Devoured Time cover
Devoured Time screenshot
PC Steam
Genre: Role-playing (RPG), Adventure, Indie

Devoured Time

Weekly Update 12
This week’s update is going to be quite large and two days early. The patch is scheduled to be released at the end of the month, no delays to report. Twitter advertisement continues, and fans there are increases of about 10 or 15 a day. A development plan has been created for after the patch which will be discussed in Weekly Update 13. Today I really want to talk about what will be in the patch in detail, as well as Devoured Time’s story and gameplay changes based on feedback and research. As I mentioned in a previous update the scale of the game has been stepped down a bit to align with current skill, time, and financial abilities. Price point will remain the same and is still well under what a game such as this is worth, but I like it low so more people can experience it.

The Story

As I have always stated, story is a big thing for me. I love games with deep stories, stories with lore and stories with mystery. I knew one thing, Devoured Time needed a great story. But Devoured Time is not a book, it’s a game and games need to be fun so I had to tailor the story with gaming in mind. First I had a plot, I then needed to know the game mechanics and setting. With that information and feedback from fans I rewrote the story to still deliver what I think is a great story, while remaining fun as a game. It did take quite a few rewrites but its solid now.

Devoured Time takes place in two very different settings, sci fi future and medieval fantasy past. The player starts off on a space station, not know who, what, or where they are. The only other person on the station is a medical robot with the sole job of helping you remember the details of how you became to be on the space station. To do this the medical robot created two simulations, the first a set of tutorials helping the player familiarize themselves with controls and gameplay and the second the main single player game. I prefer to keep as much of the game in character as possible, and I like to explain as much of the whys. Doing it this way I hope to keep fans engaged with the story, and tell it in a way that makes since. The single player game, or Simulation 2 as the medical robot calls it was developed from the player’s character’s memory, at least the fragments left intact. Since the medical robot is only concerned with the immediate events leading to the player’s arrival to the space station, Simulation 2 starts of midway through the main events of Devoured Times story. Again since I’m going for a short story instead of a massive book, I wanted to start at a point in the story where this game could begin. If you compare it to a traditional rpg, Devoured Time starts in the middle. There will be many other games in this universe, some may take place during the early years of this players life, or be completely separate. The single player story will still contain quite a bit of content, leaving the door open for many more games in this universe.

Gameplay

Based on feedback the story and building are most popular so those will be the driving force behind the single player game. The player starts the game by clearing out an area which will function as the player’s home base. This area will be a decent size and allow for many hours of gameplay itself. There will be a few mandatory build quest to get the necessary buildings and then you’re free to build up or not depending on what you want to do. They build system in the single player is modular, you’ll see the early version in the tutorial. You’ll have plots that depending on size have a number of structures you can build. In the tutorial it’s a quick process but in the main game each building will require a different amount of resources, take a specific time, and some even require a special person to make. Once built you will be able to upgrade them. There are several special buildings that unlock more gameplay features, such as the ability to train units, outfit units, and send units on missions. Those mission are similar to games like final fantasy tactics where you send them off and depending on their strength and skills would dictate the final result. Those units will level up and progress similar to the player.

I really enjoy old school games like Zelda and that love along with feedback called for something similar in Devoured Time. Everything takes place on one map, as large as I am able to make currently which is quite large in scale in terms of this game. Like Zelda most areas of the map are open, but special areas require something to unlock. Keys, boss fights, and quest are a few things needed to unlock areas. Areas are also leveled separately from the player meaning you can go there but the enemies will be harder or weaker. Like Zelda there will be hidden paths and hidden items to be found. Also, and this is just a limit on 3d models, the player will find weapons, rings, necklaces, shields, and runes to equip. Currently without a proper 3d modeler I can’t create armor visibly so I’m taking an approach like some of those games that the player remains in the same armor. This may very well change if I get more funds, but I don’t want to delay the game any longer over armor, and I don’t think it will hurt the game that much to go that way.

Besides building, you will be able to farm, craft, level up, find collectibles, manage your base and small outpost, quest, and more things as I add them. The single player game should give players a feeling for the world I’m creating, show fans that I am dedicated to making a cool and unique game, hopefully help establish Cracked Piston as a good indie game company.

Patch Details
(Current State)

The patch may seem small in relation to the time required to produce it but I assure you it’s what you don’t see that took the longest. This patch serves as the foundation for the final game, the backbone of the entire experience.
Day 1 you’ll get a 85% complete tutorial, it’s not complete since some the games main systems are not yet ready and I’m sure I’ll be adding more. There are currently 13 quest in the tutorial, along with a number of collectibles and journal entries to be found. You will see the main menu and all the modes that will eventually be in the game. With this foundation in place I can add new features much quicker so content will increase.

Participation

With the foundation set and the story plot updated its time to take participation to the next level. For all my early backers I want to extend the opportunity to create something for Devoured Time. I want to add items, characters, places, quest, and lore based on your ideas and creativity. Later this month I will add links to pictures of weapons and I want you guys to name them. They will consist of epic items which you can even give a back story for. I’ll do the same for other aspects of the game to. If the name you choose wins I’ll add your name in the credits. This goes for quest ideas too. If this is something you’re interested in, please comment here.

That’s it for this update, thanks again and remember your feedback and support matters.

Weekly Update 11
Been a long week, the patch is coming along smoothly. Just in the phase of adding collectibles and making the world look better. I had a bit of time to play the new Metal Gear Solid game and while it is a great game it got me thinking about the building system in Devoured Time. Not that the two systems are at all the same, but more that I wished Metal Gears system was better. It gave me a few different ideas for Devoured Time which I will work on after this next patch.

The patch should be ready by the end of this month so get ready for that. I have been slowly advertising on twitter some, hoping to spread the word and get more coverage. That’s the update for this week, as always thanks for your support.

Video Link
Takes a little while to add video to store page, check out this link to see it now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17LqvwdGZNw

Weekly Update 10
Some UI changes and combat has been started while continuing polishing the map. Since things will continue to be added to the game, some room on the tutorial map will be empty left for those systems. Once this patch is released it should allow for quicker updates.

Check out the new video uploaded just to show off the tutorial map. Quest and hidden items where avoided to keep them fun to be found. During the video you will also see some town building and a bit of weather. If you have any comments please share them.

Thanks for your support.

Weekly Update 9
Polish of the map is coming along good. Work on the town management began earlier in the week and its coming along quite well. Originally town management wasn’t going to be as detailed as its becoming but as more work is put into it, it’s becoming quite fun. Town management uses what I call the rebuilding system. Rebuilding in devoured time lets you build structures in set locations. While I continue to work on free building I didn’t want to limit town management so I decided to take the original building system I tested and use it as the rebuilding system. With this system you can choose from a variety of buildings based on lot size to construct in preplanned locations. While I polish up the map I will be really fleshing out this system. So far you find an old town, either its empty or has a few structures. You need to build an Inn which serves as your warehouse. After that you need to build homes, then a job office. Homes increase population caps, while the job office is where you manage your workers. You can hire, fire and assign them to different jobs. Right now they have stats, but those stats won’t be used until the patch after this. Having a job office is useless without jobs, so you can also build job related buildings. Job related buildings such as kitchens and gardens vary and have different staff requirements. You may also build venders, crafters, and other special buildings that require you to find specially trained workers in the world to fill the job.

Map polish should be done by the end of this month, and depending on how well the town management system is going will determine this patches release. If I can get some more elements in that bring it to the next level I’ll continue to work on the system a bit longer, otherwise the patch should be out in September.

Thanks for your support.

Weekly Update 8
A lot of progress was completed this past week, enough so that I am now polishing and tweaking. I increased the tutorial map size to accommodate for all systems besides free building and rts. The map takes a bit long since I have to make it from scratch, but it allows for full control over the layout. The tutorial map is however very flat and that’s on purpose for the tutorial and to save on time. There are some hills here and there but for the most part it’s flat. Besides polish I am also working mostly on the town management system. While the system is done I wanted to rewrite some code and expand it to be a bit more user friendly. Since building is coming later I wanted to increase content via other systems for now.

I also worked on survival mode a bit to. Survival mode functions as a more intense experience. This mode is a third person shooter and puts you against continuous waves of enemies on a large map. Your goal is to survive and that’s it. There will be power ups, different weapons, and collectables. Right now its very early and the weapons are standard guns you would find now a days, but those will slowly be changed out for scifi weapons when I get the models. The mode itself takes place in the future time within the same universe. This mode will serve as a jump in and kill things with new and cool weapons. Eventually I will add some upgrade system to it to make it more tactical.

Free build is another mode and as the name suggest it’s a place to build buildings and place items inside them. It will become very much like rust in terms of throwing you into a world to gather material and build as you like. It’s still single player so there will be NPC’s doing the same thing as you and attacking you randomly. Multiplayer which will have a bit of all the modes is a much later mode so expect more on that later.

The main mode, story mode will be RPG heavy. Originally it was to be a bit larger than its going to be now, but after reviewing the games progress and fan feedback I decided to do a shorter version this game. Devoured Time is just the first chapter in this universe and there will be many other games continuing the story. Since the game will be a bit smaller than first anticipated the price will only go up about 10 or 15 percent for the final version. All in all I think focusing on the systems I’m working on now and telling a short story will benefit everyone in terms of polish and speed in which the game is complete.

As always thanks for your support and look out for some contest if you interested in creating a quest, item, or character in the game.

Weekly Update 7
Progress is coming along great and a little bit faster than anticipated. Working on the last two features for the next path now. Instead of having multiple tutorial chapters it has all been worked in to one. The last two features should be done in about two weeks, and I’ll use the rest of the month to polish it up. Three features will not be in this patch, free building,RTS, and the pet system. The building system is voted the most anticipated so I want to take more time working with it. RTS is just a bit tougher so I’m still working on that feature. And finally the pet system, which shouldn’t be hard I just haven’t started on it yet.

On to what will be in the build. At first you’ll learn about the controls and UI which won’t take long. After that you will begin quest, so far there is fourteen quest. The quest will take you through every feature besides the one’s mentioned above. Those features are inventory, combat, collectables, farming, survival, town management and R&D. Most of these features have been discussed besides R&D. R&D functions as a means to upgrade many items and buildings. It also allows you to create new items and methods that benefit town management.

While this is just a tutorial it is relevant to the story so playing it will benefit you when the single player becomes available. Along with completing quest you will be able to find fifty collectibles in this tutorial. Survival mode will be in the next patch to and takes place of sandbox mode. More details on that after the tutorial is patch ready.

Thanks for your support.

Weekly Update 6
Weekly updates will move to Sunday. Much gets done on the weekend so best to have Sunday night so everyone is up to date. Will still do midweek updates to when needed.

Progress is coming along faster than I planned now that most of the systems are in and working well. I am midway through simulation 2 currently so by Sunday night I should have it almost complete. Once I complete simulation 2, I will polish simulation 1-2, add survival, and release the update.

That’s it for today, the next weekly update will be 08/09/2015.

Thanks for your support.

Mid Week Update
Still working on more content for the game. Originally I was going to do about 10 chapters of tutorial style quest to explain everything about the game while keeping things based in the games story. But looking at the chapters it became obvious they were too small so instead I condensed all the chapters into 3. They all still contain the story and information but now offer a much longer experience, and flow better together.

As of today I have the first tutorial completed minus polish and it contains 3 chapters. I am working on the second tutorial now and I hope to have that complete in about a month. Once that’s done I will polish those up, work on the sandbox and release that as the first major update. Again this is a complete game changer so your saves will be gone.

I wanted to talk about what kind of content you will see for this version of the game as well as explain how I plan on working this into the story. The game takes place for the most part in what I would call a fantasy setting. You’ll have your swords, magic, monster, etc. just like you would expect for that type of setting. While this is the major setting you start off in a futuristic setting, and your reliving your memories to discover what happened to you. This is the main quest for you as the players is to learn what happened by reliving your memories. It will make more since when you start playing, but it really allows for some awesome story arcs and fun gameplay elements.

The tutorials are called simulations and they lead up to the main simulation which is basically the main game. The first simulation will cover movement, UI, Inventory, Quest, Crafting and Venders. The second simulation will cover Farming, Survival, Combat, and Skills. The final tutorial simulation will cover the Pet System, Building System, Town Management, and RTS system. There will be collectables and other fun activities to do during those simulations but they are really meant to get you comfortable with the systems the main game uses. The tutorial simulations will also be a bit comedic, and have a mix of futuristic with fantasy. Once you reach the main game it’s as if you’re not in the simulation so very much fantasy. Sandbox mode will function like a survival game where your goal is to survive monster attacks, storms, etc. Multiplayer will be in at some point, but not in the next few updates. All in all I’m shooting for at least 5 hours of content and as much as 15 for the next release.

I appreciate your patience and as always thanks for supporting the development of Devoured Time.

Weekly Update 5
Game progress is coming along well. Chapter 1 is finished, meaning all the pieces are in. There will still be need for updated art later and bug fixes if any but story and gameplay are there. Chapter 2 will be done tonight and then on to chapter 3 which should be done by Monday. I received a few more surveys and they all vote for slow updates and building as a feature most excited for.

Until release of the next build I wanted to give everyone an idea of the path to that release. The plan is to complete all ten tutorial chapters, polish it up to remove as many bugs, and release it as the first major patch. Besides those ten tutorial chapters, a survival build will be in to. During this release I will start really advertising so that will go in front of all other task for a little while. I will make some better videos, write ups, and try to get the word out about the game. More fans means more funds for better systems and better content. So that’s the plan in a nut shell, more to come as I continue building the game.

As always thanks for everyone’s support.
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