We hope you are all doing great through these difficult times and you are all safe and healthy. We have been working (from home) on the new mechanics of the game and soon we will be able to share images and videos from the new locations of Westwood Shadows. Before that we wanted to share some big news with you.
The pre-Alpha demo will be soon available on Steam
We are very excited to publicly share for free the pre-Alpha demo we had exclusively to our subscribers on Steam. Our mailing list subscribers will still get to receive the new demo (to be announced soon) earlier though, as a thank you for sticking with us and following the progress of the development!
To those who still haven't played the previous demo yet now it's much easier as it is available on Steam for free.
See you all in our next update! RedSoup
Game Development Update #01
Let's Catch up
It's been a month after we released Westwood Shadows Proof of concept gameplay to all our mailing list subscribers (previous announcement) and there are already videos on YouTube from players around the world (link). We had a lot of helpful comments and feedback from gamers and YouTubers. We would like to thank you all for playing the demo and sharing your thoughts with us.
What's next?
New demo to be released We will take all the comments we got, fix all the bugs and problems and we will finish the second level of the game with much more advanced mechanisms. This will be also publicly available to all.
Development Updates
Westwood Shadows is our first game so we are constantly updating the game experience based on your feedback. After gathering a lot of helpful comments we have started working on changes and improvements and we are planning to keep you updated on the development. You can follow the track of the game from here on Steam or receive email updates and get notified when we release the next demo.
List of updates we are currently working on
Story leads Throughout the first level of the game, one of the main goals was to get the player familiar with the story and introduce the main character, Peter Bennet. This was mostly achieved but we are still working on some clarifications regarding supporting character's background (family of Peter and the Fosters) and level design elements that were unclear
Interaction icon We have noticed a lot of people having hard time understanding how the interaction icon works. Until now the players would see an icon on top of the items that can be interacted. This will change into a much more easy way to understand which items the player can interact with.
More interactable items More items along the game will be available for inspection or collection.
Settings menu with functional graphics and sound control So far the demo has an automatic detection of graphics so it's adjusting to the computer automatically based on the capabilities. This will remain and the player will also have full control to adjust the graphics and sound.
Inventory / Journal redesign The current version of the inventory will get updated so the player will have access to firearms and flashlight as well.
Gun Mechanics In the new demo the player will have the option to confront the "shadows" therefore there will be firearms and ammo.
NPC (Non Playable Characters) addition The "Shadows" will come alive!
Key binding option The crouch button will switch from the "alt" key to the "ctr" key. Key binding menu will be added to the game so the player can re-assign all keys to what feels better.
See you all in our next update! RedSoup
Original Music for Westwood Shadows
We are very happy to share with you Westwood Shadows original Soundtrack composed by the talented Chris Spyratos
Chris has grasped the mood of Westwood Shadows immediately and has created for us the main theme of the game along with music for the main menu, credits and in-game themes.
https://youtu.be/Mt__BFoo_cI
Live Stream Demo Gameplay
The time is coming and the demo will be released for all next week.
We invite you all to join us while we play the alpha Demo of Westwood Shadows on our live Stream.
Feel free to share your thoughts with us on our discord channel:
Discord Server
Hey all,
We have a new discord server and we would like to share it with you and invite everyone to join and share your thoughts.
https://discord.gg/PqXkSe5
We hope to see you there!
RedSoup
Westwood Shadows - Cinematic Intro
The first version of our cinematic intro is ready and will be included in Westwood Shadows pre-Alpha Demo version. Have a look here and share your thoughts with us.
What is the cinematic intro about?
The cinematic intro is an informational non-playable cut scene that tells the background story of the main protagonist (Peter Bennet - Police Detective) and introduces the player to the story. During the cinematic's playtime we see the police detective receiving a call to investigate a house which is located near the area where his family had the car accident. He is having a memory flashback as he continues to blame himself for not being there to help them.
When he reaches the premises of the house, Peter informs the police center that he will go in, to investigate further. The cinematic ends and the game begins!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjfPl5L5POU
Welcome to Westwood Shadows!
Hey! Thank you for checking Westwood Shadows.
Our team is currently developing the game and we would love to get in contact with you and get to know how you feel about the progress as the game reaches the final design. In a way you will be adding to the game your ideas and feedback.
What to expect in the following time:
Frequent updates on the status of the game
Screenshots and videos of the gameplay
Announcements about the game's presence at festivals and conferences
The idea is to keep an open communication with our players throughout the game creation so that the end game is a result not only of our vision but our players experience as well. We encourage all of you to contact us with any thoughts about our progress and visual results.
So if you are curious for more make sure you add the game to your wishlist and follow us to get updates!
