We are crunching HARD on the game so I'm keeping this short!
- We've received a LOT of feedback from playtesters (some of you, I presume - awesome and thanks!!!!) that we are actively working on. Loads of bugs are found, but people are having a lot of fun so it's super promising!!
- We've made 4 new big areas since our last update here, and plan to make finish two more big ones and many smaller ones before the end of this month! Right now we're full on areas with laboratory and factory themes... Sneak peak:
- We've made a new interface and continue to make changes to it to make it clearer and better.
- We'll start translating the game soon, which is possible thanks to many of you who've signed up to help us out!
- Sound designer Martin Kvale has added our ambient mouth sounds to pretty much all areas and it's sounding awesome!!! Can't wait to let you guys hear it.
So... release is coming closer. More on that next week. *hype*
Dev Update: new content, team expansion, merchandise
Wowowowow crazy big update today! Sylvain and I have been crunching away and we've made a loooooot of progress. We're still on track, and a release somewhere mid-February is still on our timeline! But aside from our progress on the game, loads of other things have happened too:
Playable posters and T-shirts
If you met us at PAX East or Gamescom, you might already have one: a playable poster! If you didn't see us there; you can now get our playable posters PLUS playable T-shirts (yes, playable) on the internet!
For playable T-shirts, go here.
For playable posters, go here.
Content progress
We recently did an awesome livestream where we had suggestions by viewers on what to put in the windows of the gigantic Hidden Folks city that we've been building:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6_8Mniz8OY
Other than that, we've made a lot of progress on the suburb theme, a farm theme, and a jungle theme, all stuff we're eager to show. All in good time :)
Remember that timeline I gave you on these forums a while back? We're still on track! Release is still planned for mid-February, and we're doing everything we can to make that happen. Speaking about that....
Team expansion
We're super proud to announce that sound designer Martin Kvale will join us to make the sounds sound better overall! Martin is probably best known for the sounds behind the recently released Gonner, and while Sylvain and I will still be yelling into our microphones, he's going to make sure volumes are right and we mix the right sounds together.
Also joining Sylvain and I is Mirthe 'Mitty' Venbrux! You've probably already seen her work as she did the front page teaser! Aside from trailers and teasers, Mitty will be assisting us with production, marketing, and various things that need to be organised and managed.
Last but not least, we're asking Test Company Please Ignore to do some quality assurance tests to make sure that when we launch, your savegames won't break, all the buttons in out interface work, and that the game doesn't run slow on your device.
With all these awesome people helping us, the game is shaping up really well and real quickly. Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhh I'm soo excited to put it in your hands ASAP!
New teaser! Beeep beep boop boop!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBBdkGioiMU
Dev update: timeline, Fantastic Arcade, new interactions
I'm in Austin, about to fly home to Amsterdam. Hidden Folks showed here at Fantastic Arcade, an event for a group of like-minded, artistic, and heartwarming people that all make beautiful video games. It was hugely inspiring, with games like 'Everything' by David O'Reilly, 'Loot Rascals' by Hollow Ponds, and 'TumbleSeed' by a group of friends in Chicago. I highly, highly recommend you to look up these and so many more games from Fantastic Arcade here!
If you're curious how Hidden Folks is made, I gave a talk you can watch on Twitch's archive! And oh man... Hidden Folks looks so good on a cinema screen!
Development timeline
Alright, so, I've decided to share with you a more elaborate plan on releasing Hidden Folks. Making and releasing multi-platform games is really hard, so I hope this gives you insight into the effort that goes into it.
The following is our current development timeline, based on everything we know about making the game at this point, for 15 hours of gameplay / 20 levels on release, for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Apple TV:
Oct. 23: base interactions, interface iteration
Nov. 30: half of all levels done
Mid-January: all levels done, QA focus / private beta
Mid-February: release
March: content update 1
April: content update 2
May: content update 3
You could say this timeline is a general timeline, and you have to be aware that there are various simultaneous timelines not even mentioned in there, like: sounds, various interface things, playtesting, creating promotional assets, merch, business things, marketing things like reaching out to people, platform-specific integrations, and many, many other tiny things. Woooof, there is a lot to do still, loads of timelines, and we are working around the clock to make all this happen as soon as possible - or at all.
The timeline above is a plan, which means this isn't set in stone, but it is what we strive for. Right now, we have about 5 levels which we feel confident about putting in the final build of the game, so there are still a lot of levels to build. The biggest push for content will happen in November and December. After that, we will need to playtest the game A LOT to make sure the levels work the way we intend to, savegames don't go corrupt, stuff like that. Quality Assurance (QA) helps a lot here, but we are also considering organising a private beta. More on that closer to the release of the game.
New interactions
The whole idea of Hidden Folks is based on interactions, and we continue to add and work on new interactions throughout the development process. Most recently, we've added a lot of interactions to our desert themed level. Without spoiling too much of the game, here's two of those:
TL;DR: Check the awesome GIFs in this update! See you at Gamescom?
Hello folks!
As I'm typing this, I'm on the train to Gamescom, which takes place in Cologne, Germany. Hidden Folks will have a booth at the Indie Arena Booth - if you're there too, come find us!!! We'll be showing some brand new levels with many new interactions and sounds and we're super excited about this build!!!
We've been working on a new type of level in which you follow folks that walk you through the level. You'll find this in a few bonus levels, probably. We also worked on a new level selection screen, and we added particles and sounds to trees, water, and bushes. And a LOT of interactions - but I won't spoil those for you right now!
Sylvain and I are also livestreaming weekly on twitch.tv/hiddenfolks, taking suggestions and implementing them LIVE. Follow us there and join us when we're live (usually on thursdays)!
That's it for now, folks!
Dev Update June 2016
TL:DR: PAX East was awesome. We're redoing all the levels in the game. We ported Hidden Folks to Apple TV during Unite Europe. And did anyone say Linux?!
'Sup! It's been a while! How are you?
Two months have passed since PAX East, but its not too late to tell you what an amazing show it was! Hundreds of people played and loved Hidden Folks, we met a few of you there, and even spoke to a few journalists and business people! I wrote a lenghty post-mortem on the organisational aspects of running a minibooth at the IndieMEGABOOTH here, a good read if you'd interested in what a show like PAX East is like from the perspective of a game developer.
Even though PAX East was our biggest playtest yet and we found many little things that really didn't work the way we intended, Sylvain and I feel really confident about the direction we are taking the game into. We're starting to understand the 'language' by which people want to interact with the game, and so our level creation process slowly takes shape - rather than just throwing things together, we now model the level based on the interactions that will be present and the hidden folks we have in mind. For more smiles, surprises, tiny puzzles, and less frustration.
That said, all existing levels were tests more then anything else, so we've decided to throw them all away. All of them. Because making a good level starts with level design at its core, not wil level design slapped on top of it. It's a lot of work, but it will definitely be worth it.
Anyway - two weeks ago, we showcased Hidden Folks at Unite Europe and as the event itself is a bit weird to showcase at - developers only, talks-oriented, no press, barely any business - we decided to go into FUCK IT mode and do the impossible: to port the game to Apple TV and implement heat map analytics during the show, in three days. And we did it! Apple TV is a weird platform, but it's a nice step up to controller-based platforms (this is not an announcement, I think). Heat maps will be SUPER useful once we go into beta and need some data on what works and what doesn't.
Also; some of you asked for a linux version of the game, and I think I can safely say that I will try to make that happen. I'll need some help from you people running linux to make that happen, though. Alright? Alright!
Can't wait to give you all more and more sneak previews of the new levels!!!
- Adriaan
Dev Update March 2016
TLDR; Awesome press coverage in The Verge and Polygon, play Hidden Folks at Now Play This in London, and development is going well!
'Sup.
After working our asses off to make a presentable version of Hidden Folks, we flew across the ocean to show the game to a few selected journalists at GDC (San Francisco). Among others, The Verge and Polygon loved it. Read their articles full of here and here.
April 1st to 3rd, an early version of Hidden Folks will be playable at Now Play This in London. It's a fantastic event with an amazing line-up of games and we're very happy to be part of it - and obviously, we hope to see you there if you happen to be around.
We are constantly learning new things about the game, how people play it, and improve based on that. Currently, we are focussing nearly all our effort at creating some sort of visual language so that players are guided even more to know which objects are interactable and which aren't - without spoiling the fun of discovering them. Another thing that's eating up a lot of our time is the games interface; we're now in the 4th iteration and it's still not as good as we want it to be. Conclusion: things are being improved a LOT and development is going great!
We'll have some sweet announcements next month. Stay tuned.
Announcing Hidden Folks
Sooo excited!!!!
We are Adriaan de Jongh and Sylvain Tegroeg, working together to make Hidden Folks: a game like Where’s Waldo, but black and white, animated, and interactive: play with the environment to find characters in super busy areas!
We've been working on the game for a while now, but only just now decided to start talking about it. This is going to be our first Steam release so we're still discovering what the best way is to communicate with all of you. Anyway, make sure to wishlist us and join us on the forums, and give us all the feedback we need!
