Lakeview Valley has been out for almost a week, so I wanted to talk about what's coming next!
There were some stuff that I really wanted to add into the game for release, but just didn't have the time because I wanted to hit the Halloween window. But that doesn't mean that I'm just scrapping them!
So now I can officially announce that I've started to work on a bigger update called "The Upper League"!
So, what does this update contain? Well, at least a couple of new secret boss fights, some new tools, and a new feature that allows you to really get to know the villagers...
Now I want to say this again: Thanks to everyone who has bought and played Lakeview Valley! I know the game still has some issues that my rushed development caused, but as I have said before, I had to do it this way if I want to continue working as a game developer. And, I can now say that HypnoGames (my company, it's still just me here) gets to continue business through 2020! So thank thank thank YOU! I'm just trying to feed my kids and all of you have made that possible!
I've also been thinking that releasing Lakeview Valley on Early Access might've been better, but I kinda feel that there's still a stigma around it among players, so I didn't do it that way. So now I ask you: What's Your opinion on Early Access? I feel like I've at least proved that I post patches regularly (some even say it get's annoying how the game updates so often), so I think I might be trustworthy enough to not seem like I'm trying to make a buck on a game that I don't intend to finish.
Early Access is something that I will consider more seriously for my next game, which is going to be an episodic game again. The name of it starts with L and ends with a 2. So it might be better to do a proper release when all the episodes are in, while letting players get in right when the first is released. Instead of, you know, doing a full release with just one episode, so Steam doesn't give a **** when all the episodes are released and treats it like a regular update. I have some experience about that. I'm rambling again. Meds are kicking in, so I'll put my headphones in and get back to working on Valley!
Best, Roope
PS: You can join our Discord to discuss the game and report bugs, it's easier to contact me there anyway! I also really want to know what you might want to be added into Valley, so let me know and it might make into the Upper League update!
Patch v1.05
v1.05
Made it so the football gets teleported to a pre-determined position in the next area once it leaves the screen
Drew portraits for all the villager faces you can wear
Fixed the “Fall of morality” achievement
Made it so you lose the Sheriffs trust if you “travel”
Fixed the instance that caused Morgo to stop doing what he’s doing on Sunday (you know what I’m talking about)
Tweaked a thing that might’ve caused the murdered NPCs to disappear after you killed them and “traveled”
Made it so you can still heal yourself at the doctor, even if there’s someone to meet him
Fixed the problem with the pause menu in the underworld
Made it so Morgo should now only focus on the villagers on Sunday
Patch v1.04
v1.04
Fixed the remaining achievements not working. Really sorry about this one, I know how annoying it must have been to not unlock the achievements!
Fixed the softlock that happened if you continue on Saturday after dying instead of restarting the day
Added an offset to where the masks drop when you use beds or chairs etc. so you will be able pick them up again more easily
The arrow keys should work for movement now
Fixed the worm partly staying on your yard if you swim away
Made George have his regular shop dialogue if you talk to him while Ruth is there
Made the stubs in your yard disappear after you get the better lawn
Made sure the credits don’t loop after waiting too long
The clock will now hopefully disappear if you die while “time skipping”
Made Ivan sleep on a futon so I was able to remove the collider so you’ll have an easier time fucking him, YOU’RE WELCOME!
Fixed the scarecrow thing (that not many have found)
Fixed the colliders near the eastern bridge that allowed you to glitch out of the map
Tweaked the fishing mini-game since the rod disappears if you exit while the fish is showing
Patch v1.03
v1.03
The achievements should work now!
Found a reason why Jimmy suddenly disappeared at the arcade cabinet. Added a little fix so it shouldn’t happen with any NPCs anymore. Unless it’s midnight of course.
The stage floors quest should now reset if you travel
Tweaked the pathfinding, it might still cause some slowdown but I’ll keep optimising it
Fixed Amy’s body not registering to anyones eyes when you drag her
Fixed the NPCs doing that weird shuffle and then teleporting back to their location. They still do the shuffle but at least they don’t teleport now…
Added some precautions to the “restart day” mechanic so everything gets destroyed and reloaded properly, hopefully it helps with the duplication problem
Made BumBum to re-path himself if he deems himself stuck
Fixed the embarrassing “Return to title sreen” typo…
Patch v1.02
v1.02 First patch after release! I wasn't able to get everything I wanted done today but tomorrow is a new day! If you're enjoying the game, consider leaving a review, it really helps the game to show up to more people!
Here's a list of all the changes:
Fixed the looping problem if you go into the water on the last Sunday
Found a possible reason that might’ve caused the Sheriff to always say you were reported of suspicious activity, even if you weren’t, fixed it
Made the footstep sounds stop when you’re in a cutscene
Dropping an item while swimming will now make you lose the item! So be careful not to drop anything valuable!
Made sure the severed heads get removed if you travel
You should now be able to exit the map with the “B button” on a controller
Added a little more feedback for when you kill that mysterious creature
Made sure the footsteps get muted when you pause the game
Fixed (hopefully) the mysterious creature’s animation problems
Fixed Matt thinking that Donna is dead right after starting a new game
Added the big guy to the list that gets reset if you travel
Fixed the collider problem near the abandoned house
Made sure the number of snakes you have killed will reset if you travel
Fixed Ruth doing that weird teleport thing at the beginning of the game
Fixed the thing on that bridge in that one place not counting the killed villagers properly
Fixed the prices at Amy’s stall AGAIN SINCE I’M AN IDIOT!
Fixed Morgo telling the story again and again and again
Made sure Luanne actually leaves when she is done at your home
The shotgun works, but the spread made it miss easily, so I doubled the amount of pellets it releases on a shot
Made it so that one gentleman acts independently on LakeDay if you haven’t taken any help from him
Made it so the shroom affects a certain dialogue between two characters
Tried a little fix for the Mystery Ladys certain dialogue not activating properly. Not sure if it helped since I couldn’t find an obvious reason for what might cause it
Added some dialogue if you bring the Sheriff to a certain place
Made it so the game also saves your current selected inventory slot, not sure if it helps with the item duplication problem but fingers crossed!
Fixed the weird clipping problem with Mary
I reduced the time warp speed that happens when you sit on a bench. The minutes should still go about as fast as before but the characters will move a bit slower. The faster it goes, the easier they get stuck inside walls so let’s try this
Patch v1.01
v1.01
Fixed the shop buy prompts being porked on certain resolutions
Fixed the prices in Amy’s stall
Fixed the bridge problems
Fixed the disappearing beard bug
Fixed the problem with the dreams
Made Dr. Don teleport to his office in a certain cutscene
Fixed dialogue not branching properly in numerous places
Tried a little fix for the dialogue regarding the stage on Saturday
Fixed the dream dialogues
Fixed that one thing staying on Rebecca
Fixed the typo in one of the pop-ups
Added a longer delay between certain pop-ups when you catch something
Added the missing colliders to Frank’s house
The cow should now disappear at midnight too
The corpse of Amy Cooper will now act like a regular corpse and alert NPCs if you move it
Added introductory dialogue for the doctor
Fixed Frank being able to shoot you even after midnight
Fixed Franks map displayer showing up in the map after midnight
Tweaked the big guy again, wasn’t able to get him stuck now, but it still might be bugged
Added dialogue for Amy at that one place
Made it impossible to get out of your bed during the transition to the next day
Made the moths and corpses react to chainsaw
BumBum should now stop following you and not bug out if you’re swimming
Made it so if you die during the Sheriffs cutscene, it doesn’t go to the next dialogue entry
The date on Friday won’t happen if you haven’t been invited now
Using cheats will now disable the achievements
Tried once again to make sure the Preacher doesn’t stay at your yard if you die and continue onto the next day…
Fixed the colliders near the beach diner that allowed you to glitch out of the map
Patch v1.00(!!!!!!!!)
v1.00
Added introductory dialogue for most of the villagers
Added A LOT of new hidden dialogue
Changed the bracelets into something else
Your inventory should now save when traveling
Fixed the improved grass appearing in front of the interior of the sauna
Fixed the mascara being in front of the shed
Spruced up Frank’s cabin
Made the town fountain into an actual fountain
Added something to the old man
Sheriff should now continue onto his act if certain criteria isn’t met, that previously just caused him to stop doing anything
The game should now save the “turned” poops, so restarting a day should now still have their transformed versions
Fixed the background on a certain cutscene
Fixed the hat on a certain cutscene
Morgo shouldn’t attack Dweller now
Your clothes should now return if you restart the day while nude
Blocked the path where you could glitch yourself into the water near the western beach
Fixed the colliders at the Sheriff’s office and at other places
Fixed colliders and the water at the eastern bridge
Fixed Matt being inside of the house while talking to Dixon who is outside
The Hermit shouldn’t stay at the beach now
Fixed a collider that allowed you to glitch out of the map near Franks home
Fixed the collider on the sidewalk near the abandoned house
Fixed the snakes being able to bite you even when they can’t reach you
Added echoes
Patch v0.35
Drew portraits for all the masks you can find. Wearing a villagers face isn’t included (YET), and there are no special reactions (YET)
Added a way to improve your lawn
Tweaked the fishing mini-game
There were some problems with the line of sight system, I’ve tweaked it some more. Hopefully works better now.
Fixed the treasure and metal detector. Might be porked if you load a previous save, but they were finally fine on a new game.
Added a new dialogue for Ivan for evenings. So no more sex with him on the street!
Tried a little fix for the zombies gliding problem
Added some seashells to the beaches to break up the sand-pattern. I KNOW IT’S A LAKE AND NOT AN OCEAN, IT JUST LOOKS SO MUCH NICER!
Added some stuff to the scarecrow
Fixed the cutscene background at that one place
Added the missing people to that one place
Luanne should now notice the outerior of your home when grading it
Patch v0.34
The beta is now over, and the game is almost content ready. If you still have the game in your library, congratulations, you earned yourself a free game!
Here are the changes:
You may notice there are more trash containers in the game now…
I’m trying a thing with the resolution, let me know if it causes frustration (some of the pause menu buttons look a bit off right now because of this, will fix)
Prettied up the Lakemart and the Sheriff’s office
Tried a little fix for that big guy getting stuck
Nerfed the sword a bit, still too OP I think
Fixed the stage collider being there even if there are no poles on the ground
Tried a little fix for BumBums music staying on after you are done with him
Removed the ring item and added two other items you will be able to find
The metal detector didn’t work if you switched to it from another item in the inventory, fixed it
The metal detector didn’t alert you about “treasures” that have predetermined locations (example graves), it should now alert you about them too
Tried a little fix for the big guys music staying on after you die
Found a reason the NPCs might stop following you and just staying idle when you are fighting them, fixed it. Hopefully it was the only reason it happened.
Fixed the shop buy prompts looking flat
Tried a fix for the weird lines appearing between the tiles at some areas
Changed some dialogue that refererred to the burned house
Added some dialogue for Lil Bobby
Fixed the bug that caused the continue button to not work even if the doctor is alive
Patch v0.33
Added a new, very simple ending.
Added the first batch of achievements, but “Get all upgrades”, “Shit on all toilets”, “Sex 6 times in a day” achievements won’t work yet.
That cool script that I made to check if two NPCs are close enough to talk… It wasn’t actually hooked up… It is now.
Fixed the coffee pot removing your held item
Fixed Martha’s empty dialogue box
Found a possible reason why Amy wouldn’t appear dead in dialogues, hopefully that fixed it
Tweaked how long the NPCs stay at their evening activities before moving to their night activity
Morgo shouldn’t attack the scarecrow anymore
Made sure Rebecca leaves after talking to you on that one night
