Devlog #1 - 11/03/24

Hi, all! The Fellas here, bringing you our first devlog! We're currently in the middle of preparing the game for our beta build, where all the game's chapters should be fully implemented.  

In the meantime, we'll share what we've added to the game since its alpha phase.

Logos

We have a company and game logo now, courtesy of our game's artist!

Company Logo

Game Logo

Programming

Investigation

There were a few changes in the way the investigation system works from the alpha. One of the biggest changes was how evidence worked, and how the game checked if you had found all the evidence needed to move onto the interrogation section of a chapter. 

The way evidence worked initially was fine for the alpha build, but after we began to work on Chapter 1, we realised that it would not only get very tedious and messy to program the evidence in other chapters, but also make what we could and couldn't do with certain evidence very restrictive (e.g., we had to have 4 pieces of evidence in each chapter for it to go to the interrogation section). We wanted each chapter to feel distinct from one another as much as possible in each and every section, and being restricted to a set number of evidence just wouldn't do. This change also made the journal feel more realistic, as the evidence now shows up in the order you collect it instead of a set order.

A smaller change we made was where the hover tags (the text that shows up when you hover over something interactable) were placed. This change was so we could more freely move certain UI elements planned in the future, and overall provide a smoother experience. Initially we thought about putting them in the same dialogue box where Emil speaks. However, after testing that, we realised that it just didn't look right, so we went back to the drawing board. Eventually, we landed on an idea where the text actually followed the mouse when you hovered over something, and we decided to test it in-game; it worked wonderfully! 

A piece of very valuable feedback we got about the alpha was giving the player the option to continue roaming around the investigation area even after finding all the evidence, instead of taking them directly to the interrogation section, so we decided to add it in. We also made sure to give the player a hint that they did in fact find all pieces of evidence in case they felt like they were missing something. We feel that giving the player this choice gives them a better sense of agency. 

Audio Engineering

Another thing that was quite a major change was an overhaul of how FMOD was implemented into the project. Initially, we just used the premade scripts that came with the project (particularly the event emitters), but soon realised it would once again get really cluttered and messy when we would start implementing the other chapters; trying to sort out all those sound effects and music would've been such a hassle! It also caused a few unintentional bugs, such as the knocking sound still playing when you hovered over the door when the journal was open. We're still using FMOD, but we now have an audiomanager script to sort out all our sounds and music in-game, which makes it much easier to manage. There are still a couple bugs that may need tweaking, as well as needing to convert the audio in the initial brief and interrogation sections, but we'll get that done soon!

Interrogation

A big piece of feedback we were given from the alpha build was to make the interrogation more in-depth as opposed to traditional dialogue choices. This was a very useful piece of feedback, as the interrogation portion of each case is vital to our core gameplay loop. We took this feedback to heart and decided to incorporate the journal more into the interrogation. When prompted, the journal will open up, and the player will have to choose the correct piece of evidence relating to what they were talking about with the interogatee. If the player chooses the wrong piece of evidence, there'll be a bit of dialogue remarking about the choice, and you'll be brought back to the journal until you guess correctly. This change made the interrogation section worked great, as it made the interrogation section feel much more immersive and added to the overall experience. 

There was also some general visual novel section changes, such as a typewriter effect on the text, colour changing text, and animation added. We feel that these give the initial brief section and the interrogation section a lot more life, so stay tuned for the Chapter 1 update to see them!

Title Screen

Using the game logo, we've added a small animation to the title screen! Look at that magnifying glass go!

Art

Character Art

We decided to change the game's artstyle for the characters, so Nicolai and Katya's sprites were updated! We also have most of the sprites for Detective Hawkshaw's ex-wife, Svetlana! You'll learn more about her in future chapters, so stay tuned!

Current Work

Right now we're currently working on getting Chapter 1 finished.  The initial brief and interrogation sections are completely finished, and the investigation section is mostly finished, it just needs to give the option to the player to advance to the interrogation. Most of the art assets for this chapter are also done, with just a few finishing touches on some of them needed. It won't be long until you all can find out what happened to the prized painting stolen from 'Magpie's Corner'!

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https://linktr.ee/the.fellas

Until next time, bye for now!

The Fellas