It's February already! We are so engrossed in game development that we lose track of time.
Weâve just sent an electronic pigeon to everyone whoâs signed up, so please check your e-mail! đŹ đď¸
To make sure we select people who really want to play the closed beta weâre doing a second sign-up. You can sign up HERE! đ
If you miss out on the beta test, don't worry. The game will be fully released this spring! Oh my, thatâs so soon!
Oh, and what a surprise, Passpartout 2 was awarded Best Visual Art at the Taipei Game Show!! We are extremely excited to have been chosen for this award out of more than 170 amazing games from all over the world.
Weâd like to say 'Thank You!' to everyone in the community who has stuck with us making our weird little games.
//Papa Mattias
đ˘ Exclusive Closed Beta Test + Sneak Peak of a New Area!
Bonjour et bonne annĂŠe đˇđĽ
Today we have two exciting things to share. Weâre planning an exclusive closed beta test. The idea is that weâll randomly select from our Newsletter subscribers to get the opportunity to check out the latest version of the gameâźď¸ *If you haven't already subscribed to our secret newsletter, sign up here > https://www.passpartoutgame.com. Our hope is that youâll try to break the game in every way you can imagine and help let us know what mischievous things you accomplished so we can get rid of them before release. But if you just want to chill out in the game thatâll be totally fine as well âď¸
Secondly, I wanted to share some nice progress weâve been making. Itâs called Bull Street and its money-loving residents will hopefully find their way into your heart, or at least your wallet. These business people are on the lookout for clever art investments as well as needing an artistâs hand with various business venturesđ°
The main reason I wanted to show off Bull Street is this awesomely endearing heavily trafficked road. JUST LOOK AT THE CUTE CARS GOING VROOMđđđ! Uh, anyways, more info about the closed beta will come when weâre ready. The current plan is to run the Beta sometime in February, so stay tuned!
In the meantime, take care and have a good one,
//Papa Mattias
A Holiday Gift From a Not-So-Secret Santa
Bonjour my fellow artists!đˇđĽ
The Winter Holidays are approaching and the Flamebait team will soon take a bit of a breakâď¸. Personally Iâm most excited about the baby-sized Santa's elf outfit my daughter will be wearing to melt her grandmaâs heartđ . Next year weâll be back energized to finish up the game for you all!
Today I bring you a Holiday gift, a bit of a secret snack if you will. Itâs⌠[imagine a drum roll đĽ and pause reading until you feel the drum roll has reached its climax]...
THE COLOR MIXER!đ¨ In the world youâll find recipes for new color palettes that you feed into this marvelous machine. Itâll churn for a while until itâs ready, then popping out a new palette for you to enjoy!
This means that youâll be able to unlock several different palettes to find the one you love most! Weâve already shown a few of these palettes on our TikTok which you should totally follow if youâre hip ân cool. If there are any colors youâd love to see, please let me know in our Discord community.
đˇA pretty pig I made myself using the pastel color palette. Everything in the screenshot is work in progress and subject to change.
I tried my best shading some sort of metallic ball using the monochrome palette. Everything in the screenshot is a work in progress and subject to change.
Thatâs all for this month. I wish you all the best and a lovely Winter Holidayđ
//Papa Mattias
No November Newsâ
Bonjour my fellow artistsđˇđĽ
This is a bit of a personal one. Sometimes itâs easy to forget when looking at something from the outside that there are actual people making games. People with their own lives with ups and downs. While I try to be consistent I also run into the unexpected. And this time the unexpected put a bit of a delay in writing the post đ¨
The unexpected this time was something wonderful. My wife and I finally welcomed our first daughter to the worldđâ¨. Trust me that Iâm practising great restraint in not filling this post with cute baby pics (because dang, she cute). Iâm trying to hold off on sharing pics of her online since, well, she canât consent quite yet.
But! What about the game?! Whatâs going on with Passpartout?! Rest easy! While Iâve been away for a short while Iâm now back and the rest of the team has been taking great care of the game in the meantime. For those who missed it, we finally revealed that the Passpartout 2 release window is in spring next year! So hopefully youâll finally be able to get your hands on the game soon!
Until next time I leave you with a teaser for one of our new characters. Meet Flash, our radical jokesterâĄď¸. Arguably the funniest in the punk gang - if you love tired dad jokes or infuriating puns that is. Speaking of dad jokes I feel I have to practice now, I mean, itâs every dadâs duty to embarrass their kid with bad puns, right?
Take care and have a good one,
Mattias
đľď¸ Words from a whistleblower: The truth about Flamebait!
People⌠I donât have much timeâŚMy name is Kalle and Iâve been spending the last six months as an intern at Flamebait Games and I can tell you⌠while hacking this newsletter⌠that the Flamebait crew is a bunch of crazy wild cats and has no limits whatsoever... Iâm telling you this because it needs to come out. Telling the truth is my new life goal. Prior to this, it wasnât. I was a storyteller working with film, books and music - telling made-up stories all day long. Late in life, I found a way into the gaming industry and applied for an internship at Flamebait with the aim to expose them. To unveil their secrets. Because it has to be something, right? And wow⌠I mean WOWđ˛!
First of all, as an intern, you expect to get simple tasks like making coffee, sorting papers, and maybe hosting an Instagram account for a week or two. Flamebait⌠made me work! Iâve been forced to make character designs, and quests and write narratives and dialogues from day one. I hosted game tests and analyzed the results. They are actually listening to what I have to say and are, at this very moment, implementing my designs into Passpartout 2. I am an intern, for christ's sake! Yes, Iâve been writing professionally for 20 years but still: an intern! Why donât they want my coffee âď¸?
I have broken the game several times - no punishment! I have on one occasion accidentally knocked a glass of water out of the lead artist's hand without retaliation. They are suspiciously kind. Or simply decent human beingsđ¤.
Anyways - I guess you knew this already. What a lousy whistleblower I would be if I didn't disclose anything new. So I made a screen recording of me testing out our new toolsđ¨, making a self-portrait exclusively for you. I don't know what kind of trouble I will endure for unveiling this. If they choose the Flamebait way⌠they probably will offer me a job or somethingâŚ
On a more serious note, I would like to say that I am super proud of being part of this game and I hope that my involvement added a nice flavour to Passpartout 2. Youâll soon be able to see for yourselves.
Yours sincerely
Kalle Carmback, Game Design intern.
We got nominated for âExcellence in Artđâ + New Tools info
Bonjour my fellow artistsđˇđĽ
Itâs been a while since the last one. First, the team took a well-deserved break for summer and after that, I was away in Germany for Gamescom and Korea for Busan Indie Connect! Busy times, but so much fun!!
Showing the game in Korea was a joy beyond what we couldâve ever imagined. We were met with such warmth and kindness and got to hear a few personal stories from playing the first game that truly moved us. Thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth and tried the game!
In other exciting news, we got nominated for âExcellence in Artđâ! No, win for us this time around but weâre super happy just to be on the radar with our cute puppet vibes! Though I have to say that the âExcellence in Artâ should really be awarded to some of our players.
Next time around Iâll be showing you some of our new tools we got cooking. In the meantime, I want to show you a huge addition to the game youâve been dreaming of since you got to lay your hands on the demo. This feature is a game changer that can truly spin your world đ
Until next time, happy painting!
/Mattias
đź Mattias sharing his top art picks from the Demo đ¨
Bonjour our fellow artists!đĽđˇ
First of all, thank you so much for checking out the demoâ¤ď¸! Your feedback and good vibes have given us mountains of energy to keep on cracking away at the game!
The one thing we were most excited about for the demo was of course to see all the art you cool cats would create. And oh my, you did not let us down! I was thinking Iâd share some of my favourite paintings.đź
Iâm sure thereâs plenty that Iâve missed, so why donât you head over to Discord and share your art so that I can stare at it in pure amazement and awe. Also, a quick note that weâll be heading off for summer vacation so the team will be a bit quiet for a few weeksđť.
The Flamebait gang wishes you a lovely summer! Iâd recommend picking up a piece of paper and a pen and just doodling away in the lovely sunâď¸. Or, at least that's what Iâll dođ¨!
/Mattias
đ¨When Can I Play The Game??? SOOON!!
Hello fellow artistsđĽđˇ
So many of you have asked âWhen can I play the game?â, âWhenâs the Beta?â, etc⌠And weâve channeled our inner politicians for so long by giving the vaguest of answers. By the way, if you elect me Iâll make sure every citizen gets one free baguette per day. Anyways, today weâre politicians no more! (Unless you ask other questions weâre not ready to answer). Very soon youâll all be able to get your hands on a slice of Passpartout 2 as weâre taking part in the Steam Next Fest June 2022 đ
The demo will be available to play on Steam June 13th-20th! Weâve been working hard with trimming brushes, mixing paint and wiggling them puppets and we hope youâll have a blast with it! Itâll be time exclusive so donât miss this chance to check out the game and give us all the juicy feedback of what you love and hate (or maybe what youâre just luke-warm to).
If you canât wait and just want to spend the coming days leading up to the demo staring at an image of the game in pure hype and suspense I got ya covered! Disclaimer, donât stare for too long periods at a time, donât forget to blink and remember to eat, sleep and hydrate.
Weâll send out a little boop once the demo goes live so you wonât miss it. But to be safe you should mark June 13th down in your little calendar or on your fridge or wherever you mark stuff down you ought to remember!
Until then, keep being as awesome as alwaysâ¤ď¸
//Mattias
Woahâ¤ď¸ 20k is a Big Number! Thank You!
Bonjour fellow artistsđžđˇ
We recently reached a milestone of 20 000 wishlists for Passpartout 2!
Weâre grateful and impressed by your wishlisting abilities. Itâs amazing to see so many people excited to pick up the paintbrush again. Speaking of brushes we recently did some improvements to the watercolor brush Iâd love to share with you.
Now I consider myself a mediocre artist at best, so for me itâs important that the brushes in Passpartout 2 help me make beautiful art. So far my favorite is the watercolor brush. It leaves behind this lovely texture that chaotically builds shapes that I can add to, helping me create some pretty sweet art. I especially like using it for drawing water or fire, but Iâm sure the creative minds out there can find many more uses for it! I mean, the masterpieces you made with the barebones tools of Passpartout 1 is mind blowing so I can only imagine what youâll cook up with this!
Hereâs a little time lapse of me using the watercolor and some other tools to draw a tiny boat on the ocean, minutes before getting hugged by a big-boy octopus.
Now itâs time to go back to the development dungeon. Thank you for tuning in and stay awesome!
/Mattias
A Premature Easter EggđĽâ¨
Bonjour my fellow artists!đĽđˇ
ďťżToday I wanted to share a little easter egg with you! Which I guess maybe prevents it from being an easter eggđĽ? Anyways, it'll be our secret eggđĽâ¨!
Meet MS Karashi, Harry's trusty fishing boatâľď¸. He and his daughter Gabrielle used to often go out on fishing trips. Though not so much lately as Gabrielle has gotten older.
Now what's the easter egg you ask?! Karashi is actually the name of our marketing wizard Miya's catđ! This feline floofball has contributed so much in our work-from-home meetings. Though there is a bit of a language barrier as no one in the office speaks the Meowish language (^_^;)
