Posts Tagged ‘News’

Greetings, my suave custodians and guardians of hygiene liberty!
I come bearing a bountiful and dripping bucket of interesting news.

 

The first order of business is the new DLC:

His plans set in motion, Dr. Hades and his villainous underlings laughed to themselves from their seats at an elaborate table, deep underground on a remote island lair. It would prove to be a short-lived interlude however, as Fox Huntington, dapper plot-foiler extraordinaire and international man-of-action, proceeded to lay waste to the twisted Doctor’s evil plans! The world was saved!
Now that an international super-spy has done their part, it falls to you to get on with the real work..
So, straighten up your bow-tie, spray on your finest fragrance and pay a visit to your nearest gadget store; it’s time to clean this place up!

 

The new DLC features a number of new game elements.

• An entire facility to explore and give a good scrubbing.
• Eight new songs for the Big Banger radio.
• Ten new achievements to complete.
• A whole bunch of new mechanics and odd things to discover.
• A satisfying feeling.

 

 

As always, you can access any DLC through the “Switch Game” button on the main menu.

 

More Maps!

 

Along with the DLC in this release, we have also added another three levels for the main game!
Yes, three! We even managed to squeeze another one in there.

 

The three new levels feature a number of interesting new features and/or new content.

• Core Sample: An experimental energy and research facility featuring high-tech equipment and the largest gameplay additions of any of the three levels.
• Penumbra: An abandoned storage facility that went dark and had to be investigated.
• Pestilent Penitentiary: A backwater prison colony subjected to a rather unfortunate event.

Each one has its own achievement.

 

More Info

 

Head on over to the Steam Announcement page for more info(especially regarding Steam Workshop) and a tasty Changelog.

 

Also, if you want to buy the new Vulcan Affair DLC, simply head on over here, or directly to the Steam store page.

 

Whew, that’s about it.
Enjoy, everyone!

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Hey hey!

Because I’m an idiot, this blog has gone un-updated for a little too long.. Feel free to whack me over the head with your virtual baseball bats!
At any rate, I come now with a summary of what has happened since the last post (a shit ton!). Big news first then:

Viscera Cleanup Detail has hit v1.0 and is now out of Early Access! Hooray!

Head on over here to get your hands on the finest space-station janitorial simulator around!

Over the last year, we managed to finish off all the content and features we intended (mostly), added new maps, fixed a ton of things, polished up others and generally cleaned up the place! Here is a launch trailer to gaze upon:

 

And the cherry atop the pile of disposal bins? We even managed to craft a Halloween themed DLC, “House of Horror”; a content rich map set in a haunted suburban home.

Check out here for more info on House of Horror!

And here is also a funky trailer for you to feast your dead eyes upon:

We’re still working on a few outstanding tasks, however. These include getting a Mac build going (which it mostly does, check here), merging the spinoff titles (Santa’s Rampage and Shadow Warrior) into the main game, and hopefully I can finish off a map or two for Christmas (free updates!). They will be regular Viscera-themed however, nothing too outrageous.

Otherwise, we’re going to start figuring out what to work on next. We have a few prototypes rattling around that we’ll flesh out in greater detail in the new year I expect. We’ll also be taking our usual bit of time off over mid-December to sometime in January, but we’ll still be around to check out what’s happening/deal with stuff.

And lastly, another enormous thanks to the players and fans of VCD. Ya’ll have been amazing
For now, keep on cleaning!

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Greetings everyone,

We just wanted to put up a brief summary of what we plan to accomplish during the remainder of the year. We will take some time off mid December and resume work early-to-mid January, as it’s been pretty hectic since we started work on VCD. I’ve been plagued by a neck/muscle problem, and as such I haven’t been able to get much of anything done. The J-HAMR would probably have been done by now if not for that. It’s recovering though, so I’ll get done as much as I can!

So, before the end of the year we are aiming to:

-Release Rooks Keep.
-Implement Steam Workshop for Rooks Keep and Viscera Cleanup Detail.
-Implement the J-HARM tool for VCD.
-Release normal VCD updates (fixes, tweaks, features, achievements, etc)

As you can see, the Workshop support for both Rooks Keep and VCD is high priority and should be complete in a few weeks. It’s a tricky undertaking, requiring a dedicated application that needs to handle the preparation, downloading and uploading of the mods.
Rooks Keep will probably be released from Early Access very soon, and Workshop support will be ported to it as we get it working for VCD. The two should get that quite close together.

So there we go! VCD updates will continue until we break for the year, and those priority implementations and releases should all happen before then as well!

Happy janitoring/slaying!

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Behold! The evil creation we put together in 10 days!

Viscera Cleanup Detail: The space-station janitor simulator!

“Disaster! An alien invasion and subsequent infestation have decimated this facility. Many lives were lost, the facility was ruined and the aliens were unstoppable. All hope was lost until one survivor found the courage to fight back and put the aliens in their place!
It was a long and horrific battle as the survivor dueled with all manner of horrific life-forms and alien mutations, but our hero won out in the end and destroyed the alien menace! Humanity was saved!

Unfortunately, the alien infestation and the heroic efforts of the courageous survivors have left rather a mess throughout the facility. As the janitor, it is your duty to get this place cleaned up.
So grab your mop and roll up your sleeves, this is gonna be one messy job.
Today, you’re on Viscera Cleanup Detail! ”

Grab the free alpha build now!: Download on IndieDB

And vote for it on Greenlight!: Viscera Greenlight

You can keep track of its progress here:
Official Page
Twitter: @ViceraCleanup

Feast your eyes upon the official trailer!

Stay tuned for coming weekly updates(hopefully).

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It’s finally complete and ready to buy!

Head over to get your hands on it RIGHT HERE!
Oh, and please consider buying direct

Also, don’t forget to give us a “Yes” on Steam Greenlight.

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It’s been too long since I did the last ’roundup’. I really am rubbish at this Anyway, enough despair!

Plenty of things have been happening quietly behind the scenes since the last update, including a new trailer and a Greenlight page!

Firstly, please vote for Rooks Keep on the Steam Greenlight page. You can find all the images on there too.

I will now briefly document improvements and similar such otherworldly things. So, head deeper down to view videos, images, links and details!

Read the rest of this entry »

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In what I hope is the start of a regular series, we’ll summarize in this convenient feature, Rooks Keep updates, improvements, additions, etc. This shall be the first into the fray; a brief overview of the current state of affairs, alongside plenty of pretty pictures and videos.

Also, you won’t see much on Chess in this post, as I’m focusing on the more recent developments.

Well then, read on to see what’s happened over the last few months of development:

Read the rest of this entry »

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Greetings mortals and all others who have come!

 
It is on this auspicious day (well it is now) that we announce that we are planning to operate with a whole, crazy new development/business model!

 
Rather than using the traditional model of “Develop, Test, Release”, we’ll be using something I think I’ll call “Release During Development”.

 
Basically it works like this: Instead of making a full big game that takes 1 – 2 years then releasing that and hoping everyone likes it, we make our game in several parts or episodes, starting with a pilot or prototype, and release each one as it’s finished.
I think there are many great things about this, but some of the main points are: games get released quicker, developers get some revenue during development and players can give feedback to affect the main development cycle of the game.
As development advances, more installments are released and all together, they make up a full game, only it’s been thoroughly tested and improved according to actual player input. The final design of the game is not fixed at the beginning, but it develops as the game goes and as we see what players want, what they don’t want and how they play.
I’d sound like a marketing stereotype if I said this was a ‘dynamic’ way to make a game, so lets call it ‘fluidy’.

 
The other awesome thing about this is that it means we can actually develop and try out experimental games and release them. Games that are good, we can continue to work on while lousy ideas don’t have to waste years of time! You might be walking on ceilings while firing a giant golden minigun at radioactive banana troopers sooner than you think!

 
Here’s a comparison of the new model vs the traditional method with pros and cons:

Release During Development

1: Game is developed and released in smaller pieces or episodes
2: Repeated design, develop, test, release cycles
3: + Releasable game is ready much quicker
4: + A smaller time and resource investment is needed to get to release
5: + Feedback from players can be factored into the main design and development
6: + Experimental games are much more possible
7: + Developers get funding during development
8: + Greater community involvment as players have an effect on game development
9: + Games are better as they get more testing and get tested in release situations
10: + Good games are expanded and improved, lousy games don’t waste lots of time
11: – Initial game release has less content and is much smaller
12: Initial release and subsequent parts have a much lower price point
13: + Players can try out the game for a much smaller investment
14: + Better marketing as game stays live and active for a longer period of time
15: – Harder to release a demo for the first release
16: + Big, high production games can still be made
17: – Can affect game design. Won’t work well with some types of games
18: – Subsequent parts would need the first and may depend on other previous ones

Traditional Method

1: A full game is developed and has one big release with possible addons later
2: One big design, develop, test, release cycle
3: – It takes a long time before game release is ready
4: – Huge time and resource investemnt is needed before there is any return
5: – Design and development is finished by the time most players can provide feedback
6: – Experimental games are much more risky and unlikely
7: – Developer gets no funding until final release (if they’re still alive by then)
8: – Little community involvement. Players can have some effect on patches and DLC
9: – Games get limited beta testing and alpha testing
10: – Lousy games waste lots of time
11: + Game starts off big with lots of content
12: Full release has a much higher price point
13: – If there is no demo, players can’t really try out the game
14: – Marketing is all hype around a brief release period
15: + Full game has enough content to make a demo
16: – Safer to make small games. Big games are much more risky
17: + Long linear, story and exploration games are better kept in one big release

Other Notes:

Initial game is released as a polished prototype rather than an early beta.
At a later stage, all parts can be packaged and sold as a single unit like a normal game.
Game does not need to rely on microtransactions.
This is not pre-order, subscription, “free to play”, “pay to win” or “sucks until you pay”.
Pre-orders can be offered where players buy the initial game and get the later episodes as they come out.
Initial release can be made free later on.

 
Well, there it all is. I think it could be better for everyone and looks like it might be a great way for small indies to make games, especially the bigger kind with HD production values!

 
But first, we want to get your thoughts and feedback on the idea. Are you interested in buying games as they are made and being able to have your say while the game is in development? Do you want to see experimental projects and be involved in their advancement?

 
P.S. Speaking of experimental games, we’ll soon be revealing the project we’re intending to develop and release this way.

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