Shadows of Doubt
Thank you for playing Shadows of Doubt during Nextfest!
We have received an incredible amount of feedback and will be looking through all of this over the coming weeks, the community reaction to the game has blown us all away and we look forward to bringing you more Shadows of Doubt news in the near future, with that in mind be sure to check out our Twitter and Discord pages to keep up to date with the latest news detectives!
Twitter: https://twitter.com/detectivesim
Discord: https://discord.gg/shadows
Shadows of Doubt Top 9 Things to do in the Demo!
Just a little stream for you all to enjoy while the demo is live as part of the Steam Next Fest!
You can play the 90 minute demo right now on our Steam page! Check out this video for the top things to do in the demo
Join the Discord to chat with the community and ask questions!
Shadows of Doubt Top 9 Things to do in the Demo!
Just a little stream for you all to enjoy while the demo is live as part of the Steam Next Fest!
You can play the 90 minute demo right now on our Steam page! Check out this video for the top things to do in the demo
Join the Discord to chat with the community and ask questions!
Play Shadows of Doubt Demo at Steam Next Fest
You read that right. We are going to have a public demo available for everyone to play from the 6th to the 13th of February as part of Steam's Next Fest!
You will be able to play the first 90 minutes of the game and take your first steps in the investigation!
We hope you've got your detective equipment ready to take on your first case as you try and stop a serial killer!
Sign up to the January Shadows of Doubt Closed Beta now!
Hey all, we have some very exciting news to announce today! We will be performing our first Shadows of Doubt Closed Beta using Steam! Head over to the main page where you will find the option to opt into the Beta! Participants will be chosen at random using the Steam Playtest functionality and if you were part of the last Closed Beta you don’t need to register again as once the playtest is live you will still have access!
IMPORTANT:
The Closed Beta will run from January 13th at 10:00AM GMT until January 16th at 10:00AM GMT, if you are selected to participate we would love to hear your thoughts on the progress of Shadows of Doubt, and you will find a link to a form to give feedback within the game.
You are welcome to stream and share content using footage captured through the Closed Beta, though please be aware that this is a beta version of the game, so bugs will be expected. Please also respect other players' wishes to remain spoiler free so they can play through the game blind when it releases early this year.
If you don’t get selected to participate in the Closed Beta, don’t worry! There will be another chance to play it in the future, ahead of launch!
During the Closed Beta, we will once again be using the spoiler warning channel on Discord, where you will be asked to keep conversations regarding the Beta restricted to that channel to avoid giving away too much to the rest of the Discord server.
Join the Shadows of Doubt Discord Server to keep in touch with us, and other testers whilst you play the Beta!
Catch Shadows of Doubt live, on Yogscast’s Jingle Jam!
Yogscast Jingle Jam is the worlds biggest charity gaming event supporting 12 charities, and the Shadows of Doubt team is delighted to have the opportunity to take part. We would love for you all to use this chance to check out the game and if possible, make a donation toward the selection of charities involved.
You can find out more about the Yogscast Jingle Jam here
You can watch the stream live here
Shadows of Doubt is Coming Early 2023!
Justice is almost ready to be served
Announced during PC Gaming Show, we’ve revealed our first official gameplay trailer, giving you a closer look at our crime-solving experience.
A city of secrets awaits…
We’d like to say a massive thanks to everyone who has supported the game so far. Your feedback on our Closed Beta has been beyond helpful, and we hope to release the best possible version of Shadows of Doubt!
To keep up to date with the latest announcements, you can follow us on Twitter.
And if you’d like to chat with other players, find out about the latest news, and be the first to hear about playable code, you can join our Discord.
Stay tuned, detectives…
Shadows of Doubt: November Closed Beta - Sign up now!
Hey all, we have some very exciting news to announce today, Shadows of Doubt Closed Beta sign ups will be open from today through to the 10th of November. You can sign up by visiting this page!
Participants will be selected on a first come first serve basis and are limited but hopefully most of you will get in. If you are selected, you will receive an email with a Steam key to the playtest app of Shadows of Doubt on November 10th..
IMPORTANT:
The Closed Beta will run from 10 November 2022 10:00 GMT to 14 November 2022 10:00GMT. You should be able to redeem your key and play the closed beta from as soon as you have the received the key on the 10th.
While playtesting, participants will have the opportunity to provide as much feedback as they’d like about the game. We will have a feedback form clearly within the game but it is also Here
If you don’t get selected to participate in the Closed Beta, don’t worry! There will definitely be another chance to play it in the future before we launch next year!
During the closed beta we will set up a spoiler warning channel where you will be asked to keep conversations about the closed beta restricted to that channel to avoid giving away too much to the rest of the Discord
Join the Shadows of Doubt Discord Server to keep in touch with us, and other testers whilst you play the beta!
Shadows of Doubt DevBlog #31: An October Update
Internally we're transitioning from 'adding stuff' to 'refining stuff', which is a pretty big milestone. It's no secret this game has been challenging to create, and it has no shortage of rough edges right now, so it's feeling really good to go through and address them.
Player Progression
One such thing we're refining is player progression. I haven't really talked about this a lot previously.
The biggest chunk of practical player progression comes in the form of "Sync Disks"; think Bioshock-style genetic updates that give you a choice of buffs. You won't have lightning shooting from your fingertips or anything; these upgrades are much more grounded (ha) to something resembling reality. The main idea though is for each one to have a choice of 2 or more upgrade options; making for some interesting decision-making and bringing some RPG-like elements to the game. For example, one disk will have you choosing between more health or more inventory space: That's one of the more 'standard' upgrades, but I've really tried to think outside the box a bit for many of the others: Some of them are more akin to modifiers that subtly change how you play the game rather than straightforward benefits. I want to give examples but it's probably better if I leave the discovery to you. The idea is you may want to play Shadows running through it with different builds in different generated cities.
I've recently done a 'grime' pass over a lot of the interiors
Audio Progress
Another area that has progressed a lot in recent weeks is audio. Nick has been busy adding and refining sounds, and it's making a huge difference in how immersive the world is feeling.
One thing we've been tackling recently is diegetic music; that is music that appears within the world such as a song played on a jukebox in a bar. What's great about this one is that I had previously set up the AI to dance to anything playing (our artist Miles has done some excellent NPC dance animations). Hilariously the AI simply does not care what it's dancing to, resulting in citizens grooving away to slow melodic piano music... I guess they're just that starved of entertainment in the world of Shadows.
WCs
One of the last things to make the latest build, bizarrely, is the public lavatory setup. Before now we had the apartment bathrooms working, but the models for public ones were not yet present in the game. This resulted in a very awkward public bathroom situation that involved a single toilet and sink in a large open room that anyone could just walk into. Not that that AI seemed to care. Now we have proper cubicles. Proper ones that give the citizens some privacy. The eagle-eyed detectives may even spot some useful graffiti scrawled on the side.
A Parting Thought...
One of the early limitations of the gameplay was the player not being able to kill anyone, or specifically, be able to shoot people. While this may not feel in keeping with the game's noir roots, this limitation has actually become, in my opinion, a benefit to the gameplay. Much like in a horror game, not giving the player an arsenal at their disposal makes them much more vulnerable; and this works really well with the 'creeping around places you shouldn't' vibe. And even when things do go wrong and you have people hunting you with guns, it's much more satisfying to be forced to rely on your environment: Ducking into an air duct, hiding in the shadows, or if you are committed to violence, chucking a chair in their face to knock them out as you dart for the exit. It started as a practical limitation and has ended up as one of my favorite aspects of the gameplay.
Anyway, that's it for another update. Times are very busy right now, so for the moment, the schedule of the updates is, by necessity, 'when I can find the time', stayed tuned and thanks for reading!
Play Shadows of Doubt at Gamescom next week!
We’re pleased to announce that Shadows of Doubt will be available to play at Gamescom, this will be the second time we have had a build for Shadows of Doubt publicly available and the first time at a major international event!
You’ll be able to find us at the Indie Arena Booth in Hall 10.2 where you can get your hands on the game. Try your hand at detective work and see if you can solve a case. You will also have the opportunity to chat with one of our members of the team!
You will have the chance to put on your detective hats and take on the role of a private investigator as you search a crime scene for clues and decide which leads are the most important to follow. From diary entries to the victim’s call history, checking their work ID and sneaking into their workplace or tracking down the CCTV footage in a cafe from a receipt you found on the scene, the only limit is your imagination!
At Gamescom we will also have some awesome Shadows of Doubt themed goodies to give out to anyone who plays the game, we look forward to seeing you there!