We have emerged! Crisp leaves, rainy days, and cool weather (finally) is also bringing in a wave of updates and news. Ready? Ready!
Spirit Swap is coming in 2024 ✨
2023 has been a year of incredible progress for our team. We’ve made substantial headway on the game, and are incredibly proud of how far it’s come along. I mean, just look at this early work compared to now:
Attending our first-ever physical event EVER this year (more on PAX West below) meant it was the first time we got to experience the joy of watching people play Spirit Swap in-person. It was immensely inspiring to our whole team, and a huge validation of the work we’ve put in thus far.
Our number one priority has been about creating the best game we can - inspired by the people and communities we love - while always considering the well-being of our team. While we’ve made strides in the progress of the game and towards a full launch, these spirits need a little more time before they can be swapped by the general public, and we don’t believe in crunching to do so.
As a result, we’d like to share that we've decided to push Spirit Swap’s launch to 2024.
We truly appreciate the patience and kindness you’ve all shown throughout this whole process thus far, and we can’t wait for y’all to be able to fully dive into the game once it’s ready.
PAX West Recap 🥳
Because PAX West takes place in Seattle, we knew we wanted to be sure and attend! This year, we had the pleasure of being a part of the PAX Rising booth, a celebration of indie games (particularly those who don’t have a publisher/are self-publishing).
In addition to a rare instance where the entire team was in one place (YAY!) we also got to watch and learn as visitors played two different available demos for Spirit Swap. The narrative demo…and local Versus!
In addition to the many kind words from folks who came by, we came away from the event with some memorable press coverage. From notable outlets like IGN - who classified us as one of the top games to see at PAX West - and Gayming Magazine, to getting highlighted by local journalists, like in GeekWire. The word on the street is that Spirit Swap is full of style and heart, and we’re SO happy to hear it (and hope to keep delivering!)
More Narrative Work 📝
Another picture of a word doc? You got it! The major element we have left is narrative and filling the game with delicious, delectable ~content~. The “Golden Path” (the narrative backbone) of the game is done, so all of the work right now is making sure we have the events and chat logs to really make these characters come to life.
Actually, wait. Instead of a word doc…. How about the first glimpse at one of the CGs you could potentially unlock as you play? 👀 PRETTYYYYYY
We Heard Your Feedback! ✅
One of the major recurring pieces of feedback we’ve gotten through our various demo forms is the request to have more character expressions to fully convey the emotions Samar and their friends are going through. We totally agreed! Here are a few of the expressions Sam’s been working on. Our favorite detail? The flowers that tie in with her emotional state! AHHHH!
See you next month,
The home stretch is always the longest, at least, it can feel that way, but we’re happy to be sharing this journey with you all. Thanks again!
Until next time, find us on Twitter, our Discord, or here in the comments if you have any questions. Stay hydrated and safe!
Love,
The Spirit Swap Team
Wholesome Direct 2023 & A Brand New Spirit Swap Demo! 💜
Hey Spirit Swappers!
BIG NEWS AND BRAND NEW KEY ART!
Not only are we part of this year’s Wholesome Direct, but we have a brand-new demo out NOW for you to enjoy along with a page refresh!
In this demo, you’ll get to know some of Samar’s friends a bit more in the Story Mode and even try your hand in Versus Mode. 👀
As with all demos, it’s a work in progress, but what we’re most excited about is getting more feedback from you to continue to improve your time in Demashq.
At the end of the Story Mode, you can access our Feedback Survey, or just click here if you want to share your thoughts after playing. This limited-time demo will stay live until June 30th, so enjoy it while it’s out! Thank you so much, and we hope you enjoy playing!
Love,
The Spirit Swap Team
Merry Monday!
Hi Spirit Swappers!
We have emerged! It’s now spring, and like the beautiful butterfly, we
Wait.
While yes, we are emerging like beautiful butterflies with lots of cool things to share, we also wanted to say that it’s been a while because we’ve been heads down developing Spirit Swap in addition to balancing our day jobs and Life(™).
We’re sorry for the quiet period, but happy to say that we’ve gotten to a point in the game’s progress where we’re able to hop back into sharing mode. We’ve got a lot, so let’s get started!
Polish Till It Shines! 👀
Updated environments? IN! World map? DONE. Amazing emotes? CHECK. Gradients for days? YES.
In addition to working on core features, a good chunk of time has been on polishing and making sure the game looks colorful, joyful, and full of that *special sauce*.
We could just sit here and describe it all to you, but I remember learning in 5th grade about ‘showing, not telling’ so why not show you a few gifs to illustrate what we mean?
Just as a reminder, check out our world map before:
And here it is NOW:
We LOVE how it’s turned out, and would love to know: where would you want to head to first? All the environments and locations have also been updated and fully implemented, like Leon’s Tattoo Parlor:
And here’s the updated take on Ishk’s Beach!
Now that the world is all there, what we’ll be focusing on is getting all of the narrative in, and testing, testing, testing.
Once Upon a Time …
Speaking of narrative! Alex has been finessing the story of Spirit Swap, and while we can’t tell you TOO much about the specifics (this is a spoiler-free zone!) we CAN share this:
Okay, jokes aside, we’ve been really pleased with how each of our characters have come to life -- in addition to getting the story into the game to playtest it, finalizing VO is also up next, and we can’t wait for that!
Versus Hype
In addition to working on story mode, Versus has been getting lots of UI/UX love so you can swap your hearts out (either with a friend or with a CPU!)
Check out this character select screen!
And as you pick your characters, you’ll be able to customize how chill (or not!) you’d like your board to be.
Out on the Town
Rejon and Jenny attended GDC!
Rejon gave an INCREDIBLE (actually got people teary) talk about Spirit Swap titled “Inclusive Nostalgia” as part of a wider panel titled “Game Design for Inclusive Representation”.
Jenny - along with the rest of the Wholesome Games team - talked about why wholesome games matter:
The SpiSwa team also got to hang out with Adanna and Jenna (members of the Spirit Swap narrative team) for the first time ever in-person, enjoying some delicious ramen together! ;-; <3
See you next month
WHEW! We’re excited to really ramp up sharing news with you all now that spring has sprung. Thanks for all your patience, and we’ll be back with more dev updates at the end of May!
Until then, find us on Twitter, our Discord, or here in the comments if you have any questions. Stay hydrated and safe!
Love,
The Spirit Swap Team
Wintry Wednesday
Happy Holidays, Swappers!
We first want to share our appreciation for you all and hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season and new year!
After the excitement of Indieland 2022 (thanks again to The Completionist and everyone who was a part of the team!) we’ve been hunkering down on Versus Mode, polishing the Endless mode even more based on the showcase and your feedback, and prepping for the end of the year!
SHINY TRINKETS FOR YOUUU
Each of Samar’s friends has a trinket that you’ll be able to acquire as you get to know them, and we wanted to share a few of them with you today!
In game, each trinket will allow you to equip a different spell – each with its own effect on the board – but narratively, they also illuminate aspects of each character’s personality. We won’t share all the details today, but perhaps you’ll be able to guess who’s represented here in the three trinkets below?
Any guesses? Let us know what you think!
BEFORE AND AFTER: DEMASHQ EDITION
We wanted to share a beauuuutiful before and after with you!
At the start of the year, we began with a general sketch of Demashq thanks to Alex (zoomed in to avoid some light spoilers ~ oh la la!) :
The wonderful Sam is bringing detail and dimension to the city with the final artwork for the overworld map, and (even without the color added) all we wanna say is… we’re ready to move. Our bags are packed. How do we get there?!
(Again, zoomed in!)
We hope you’ve enjoyed following along with development – we’re excited for 2023 to be the Year of Spirit Swap!
Love, The Spirit Swap Team
Flashy Friday!
Leaves are falling and the spirits need swapping…
It’s been an eventful time for the Soft Not Weak team! We’ve been busy at work polishing up some LOVELY snippets to show off, and we boy oh boy are we excited to show them off! In addition to that, we have an UPDATED DEMO for you all to try! Ready? Set? GOOOOOOOO:
Indieland 2022 and our UPDATED DEMO!
First things first! We’re lucky and honored to be a part of Indieland 2022!
Not only is this event an amazing fundraiser for a good cause, but Jirard and the team behind Indieland always curate a fantastic showcase filled with indie games to keep an eye on.
To celebrate, we’ve decided to release an updated Endless mode demo, chock full of polish and juice we’ve been working on to help bring Samar’s forest to life! Below we’ll break down a lot of the details that you’ll see, but if you’re itching to get going, you can start playing the demo now on Steam!
For MAC users: Some Mac users might encounter controller issues due to Mac driver compatability. If that occurs, please use the keyboard!
For Keyboard: You can use WASD or ARROW keys to navigate as well the inputs described in game!
Otherwise, read on to learn about what we’ve been working on, and tune in to Twitch on Saturday at 7 PM PDT to watch as Jenny (our producer) chats with the team at Indieland about Spirit Swap!
Polish Based on Your Feedback!
Okay, so first thing is we’ve been doing a lot of UI/UX polish (major shoutout to Réjon for all of the work designing this and to Morgan for hooking it all together). We really wanted to make sure that different elements of the game, different states of play, all of it will be communicated to you as clearly and quickly as possible.
This began with the game board! Because your eyes will be focusing on the spirits, you need to be able to, at a glance and with your peripheral vision, be able to determine your health and general status. Here, we have our latest iteration of the board:
You’ll be able to tell when it’s getting a little hot and you’ve gotta make some matches and quick, as well as see when everything’s a-okay and you have time to chill.
Elements like the SpellMeter have been updated to also more clearly indicate as segments fill when you make matches:
Even the spell bubble has some extra polish so you know when it’s time to cast!
Press ESC to pet the Frog
We’ve also been working on dynamic button prompts, which was another big feedback point during our previous survey and demo (thanks, y’all!)
We now have the ability to make those buttons match whatever controller you’re using, and it’ll switch to match dynamically as well! Catch how this dialogue looks in action with a few snips from our revamped “How to Play” section of the Endless demo:
Take a Breath in the Endless Forest
You’re familiar with the Endless Forest, as it’s where our demo takes place… but you haven’t seen it quite like this!
The original background is beautiful, but with just a little bit of parallaxing, and some time and energy, we’ve got it looking more in-depth in time for your eyes to enjoy -- huge thanks to Abelle for adding that extra magic and style to the woods (and our other backgrounds).
Vibe? Chill? SHEEESH?!
Here’s a more comprehensive look at the settings in our Endless mode. When you’re getting ready to swap forever, you’ll be able to adjust the speed level, difficulty, and spell loadouts before you play, to ensure it’s exactly the experience you want.
AND MORE!
There’s even more to enjoy, like a brand-new song from the ever-talented meltycanon, additional VN UI/UX updates to make our cast *pop* during narrative scenes, and (if you’d love to help us) a brand new survey you can fill out to let us know what you think of the polish after you play!
What do you think?
Hopefully you enjoyed seeing everything we’ve been working on! We love sharing with you and are so excited to hear what you think about the polish we’ve added to the Endless mode demo. If you’ve got any questions or just wanna say hi, find us on Twitter (@softnotweak), our Discord, or here in the comments!
Love,
The Spirit Swap Team
PAX West Friday!
Busy busy busy --
Things have really started ramping up over the summer!
In addition to going full steam ahead with implementation (we went in-depth with Versus and Endless modes this month but don’t quite have anything we’re ready to show… yet), the main thing we wanted to share is that we’re participating in a couple of events coming up this weekend!
Out and About!
We’re participating in two events! The first is PAX West: Alex and Jenny are both taking part in the panel, “A Case for Cozy: Why we (really) need wholesome games!” This panel will be live-streamed on the Twitch channel for PAX, so be sure to tune in on Sunday if you’re interested in hearing more about why we should celebrate the gentler side of the game industry.
In addition to two of our team participating in PAX West, we’re also showcasing Spirit Swap at the Gayming Live Indie Festival! From Sept 2 - 16th, Spirit Swap (along with many other wonderfully queer games) will be highlighted: be sure to check it out!
Almost time for sweaters and layers ~
We’re so excited for Fall to begin! We’ll have even more game updates next month as we’ve winded (wound?) down from event prep and showcases. Got any questions? Find us on Twitter, our Discord, or here in the comments!
Love,
The Spirit Swap Team
Marvelous Monday
It’s gettin’ hot in heeeere….
But really, we hope you're staying hydrated and cool! We've had mini heat-wave hit the Pacific Northwest, and we've been WARM to say the least.
In the meantime, we've been dreaming what the weather would be like in the beautiful city of Demashq, and thought we'd share a few more peeks at the background visuals that we've worked on!
Postcards from Demashq
We’ve been polishing up the environments for each of the characters over the last few weeks, and WHEW, things are looking good! From the beautiful sunset of Ishk’s Muscle Beach to the neon lights (and probably cool temperature!) of Kedsi’s LAN cafe, the world is starting to come together beautifully thanks to the efforts of Sam and Abelle!
Here’s a peek at the line art (by the wonderful Sam) for Kedsi’s LAN Cafe (we’re saving the finals for the future!)
Kedsi’s LAN Cafe is inspired by the LAN cafes Alex used to go to as a teen in Lebanon!. While Kedsi doesn’t work there, they’re unofficially considered part of the team because of how much time they hang out.
The other background we wanted to share is Mo’s Luxury Apartment! You saw a peek of it in the Narrative Demo that we released earlier this summer, but it wasn’t quite finalized!
Here’s the before:
And here’s the after!
Thanks to Abelle for helping bring Mo’s beautiful abode to life!
Wear SPF and hydrate ~
We’ll be back with more next month. For now? Find us on Twitter, our Discord, or here in the comments if you have any questions.
Love,
The Spirit Swap Team
Fancy (Graphics) Friday
Hi Spirit Swappers!
WHAT A MONTH! June was the time for not-E3 festivities to get into full swing, oh, and a little something called Pride? You may have heard of it! ^_^
We were especially happy to be a part of the Wholesome Direct and Future of Play (which you can watch here and here, respectively).
And, the DEMO. We released a limited time, narrative-focused demo to show off some of what we’ve been working on, and we were blown away by the feedback y’all gave us. (That’s why this update is a liiiittle later than normal, since we’ve been crunching numbers and going through every single bit of feedback!)
Let’s dive into this month’s update, and I’ll tell you more:
Demo Feedback
Most of what we’ve been doing since the demo (after taking a little rest) has been going through all the feedback and adjusting our priorities based on that!
We really appreciate everyone who took the time to answer our questions and help us get a better idea of what your expectations are, what we’re doing well, and what still needs work!
So, without further ado, here’s a very high level summary of what you & the rest of the community had to say!
You really love: the vibes! When we asked you to rank the different elements of the game thus far, the visual style FAR outranked every other element, with music as a close second!
In that same ranking (and throughout the verbal feedback provided in the form), it was clear that we could improve upon tutorialization and allowing for more time for players to get into the game and its mechanics!
Whether folks ranked themselves as total newcomers to the genre or as seasoned pros, the pace of the tutorial was another element that we got lots of comments on, and will address!
70% of players could correctly identify the square spell and its effect! For those who need a quick reminder: the square spell clears the top half of the board as well as converts garbage into spirits!
But, we also found only 56% of players would count themselves as very confident in using the spell in-game. So, we’ll be working on ways to help bring that confidence up with spells (and beyond!)
89% of players could correctly identify and explain the purpose of the Spellmeter!
(Psst -- the Spellmeter will charge as you make matches, and will allow you to cast spells as the bars of the meter fill!)
Quick shoutout to the person who appreciated the effort I took with Paint. :)
Despite tutorialization needing a little work, almost half of you rated the difficulty as a “3” on a scale of one to five, which is right smack dab in the middle! We were pretty pleased looking at the distribution of this curve, and happy to see that it skewed a little bit towards folks considering it “not as difficult” than “incredibly challenging”.
Regardless, we WILL be finessing AI difficulty for everyone, in addition to working on other fixes to polish the level of challenge in each match.
Your favorite character was Samar, and Mo was a VERY close second! Leon probably received the most verbal love in the comments, though, and we were surprised at how many of you requested more FamiliarZ content! :) It’s duly noted!
While we can’t type every comment that we received, you all had some kind words and specific elements that you enjoyed (and that really made our hearts happy)!
Things like appreciating the little reminders in the loading screens (hydrate, please!), the 90’s references, and the fact that our characters are HOT and GAY (SO many of you put this in the feedback!) We really loved seeing what resonated with you the most!
There’s SO much more that we’ve drawn from after reading all of your feedback. Much more than can be captured here. So we’ll leave you this month with a big THANK YOU for taking the time to provide both the heartwarming words and thoughtful critiques and hopes for the game.
The last thing we wanted to share is some feedback we hope happens in the future for ALL of us (you too!): more money and more naps. <3
Stay cool ~
That’s it for this month! We’ll be back with more usual dev updates in July ~ until then, find us on Twitter, our Discord, or here in the comments if you have any questions. Stay hydrated and safe!
Love,
The Spirit Swap Team
June 2022: Demo Notes
The demo is live!
We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the narrative demo that we’ve shared for Spirit Swap -- and if you’ve played it, please remember to fill out the feedback form (found here).
This demo is still a work-in-progress toward our final vision of Spirit Swap, and we wanted to illuminate a few details for you: some larger bugs and polish we’re aware of and still working on…and even ~secrets~ you can try out if you’re looking for a challenge!
UI/UX: Input
We’re working on making sure the control schemes are consistently displayed in the demo: right now, they switch between keyboard and gamepad (which is good for keeping you on your toes, but not for clarity!)
Here’s a quick overview of controls:
Keyboard Controls:
WASD or Arrow Keys -- Move cursor J / Space -- Confirm (dialogue and swap) SHIFT / K / ALT -- cast spell ESC -- Pause
If you hit space during the loading screen, you may progress the visual novel dialogue, so spam space (or A) at your own risk!
Audio Issues? Just Restart!
While we think we may have squashed this bug, we’d love to give a heads up in case you happen to experience this! If you don’t hear any audio in the title screen (specifically the background music), try quitting out of the demo and re-opening. That should do the trick!
Secret Spells
If you’ve played the demo, you’ve seen the Square spell...but did your eagle eyes notice two other spell shapes to the right and left of the trusty SQUARE spell during the tutorial?
If you’re looking for a special challenge, you can try out these two secret spells: Diamond and X!
They’re implemented in the demo, and technically playable, but we didn’t want to (officially) tutorialize and test them quite yet…but, who’re we to stop you if you wanted to give ‘em a try?
If you’re wanting to step up your swapping game, the shapes you need to make to cast DIAMOND and X are listed below (the red shapes indicate the same color spirits that must be placed):
DIAMOND
X
Like the SQUARE spell, both cost one bar on the Spellmeter to cast! Enjoy, and let us know if you happen to cast one (or both!) successfully!
Thank you!
If you want to chat with us, you can always hop into our Discord, find us on Twitter, or send us an email at contact@softnotweak.com!
Brand-New Spirit Swap Demo Available!
Hi Swappers!
A special update from the Spirit Swap team!
We alluded to the fact that we’d have a shiny new demo available in the near future, and we’re excited to tell you: THE FUTURE IS NOW!
That’s right!
There’s a limited-time, narrative demo for Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To available for you to play now on Steam.
This demo is a small taste of our story mode gameplay. In it, we’ll introduce you to Leon and Mo, two of Samar’s best friends. What’re they up to? What’s on their minds? You gotta play to see!
A few things to keep in mind:
✨This is a LIMITED TIME OFFERING. The demo will only be available for one week (June 11th - June 19th, 2022), so download and play during that time period! After the 19th, we’ll be reverting back to our previous endless mode only demo.
[✨] Fill out the feedback survey. Part of the reason the demo is available for a limited amount of time is because there’s a lot we’d like to get feedback on and finesse. Please fill out the survey (linked in the demo) if you play so we can continue to polish the experience! Check out our demo notes post to see what we’ve already got eyes on in terms of polish (plus discover secret spells we’ve included in the demo).
✨Wishlist Spirit Swap! If you enjoyed your experience with the demo, please wishlist and spread the news to your friends! Every little bit helps, especially with a small team like ours, and we’d truly appreciate it if you could help us shout our updated demo from the rooftops!
