Finally! Some news! + Music!
After some 3 months, we're back with some news! First and foremost...
Listen to a good chunk of the soundtrack!
Yes indeed! 7 out of 15 tracks are available for listening and consuming on YouTube. The OST for HWCWKW (How West Clement Was Kinda Won) was recently finished! The only reason why we don't upload the rest of the tracks is because we want to save them for when the game comes out! Just for a little surprise!
Not only will this release on YouTube, but also here on Steam when the game releases!
What about the other news?!
Other news we have! The game has been in hard development as of the past few months (with a short development break as to not get burnt out...) and we have a good list of the good news! Good for a TL;DR.
Programming and code is 95% complete!
Soundtrack is 100% complete! (Allow for some criticism to shape the music if possible!)
Story writing has been completely re-factored and touched up!
The biggest hurdles now are, no longer complex!
The programming is indeed mostly complete, the only notable things missing are some improvements to the combat code (Enemy AI still likes to heal your team sometimes), the finalization of the Attack Customization menu + code, and other very small and minuscule stuff.
The soundtrack was only recently finished and comes out to a good 15 song soundtrack, coming in at around an hour and a half of music (1 : 33 : 00).
The story for this game has been complete for awhile, all dialog and everything was written down but since then, it has all been re-factored and smoothed out!
The things we have left to finish are cutscenes, level/mission engine scripting, Chapter 3 + 4 overworld sprites (buildings, tiles, etc.) and lastly, the finale! (which we have in it's own category!)
We also are re-spriting a good chunk of the game as to not make it look so flat and blocky!
What about that damn Beta/Play-Test!?!?
Don't worry your little head there, friend! We have not forgotten! As we were busy re-coding, re-factoring, re-composing, re-whatever-ing most of the game, the two members here have been dreaming about releasing this playtest ever since announcing it! Literally!
So when is it happening?
The playtest for HWCWKW commences Q2 2026!
100% confirmed, with no dodging, and absolutely no "uh! we need to push it back because uhh uh..." No backing out because there's no reason to back out!
The Playtest Roadmap (new and final!)
- Part 1: Chapter 1 + 2, and mostly everything it has to offer.
This first part of the test starts with this, the entirety of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. This is the most rigorous test, this is where criticism is key! As it is to test out EVERYTHING, we want players to break the game and find every pothole and all that!
- Part 2: Chapter 3.
The second part will include Chapter 3 as well as hopefully introducing all of the requested changes needed for the game.
- Part 3: Remaining Chapter 1 to 3 stuff.
There are some things we will intentionally leave out, nothing important, just some things such as some NPCs (clearing rights with some characters), some companions (some companions aren't unlocked until Chapter 4), and a few other smaller things. In this part we will add almost everything that is supposed to be in the final game.
- Part 4: Chapter 4!
The final chapter of HWCWKW requires it's own test entirely! We won't say why as we want things to have a bit of surprise!
- Part 5: The Finale!
This entire part of the test also needs its own testing moment. We're also keeping this a little secret as well!
- Part 6: Final touch-ups.
As apart of final testing before release, we will do one last test before completely releasing the game!
How long will the playtest last?
No more than 2 months. We originally wanted to do a Steam Early Access title, but we realized that the testing process would most likely be too short + the game won't be too different from Playtest-to-Final.
What's next?
Developing! But for the public, we have some more West Clement Info segments to share! And not only will the West Clement Info parts be uploaded here via text, but also via video! We'll let you know when that happens.
But for now, we'll catch you later... When the playtest starts!
- MMN (lead developer)