A quick update to remind you that Unpacking comes out in 1 week on November 2nd! If you haven't wishlisted it yet, now's the time so you don't miss out on when it comes out!
Press Hype
If you can't wait for Unpacking content, you can catch some fun features and interviews from the community here:
Dev stream with Negaoryx. We played through the first couple of levels and answered community questions!
We'll be planning some community events in preparation for launch! Keep an eye out on our social channels for upcoming Reddit AMAs, and join our Discord to be part of the fun when it all comes out. See you veeeeeery soon.
Game of the Year and Excellence in Accessibility Awards!
Hey Unpackers!
We were honored to have won TWO important awards at the Australian Game Developer Awards this year for Unpacking: Excellence in Accessibility and Game of the Year!
It means a lot to have Unpacking recognised for its accessibility. With no timers and no fail states we felt we had already created a game with a broad potential audience so it became even more important to be as inclusive as possible. Whenever we put the demo in front of someone and they mentioned something they struggled with that we had not intended to be a struggle, we looked into what we could do to improve their experience and in some cases implement settings to adapt the game to their needs. Games should be for everyone!
As for winning Game of the Year… wow! We’re honoured to receive this award, especially given the incredible games we were up against. Unpacking is such a personal project for us — the idea came about when two of our team members moved in together, and we’ve all put a lot of ourselves into the game. It’s amazing how it’s resonated with so many of you!
The biggest thanks to all of you in the community for having our back, providing feedback, and just sharing the game with your friends. It’s done so much for us, and we hope to make you proud!
Last Notes
The rest of the month is going to be as hectic as ever, so please make sure you wishlist the game! And for those wondering about the price, we can confirm it’ll be $19.99 USD on all platforms. Hope the clarifies any lingering questions about the game.
We've been poking away at getting our last implementations in before the release on November 2nd. (So soon! Agh!) If you're press or a content creator interested in getting a demo key, you can apply for one here, but no guarantees. And if you know of a content creator who would enjoy our game, please feel free to send it their way or poke them politely about it. Every little bit helps.
Dev Diary
If you're interested in the behind-the-scenes of Unpacking, our inspirations, and our journey — we just released a whole dev diary about it! You can watch that here.
[previewyoutube="WlkUaYklOoQ;full"]
Fan Art
Finally, here's a little fan creation shout out to @coco_richelle, who recreated a bunch of our Unpacking rooms in The Sims! All our community members' work and encouragement really keep us going, so thank you for that.
One more month to go!! Don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam -- see you VERY soon!
Cheers, Victoria and the Unpacking team
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Twitter Discord
Release date announcement! ✨
Hey Unpackers!
It's official, we finally have a release date!
[previewyoutube="lBFCrQDpaqg;full"]
Unpacking will launch on PC, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One on November 2, 2021!
Over the course of 8 house moves, discover the story of a character you never see and a story you're never told. Pull possessions out of boxes, fit them into a new home, and use the items to learn about the life you're unpacking and create a cozy living space.
Whether you found out about Unpacking years ago or just now, we're grateful for all of the support you've shown us. If you can, don't forget to wishlist the game on Steam and share the news with your friends, family, community, or even your favorite content creator. As an indie team, it means a lot. But regardless of all that, we just can't wait for you to finally be able to play the game.
To have our game next to a lot of stellar titles is so exciting, and we can't wait for the award show to begin. This year’s AGDAs will be held online on 6 October at 7 PM AEDT on IGEA’s Twitch channel, so if you're around then, we hope you can tune in! Fingers crossed we walk away with something. :)
And that's it for this dev log! Our heads are down and focused on getting this all done in time, but we'll have some events and announcements leading up to launch, so please keep an eye out. And if you want to join in on our excitement, you can always find us on Twitter and Discord. Don't forget to wishlist the game on Steam too, if that's your preferred platform!
It's been a busy month for the Unpacking team - we're making steady progress on the game and getting closer and closer to when we'll finally be able to announce a release date... but today is not that day! Instead, here's a small dev log on what we've been up to.
Development Updates
Nintendo Switch progress
Added touch controls for the Switch (and any PCs with touch capabilities)!
Saving implemented on the Switch
Quality of life progress
Hooked up rumble system for gamepad
Got all of the text in the game localized and implemented
Game progress
All stages now have music tracks!
Designed a new UI screen and some buttons
All art for Stage 4 is now done
Environment art for final stage is done
Item art for final stage is 75% done
All views outside windows across the game are done
Credits sequence fully implemented
Made a bunch of changes to items and environments based on feedback from internal playtests
Added some secret unannounced features.........ssh!
Have you been keeping an eye out on our social media pages too? We've been having a ton of fun with the community!
Pick a Chick
We ran a community voting round to choose a couple of the chick plushies that'll appear in the game. Our Discord and Twitter community each got to vote on a different set of chicks, and the winning one from each platform will be in! Thanks to everyone who voted and helped us decide.
Twitter winner: Chick 4!
Discord winner: Chick #1!
Be proud of knowing that you had a hand in making this all happen! And make sure to join our Twitter and Discord for future community events like this.
We also got some great fan art votes! Thank you to @ronjanatt on Twitter for making this amazing cross stitch!
TikTok
We recently created a TikTok account for all things Unpacking! Please give us a follow there if you're interested in seeing more Unpacking action.
That's about it on our end! We'll keep these monthly updates happening. Can't wait for you to finally get your hands on the game eventually. Can you believe 2021 is already more than halfway done?
Cheers, Victoria and the Unpacking team
Unpacking Steam Next Fest 2021
Hi Unpackers!
First, a quick introduction - I’m Victoria, the new Community Strategist for Witch Beam. :) We’ll be seeing a lot more of each other online and in these dev logs, so it’s nice to meet you! I can’t wait to… unbox… more of this game with you. Ohohoho.
*Ahem* anyway.
The Unpacking demo was recently part of the Steam Next Fest, and in the spirit of sharing, here’s some info, cool stats, and fun tidbits for your viewing pleasure.
People from over 126 countries played the demo!
94% who started the demo finished the first level, 81% who started the demo finished both levels!
One person played the demo 27 times!!! WOW???
24% of people found out the mannequin could dab, which is down 5% from last year’s PAX Online experience. Tragic.
Only 1% of players made sure that the toilet roll went under, not over (the great toilet paper debate… is solved??)
We also launched a Discord alongside the Steam event, and we already have a lovely community of over 700 movers! Make sure to join it if you haven’t, especially if you like cozy spaces, behind the scenes stuff, and chatting with us. We’re lucky to have gotten a bunch of great fan art from a bunch of members like:
In addition to PC, Unpacking is coming to the Nintendo Switch!
Our next event was Wholesome Direct (find us at 49:10): [previewyoutube="Ozqhc7YXd3M;full"]
In this one we reveal:
The premise of stage three: You have housemates in this one!
An additional new room, the living room!
New feature: Floorplans! These make navigating larger levels easier and give additional context about your environment.
Another new feature: Pinboards! Pin up drawings, postcards, and more.
Finally, we'd like to announce that the Unpacking demo will be returning once again on Wednesday for Steam Next Fest — And along with it we will be launching an Unpacking Discord! I'll be posting another update about both of these when they go up.
