Mail Time
Mail Time in Wholesome Direct + DEMO!
This SATURDAY Mail Time will be a part of the Wholesome Direct Showcase with a brand new trailer!!
I can't tell you what's in the trailer YET but I'm so excited for you to see it 👀👀
You better all show up in the chat >:(
Where: YouTube & Twitch
When: June 11, 2022 12:30 PM ET
IM SO BAD AT KEEPING THINGS SECRET YOU DONT EVEN KNOW IM SO READY OMG
ALSO ASLO ALSO
The DEMO is back for the coming 7 DAYS (real) (confirmed)
you can play it RIGHT NOW!!
If you have already played it there's actually nothing different about it this time because I focused on working on the full game so feel free to instead participate in our Discord art contest or touch some grass outside!
AAAAaaAAAaaAA!!!
Mail Time May Update: 1 year anniversary!
It’s been a WHILE since we’ve done an update damn 😳
With good reason though! Once the Kickstarter finished up I was a little down in the energy department and decided to prioritise development of the game while the social battery recharged. :)
BUT it’s been a little lonely not sharing what I’ve been doing so I figured I’d share a bit of a look into what I’ve been up to!
🎇1 YEAR anniversary of the Mail Time Discord!!🎇
Last week the Discord turned 1 year old and we’ve been celebrating with the community! Just a year ago the server had about 50 members in the first day (and omg was I excited) and now we’ve got over 8400 people there!
The Discord is a place I hang out pretty much every day and interact most with everyone in the community so to see it grow into this extremely kind and welcoming space has been incredible.
For the anniversary we have an exclusive role that you can get to signify you were part of the year 1 club! 😤🎉 If you make your way over there within the next few days you can still get it!
🎀 Kiki the cat 🎀
Meet Kiki the cat! He might seem soft and cuddly but he’s actually very busy and it would be great if you could state your business and then leave? Thanks. Time is money. (and Kiki quite likes money)
You’ll meet Kiki when you’re delivering mail around the Grumblewood Grove as many critters in the area actually rent their houses from him. In true landlord fashion he’s unwilling to fix things and would rather never speak to his tenants. As much as this kitty puts up a ruthless front and is a pain to deal with, maybe he has a soft heart? Deep down… very deep down.
🍀 Player portraits 🍀
If you played the demo when we brought it back briefly for PAX East last month you’ll have already had a first look at this but I was finally able to finish all the art for the player portraits! So now no matter what configuration you decide on for your mail scout you’ll be represented as you should in dialogue.
✨ Sparking collectibles ✨
It had already been on my schedule for a bit and I was finally able to get to adding some shine and sparkle to the collectible pickups! This way they’re not only more special but also slightly easier to spot in the environment as there’s more movement going on. ✨
🐸 Dialogue Portraits 🐸
I also spent WEEKS drawing the dialogue portraits for all the different characters in the game. There’s around 13 characters in the game with 12 portraits each so it came down to 156 individual drawings T_T
But, it does bring a lot of character to the game and helps convey the emotions of the conversations better so it’ll be worth it :’)
Those are the highlights! There’s also a whole bunch of small things that are not nearly as fun to look at + some SUPER SECRET stuff that I’m excited to share with you next month!
Bye bye ヽ(•ᴗ•๑)o
Mail Time Demo Update - V.0.11.14
✨SURPRISE! The Mail Time demo is BACK for the weekend! ✨
Mail Time is part of the PAX East Steam event which runs this weekend so we decided to bring back the demo 🙂
That means you can get the exclusive "cursed bear" Discord role again this weekend if you don't have it yet! Post screenshots of your achievement in the Discord's screenshot channel. If you encounter any bugs please report them in the bugs channel!
This patch introduces the long awaited player dialogue portraits! 🎉
Along with it will come some minor bug fixes and balancing changes on the jump. But no content additions or anything so if you've already played it, it will be pretty much the same. 😊
Changelog v.0.11.14:
- player dialogue portraits now correspond to your customized mail scout!
- moved the player location reset button the the general section of the settings tab. Use that if you get stuck!
- changed the balancing of the jump to feel less 'floaty' based on player feedback.
- removed mentions of Kickstarter now that the campaign is over.
- fixed dialogue at the end with Janet where the wrong speaker was indicated.
- dialogue fixes where certain names weren't always color coded.
- removed the player portrait notice from player creation since it's now no longer needed.
Mail Time Kickstarter FULLY FUNDED!!!
Kela (the developer) here :) It's been a couple of weeks now and I still can't quite believe how overwhelmingly great the Kickstarter has been the past month. It's surreal to me that there are 1509 people all over the world that have supported my cozy mail-delivery game, I can't quite comprehend that many people. 🥲
We absolutely smashed the $20k initial goal that we had and unlocked 9 out of 10 milestones!! We just missed out on the last stretch goal sadly but I'm so so proud that we were able to get so many stretch goals. Thanks to your support we're adding 5 gliders to the game, 2 minigames, and A SWITCH RELEASE!!!
From the bottom of my heart thank you so much for backing the Kickstarter for those of you who were able to <3
I'll be chatting on the Discord and would love to say hi to each of you :)
Mail Time Demo Update - V.0.11.12
The Mail Time Kickstarter hit 100% funded this weekend! 😭💛 Thank you all so much for your support thus far and for giving all kinds of feedback on our demo. Based off of all of your feedback, I have another update for you all. Check out the patch notes here:
V.0.11.12 changelog for both windows + Mac
- performance enhancements
- added new graphical settings to allow users to downscale the game further
- added a location reset button to the settings menu to help when players get stuck (under the triangle icon on the settings tab of the handbook)
- camera assist is off by default
- collision fixes
If you find any bugs or experience problems please let us know via discord! If you want to give me some feedback in general on the demo, please fill out this survey!
Thanks so much again!! I can’t wait to see where we go 💛
Mail Time Demo Update - V.0.11.11
It’s been just under 20 hours since the Kickstarter launched and the reception has been ABSOLUTELY amazing!! (I’m still crying a little bit) We’re already at 50% funded and we still have 29 days to go! 😭💛
Of course it took you no time at all to find little bugs all over the place (and even get out of bounds?!) so we’re here with our first patch to remedy some issues:
V.0.11.11 changelog:
- fixed issue where dialogue would not start sometimes
- game will no longer attempt to start in steamVR.
- dialogue fixes so everything fits in UI nicely.
- small environment fixes so players don't get stuck.
- added clarity in Irene's dialogue about the amount of bottlecaps in the game.
- added a description of the community bottlecap challenge to the handbook!
- Handbook delivery display changes for clarity.
If you find any bugs or experience problems please let us know via discord! If you can also find your way out of bounds and can collect the ✨cursed bear bottlecap✨, let us know via a screenshot in the Discord and get an exclusive role 😈 If you want to give me some feedback in general on the demo, please fill out this survey!
Thanks so much again!! I can’t wait to see where we go 💛
The Mail Time Kickstarter is live!!!
Today is the day! The Mail Time Kickstarter has officially launched!
You can back us here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/freedomgamesgg/mail-time?
[previewyoutube="YjNT5psqZo8;full"]
Our demo is also live! If you test it out and want to send some feedback, do so here!
Here's a look at what rewards are available, like bottle caps, plushies, pins, and more!👀
Mail Time Kickstarter Date Reveal + Dev updates
I’m so SO EXCITED to announce that the Mail Time Kickstarter will be launching on FEBRUARY 15TH!!!
We’re only a month away from it! (aaaaAAAaaAA)Here’s just a small sneak peek at some of the amazing rewards you’ll be able to purchase:
There’s no prototype YET and we still need to figure out the color we’ll be using but HYPE!!! You can get your VERY OWN MAIL SCOUT AAaaaAAahhh!!! 💌🎁
Just imagine all of the cool pictures you could take of your mail scout hanging around, put them in a tree, put them next to your dog, put them in your backpack!! It’s so so cool to be able to offer plushies as a reward and we’ve been working really hard to make it possible. It’s probably the most requested merch item so you got it!!
💖We’ll be consulting YOU on what colors to pick for the plushy so be sure to follow Mail Time on TikTok, Twitter or join the Discord!!
✿ Pre-save Mail Time on KICKSTARTER! ✿
✨Dev Updates ✨
First of all, happy New Years!! I’m back with the very first dev update of 2022 and I don’t want to make you TOO excited on top of the Kickstarter announcement but 2022 is the year Mail Time will launch!! I don’t know exactly when but I’m trying my darn hardest to get the game done and launched THIS YEAR.
So what have I been up to since December? I’d love to tell you 🐌☕️ ☕️🐛
🎮Controller support!🎮
Mail Time now has full controller support 😎
It’s been a challenge to get working but it’s all set up now and you should be able to use pretty much any controller! Even if it isn’t immediately recognised and working you can also:
🕹️Rebind all the controls🕹️
It’s been a huge headache to get working but I’m so happy to say that you’ll be able to rebind the controls. There’s still the final bits to do, hence the empty gaps in the UI, but you can rebind your controls to any input device you own. I can’t wait to see the steering wheel speedruns 😌
Now the most exciting thing everyone has been asking for:
🔘SLIDERS AND BUTTONS TO CHANGE THINGS WITH🔘
That’s right! Mail Time now has a settings menu B) I hadn’t actually thought that this would be a thing people would be excited about but damn everyone on Discord & the streams has been so excited about it.
Some cool things it includes:
☀️Accessibility settings!☀️
There’s various accessibility settings and I’m still adding more. I’m trying to get as many in there as I possibly can >:) Some highlights include the camera assist (which will allow you to play without a mouse if that’s difficult for you), showing the controls in the HUD for easy reminders and even giving yourself unlimited gliding stamina.
Giving yourself unlimited stamina will impact the way the game is paced and isn’t necessarily the intended way but if you feel that you would not be able to play the game without it or would simply enjoy the game more like that it’s there!
🌈Pronouns🌈
I had originally planned to never use any pronouns in the game for the player, which worked pretty well so far. But, it turns out that with different languages comes the fun realization that you can’t avoid gender everywhere. SO you can now pick your pronouns! ^U^
There’s the choice between she/her, he/him and they/them. Although, in certain languages they/them will not be available as the language doesn’t actually have a way for us to use gender neutral pronouns. But, for languages that do have that capability, you can be they/them ☺️
That’s it for now! :) Thanks so much for the support so far on the Kickstarter, we’re already at over 700 pre-saves which is amazing 💖
✿ Pre-save Mail Time on KICKSTARTER! ✿
If you want more of a behind the scenes look at the game, or to just be a part of our wholesome (and chaotic) Mail Time community, you should join our Discord!
ALSO don’t forget to wishlist Mail Time while you’re here on Steam :)) it helps me out A LOT
Bye bye ヽ(•ᴗ•๑)o
Mail Time December Update: Item Inventory
It’s ya girl back with another update 😌 TODAY I’ve got a whole NEW FEATURE for you (wow!! clap please)
BUT FIRST
🐸 Music Composer!!! 🐸
I’m over the moon to announce that Gina Loughlin will be the music composer for Mail Time! She’s so amazing as you can already hear in the Wholesome Snack Trailer we just released:
[previewyoutube="WuAoFQ9xFXk;full"]
(pre-save on Kickstarter btw ;) )
We first met through our mutual love for Frogs and honestly I couldn’t imagine anyone doing a better job with the music than Gina. It’s better than I could’ve ever hoped and I can’t wait to share more of it with you!
✨the Patch system ✨
If you were ever in the Girl/Boy scouts (or have watched Up! By Pixar) you might be familiar with their badges. They’re little badges you earn to put on your uniform for completing certain tasks. I took that idea and added it to Mail Time! But I call them patches because it’s cuter 😤
How it works is that when you complete one of the requirements for a patch (an achievement if you will ;) ) you get it swiftly delivered to you! This is probably my favourite UI I’ve done for the game so far. The way the letter bounces up is so fun to me (but that might just be me hahaha)
Patches can now be viewed in this new tab of your Mail Scout Handbook where you can hover over any patch to view it’s requirements and how far you’ve progressed towards earning it!
🏅 Collect them all!! 🏅
There’s 24 patches for you to earn (and 100% complete the game). To get them all you’ll have to do various things from completing deliveries, talking to characters, discovering and collecting trinkets etc. There’s even one for breaking outside of the game area! The idea is to support different types of playstyles with the various patches you can get.
All patches will also be Steam achievements, allowing you to show of your skills to others of course ^U^
The patches you earn are added to your HUD at the top left. This is not just because they’re pretty to look at but also because they serve a purpose!
🍃 Gliding stamina 🍃
You now need to collect patches to be able to glide for longer! Each patch adds a little bit of stamina to your gliding :)
When you run out of stamina you let go of your letter and fall to the ground. No worries though! The game doesn’t have fall damage so you’ll be fine. You regain your patches as soon as you touch down on the ground or any other surface so you can try again!
🧨NEW CHARACTER 🧨
Let me introduce you all to Swomp:
Swomp is a crime rat with a concerning lack of brain cells. What crimes is he up to with his ‘boomstick’???
That’s it for now! :) Thanks for the AMAZING response to the Wholesome Snack trailer + Kickstarter announcement!! I was super nervous about it but the amount of love so far has been incredible <3
PRE SAVE HERE
If you want more of a behind the scenes look at the game, or to just be a part of our wholesome (and chaotic) Mail Time community, you should join our Discord!
ALSO don’t forget to wishlist Mail Time while you’re here on Steam :)) it helps me out A LOT
Mail Time is Coming To Kickstarter!
I’m excited to announce that Mail Time is going to be coming to Kickstarter! The page is still a work in progress, so for the time being you can go here and sign up to be notified whenever the campaign goes live.
[previewyoutube="WuAoFQ9xFXk;full"]
I’m streaming right now (11/13/21) if you have any questions or want to celebrate: https://twitch.tv/kelamakesgames
If you see this after the announcement, feel free to join us in Discord and celebrate over there!