Abducted
Some of the new content coming in 1.13 (this week)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BadGD0GErQU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqAl0Qei6Yw
This puts the game one step closer to gameplay and systems complete. Once that's done many of these elements will be populated out through the game chapters.
Screenshots and more
I've been posting the latest round of screenshots on twitter but thought I'd post them here for you all to see.
In the past our social media presence hasn't been that big or that much effort put into it, but that's changing. We may not have many followers but we have industry people that follow us, Epic official and some of their employees. In fact Epic frequently likes and retweets posts on Abducted which I'm personally very thankful for, its great to get that kind of recognition and attention from time to time. A lot of effort is going into making this game, it takes advantage of many of the advanced features in Unreal and we aren't done yet.
You can follow us here
I pride myself in posting real screenshots whenever possible, not bullshots or the usual made up garbage that many games will post. I've been in the industry long enough to know what those marketing efforts are like and its not pretty. I prefer honesty with you guys so here's a recent batch of new screenshots and 1.13 will be coming along shortly, just as soon as there's enough new content and gameplay to have a worthy update.
Discovery System
A first pass at Discoveries are now implemented in the game, this ties directly into the Arm conversation system allowing you to learn all about the world around you. Check it out! ːsteamhappyː
Updated to the latest Unreal code 4.18
Abducted is now running on the latest codebase for Unreal version 4.18 for both Mac and PC.
This comes with a few minor visual improvements and refinements, like improved lighting and fogging and a few other details. But the main point of this update is to keep the game continuously updated and running using the latest code and features, while keeping it stable.
Thanks and as always, have fun!
A call for user reviews, marketing updates and more
First off, the image above is some progress towards crafting the final images and marketing for Abducted. This shot is taken in engine using the game asset. Expect more of this kind of thing very soon.
Secondly the Mac build has been updated to Beta 1.12. This continues to rely on the latest Mac Metal renderer to get all the dynamic lighting/rendering features, so if you run the Mac build and see any problems please say so.
Finally I'm asking for user reviews of Abducted. Good or bad, I'd like to get more feedback. Of course the game is in Early Access, and if you feel its too soon to write a review based on an unfinished game, totally understood.
Also if you wrote a review based on the older builds of the game before it switched to Unreal and didn't like it, please update your review based on the current build. A lot of those old reviews were largely giving feedback that it crashed, which it did. This was part of the reason why we switched to Unreal 4 which eliminated those crash problems. But it was also a chance to completely revisit the design of the game, take in the critical feedback from the old version and make a better game. And it allowed me to design the game I wanted to make, not the compromise vision that was the old version.
The path that Abducted is on now is a course correction. It puts the game on a path to fulfill its original vision and go beyond it. Hope you guys enjoy the updates so far, more to come. Thanks!
Beta 1.12 available!
Beta 1.12 is up! The major additions are:
- Refinements and additions to the first half of the game. Especially to the chapters 'Falling' and 'Drowning', which now have complete physical layouts.
- Major visual polishing pass to Falling and Drowning, with considerably more detail (meshes, lighting, textures) as well as optimizations to make them run even better.
- New animations and animation refinements, tightrope walking on Falling, improved swimming animations and controls on Drowning.
- Changes to the menu system with a more final implementation. A 'Start Game' button has been added taking you directly into the first level of the game. All of the chapters of the game are selectable via a 'Select Level' button. Eventually options like 'Select Level' and 'Manage Saves' will get streamlined into a better interface, the current implementation is just for development.
- Better connections and flow from level to level giving you the option to keep exploring the map you're on or continue to the next one. This is a temporary addition but it will be in place until more final endings get made on those levels that don't have them yet.
Lots of more updates coming soon guys, stay tuned! And as always have fun.
Couple of quick updates before the next beta release
Expect 1.12 in the next couple of days with more Chapter updates to follow soon after.
https://youtu.be/_JqmTqI8-wE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqnMYyCmx6I
Falling environment updates
Quick update showing some of the latest environment work in Abducted, to be released in the next build.
What to expect when you're expecting
Allow me to take a pregnant pause for a moment here and talk about where this is all going.
The rebooted Abducted using the Unreal 4 engine started with Beta 1.0 and has been incrementing up from there. There have been 12 major releases since this new effort started and we are currently up to Beta 1.11.
There's been a release every 1-2 weeks. No reason to think this will change anytime in the future. The goal has been to keep the project both constantly updated and constantly working on all platforms with stable, crash-free builds.
So where is this going? And what will it take to get this to release? Good questions!
At a very high level, my approximate estimation for a final full release of Abducted was going to be somewhere around Beta build 1.25 or so. So we are currently close to halfway there. That would put the final release about 4 months from now (give or take).
But this game is not going to be rushed, and there's always an inevitable slowdown around the holiday period (we have kids and families and all that business). So better to assume 6 months to go, which would put the final game around the beginning-middle of 2018.
But what about at a more granular level? What can be expected in future beta releases?
Well first off, I can say with certainty that there will be another release before Halloween, Beta 1.12. The focus of that build will be to make the first half of the game as complete as possible, within reason. So gameplay systems that have been built up will be populated throughout these chapters. Arm conversation will get added, discoveries may get a first pass implementation, puzzles added, more enemies to battle, generally more things to do.
In fact the current list of things to do for 1.12 is so big it will likely spill over to 1.13 and maybe 1.14. But I can say the ambition is to have the first half of the game be pretty complete, minus some key bits and polish.
I can say with some certainty that cinematic elements will come in last. So in the short term game cinematics, or anything that tells a story non-interactively, may just be a placeholder. Really completing the story, and polishing off all the rough edges will be among the last tasks to be done. So being very upfront about this, if story-driven narrative is the most important thing to you in a game, you should hold off. There will be gaps in the story for a little while still.
And if story is really important to you, you now have some idea when you can come back to Abducted and see that happen. If you came back to the game in March, about 5 months from now, you'd probably see all of that art and story come online pretty fast.
As of this posting, a lot has been done so far. Almost all of the game systems are in place, just not on every level. But inventing the systems, having them functional and present is a major milestone. One system is outstanding, and that's Discoveries (similar to how it worked in the old build). But once that's done, in terms of systems and features, the game will be complete.
All chapters are present. Some are lagging behind a bit and some are really far along. Like I was saying, the goal of 1.12 and maybe 1.13 is to get the gameplay up to speed on more chapters.
All characters and creatures are now in the game. This is a major milestone because there is no character art left to do- its done! There are refinements of course, lots of aesthetic improvements that can be done in various ways.
So to summarize:
- Betas 1.0 through 1.11 (12 releases) have been done, and these took the project from a skeleton framework that was little more than a technical test to a nearly art and feature complete project.
- Beta 1.12 will be out before Halloween and focus on making the first 4 chapters more complete.
- Beta 1.13 will largely continue and build on the work in 1.12.
- Feature complete should be in place by 1.14, this would include the final outstanding gameplay system of Discoveries. But this may come in sooner.
- 1.15 and on will largely focus on finalizing the back half of the game. This will probably continue through at least 1.20.
- 1.21 through 1.25 will probably be about polishing and tweaking the overall game, as well as seeing final story elements and game cinematics come online.
Being an estimate, this is subject to change of course. Ultimately the goals with Abducted are to create a rich sci-fi and adventure classic original, it will tell a great story and look and feel just right. All that takes time, so you can expect that this will shift around a bit. Thanks for reading and have fun! ːsteamhappyː
Beta 1.11 is up!
Controls are still being refined, but you can see what it looks and feels like here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eKAg8AJrnk
Also included is a refinement to how the shield energy works. Your suit will glow blue when it's fully charged, and yellow as it drains/refills. When its blue, your shield can be activated. Any yellow color state means its recharging and can't be used yet. The timer is 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off. Upgrades will expand on this ability during the course of the game.
All of the characters and creatures are now in the game! This is the full cast, minus some very particular creatures and beings that have either a limited or secret role.