The main purpose of this build is to get feedback on the new cat mechanics. I’ve purposefully left out the fate of DOG and Android 42 as well as the ending of Signals because I need to keep some suspense for the final release.
Update/Fixes
- The Signals level has been significantly expanded. There’s some story centric pieces missing (Like dialog) but the general layout is in place.
- The controls for the cat character have been completely rebuilt from scratch. They aren’t perfect but they’re ready for testing.
- Community voice acting added for Androids 520, 220, 32, 34, 128, and 481
- Camera sway on the main-main level is fixed. The menu is now a lot easier to interact with.
- Audio adjustment throughout the whole game.
- Added location and altitude to chapter overlay to help with the story.
Development
The game is getting very close to completion and I wanted to give you an idea of what work remains to be done (excluding bugs and adjustments to the cat mechanics):
- The fate of DOG and Android 42
- Menu Redesign
- Detail meshes added to Signals
- Dialog added to Signals
- Ending of Signals
- Optimizations (always)
- I should also have some VR footage very soon but I’ll post that in the VR thread when it is ready.
Community
The Community Screenshot challenge winner is Monterico Gaming TV with this gem:
I’ve added an achievement and viewing platform to this location. The achievement can be unlocked by starting all the generators and then going to the viewing platform. All other participants will receive a free key so look for a friend invite!!!
Support
At this point there are two main things you can do to help and support the game:
- 1. Record a play-through
You don’t have to do some crazy editing or have a 1000 followers for me to watch it. I scourer YouTube ~once a week to watch play-throughs and they are probably the most helpful form of feedback besides the occasional 2-page forum post. It truly does help to watch players navigate the game. I can adjust the map layouts if I notice people getting confused in a particular spot or add additional direction indicators. If you’re new to this community I promise you, I read and watch every video, forum post, review and I genuinely try to respond.
- 2. Review the game
This does NOT mean a positive review. Just to give you an idea of the dynamics, a negative review that is helpful can prevent more negative reviews by giving people something to agree with instead of forcing them to write their own negative review (The opposite is true as well). The enemy here is reviews that simply say "mah, good" or "meh, bad". Don’t worry about doing any “damage” to the score. We’re in a weird place at a 68% (mixed). It would take dozens of positive reviews to bring us up to 70% (Mostly positive) and over a hundred to drag us down into the 40% (bad) territory. I only mention this because I don’t want to try to sway your opinion either way. My main goal here is to dilute Unhelpful reviews, both positive and negative. Waiting until the actual release is also a good reason to hold off for now... you might not like how it ends.
It’s totally cool either way, I’m already really proud that the game has gotten this far.
As always thank you for the support and please enjoy Universe, one of the best science fiction stories ever written.