Hello there,
Another month has passed, and with it, a few improvements to the game and other stuff. Let’s start with…
I – The Technical Part
Firstly, the saves are now encrypted, which prevents “easy cheating.” For example, manually editing the save files with a text editor to add unlimited ammo for the player. Now, the save files are encoded in binary after a basic cipher. While this won’t stop super hackers from doing what they want, it should deter a good percentage of cheaters.
I also took some time to upgrade the “Ocean Heart” level, adding vegetation, waterfalls, and various rewards. This is intended to be a bonus level that players have to discover themselves.
II – Official Demo
Now, for a BIG milestone: I’ve prepared the final build for the demo, which will be released on:
July 24th, 2023
…during a Steam festival. Hopefully, this will generate more visibility and attract more people to discover the game. So mark your calendars for July 24th.
III – Communication
Lately, I’ve been focusing on improving communication, as it is crucial to spread the word. I now have an official “reveal” trailer that you can check out here:
Next week, I plan to issue a press release to share it with the world. This should hopefully result in some press articles.
I’ve also submitted the game to two more video game festivals, although I haven’t been successful yet.
Finally, I’m still actively sharing my work on Reddit through ads and regular posts. One of my posts performed well in a Mexican subreddit. It really forces me to practice my Spanish.
IV – Break & little free game
As you may know, from time to time, I like to take a few days off working on smaller projects to test ideas and technologies. I have previously shared a few games I created in the past years:
- The Child Spirit: https://oneiricworlds.itch.io/the-child-spirit
- World of Ninjas: https://oneiricworlds.itch.io/world-of-ninjas
- Star Lady Fox: https://oneiricworlds.itch.io/star-lady-fox
This time, I participated in a game jam with the theme “Pepper & Carrot.” If you’re not familiar, it’s a free and open-source webcomic about a little witch and her cat created by David Revoy. You can check it out here: https://www.peppercarrot.com/en/
The goal was to make a game set in the universe of the webcomic. I really wanted to focus on two main things:
- Achieving a “hand-painted” look
- Experimenting with new techniques for vegetation rendering that I could potentially use in my other games.
So here’s the final game if you’d like to give it a try (it’s better played with a gamepad): https://oneiricworlds.itch.io/pepper-carrot-potion-of-flight
And here’s what it looks like.
It’s completely free, but don’t expect too much from it as it was made in just one week.
By the way, for the first time, I also participated in “live dev” streaming sessions on Twitch (I was invited by a friend). So if you want to see me work and hear me struggle to speak English, check it out here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1864781457. (Maybe twitch will remove it in a few days)
And that’s all for this update.
Take care, peace!