Most important info first: We haven't decided on a release date yet.
But we made a lot of progress in the last weeks and wanted to give you an update on the general state of things.
Puke Bar - Outdoor area (WIP)
Development Progress
A game like Death Trash with its genre-mix of action and classic role-playing needed a lot of systems to be programmed over the years. The biggest shift in the last weeks was moving from programming all these systems over to continously work with them on the gameplay and content. Finally using all those tools. There was also some content work in the previous years, of course, and there will be more systems programming in the future, but it feels like a major change in focus: The game itself is getting all the attention now.
For the first time ever we also have another developer on board: Christian, a game designer / developer, joined the project a few weeks ago for an internship, has contributed a lot already and will continue to do so for a few weeks at least.
We're iterating on gameplay, adding more enemy behaviours, adding new areas and updating the existing ones, improving input, stabilizing the framework and fixing bugs.
Latest Patch Notes
To be a bit more transparent about our progress, and because we know some people like reading them, we're showing you the latest patch notes from all game updates since the last blog entry here, which was about five weeks ago.
They don't contain anything that I would consider a spoiler, but if you want to experience the game as fresh as possible, just skip reading them.
And take everything as work in progress, of course. Patch notes might say we added some active reload feature, but it might also just get removed again next week. We're going through a lot of gameplay iterations still.
0.6.56 - added active reload - weapons can have different reload durations now - increased enemy & NPC view distances - updated standard enemy humanoid behaviors - added turrets - increased some weapon ranges - updated shotgun - added specific NPC text colors - updated Puke Bar, Mine level and Snowland level, all work in progress - updated some NPC behaviors in Tauris - updated merchant price calculation - updated controller button layout - fixed being able to level up attributes and skills beyond max value - fixed NPCs leaving a door open once it was opened once - fixed another pathfinding issue - updated visuals of water assets - adjusted timings of messages for quests, locations, level up - fixed player body sometimes getting randomized after reload - lots more framework improvements and small bug fixes
0.6.55 - improved savegame profile selection screen - fixed a few minor content problems
0.6.54 - updated start of the game - updated Puke Bar level and added [REDACTED] - added possibility to have [REDACTED] worlds - updated mine level (WIP) - added more color customization on character creation - updated fast melee mutant behavior - added a few water assets - add possibility to have merchant services, starting with doctor in Tauris - improved a few physical mass issues - fixed a few items and inventory related bugs - disallow focusing area exits while still fighting next to them - skip showing location name on quickload etc. - updated pathfinding and rooms logic - lots of framework additions and more bug fixes
0.6.53 - fixed double muzzle flash - added "Template" line to visual character creation
0.6.52 - improved rolling - updated melee visuals - updated character kill effects - added new player body variant - made barrel a physical object - nerfed backstabbing - decoupled muzzle flash from weapon sprite - refactored some loading and background calculations - refactored handling of static characters like Kraken - lots of framework improvements and small bug fixes
0.6.51 - updated UI for assignable points - fixed mouse commands for pickpocketing becoming backstabbing - updated world map enter UI - triggered tutorials get saved - removed visual trail on strong melee - fixed standard mouse cursor being visible for 1 frame on commands - removed vignette from player options - smaller character collider now also on first roll - more small bug fixes
0.6.50 - updated mouse controls - disabled automatic reload - updated a few player sprites - allow all possible head and body combinations for player now - small update to random encounters - added mouse cursor for container - updated framework, lots of small bug fixes
0.6.49 - added world map audio - improved camera on Fleshkraken - framework additions for future character customization - fixed hit receiver on disabled character not getting disabled - lots of small fixes and user experience improvements
Wishlist Death Trash!
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The technical groundwork is all done, but content-wise the game needs more of everything until it's ready for a good first impression.
I'm truly sorry I misjudged the time needed for finishing the Early Access version of Death Trash and mentioned, prematurely, "Early 2020". This was a mistake.
But I haven't been idle, and got a lot of work done in the last months.
Technical foundation
Most importantly, the game is running good on all target platforms (Windows, Mac and Linux) with all base features in place. (Also on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Nintendo Switch, by the way.)
More changes and improvements
world map got random encounters and other improvements
improved mouse and keyboard controls; dynamic switching between combat controls and point and click; finally added some context specific mouse cursors
character ability changes, e.g. every character can use stealth now
added local co-op shared screen mode
the game got a real audio personality
vastly improved user experience through lots of small stuff in the UI, new font, more juice, input changes etc.
added obfuscation to area overview maps
expanded options menu, including rebindable keys, changing controller button prompts etc.
These all add up and the game feels much better than a few months ago.
I fixed most of the bugs staring at me!
This does not mean the Early Access version will ship without any bugs, but the technical foundation for this game will be robust considering the genre and the budget and the Early Access label.
The improvements mentioned above were made alongside the ongoing work on the content of the game.
Current Focus
Which brings us to my final point: The current version needs more story sequences, more areas, more characters, more quests, more items, and so on.
This is my focus now, and I don't want to give it a date yet, but your first contact with Death Trash should happen soon. And after more than five years of development I'm looking forward to that more than I have anticipated anything else in my life.
- Stephan
PS: If you haven't wishlisted the game, please do:
These are the design goals I came up with at the beginning of the project and they're still active, just updated along the way for more clarity.
1. Imagination
Let the player be part of creating this fictional world. Give him/her food for his/her imagination. Show things and explain some of them, but only hint at many other things. Art, narrative, dialogue, descriptions and audio should all be part of this.
2. Freedom
Let the player keep his/her freedom. Most important in the controls: Don't take them away unless absolutely needed. Make key moments in the story interactable / walkable. No cutscenes. The game should work with multiple control schemes and screen situations. Go to great lengths to give the player comfort options like pausing anywhere and changing of controls anytime.
3. Choices
Give the player things to do. Prepare a world, a setting, and then let him/her loose on that. Present different possibilities for handling problems. Let the world react on player actions. This does not mean total lack of hints: Show the player what he/she can do.
4. Contrast
With all of the above in mind, make sure the game has characters, moments and art that stand out from the rest. Give contrast to this world by funneling attention and highlighting. The noise should be backdrop, not center.
Thank you for following the progress of the game and for all your support!
If you haven't already, make sure to wishlist the game:
Hi. I’m Stephan (@talecrafter), the solo developer of Death Trash, and I want to explain to you the decision process that lead to Death Trash being self-published and entering Steam Early Access.
First I want to mention that I'll speak from my personal perspective, but there are indeed also other people helping on the game, like James Dean, who's creating the audio parts for the game. Nonetheless, for explaining the decision process it makes a lot of sense to speak as the one mainly working on the game day by day.
Origin
Let's begin with some personal history, because this is ultimately responsible for why I am here now, talking to you. I was interested in games right from the beginning, already programming text adventures in school. But for years of my life I worked in another job that had no future and left me with a lot of frustration. So one day I left my job, took my savings, moved to Berlin and began working on computer games. It was the most exciting thing I ever did in my life. For getting a job in game development I figured I needed a portfolio, but since I didn't even know what to specialize in, I learned design and art in addition to my programming and began making a lot of smaller games on my own. Eventually even one game a week for a dozen weeks.
One evening I made a pixelart image which was supposed to be some fanart for the upcoming Fallout game, and I jokingly tweeted "I'm gonna make my own now".
The following days I began making more isometric and rough pixelart images as I liked the style so much. They felt coherent, featuring a dark post-apocalyptic world with flesh monsters and humans with punk attitude. A broad setting that could equally contain philosophical thoughts, horror, and humor. I knew I had the foundation of a game that would interest me more than anything else and I wanted to continue working on it fulltime.
Development
What came next were years of development, learning something new at every step, not even knowing how many steps were still to come. And making mistakes of course, since everything was new and needed iterations. Two steps forward, one step backwards, repeat.
How does pathfinding work?
How do you sort images in this weird perspective so they get drawn in the correct order?
Someone writes an article about the game. Whoop!
Someone writes a comment about the game. Oh my gosh.
How do you make a grenade fly in this weird perspective?
Someone writes an e-mail about the game, asking if we could also add pissing on people. Oh my.
How do you make the game fit for mouse/keyboard and controller?
Why isn't there any solution for getting the pixelart animations into Unity?
and so on...
When I began working on Death Trash I thought I had enough experience now to tackle a big project. That I had all the necessary pieces in place. Turns out though, I vastly underestimated the effort required.
Self-publishing
Throughout all these years there was the looming question of how to handle the future of this project. There were enough tasks left to do that accepting some kind of partnership was appealing.
Work with a publisher? Do a Kickstarter? Find an angel investor? Partner up with another developer?
For the most part I did not decide on anything and continued working on the game. I applied for a local government funding handled by the "Medienboard", got that (will have to pay back if successful) and this together with my own savings and family support helped me get to this moment: Having a promising game, but still a lot of work left to do.
In the last months I came back to a feeling I had at the beginning of the project:
I want to build something from the ground up, stay independent, work at my own pace, create an experience that’s worth to be remembered, be open through its development and listen to feedback so it becomes the best it can be.
I am interested in the process of things. That's why I code my own framework, paint scene after scene, talk to people on the internet about it, get nervous when the game is showcased, figure out how the Steam backend works, learn about marketing, figure out how to use a console dev kit etc. In short: I want to experience every part of making a game. Once I've done that, I'm ready to grow more, delegate more, partner up more.
Self-publishing was what I had in mind since starting out. It just took me quite a while to realize, that, despite all opportunities, my motivation for making this game never changed.
Early Access
Over the years the game got some attention and a few people were telling me about their expectations. And, to be honest, that can be a bit intimidating. Because, while I share the enthusiasm about the game, I also get reminded daily that this is still my first large game and there isn't much budget to hire people that compensate my inexperience.
This is how it is: I think I have some good ideas, I think the world of Death Trash feels fresh and has a lot of opportunities. Nonetheless, the game still needs a lot of testing and feedback.
Since we don't have the funds for a professional QA department now, my hope is that you, the players, the people interested in this game, might help make this the best game possible.
And it will be a bonus if this will also help pay rent until the game is finished and to pay for additional work on the game, but, to be honest, I didn't spent more than four years of my life on Death Trash already just to get stopped by financial shortcomings.
Your feedback and support is why we're using Steam Early Access.
The Future
We'll be talking more about the game itself and the Early Access roadmap in the coming months. For now please wishlist the game here, follow it to see our upcoming articles, tell others about it and talk to us on the Steam Forums, on Twitter, Facebook or Discord.
And please add Death Trash to your wishlist if you haven't done so already:
