Hey folks! I just wanted to give another quick status update before the patch finally hits. I am currently in a phase where I am almost finished but here and there small things come to my attention that I want to adress now rather than later. One of these things happened to be the menu, so.. well. That took a few days.
I am really proud of the iterations I had with the menu. From the floating menu in the old days, as seen in this video:
You can now properly change the settings without having to carefully read the hotkeys. The main goal was to align the menu more with video game conventions, reducing the amount of weird mechanics I introduced in the old one. In addition to that, the game will now feature a simple but reliable savegame menu, allowing you to quickly visit the past:
Thank you!
For the patience and interest in the game. I'll be back shortly.
If you're already playing Fumiko, you'll be familiar with the memory fragments. These well hidden pieces of story are scattered throughout the game and will shine a lot of light on the lore. With the upcoming update, the main menu will now display all memory pieces you found (shared between savegames) during your time playing the game. Feel the progress you've made and more importantly - read all of them taking as much time as you want without having to pause your gameplay.
New intro for the I.M. Server + 1000 jumps
As mentioned earlier, the I.M. Server needed some shakeup. It'll now feature a structure giving you general directions on where to go. It'll still be a puzzle, but you won't be stuck alone in the void without any help.
In addition to that, I thought it would be a good idea to move "endless" jumping to this level, enabling it a bit earlier than it was. This way, players will be able to concentrate on solving the puzzle instead on counting their jumps.
You can see the new intro containing the structures in the video below!
I'm currently testing Fumiko! on a macbook air and so far everything's going well. There might be some rare cases where you have to turn off the Steam Overlay to make it work, but I'm generally pleased by performance and stability. The mac version will probably release after the patch comes out, but not too far away. So watch out mac players!
Shenanigans with A.I.
Don't miss out on this interesting clip of me running away from A.I. while watching from the distance. The A.I. in Fumiko can paint some beautiful stuff!
For your interest in the game and I'll be back with more news soon!
Best Regards,
Odrez
Price dropped! + Update progress
Now that I have your attention with the newly implemented dropdown ability, there's something I want to talk to you about.
Planned price drop
The game is now out for 2 months and I am not happy with the price I have chosen for the game. I missed the chance of appearing in games under $10 and not many of you were willing to try out Fumiko! at its current price. I chose something that I felt resembled the worth of it well, but I didn't hit many people's pricing expectations. Being new to Steam with only this game to show off and having chosen a particularly unusual genre/style combination, many people have chosen to put Fumiko! on their wishlist to wait for a sale.
That's what we all do and I can understand that. However, I want more people to be able to try out this game and give some meaningful feedback. If a lower price can achieve that, I'm willing to give it a try and adjust the pricing. I think in the current world with a collection of games as big as Steam has, people are having a hard time deciding on which game to spend their cash on. With that in mind, a price has to reflect what people are willing to spend on a game when they want to be able to play as many games Steam has to offer.
For this reason, I'll set a new price in the next days. It'll be something between $6.99 and $9.99. If you have bought the game for $12.99 recently and you feel treated unfairly, please use the e-mail listed on the support page with a proof of purchase and your bank account and I'll refund you the difference as soon as the new price applies.
[edit] The new price is $6.99!
Update Progress
Dropdown Ability
As seen above, there is now a dropdown ability! I'll try to introduce this ability as early as possible into the game. While its use isn't required, it adds a lot mobility to fumiko and can save your life when chased by enemies. Especially in the level shown below, where your main goal is to fall down as fast as you can, this ability is extremely useful. I'm glad I implemented it and it will be a part of the next update.
Hyperion
I wanted to give hyperion a bit more polish and make it easier to continue the story. I think I hit the bar correctly - it'll still surprise new players with chaos and confusion, but gives them a red line to follow. No one should get lost in the new version. I made some slight adjustments to how the distortion of hyperion looks like and added a new cutscene to the university. There is some new and some overhauled dialogue.
I am currently thinking about adding even more social interactions to hyperion to reward exploration a bit more. With the new map the existing homeworlds should now be findable, but it would be cool to have some additional smaller homeworlds. Not set in stone yet, but I think it would move hyperion even more to what I had envisioned for it.
Endless Jumps earlier
I've watched Ryo's awesome Let's Play of the game which you should check out now if you're looking for an in-depth playthrough that talks about the strengths and weaknesses of the game. While he has not discovered everything, it is really worth a watch and has some great suggestions for the game.
One of these suggestions was to give Fumiko endless jumping earlier. This was easy to implement, so why not. After leaving the I.M. Server, you'll now get endless jumping immediately, which will help in the upcoming boss fight and some levels after it.
I.M. Server
I apologize for creating a level that is mostly invisible and has almost no landmarks for players to help them navigate through. The puzzle itself isn't too difficult, but finding the switches has turned out to be a timewaster for some. This is not intended and I'm going to add stuff in to make your position inside more clear and tell you at least a direction where to go. This will be one of the next things I'll mess around with.
Thank you!
For your interest in the game. I hope that the price drop is received positively. Fumiko! is a game that has a lot to offer and I want more people to be able to play it.
Best Regards,
Odrez
Working on a new update
Hey everyone! I didn't stop reading your feedback and there are some things I want to do to make the game an enjoyable experience for everyone.
I am still in the creative process that will result in some parts of the game getting changes and improvements. The main approach I have for this update is taking a look at each level the game has to offer and check if there is something I can add or change that will make the level more accessible. Fumiko! is not about difficulty, but about engaging experiences that are changing in every level. For this to work, I need to be careful about the guidance I give. It doesn't matter if they're small visual hints, tips given by characters in the game or actual changes about the red line that leads you through the game. Some parts of the game have already received that treatment or were lucky to work perfectly from the beginning, while other parts might have some rubble lying around that can be a stumbling stone for some players. I don't have a team of UX-Designers behind my back, but with the experience I got from levels later into development, maybe I can give the game just that bit more polish it needs to truly shine.
I just wanted to give you a quick update and some example screenshots of things I already touched. Feel free to leave your feedback or give me any additional requests that might improve your experience! Don't be shy - Some features might be out of reach now, but knowing what would make you happy could spark a good idea in the future.
What happened so far:
Stairs made of glass
In the current version, new players are greeted by a white environment where Wilson will make contact to Fumiko. He'll tell you to run around, maybe hit a wall and then spawn a stair made of glass that you have to climb in order to continue. This stair is a relict of early development, it's the first level I made when I started to implement the story I had written for the game. Player movement and gameplay was different back then and I didn't know which route the gameplay will take in lategame. Thus, this part didn't quite resemble what Fumiko! is about. Small bunny-hops from small platform to small platform? Totally wrong. I deleted the stairs and replaced them with something that fulfills a better role in teaching how the game is meant to be played. The story will stay the same. An example for the new version:
There'll be some more finetuning, but I'm already quite confident that the new area will be a more fun way to try the first jumps. More space, bigger platforms, more ways to experience the insane jumping height of Fumiko - even with only a double jump at hand.
Hyperion
Hyperion was and is a weird experiment. It's a big city with a lot to see that also has quite some unused space. The main story will only give you vague hints at what to do, because the continuation of the main story is meant to catch the player by surprise. Things are changing and the player is supposed to be confused by the events around him. This weird mix of optional content and confusion is a bit tricky. I like it from a storytelling point, but it's also bad in terms of game design. Being all like "oh my god what is happening" in a story is very different from "oh my god what is happening" in gameplay. I don't want this to happen anymore and my current goal is to put focus on telling players exactly where to go, while hinting at the optional homeworlds to explore before they leave. A first step in that direction is the addition of a map to the main street of Hyperion. I had to implement it to see how incredibly helpful that alone is for players who want to explore everything.
Other subtle changes
Added a small hint to the Kronos Gate that you can jump on background objects:
Added flowing data paths to the Kronos Bridge that will give a rough direction on where to go:
Increased the size and visibility of the ground marker (drop-shadow replacement) because some players didn't realize that it even existed and those who did probably couldn't see it consistently enough.
Thank you for reading!
I'll try and keep you updated about the upcoming changes. See you around!
Best Regards,
Odrez
Play the new Demo!
The demo now contains two levels from later areas of the game that offer a more atmospheric and wild experience.
If you're looking for reasons to give Fumiko! a shot, try out the new demo! In addition to the existing two exclusive preview levels, you'll now get the chance to take a tour in two later levels of the game.
Don't start right at the boss fight! You have been warned.
Experience the vastness of the kronos bridge!
Prove your skills in a difficult boss fight with an unknown enemy.
Both levels will be encountered during the main plot of the game. I removed spoilerish story from the boss fight but left the kronos bridge level intact. Get some taste of the gameplay and storytelling of this game in the demo!
The latest patch included better text skip and several fixes and improvements to the game. Missed it? Here is all you need to know!
The official Demo is now on Steam!
Just hit the Button on the right side of the store page to install the free demo. This demo contains two additional and unique levels that let you experience the core gameplay of Fumiko! without spoiling any story.
PATCH NOTES! Better menu, improved text skip, bugfixes
Patch Notes From 02/20/2017
Camera
There has been a major bug that caused the default camera speed to be at almost 0, this has now been resolved
Menu
The menu has gotten quite an overhaul. I have decided to change the floaty interface to a screen overlay. This improves readability and allows me to show the menu more reliably.
Menu is now an overlay that dims the screen
Menu can now be activated during text scenes with some minor exceptions
Latest Log now scales properly when there are too many lines instead of cutting them off
Fixed a bug that caused music and ambient volume to fall down to 20% when exiting the game when the menu is open (If you have encountered very loud sounds, that was the issue. Make sure to check the sound settings after this patch)
Quit Game no longer requires the player to keep holding a button. Press the exit key and accept to close the game.
Default Settings were messed up when the game was started for the first time, this has now been resolved
Text Scenes
It is no longer possible to skip text with B or SHIFT
You can now auto-complete text by pressing A/Space and start skipping text by holding A/Space
Fixed some smaller typos
Changed some sentences that were grammatically correct but sounded bad
Added some sentences to chapter 2 that might help finding the way to continue the main plot
It is no longer possible to select and edit the text by pressing TAB
Levels
Added a subtle hint to the exit gate of Kronos Bridge
Changed the size of a trigger in the second level
Updated several levels to be conform with the new menu and skip mode
Linux
It should now be less likely for the mouse cursor to show up, but unity can't be helped to show it once in a while. Opening the ingame menu (ESC) will hide the cursor again, should it still occur. I'll try and file a bug for Unity in the next days and maybe get them to give it a fix.
Recent Patch Notes
Also for those that haven't seen the patch notes from 02/14/17 (since I posted them in the discussions group, not in the news:
Fumiko now needs more time to start running when using a keyboard, improving the precision of walking controls for keyboard users
Automatic Camera rotation is now incremental in speed to avoid camera shaking when taking small steps
