This update got a lot bigger than initially anticipated. There is a wide range of improvements. I tried to incorparate feedback and add quality of life improvements, better guidance and more. Chapter Uncertainty received a lot of adjustments and feels a lot better but in general all chapters were improved.
Added Gameplay Reminder to Prologue since I feel like people expect a different game and don't pay attention to the story, notes or objects to examine and get stuck
Added Objectives to Journal, I thought the hints through voice over would be enough but I kept seeing people stuggle (works with old saves)
Added/Repositioned some lights to give better guidance, also to side areas
Added prompt reminder to open journal when a new note is being added
Added journal notes highlighting for new ones
Added journal notes to Chapter Within, to clarify more of the story.
Added Next Big Update Panel linked to the most recent Steam Post
Tweaked some voice events triggers to give more guidance
Tweaked a lot of events, tighter timings, more audiozones, voice interruption
Adjusted a few important events to make them independent from player movement
Adjusted most notes to trigger voice lines after examine
Smoother movement state transitions
25% higher walk speed (cannot go too much higher otherwise events might overlap), feels a lot better already
Fixed some glitches and bugs
Optimizations Chapter Within
Cheers, Leon Drace
Dark Space #2 - Plans For v1.2
My Plans for v.1.2
View On The State Of The Game
Version 1.1 already added quite some improvements to the game but still..
So far the game is not doing too well in terms of people being interested in it and from what I saw, I think quite a few people had other expectations and not that this game is about story. I saw them just trying to "run" through and then not knowing what to do. Not reading a single note or anything.
My conclusion is that a horror story like this doesn't work too well and is hard to market too, atleast for me with limited reach and capabilities. The expectation seems always to be favored towards just hardcore jumpscares or a flashy killer which the main story isn't really tailored towards.
Idea
I already expressed the idea of a more horror oriented game mode but I feel like I have to push it further than my initial idea, Martin's Story, to generate any kind of interest for this game.
So I'm focussing for this game mode on Horror, Survival and some extend of Puzzles, similar to Resident Evil. You have to find a bunch of stuff to progress further.
If this has some kind of success I would still like to add Martin's Story as well at some point. If you don't know who that is, he is the guy who was running the Tours through Crystal Woods and disappeared and well he did a lot of fucked up stuff there too.
Backstory
The story won't be the major part of the new game mode but it is still relevant, atleast for me, to create an interesting setting. It is based on the Guardian Concept where people who are caught by him are stuck in a suppressed consciousness. Things first seem real but aren't. At the same time you are not alone, it is like a web of memories of people who were caught which can lead to an interesting concept of alterting the environment through this little device.
And maybe with the help of this little guy.
Gameplay/Feeling
I want to create a feeling of constant pressure of being hunted or thinking there is something. I'm still arguing whether you die instantly or if your consciousness is slowly crumbling away, changing vision and hearing. The goal is basically to find a way to escape, break out of it.
Also this will play a role in it.
Tech
To accomplish this I started working on a new AI System which is way more capable than anything I have right now. The concept is to have a Meta AI System which makes it possible to seperate game world and AI to some extend. More to that in one of the next posts.
Making It Flashy
More scary scenes and deaths. Something that is easier to catch people's attention with.
Cheers, Leon Drace
Version 1.1b
Based on the first feedback I got.
I increased the voice over volume by a fair bit, should be a lot better now.
If you have anything, let me know. I will try to further improve the game.
Cheers, Leon Drace
Version 1.1a
Changelog
For this update I went through all scenes, in editor and game build. I resolved all the loading issues which were due to a bugged iterative event. I also made numerous improvements to existing events, viusally, technically or just in terms of story. In case you had problems, I hope they are all resolved.
Chapter - Prologue
I felt like the balance of the Prologue was somewhat off, too much reading too little gameplay.
So I added a bit more gameplay to break it up.
I also just felt like adding another good looking scene.
Chapter - Voices
You don't need to read the note to find the hidden stash, so players who forget to read that specific note are still able to progress
Only voicelines regarding the stash now require reading them
Repositioned a note and the hidden stash, I felt like it was out of place
Chapter - Within
Extended a lot of Events to make them more interesting and meaningful
Added some more visual fidelity to later events
Fixed texture issues in lower tunnels
And countless other small changes, almost every event received some sort of improvement
Main Menu
Shown Version is now a button which opens the Changelog in game
Jumping
cannot jump while holding or examining anything any longer
Various
various bugfixes and improvements
Dark Space #1 - What's Next?
I want to keep updating and improving the game.
The main story is done but I feel like in some areas I could add maybe another event or voiceline, improve visuals or whatever comes to mind.
At the same time I'm also working on a Side-Story which will focus mostly on Horror. Don't get me wrong I love telling stories and connecting them, so it will still be relevant to the main story but probably no voice over, more gameplay and horror.
More regarding all of that in the next post.
I hope you are with me on this journey to create something unqiue.
Cheers, Leon Drace
The game is out!
I'm proud to say the game is finally finished.
Sorry for releasing the game so late. The last few days were rough, as a one man show, it is hard to estimate time and when there are bugs they need to be fixed. So I kept on playing and polishing the game and I'm quite happy with the result.
Intro
It has been quite a journey of changes, mistakes and struggles but last but not least not giving up and constantly improving. All of this resulted in a game which is quite different to most horror games. It's not just about horror but also about people, experiences, life and hardship intertwined with the origin story of my Dark Space Universe.
Game Idea
I got inspired by Firewatch. Telling a story of a believable character. In my case named Michael, who isn't a superhero, just a normal guy, trying to find his friend Sara. But encounters a whole new world of challenges thrown at him.
He finds himself deeper and deeper drawn into the abyss of an area called Crystal Woods which is plagued by strange phenomenons for over 800 years. Another inspiration were abandoned and lost places, so I introduced some extent of exploration or atleast the feeling induced through the voice over that Michael is giving his idea of what is going on, basically taking you with him experiencing what he perceives.
There are a lot of small things you can look at and get additional information which all make up the entirety of the story. I also wanted a rather continous experience, not too much action or hindering through game mechanics, puzzles, UI or anything that could disturb the atmosphere and story. I tried to find just the right balance of everything. (And believe me there are quite a few scares)
Additional Insight
For everyone who is still reading, if you haven't checked out my last post where I give some insight of the development process, it might be worth a read. (Unless you don't want to know anything then just play the game and read it maybe after!)
See you in Crystal Woods. Leon Drace
Upcoming Release
The game will be out on February 25th.
As of right now you will be able to play the first three chapters, atleast a few hours before release. Down below more about the development.
I will talk about the development process and why I decided to do it this way and also what the game is going to be like.
Game Idea
On of my first ideas was to make a more like survival experience merged with story but I felt like this wasn't really what I wanted and the truth is, it wasn't really good either. So I went back to the drawing board and back to my initial idea.
Making a horror game that focuses entirely on story and atmosphere. (Inspiration Firewatch but just way darker and set in my own universe)
You may wonder why I didn't do this right from the start. The truth is I felt like I wasn't able to pull it off back then. But I said to myself: "I rather work on something I really want to make no matter how hard it may be." And so I did give it my absolutely all.
Development
I basically started all over kept parts of the already present story but pushed it way further. Visually, sound design and story-telling. I made hundreds of new assets to create a really grungy and dark environment. I cannot even express how much better the game feels.
Small impression
Then I was arguing for a while whether I release the game in steps as chapters, but I found myself always working on multiple chapters at once, going back and forth to make sure everything is as consistent as possible. This would not have been possible with fixed releases, also it felt like early access doesn't work too well for a horror game, unless it maybe is an online experience and not entirely focusing on story building. And even though it was early access, making significant potential story changes later down the line felt wrong.
Ability to add events like this
That is why I just focused on finishing the whole experience making it as good as possible, adding more and more small "things". You basically can find something in almost every corner of the game.
What to expect
The game is divided into chapters slowly unraveling more of the storylines.(There are quite a few) I wanted to give the area Crystal Woods as much depth as possible in terms of an area that actually feels like it has history and is not just there to have "something".
At the same time I went for less is more. Atmosphere is more important than anything. There aren't super complex puzzles that hinder progress they are all quite simple, always supported by either voice over, sound effects or visual effects to lead you into the right direction. I felt like this would make a better experience rather than artificially lengthen the game in places and taking away what it makes interesting, revealing more and more of the world.
Everything is connected in some ways
That's why the game has almost no User Interface and it doesn't really need any.
Examining Objects
And last but not least it is also going to be really scary.
I hope you will be able to enjoy the journey and origin story of the Dark Space universe that I'm working on and hopefully more games in the future.
Cheers, Leon Drace
Pre-Release v1.0
The first three chapters.
Saves will be compatible.
A more detailed overview will be in a seperate post. (Upcoming Release)
Cheers, Leon Drace
Dark Space Friday#6 - Major Update Coming
Vision
It has been really long since the last update but I wanted to focus on a major update that improves every aspect of the game since the initial version of the game was quite far off from my original vision. You now may ask what this original vision is and quite frankly it is all about story and atmosphere. So that is what I focused on. Right from the start you will get an impression of who you are, why you are there and what you are trying to achieve.
Story
I not only expanded but also reworked every area as well as added new ones which are now split into chapters to give some kind of deeper meaning to where you are going. There are also various side-stories that will give further insight of what other people experienced in this area. On top of that the main story will revolve around the Crystal Woods rather than just the castle - intertwined with the story of the protagonist.
Overall Changes
The game is also becoming more gritty and dark which is also due to making hundreds of new assets to fill the world. The game now features a set of different ways to push the narrative. First of, visual story telling - everything has a meaning, every object tells a story as well as being a part of the history. Notes can be found throughout the game mostly giving additional information about side stories but also help to understand the whole. There are tons of events that help the atmosphere, probablby ten times as many as before. The gameplay is more diverse and not just finding the right key to open a door. And last but not least the voice over. The entire game will be voiced which mostly revolves around the protagonist but also has a twist regarding how the story is presented. Saying that the voice over will focus on giving a feeling of having an actual protagonist. Thoughts, feelings and more, which also creates the problem that their might just be too much, so it is up to me to find the right balance what is the right amount of voice lines in which situations because at the end, it still is supposed to be a horror story and should support and bring everything together rather than distract.
Scenes
The shown pictures are not entirely finished but relatively close. I'm currently adding even more vegetation as well as optimizing it. So it most likely will become more lush.
Comparison of the old and new starting path. First two are the old right followed by the new version.
In the new version there is a lot more going on and it feels more like being in the woods. I also decided to start out with warmer colors, lighting in this case which will change later on in the game.
This house will play a major role in chapter 1.
I still liked the blue lighting from the initial build, it gives a really cold and uneasy feeling so it will be there too, just not directly at start.
The update will be ready in a few weeks.
I will also post more frequent, not necessarily every friday but I will try to give more insight on what is going on.
Cheers,
Drace
Dark Space Friday #5
Happy New Year. I hope you got through it somewhat well.
Overview
Today I wanna talk about my plans for the castle in the next few weeks and how the start area is coming along.
Alpha 0.4
Over Christmas and New Years, I wasn’t able to get as much done as I hoped but it is getting there most things are in place and I’m currently testing everything and adding some smaller things here and there. So, productivity will be back to normal next week and this part should be ready in a bit.
Castle Underground
First of I want to change and expand the castle underground since it is the area you “arrive” and it could use some more space since I feel like it also has a better atmosphere at the moment than the upper keep anyway. In addition, it is also super story relevant in terms of actually opening up the lower layers, which currently near the ending point is blocked off, and then progressing further from there. So this part will be extended with the actual tunnels leading further down.
Similar to the start area you will also have to do more to progress not just picking up a random key from the floor to get into the upper keep. You will have to be sneakier to acquire the key, going through some scary events or solving some puzzles and with that I come to enemy changes.
The guy walking around and showing himself every now and again will play less of a role for now. His name is Guardian btw. And some people thought of him as a sort of Monster which he never really was supposed to be. Do not get me wrong he should be scary but more in a way how powerful he is and what he is doing there, not necessarily his looks. But I will see what I can do to put him into good angles and situations. I do have plans to overhaul him and give him more detail at some point as well. Other than that, he is more of an antagonist at least he will be and pushes the narrative forward at some point. He will need quite a bit more work in the future to get him there though.
So you may ask what is there then instead in the castle. In replacement I will add some other entities to the castle which probably will be scarier anyway. The entire feeling will be a lot more dense. I do not want to say too much about the design yet but it will be based on what is going on below the castle. It will paint a clearer picture that this place is not normal at all.
Upcoming
Next week I might make it a little more technical, not entirely sure yet. But my idea was since I’m currently also fiddling around with how I can create a denser atmosphere in terms of sound design and all the involved systems, to give a bit more in depth look on how I layer different systems and where I want to go with that. In A0.4 and there might be a first light version of that.
There is also a lot of other stuff I’m working on which I will present over the course of the next weeks, like item changes, more survival mechanics and separating the game into smaller chapters.
