In this third post of Hidden Folks’ Factory announcement series, I (Adriaan) talk about the targets, their clues, playtesting, community translation... and I announce the targets of the Factory!
In our day 1 and day 2 posts, you read how we put together the stories and graphics of each area and how we added interactions, systems, and sounds to each scene. It is after all that stuff that we start thinking about the targets, the things you’ll have to find in the area. Both Sylvain and I make suggestions for targets based on the stories and the interactions in the game. We then go through our suggestions and cherrypick the targets based on a lot of parameters: whether the player has used the interaction required to find it before, whether there are other targets nearby, whether a target would have an interesting story to tell, how many interactions would be required to find a target, how difficult it is to see the target, etc.
(I almost put a map of Factory's potential targets here. Would have been a MASSIVE spoiler.)
So, we pick a bunch of targets and then reshape parts of the map to really make the targets fit in with their environment. We then ask my good friend Bram van Dijk to help us come up with the clues for the targets.
I’ll try to make sure a clue retains it’s “clue value”, the information that actually tells you anything at all about the whereabouts of the target, while Bram tries to make something funny out of it. Not the laughing-out-loud kind of funny, but the haha-omg-what-a-silly-joke kind of funny. A kind of 'funny' that, once you get it, you're like "pffffff alright I get it...". Yeah. Anyway - after coming up with a bunch of clues we're satisfied with, Sylvain and I reshape the area again if we feel that's needed to clarify the clue, but most importantly: we playtest the area.
We tell people to head over to a beta branch of Hidden Folks here on Steam and ask playtesters to record their session with the game. I watch every minute of every playtest to get a grip on people’s experiences. In general, those playtests lead to todo lists with hundreds of small and big things to be fixed. There are always a lot of sorting issues, and the specific wording of a hint will often distract players in ways we don’t intend to. So we reshape parts of the map again, rewrite a lot of the hints, fix all the bugs, and then ask the awesome community surrounding Hidden Folks to help us translate all the clues. Here's an unreadable snippet of the much, much larger shared Google Sheet the translators do their thing in:
The cool thing about Google Sheets is not just that it is super simple for people to use, but also that its API allow the translators to download their translation into a special version of the game (another beta branch on Steam) and see their text in the game, right after they translated it, without my intervention! Which is toooootally rad. Phew, technology these days.
However.... it turns out translating a game isn't as easy as just putting a bunch of words in a text field. We write all clues and jokes in English, which has two big downsides: a saying or rhyme that works in English will probably not work in any other language, and English doesn't have gendered words. This kept annoying the community (ughh so sorry folks) but their efforts and creativity is what really saved us there: translators kept talking among themselves about the meaning of the clues, tested their translations in-game to see if the clues fitted a target's context, and worked with me revising the clues when things were too unclear or just plain bad.
I wanted to mention that having such a wonderful and active group of people around me (see the in-game credits) was ultimately the reason to put that extra bit of care into the game, mostly because it was so nice to talk to people who obviously cared about what Sylvain and I were making for such a long time already. As a game developer, it's easy to forget sometimes that you're making a game for real people and that every minute of effort you put in it could translate to the enjoyment of others. With Hidden Folks, the community made that enjoyment - the result of our efforts - really tangible for me. So... thanks fam <3
When all hints are translated by the awesome community and all known bugs are fixed, we go through the game a couple more times to try to spot layering issues, sound-related issues, and other tiny bugs. Then, finally, I can compile a release candidate! (And then I test some more, and do QA... but I won't go into that today.)
When there's a Windows, Mac, and Linux build of the game on Steam and an iOS and tvOS build up for review on the Apple App Store, Sylvain and I then fully switch our attention over to finding ways to tell people about the update and sharing our excitement about it with you all! And this marks the end of the development process of the areas in Hidden Folks! If you are still reading this: awesome; definitely let me know in the comments if there was something that really surprised you in our three behind-the-scenes posts. Also let me know in the comments if there's something you'd like to see or hear more about in the future!
Now, as a final announcement before the Factory update releases tomorrow, here are the 28 targets of the new Factory scene:
Not only intern Ivo’s motivation is far below zero: so is he.
In this jungle of boxes, forklift spotter Sally found a particularly rare species. Look at that power! What a beauty!
Muhammad had a whole different idea of a boxing ring.
Yoko has the memory of a goldfish. Set her rollercoaster in motion and every lap will be a new and thrilling ride to her!
1. Heat the pan with no oil. 2. Throw your sausage in the pan. 3. Wait. 4. Wait some more. 5. Add some freezing foam topping. 6. Your perfect burned sausage is ready!
Nemo thinks he's safe behind glass, but he's an easy catch in open water...
Jasmin is so attached to her car, she will never leave it! Ever! Never ever! Never, never ever!
Are you serious, Toyoti? You need to be pulled out of a car again?!
Robby - whooping back and forth. Forever.
Bling-bling in da lock-r! yo yo yo yo
Daan will be dry in a second.
When this plant saw the end was near it decided to end the ride itself.
Garden fork. Garden. Fork. Get it?
How much Bruno is left in storage?
The high security warden is a key figure in this hiding scheme.
Sigge likes watching them sweat. So energetic! Power from the people!
What looks like an ordinary glass ball is, as a matter of fact, worth a hundred thousand Follars. It won't come as a surprise to you to know they safely locked it away.
From mechanic Melisa's point of view, it's pretty clear the chassis is broken.
To find Kiki, just follow the trail of a specific kind of fruit.
Conductor Stokowski rehearses with his orchestra. The horns are doing great tonight!
Mermaid Arial is chillin' hard underwater. Blub is a way of life.
"One more minute!" Huy yells, even though he has been clean for hours.
Nicotine isn't strong enough for Hot Hira; she needs something else to light her up.
Tammie is so TIREd of counting.
Toma was surprised her tire was delivered so quickly! But seriously; the assembly line needs optimization.
Armless Ayaz has to get out at the next stop! Let's just hope someone presses the stop button for him...
Train inspector Mark double checked the numbers and is certain this barrel train needs exactly one more barrel before it can depart.
Trainspotter Tara spotted a spot-on spot to spot some trains!
Trash pusher Page - someone's gotta do it, y'know, push the trash back and forth.
Your search for these folks and objects starts tomorrow!!