Greetings, Patriots! Children of Liberty has been updated to version EX10. This version includes many MAJOR bug fixes and the new menu system.
Bug Fixes
Fixed one instance of character physics failure upon respawning
Fixed one instance of enemies falling through the floor upon player interaction
Fixed one instance of enemies teleporting inadvertently
Fixed enemy vision errors upon seeing player
Fixed player Hop To Blue going slightly too far backward
Fixed captured & victory splashes being inadvertently hidden along with the main UI
Fixed enemy spawning position bug
Fixed Redcoat Swat animation facing the wrong way
Fixed garbled in-game icons
Fixed major inefficiencies with in-game GUI
Fixed a pillar in the way of the camera at the end of the Warehouse
New Features
Updated splash screen with updated logos
Added the new book-style menu system! Menus coming soon: Instructions, Pause, & Options!
Added a link to a new General Feedback form to the Main Menu. Tell us anything!
Updated the Main Menu to properly describe the current Warehouse level (which is being replaced very soon) as being in prototype status. Brian will ensure that all new content will be fully & properly described as being prototype-phase content until it’s actually alpha.
We have SO much stuff coming through the pipeline! We’ve done a lot of scene building this year, and we’re perfectly positioned to add TONS of content in 2015! We’ll have our upgraded tutorial in the new historically accurate Warehouse playable by spring, as well as virtual fly-throughs of several other scenes in progress in early 2015! In the short term, EX11 will bring a new menu and at least one other valuable addition, and this update will hit before Christmas!
Scene progress has been SO good that we’ve started to look back on what we’ve built this year and take screenshots of it all! We’ll be releasing dozens of galleries with dozens of pictures of our levels “leveling up” from barebones skeletons to breathaking scenery! This will include pictures of what we work with in Unity3D, and comparisons of our levels to our reference photos! You’ll get to see all of these screenshots over time via our social media and newsletter - make sure you’re following them all to see everything! You can sign up for our newsletter here, which includes all manner of development news, community opportunities, giveaways, and all sorts of fun stuff!
In this version of Children of Liberty, we are launching our new book-style menu system. We’re extremely excited about where this new menu is headed, and have some big things in store! First, as mentioned above, is the incoming Options menu to help you better tailor your gameplay experience to your system specs and personal preferences. Second, the improved Instructions pages will allow us to go more in-depth with how to play the game overall, and what makes each playable character unique. Finally, this new menu allows us to build The Codex, an in-game encyclopedia filled with information on Colonial America, and you’ll be able to unlock pages of the Codex via in-game collectibles!
In other news, development is accelerating yet again! Brian has upgraded Children of Liberty's asset workflow to GitHub. This change will have a big impact on the way we develop, solving many problems we had before and crucially giving us much more power to integrate development with the rest of the project!
Our bug reports (among other things) will soon be upgraded to integrate with GitHub, and also Asana, our project management software. These major development upgrades make our lives a ton easier going forward and also let you get more involved in the game’s development than ever before. Specifically, we get to do the following:
Stay on top of all feedback easily with automated notifications & tasking
Follow up with you on your reports & feedback
Automatically maintain a list of known issues
Facilitate better dev-related community management in non-bug-related aspects
What’s more, we’ll be able to credit all intrepid bug reporters in our in-game credits! Your completely optional credit appearance will be customizable when the new bug reporting system launches, and we can even reward the best reporters & testers somehow down the line. When it’s all set up, the new bug reporting system will be a really big way for you to get involved with Children of Liberty's development.
Thank you, Patriots, for your patience this year while Brian improved development and management. It’s already paying off big time! Expect big things from Children of Liberty in 2015!
Early Access 9 Released!
Greetings, Patriots! Children of Liberty has been updated to version EX9. This version includes important bug fixes.
Bug Fixes
Crouching now properly changes your collider height, and you can’t uncrouch where it would get you stuck (hopefully)
Fixed track loss when starting HopToRed on the same frame that HopToBlue ends
Fixed corrupted sconces in the Warehouse
Fixed not being able to HopToRed while close to a corner but not peeking
Fun News! A couple weeks ago was the Boston Festival of Indie Games at MIT. If you missed it, you should make sure to go next year. Children of Liberty was on display next to our friends at IndieGameStand and Protobird Games. We had lines to play the game all day long! It was a fantastic experience as always and we made our best looking booth yet, thanks to Michelle bringing a bunch of stuff from her house. Thank you, Michelle!
On the development side of things, a LOT has been happening! We are pleased to announce that we have partnered with Massachusetts Digital Games Institute (MassDigi), a statewide center, designated by the Commonwealth, for academic cooperation, entrepreneurship and economic development across the Massachusetts digital and video games ecosystem. Students in MassDigi have come on board to help develop Children of Liberty. Everybody please join us in welcoming Chenylle, Yuka, and Karen to the team! The three of them will be contributing artwork to the game. On a bit of sad note, Michelle’s time with us is up, and we wish her all the best in her next endeavor. In her place, everyone say hi to Christine! Christine is joining up to help run the Community and marketing side of things. As you can see, our crew is growing, and we have devoted a lot of time to getting everyone integrated. Now that they are, things are going smoothly again, and we’re excited for what lies in store.
In more development news, we have begun work on the next iteration of the Warehouse. This new version is not only more historically accurate to what was on Long Wharf at the time, but also features better pacing to introduce players to the core mechanics of the game. This new version of the warehouse is being designed by our level builder Matt, and will be available in an upcoming update.
As usual, thank you for the incoming bug reports! We’re continuing the clean up the game in preparation for incoming content updates. Thanks to your reports, testing, and dedication (and our current analytics setup), the game is many times more stable than it was at launch. We’ll be implementing even deeper analytics over time to help pinpoint problems in the game and keep cleaning it up as we continue development into 2015.
Thank you again, Patriots, and see you in October for EX10!
Early Access 8 Released!
Greetings, Patriots! Children of Liberty has been updated to version EX8. This version includes new features and bug fixes.
Features
GUI for controllers! If you use a controller, the in-game GUI will change to display XBox 360 controls. Coming soon: in the options menu, you can specify controller type to instead show PS4, XBox One, or Steam Controller controls!
New formal error tracking system; our bug report form will no longer pop up automatically when errors occur. You may still access the bug report form manually via the main menu in-game.
Pressing Escape during the Splash Screen or Main Menu now quits the game
Bug Fixes
Fixed checkpoint & tutorial text alpha
Fixed GUI icon for switches
Fixed lights w/ halo effect not being hidden properly when you’re not on their track
Fixed Escape key assignment; it’s now pause, not cancel
Turning on Blue fails a lot less now!
If you’re planning on being at PAX Prime this month, make sure to check out the panel, “Community Impact in Game Development” with our very own community manager, Billy “Qwicksilver” Nichols!
Thanks again, Patriots!
Indie-Pendence Day Sale!
Happy Independence Day, Patriots! To celebrate, we are holding a Pay-What-You-Want sale at IndieGameStand! Pay $1 for a copy of Children of Liberty, and beat the average price ($1.39 currently) to get your hands on the novels Cardinal Points and Fate and Fair Winds from our in-house historian Dory Codington, as well as an exclusive COL artbook and one of our game jam projects, Moonlight: Mistress of Mischief. Oh, and one very special contributor, that being the top contributor, will receive an all-access VIP pass to the upcoming Boston Festival of Indie Games at MIT on September 13!
10% of all proceeds go to AbleGamers, and we have already raised over $200 for them! Even if you already own Children of Liberty, get the game for a friend and help a good cause by supporting AbleGamers too!
Thanks again, Patriots. Have a happy, fun, and safe Fourth of July!
- Dan
Happy Independence Day! Early Access 7 Released
Greetings, Patriots and Happy (early) Independence Day! Children of Liberty has been updated to version EX7. This version includes bug fixes:
Fixed end screen to main menu transition
Fixed checkpoint text position
Fixed some Warehouse geometry near the ceiling
Fixed the second Switch in the Warehouse
We would also like to update you on what we’ve been working on lately!
All Menus
We liked the new Main Menu layout so much that we took it one step further. We’re making a generic version based on a new book-style specification that will apply to all menus. We now have a generic version from which to build these, so we’ll soon have new menus for you to test, including Pause, Options, and Level Select.
Level Building: The Hideout
Everyone say hi to Matt, our new dedicated builder! We have resumed building operations, and are working on a new feature: The Hideout. The Hideout acts not only as the character and level selection hub, but also as a place for you to gather the goodies you find and NPC’s you meet throughout the game. The Hideout will be a big treehouse overlooking the city, and we’ve already started building a prototype which will be available for testing soon!
GUI
We mentioned in earlier posts that we are working on a few different parts of the GUI. Firstly, we’re adding mouse support to the keyboard GUI. Secondly, we’re reintroducing the controller GUI, with improvements: we’ll have icons for not only the Xbox 360 controller, but also the PS4, Xbox One, and Steam controllers. Our goal is to make each GUI set individually selectable from the incoming Options menu. Thirdly, we’re applying a glow effect to GUI button icons for available actions, providing you even better information on what’s happening in the game.
NPCs: Dialogue UI & Voiceover Assets
We’re hard at work picking our favorite voiceover takes for remaining characters; we are making GREAT progress on this and we can’t wait for you to hear these incredible performances! We’re also building our NPCs, and we’d like to introduce you to them in a series of short videos that will show off their sprite, portraits, voiceover, historical significance, and role in Children of Liberty. Expect the first one of these to hit by the end of July.
Improved Tutorial
We now have the tech to replace our static tutorial signs in the Warehouse with dynamic ones, which allows for a much more comprehensive tutorial. We’re currently redesigning the entire Warehouse with your feedback and this tech in mind.
AI Redesign
We mentioned in earlier posts that we have been planning to redesign the AI. The current design isn’t fully implemented: they’re missing their aerial attack, they can’t leave the red line, and what functions they do have for chasing you are currently very buggy.
Brian came up with a brand new system for enemies and combat which provides numerous advantages over the current combat system. Since the current combat gameplay is still unfinished, it makes the most sense to evaluate this new system now, before any more work gets done on the current system, to determine which system to use.
The new system would be easier to program, would be less buggy & easier to debug than what we have now, would make combat easier to perform without compromising difficulty, would provide enemy difficulty scaling opportunities, and would even provide an advantage to “stalking” your target. It’s much more feasible for us to deliver this new system, and since it is brand new, we expect it to evolve quickly and frequently.
After we finish designing the new system, we’ll get a prototype in your hands for evaluation as soon as possible. We will also be introducing a Feedback form on top of the Bug Report form so you can let us know your thoughts on all these incoming prototypes. We’ll be able to share more details about the system at a later date.
Marketing & Community
Finally, we want to introduce our new Marketing and Community assistant, Michelle! She was the one writing all the awesome jokes during the Steam Summer Sale, and while we’ll be taking it easy on those (... for now), she has already become a big help to Billy and the team. With a fresh mind on our marketing side, we want to start trying some new things to help promote the game and the community, like the NPC videos, and more behind-the-scenes stuff. We'll also be at the Boston Festival of Indie Games in September! Make sure to get your tickets, as it is shaping up to be a fantastic show.
Don’t forget you can still partake in the Summer of Liberty Fan Art Festivities! If you want to be a part of Children of Liberty, post your COL artwork to the Steam Community and we will include it in the game as a collectible stamp! More details can be found here. When our new menu is implemented, you’ll be able to see just what those Stamps are all about.
Thanks for supporting Children of Liberty, and thanks for your patience while we build!
- Dan
Early Access 6 Released
Greetings, Patriots! Children of Liberty has been updated to version EX6. This version includes a new feature, bug fixes, and improvements.
Added left click to perform action (Takedown). UI will be changed to reflect this new control soon.
Fixed the end of level sequence and victory splash image
Fixed primary objective collectibles not being collectible
Fixed the required input for taking down a Redcoat while peeking
Removed the second Redcoat temporarily, pending revamped tutorial
Possible fixes for being off-track after turning on red, and a bad respawn point
Fixed hopping to blue not working under certain circumstances
Text drop shadow effect adjusted
Many thanks to this week's guest artist, Brit Lezon. If you'd like to see your art featured in one of our Steam news posts AND IN THE GAME ITSELF, check out our previous post about the Summer of Liberty Fanart Festivities!
Thanks, Patriots, and have a great weekend!
- Dan
Summer of Liberty 1: Fan Art Festivities
Greetings, Patriots! We hope you are enjoying Children of Liberty and we’re working hard on EX6. In the meantime, do you want to be a part of Children of Liberty? Because we want YOU to be a part of it as well!
We are in currently developing a system in the game called “The Codex,” an in-game database of all the characters you meet and locations you visit throughout Children of Liberty. Part of The Codex is Stamps you will find scattered around the game world, which will be placed onto the pages of The Codex, and we want these stamps to be yours!
From now through August 31, you can submit your Children of Liberty Fanart in the Steam Community, on our Facebook, or on Twitter using the hashtag #summerOfLiberty, and our favorite pieces will get featured in our Steam, Desura, and indieDB update posts; in the community section of our website; and in the game as collectible stamps! Chosen artists will be properly credited with name and links, and names included in the in-game credits.
There are some requirements however:
Submitted images should be 1024x768 (or thereabouts) as a 72dpi JPEG
You may sign the images but we ask that you not watermark them, as they will be visible in-game.
Please include your name or pseudonym as well as a link where we can see more of your work.
Please keep everything safe-for-work! These are kids, after all.
We may or may not use your image but those are the only technical and subject matter limitations. We want to see sketches, paintings, digital work, clay, photographs… whatever you can come up with! The sky’s the limit here. The art may be of the kids, the Patriots, the Redcoats... anything related to Children of Liberty! Don’t be afraid to be imaginative about the locations too. If you need a reminder about the kid’s looks, you can visit our presskit() which has high rez artwork of the characters: http://www.lantanagames.com/press/sheet.php?p=children_of_liberty
Remember, you can submit pieces any time before August 31. We’ll be rolling out our favorites week by week. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!
- Dan
Early Access 5 Released
Greetings, Patriots! Children of Liberty has been updated to version EX5. In this version are new bug fixes.
Fixed another bad checkpoint
Fixed two causes of Joseph ending up off track
Fixed some objects not hiding when viewed some certain angles
Adjusting tutorial obstacles in anticipation of new dynamic tutorial signs for a more in-depth and better-paced tutorial
Another fix to main menu controls
More bug tracking; thanks for your reports! Keep them coming!
Remembered to update the version text this time
New known issues: <*>The “You have been captured” splash doesn’t appear when you get knocked out, but you can still press A to restart from checkpoint. Status: investigating.
<*>Redcoats that chase you… well… sometimes they freak out, especially if you hop to the blue line at some point. Status: AI redesign imminent.
<*>Redcoats sometimes fall through the floor when knocked down. Status: Reproducible, investigating
Thank you once again for all your support. Good luck out there, Patriots1
- Dan
Early Access 4 Released
Greetings, Patriots! Children of Liberty has been updated to version EX4. In this version are high priority bug fixes and features that assist bug tracking.
New features:
Investigating known issues: extra details in bug report auto-description for a few issues
Prevent other known issues from causing the bug report form to auto-open on exit, until they can be addressed
Bug fixes:
Fixed the gate not going up upon hitting the switch
Fixed a bug with error text printout in the bug report form
Fixed checkpoint text jittering
Fixed main menu up/down selection while bug report link selected
Fixed a few blue line corner triggers that had bad dash targets
Failsafe and bug tracking for other potential cause of crashes upon blue line turning
Known issues and their statuses:
Early Access 3 Released
Greetings, Patriots! We are pleased to announce that Children of Liberty EX3 has gone live. Here are the changes in EX3, and a preview of what’s coming soon:
Direct links to bug report form: automatically fills out most of the form! Just press right to scroll over to it on the main menu, and left to go back.
Feedback Focus: a new message from us about which part of the game we need feedback on the most, in the main menu.
Added version number to main menu
New video options: 16:9 resolutions, windowed mode, and three quality settings
Updates to & improved legibility on About, Instructions, and Controls pages
New on-screen UI to show currently available actions
Bug fixes:
Fixed bad Y positions on at least 1 checkpoint’s respawn point
Fixed player takedown detection
Some Redcoats had slightly off spawn coordinates; added auto-correction for this
Fixed a bug with using Esc key to go to main menu
Fixed a bug with Redcoat vision cone rotation
Fixed main menu movement on keyboard
Fixed shader settings on some sprites
Fixed some red/blue line sprites
Fixed some text objects not having the correct material
Coming soon, in no particular order: Long Wharf! Cutscenes! Dialogue boxes! The Codex! Mouse controls! Pause menu! Return of the controller UI!
So, with that, please allow me to make some corrections to the previous post:
We’ve been preparing to expand the team! We’ve been doing a lot on the management side so that we can hit the ground running! The progress graph is going to massively accelerate when this happens!
I said that we as a team have been focusing on bug fixes in the month of May, but that’s not true. I wanted to emphasize that we acknowledge the bugs, but I went overboard in that regard. Bug fixes are obviously important, but building content is equally important, and I neglected to mention it.
The state of content building is that we are working on expanding the team for this endeavor; the state of bug fixing is that the programmer has to put aside all but the most critical, most easily solvable bugs in order to focus on management.
I owe my programmer Brian four big apologies for that post!
Brian has had many important management tasks, and they’re mostly done now. The bugs are actually not “very tricky;” many have been fixed already, and many continue to be easy fixes, but for the rest, we simply need more information. I owe him a public apology for claiming he was having trouble when he wasn’t.
Brian told me to write that we were “expanding the team,” “preparing to accelerate,” and specifically that he wouldn’t have time for bug fixes or content building until that was done. Instead I wrote that we were focusing on bug fixes, but what Brian said is exactly what ended up happening in May.
I didn’t inform Brian (or Julia, for that matter; I’m super falling on the sword for this one) that I was going to change the content of the post from what he recommended. I owe him AND her an apology for this unexpected rewrite, and need to vastly improve my chicken scratch notes on these things in meetings so this never happens again.
I was also three days late making that post, and if I’d done it the same day it was assigned to me, then I wouldn’t have ended up altering the post and none of this would have happened. I owe EVERYONE an apology for not being my usual efficient self and for writing an overall misleading and misrepresenting post.
So, for misrepresenting Brian’s current efforts, not being clear on our current endeavors as a team to expand, posting the update a couple days later than promised, and changing the content of the previous post from what the team had discussed: SORRY BRIAN! And to you, the Patriots, I apologize for steering you the wrong way. Obviously bug fixes are important, but finishing Children of Liberty is our number one priority.
The three of us are improving our in-team communication efforts. To do this, we have upped the consistency of being able to meet in-person and we are collaborating more on project management and documentation instead of having those as individual tasks. We are also investigating the possibilities of table space in the area so we can work not just in the same room as each other, but also among the incredibly tight-knit and talented Boston game development community for feedback and guidance. All of these efforts will help us deliver a great game that matches everyone’s expectations.
Brian, Julia, and I lament that there aren’t enough hands on the project right now, but I am working to change that, because that’s more important than bug fixes. We PROMISE, first and foremost, that your content will be delivered, and that while it is being built, the bugs will get addressed. There are still bug fixes in this update, though, because Brian is in crunch time.
We’ve thoroughly investigated all bug reports internally, and have even found unreported bugs. Also, the reporting process has been streamlined significantly with inclusion of error text and auto-filling the majority of the form! Later, we’ll also be able to retrieve coordinates and states to track down the nastiest bugs.
So, as you can see, we are still busy. For now, enjoy Children of Liberty EX3! Also if you plan on live streaming the game, please let us know! We'd love to hop into the chat and answer any questions you have.
