!
As a thanks for your continued support, The Saint and the Xmas alt for Kelly Jean (below) will be automatically granted to the account of all current Kickstarter backers and Early Access customers when the full version launches on Steam in 2017.
Cheers!
--Sebastian
