Fixed an issue where sometimes the wrong house is shown when using ash.
Fixed an issue where the scribble system may show the wrong house
Adjusted an event to help keep Rebecca from getting stuck in the hallway with the cart when thrown.
Created a check at the main menu for all endings to pop that achievement if it should have been gotten earlier.
Fixed a bug where you may not have been able to get the first ending achievement
Fixed a bug where possessed body events could potentially throw an error
Fixed an issue where a body’s house marking when using certain items may not be correct
Fixed an issue where the demon may not be assigned to the correct body
Fixed an issue where you would potentially show up in a black void and need to exit back out to the main menu and re-enter the game. (This is a more difficult bug to track but I believe this has been fixed)
Fixed an issue where the player camera could potentially unlock too early during animation events
Fixed some events that could stay triggered if the player rushed at them
Fixed an issue where you could potentially carry a mark over to your next shift.
Large adjustment to the haunt system’s possessed body events. This should help in identifying the body with demonic tenancy.
Added a skip prompt during the intro text before the main menu.
Adjusted lower end settings to provide better ability to see sigils and other markings. (I will look into more granular graphs settings but it will be a larger undertaking.)
Dialogue adjustment in one of the flashback events.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed an issue where Ending 1 may not fire and be skipped over to Ending 2.
Fixes to a number of events to help prevent soft-locks.
Better messaging for multiple playthroughs. The credits will now only play after you have gotten all 5 endings.
Added failsafes to various events to help prevent soft locks.
Lowered sound for embalming pump to non-ear bleeding levels.
Other minor sound adjustments.
Bug Fixes:
Rebuilt the method the embalming process uses to add and remove the neck tubes. This should hopefully fix the bug some have been seeing where they place the neck tubes and cannot progress.
Fixed an issue with the volume slider would not change volume until you re-entered the game.
Fixed various story event bugs.
Fixed not being able to uncover the final sigil.
Fixed an issue with the volume slider would not change volume until you re-entered the game.
Added better messaging and bug fixing for one of the larger haunting events
Fixed being able to bring the rain inside the building
Fixed an issue where you could still click back during a tutorial pop-up, creating a soft lock.
Fixed an event where the bodies would contort and then not return to normal, causing a soft lock.
Step into the shoes of Rebecca, an apprentice at the River Fields Mortuary. You've spent months learning the ropes of the embalming process and how to treat the bodies of the dearly departed. During your time in the office, you've heard rumors and murmurs of possessions and hauntings taking place behind the brick walls of the mortuary. But, with such a stigma around death and what happens when we die, it’s no surprise people make up stories around the dead.
That is, until, you receive a phone call to come into work one stormy night...
There are multiple endings and plenty of secrets to uncover in The Mortuary Assistant, so keep on embalming after your first go around!
Perform embalmings, handle the various jobs around the mortuary, and exorcise demonic forces. All in a day’s work.
So I'm posting this today on the first but I made the video yesterday so I'm back dating it. I just wanted to take a moment to give some information on what I've been doing and working on in the final moments before launch.
I also cover what I plan to do post-launch (after a much needed break) Thank you so much for your support and I hope you have a great time playing The Mortuary Assistant!
The short, short version
I'm working only on polish items and bugs
The game is basically going to sit and stew while I play it over and over to make sure it's smooth
I've been working on the game for 2 years so I will be taking a bit of a break but not from support. I will be addressing all the issues I can day one and beyond.
The Future Plans
Console porting. I am working with my publisher to port to console after launch. What consoles are not yet nailed down but it will happen.
Localization is coming. I originally wanted to have multiple languages on launch but there is a lot of dialogue in MA and I also wanted to support localized UI so I created a text system that supports (hopefully) easy localization. So while the original launch is English only, more languages will follow.
Embalming Only mode is something I have wanted to add but is a larger task so I will be working on that in the coming months.
Spooks Only mode. The story mode stuff gives a great experience but I know some would eventually like to just embalm, deal with all the generated spooks and banish demons so I will be working on that shortly after launch.
There's more general work I will be addressing but this is the basic idea. It's all covered in the video. Thank you so much for your support and I hope you have a ton of fun in River Fields tomorrow
LAUNCH August 2nd 7am PST
Take care all!
-Brian
Dreadful Dev Diaries: Darkstone Digital
Lead and solo developer Brian Clarke dives into after PAX plans, where the direction of development is headed, and wrestling his own work....quite literally.
Hey everyone! I got back from PAX about a week ago and I'm deep in development again. I had to spend a good deal of time before PAX creating a demo specifically for it. Those things can always take time but I think it was worth it having something different to show there.
My timeline for the foreseeable future is creating lots of content, polishing what's there, and hooking up all the pieces that have been existing as individual elements until now. This is the point when it all starts to crash together into a game!
I hope you're as excited (but hopefully less nervous and tired) as I am! Looking forward to watching people play MA!
-Brian
Mortuary Assistant Update 4-8-22
Hey everyone! I'm sorry it's been so long since the last update here on Steam. I get caught up in updates on twitter, discord, and Twitch as well as being knee deep in development and it's easy to assume I've hit all the update spots so I apologize again.
I'm crazy busy with some awesome things going on so I will try to keep this short for everyone but give some solid info.
Partnership with DreadXP
I was approached by a number of publishers after the demo for Mortuary Assistant was released. I was extremely hesitant to take on a publisher with all the horror stories indie devs have shared over the years. However, I believe DreadXP shares many of my values when it comes to indie game development and the indie horror space.
Part of my goal is for Mortuary Assistant to reach as many people as possible. Obviously, with this being a solo endeavor, I want MA to do well so I can keep making games and maybe even a sequel! I think Dread will do a good job of helping spread awareness of MA in to corners of the horror space I couldn't.
This does not mean I have a team though. It's still just me doing it all. They are sort of the PR back bone when the time is right.
Ok cool but when is launch. It's spring you lazy dev!
I am still on track with development of Mortuary Assistant HOWEVER, being teamed up with DreadXP, they have their own ideas of a good launch window too. It's no longer just me deciding these things, it's a larger discussion now.
They have a better idea of when an impactful time would be to launch considering various places to submit the game for reviews, articles, events, when other games are launching, etc. Currently, the target month is July. So a little bit later, but not by much.
I'm alright with this since it means MA will receive more polish in that time. With Dread being developer focused (meaning I usually have the final say) I still keep to the same plan of "It's finished when it's good" the last thing I want is to put so much of myself into something for so long only to have it not reach its potential just before the finish line. So my target is July, I am confident in it, but as always, I'm alone on this so quality will drive it. A final date will be announced closer to that time. I hope that's a good answer!
PAX
I will be at PAX East! This is one of the neato things with Dread. They will have a booth there with MA and a few other games. I will be there for the entirety of the convention to show the game, talk to you all, and have lots of fun. I hope I can see you there!
What's left for the game
The major bulk of development has been all the systems I've written for events to feel organic, random, and engaging. This has been a bit of an odd development because it has, basically, finished mechanics ready to go but I am generating lots of content to plug into it.
The events in MA are mostly hand crafted with the haunt system facilitating it's style of execution, especially the story events. So I'm spending a lot of time animating, editing sound, building how events unfold. All that good stuff.
After that, I will be making another pass on the embalming system. It has been expanded already but there are a few things I'd like to change so they feel better to interact with. Nothing major though.
Then it's polish and bodies! Lots of polish and lots of bodies! This is another nice point with partnering with Dread. They have a QA team that will be playing the game a ton and making sure it is as bug-free a product as possible.
That's about it! I'm sorry for the wall of text but I hope it is helpful information. I'm burning pretty heavily on some PAX specific stuff for the next few weeks, then it's just sprinting to the finish. Wish me luck and I hope to see you preserving bodies and fighting demons at PAX!
-Brian
Here is my twitter if you would like a more direct feed to updates. I've been bad about them lately since my focus is just 100% work. It can be hard to balance. But it's usually the first place I stop for any info above the discord. Take care everyone!
