Added another extra chapter select button for Lazarus' flashback.
Fixed: "Ice Cold" achievement not unlocking after using chapter select.
Fixed: When ending Rust's chapter with the headlamp equipped, it was supposed to return to the wardrobe in Chandrelle's room. This was broken until now.
Fixed: Removed a debug command that made its way into the game.
Fixed: It was possible to replace more than one of your abilities with Jack's "Ankh Storm" spell.
Rather than Jack simply not appearing in the R&D department if you gave him 100% real ankhs, he now appears to thank you before letting you past unharmed.
Minor bug fixes.
Thanks again to everyone who has posted on the forums and emailed me regarding bugs!
Patch #6
Added a couple extra chapter select buttons to make secret/achievement hunting a bit less tedious. I will probably end up adding a few more next patch.
Upon request, I added a speedrun timer. You can turn it on by pressing Shift+R at any time.
Fixed: After Jay's death in Lazarus' flashback, re-entering the shotgun or sniper levels would cause issues.
I was getting a lot of comments from people who thought that Hardcore Mode in Rust's flashback was impossible with the wrong upgrades. So I made a certain glowing skull a bit more conspicuous.
Minor bug fixes.
Patch #5
Just another patch here. As usual thanks to the bug finders!
The state of coins, vending machines, and secret slots in The Six Pint persist across chapter selecting.
You can use your actual keyboard when entering your name in Secrets of Legendaria... Not that Chandrelle really wants to hear it.
Fixed: It was possible to kill The Vurm early and mess up the scene with a well placed Chain Shot.
Fixed: If Irving starts hitting Bryce in Cooking Granny, his chef's jacket would magically reappear.
Changed a phone number...
Minor bug fixes.
More bug fixes!
More bugs found, more bugs fixed. There's a small group of dedicated players intent on finding every last bug in the game and posting them on the forums. It's certainly keeping me busy but I appreciate it as it makes the experience better for everyone.
Fixed: Accidentally caused an issue with the last patch for players who had started the game before the patch: it was possible to get locked in Bryce's guest room.
Fixed (for real this time): Hopping around on the sewer rivers as Weasel Kid in Lazarus' flashback.
Fixed: Running out of bounds in the alarm sequence of Lazarus' flashback.
Fixed: Falcon Kicking right out of Cooking Granny's kitchen. So rude.
Rather than fix some of the ways you can get out of bounds in Secrets of Legendaria, I added some new messages from a disgruntled developer to these areas.
Other small changes/fixes.
In other news: the soundtrack DLC is now released!
Another day, another patch.
Hey, another patch notes announcement here! Thanks again to everyone playing the game. It's a lot of fun to see threads pop up trying to uncover the game's secrets.
Made things a bit easier for people hunting for coins in the inn. Now, when you enter Bryce's guest room, the door stays permanently unlocked. If you never enter the guest room as Bryce, there is a key in the barkeep's cabin that can unlock the room.
Fixed some collision issues in Lazarus' flashback.
Fixed: You were able to jump through the top of the castle in Super Weasel Kid '09 and continue without hitting the buggy cannon. This caused some issues.
Steambot Finn expanded his operation to a new location.
Other small changes/fixes.
Most of the bugs listed are fixed thanks to people reporting them in the bugs thread. Much appreciated!
Day 3 Patch + Soundtrack Update
Hey again. Another patch here. Here's the sweet deets:
Made it possible to retrieve the headlamp from Lazarus as ??? if Lazarus is wearing it. Just talk to him.
Accommodated a certain sequence breaking event that was brought to my attention. Now it can be done without risk of causing issues later in the game.
Fixed: Riding your motorcycle right into Moji's cabin during the Vallamir Calamity causing the game to lock up.
Fixed: While exploring the inn as ???, Irving's corpse would sometimes appear to be... alive. Hovering above where it was supposed to be.
Flower vase and a few other items in the inn can no longer be blocked by characters standing in front of them.
Other small changes/fixes.
Another thing: Jonah, the game's composer and sound designer, and I have put together a 6-part soundtrack DLC that we were hoping to release with the game. Unfortunately there is some kind of hold-up on Valve's end and we haven't had it approved yet. In the meantime, if you'd like to buy the soundtrack and support Jonah, you can find it here on Bandcamp.
That's all for now!
Second Day Patch
Hello! Thank you to everyone who has picked up The Hex so far. And thanks to those who reported bugs in the bug post.
This first patch of The Hex is to address some of the issues and bugs that have come up. They are as follows:
Fixed: In the battle with The Vurm in Waste World, enemies could become untargetable if The Vurm's tail hit a mine while overlapping them.
Fixed: While fighting Irving on the ship in Chandrelle's chapter, it was possible to completely kill him and skip the dialogue that followed the battle. This caused other issues afterwards.
Fixed: Mr. Squarrel would take your money even if you couldn't fit the item in your inventory! Real shady behaviour.
Possible fix: After downing the generator and clearing the barracks in Lazarus' flashback, the game locked up when the team gathered at the north door. I was never able to reproduce this bug on my end so I can't be certain that it's fixed now.
Prevented characters from blocking the pile of coins beside the telephone.
Fix for telephone continuing to ring after being picked up sometimes.
Fix for mouse cursor getting locked to a smaller area when switching to fullscreen.
Fix for pause menu being unresponsive in some scenes.
Fix for certain sounds not playing.
Other small changes/fixes.
Release Date Announcement!
Hey there, thanks for being patient. The Hex will release on Windows/OSX/Linux on Steam on October 16th 2018. That's less than a month away! I will likely have it on other PC distribution platforms shortly after.
I've updated the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGJ5eXMTZLQ
Unfortunately The Hex will not be releasing with localization. I may write a post at a later date explaining the details, but for now I'll just say that the task of localizing The Hex is gargantuan and I didn't want to delay the release further. Eventually I would like to include every language that Pony Island supported, and possibly more!
Still looking for beta testers!
You would have to be alright with slightly spoiling the experience by playing an incomplete and less stable version. But if you’re really eager send me an email at daniel.mullins.games@gmail.com.
I send out the invites in small groups in order to have people running through the game at all times. If you already emailed me and haven't received an invite, don't fret! You will get one soon.
Thanks for the support and I look forward to inviting you into The Six Pint Inn (and beyond) in October.
- Daniel
Summer Development Update
Hello! It’s been a long stretch without a peep from me about The Hex. My silence means only that I have been spending my time making the game and taking little time to make posts about it. Progress has never slowed down, there’s just a ton of game to make!
What stage is the game at?
The Hex is completely playable from start to finish. This is a huge milestone for a scene-by-scene narrative game; if it were a book, every chapter would be written. I accomplished this at the end of June and since then I have been revisiting parts of the game that I feel are the weakest and improving them. There are still some rough edges to smooth out but I hope to enter a ‘beta’ phase starting in early August.
What have I been up to?
The months leading up to June had been spent mostly on the final chapter of the game. It’s a doozy. The final chapter takes place in 3D scenes with some 2D puzzle solving on computer screens in the same vein as The Witness. I worked with 3D art superstar @ArtOfSully to create these scenes and they look fantastic. Minor spoiler: the final chapter also includes voice acting, from a very talented voice actor by the name of Michael Mola. By drawing gameplay and story elements from all the previous chapters I think this final section ties things together nicely.
I also recently completed the last few sections of the adrenaline filled top-down shooter chapter. This chapter comes second to last and is inspired by Hotline Miami in a lot of ways. @JonahSenzel, the mastermind behind the music and sound of The Hex (and also Pony Island), has some particularly awesome music tracks for this section.
Interested in playing the beta?
I would love to send the beta to some people who are interested in this type of game to get feedback. You would have to be alright with slightly spoiling the experience by playing an incomplete and less stable version. But if you’re really eager send me an email at daniel.mullins.games@gmail.com. If I end up with a lot of requests I may have to be selective!
Thanks for reading, thanks for waiting! This crazy thing is the biggest game I’ve ever made and I’m excited to release it.
Fall Development Update
It’s fall now and I thought it would be a good time to give a detailed update on the progress of The Hex, which I have never really done before. I am unsure how many people are following the development, because I haven’t provided very much to follow! I don’t post too many gifs on Twitter; I often find myself wondering if they would make sense out of context or spoil the game. I’ve racked up a healthy amount of wishlists on Steam but I think these are likely drive-by wishlisters who liked Pony Island but aren’t necessarily waiting for The Hex with bated breath. However, I know there are some people out there who are curious how things are coming along. So let me tell you: quite well! But I ain’t makin’ 2017 like the trailer and Steam page suggested.
What is The Hex, really?
This is something that I actually struggled with a lot in the first half of development. The initial premise was to make a game that was like The Hateful Eight or, more generally, a murder mystery involving enigmatic personalities and shifting power dynamics. It was an obvious step for me to make the suspects video game characters, as it seemed to justify the story being told in game form (which is something I care about) as well as provide a wealth of material to draw from. I also knew that I wanted to mix in gameplay from different established genres to create a consistent source of novelty in the experience. A lot of work was thrown away, and at one point the scope was narrowed, but eventually I arrived at the following structure of the game:
Explore the Six Pint Inn as one of the characters. This usually involves solving puzzles, speaking with the other characters, uncovering secrets about the story/world, and foreshadowing for the ‘flashback’ to come.
Play through a series of memories from that characters’ past. This is the meat of The Hex. Each memory plays entirely different, pulling gameplay mechanics from the genre of game that the character is from. This ranges from a platformer, to a Japanese-style RPG, to a first person “walking simulator”.
Switch perspective to the next character, and repeat.
Note: If you are familiar with some of my past games, you’ll know I’m not one to stick tightly to a formula. As the game draws closer to its conclusion, things become less regimented.
So how about those memory sections?
These things really are the reason that the game is taking so long to finish. Not only do I have to create six unique game systems (each with their own way of integrating the dialogue system, saving progress, etc.) but I also subvert the concepts of these genres at some point in each one.
For instance, in Bryce’s flashback (the fighting game character) I not only created a simple fighting game system but also created a playable montage that does a camera cut every time a punch is landed, a fight against a timespace-warping clown that can pull shenanigans like making your healthbar attack you, and a scene where you use fighting game mechanics to cook pies. The programming alone is demanding, let alone drawing the art assets.
This should not be taken as complaining, just as an explanation. Doing both the art and programming is taxing, but affords me a creative freedom that I wouldn’t trade away. In the end I think this work will create an experience that is consistently novel. My hope is that the player will have a feeling of never knowing what’s next.
Where am I at now then?
Four out of the six character sections are complete. They aren’t completely final, but they have been through multiple iterations of playtesting, are fully complete audio-wise (thanks Jonah), and are relatively bug-free. These sections include Super Weasel Kid the platformer, Bryce the fighter, Chandrelle the sorceress (JRPG), and Rust McClain the survivor (turn-based tactics). I’m currently about halfway through the top-down shooter section, and the sixth section is in early stages. Stuff like Steam integration, the save system, options menu etc. is all done. I enjoy using these tasks to take a break from creative stuff so they tend to get done well ahead of the game content.
The bad news is that I will definitely not release the game in 2017. I finally learned my lesson about promising release times so I won’t give an official one, but I don’t think it will be much later than February or March 2018.
So thanks for reading. If you played Pony Island, thank you again for allowing me to work on games full time. I earnestly hope I can deliver an experience that engages the same people who enjoyed Pony Island. I hope you'll like it!
