Alora Fane

I've finished preparing the OST and old notes, which took longer than expected! I have some questions about how players are used to accessing non-game files for their Steam purchases though...

I thought all I'd really need to do was package the soundtrack files and skim through the old notes, maybe I'd be done in an hour or two, but it's taken maybe around two days to get everything done.

The game itself now loads music files externally - unlike the browser version, where they were embedded in the swf, hence the poor sound quality - so technically you can access the music played in the game from its file folder. Those files are made for looping, though, so they harshly cut off at the end. Many of them don't have very presentable titles.

The OST arranges all the music in a way I think is more pleasing to listen to and much tidier to arrange. Each piece loops once and fades out at the end, and they've each got associated metadata which gives them a proper title and track number, meaning that you can listen to them in an intended order which tells a story (mostly the order that you encounter them in-game). This took a long time to do, and stupidly I didn't have a couple of tracks on my computer for whatever reason, and Bandcamp wouldn't let me download my own files from the shop I have on there, so I had to pay a whole two dollars plus 40 cents in tax to buy my own music from myself! Those two dollars go straight back to me, but those 40 cents are a terrible cost I bet the game will never earn back! What a tragedy!!

The OST contains 78 tracks totalling almost 4 hours. That's a lot! It includes the 8 Piano Collections pieces I wrote for Chapter 1's music. It's a shame I never did more for tracks people might be more interested in... though I did include an additional one for Emela's Theme which I apparently had lying around. I'll include the piano sheet music for those Piano Collections tracks as pdfs too.

I've also looked through the document of old planning notes that I have. It's 81 pages long, and it includes descriptions for all of the planned protagonists (accompanied by inept drawings of (most of) their faces), and descriptions for all the chapters I actually planned. Interestingly, the descriptions for the second and third chapters seem to have been written before I actually finished those, so there are some surprising differences.

I've also written some commentary (in a different colour and font), to show what I think of things looking back on it now, and to explain things I neglected to explain in the document itself. Reading through the long document and adding this commentary took many hours! Hopefully it's something a handful of people will find interesting.

Now I need to upload the files to Steam, though I've noticed when doing it that Steam now has the option to mark DLC as a Soundtrack specifically rather than a generic DLC, which seemed to be the norm in the past (even as recent as December, when I released Sindrel Song's OST as DLC). It says this will store the files differently on the buyer's computer, that the package will be handled differently by the Steam store, and that it's irreversible. It also says people won't be required to buy the base game to buy a soundtrack. Since I need to include both the soundtrack music files and the pdfs (for both the old notes and the Piano Collections sheet music), I'm wondering whether to make it a soundtrack DLC or not...

Have you recently bought - or at least seen - a soundtrack download on Steam which seemed to work differently to a typical DLC? How do you access the files you get? Does it just open up a folder? Could I include pdfs in there without issue?

I'm also including the walkthrough as part of the base game, not the extras, though I've been wondering what the best way to access that would be for players. I was thinking maybe you could press a key (eg W) mid-game to summon or hide it, as needed, but it would be much easier to just include it in a folder which the player can open up somehow. Have you ever got a game on Steam which required you to open a folder to view additional files, and if so, how did that work?

We're almost there now! Just a little more, then I can set a release date and set the store page to Coming Soon. I'll post again when that happens.

12 COMMENTS

vladandrei199647~5Y

As far as I know, Steam did an update at the beginning of this year (that's why you don't remember this in Sindrel's Song's era) about soundtracks, it should be better to upload it as a Soundtrack rather than a DLC. Soundtracks that are marked as soundtracks and not "DLCs" are treated better in-app.

I could write a lot here, but I think you should read the official statement here : [LINK]

Tobias 1115~5Y

That's useful, thanks! But it's about as clear as the other documentation I've read on the dev side; I don't know whether people would be able to easily open non-music files from a Steam soundtrack, or whether I could even include them at all. It sounds like Steam has its own music player for soundtracks, but that'd mean the pdfs might be missed entirely.

vladandrei199647~5Y

I think it should be easily done if you just marked it as "Soundtrack" and not DLC, talking about the OST here.

If I understand correctly, you want to add the pdfs as DLC ?

Tobias 1115~5Y

Basically, there are two things I'm selling:

- MARDEK ($9.99)

- MARDEK OST & Extras ($4.99)

The latter would contain the OST music, plus pdfs of the old planning notes for the game and sheet music for the Piano Collections.

How would people access the non-music parts of it if it was marked as a Soundtrack rather than a standard DLC? That's what I'm wondering. I've never bought one of these soundtracks on Steam so I don't know how their contents are typically accessed by buyers.

vladandrei199647~5Y

Well, if I were you, I'd do this :
Add the extras to the MARDEK base game, that way players can access the pdfs and any non-music things you added.

The Soundtrack should have just that, the OST music, marked as soundtrack in steam app.

This might be better overall, there are people that don't wanna play a game but enjoy the soundtrack and would like to listen to it, but I haven't heard of people that bought "extras" to a game that they don't wanna play. This way, whoever buys MARDEK will get the extras and the ones that want only the OST will get the soundtrack.

Either way, I'm gonna buy the whole package but I think this is the best way to do it. Base game should have the extras while the OST should be the only one sold separately.

Tobias 1115~5Y

I'm seeing it like this: the base game is something you'd get if you just want MARDEK on Steam. The extras (OST, old notes) is what you'd get if you're a big fan and want to pay a bit extra (as some people do). I want that willingness to be rewarded, so adding something that others wouldn't get seems a good way to do that.

1 reply...

astralwolf92~5Y

Price the Developer's Notes (DLC) as $5 and the OST (soundtrack) as $5. Then add a permanent bundle/sale/package deal to get both the notes and soundtracks for $5. I think it's possible to do this in steam.

By the way pseudo, I hope that you'll entertain the thought of having CBC ported over as well!! Maybe give it a try one slow day and you might be surprised how fun it is to play! (Like you did with mardek)

Astreon152~5Y

Is there a risk that some people might miss the bundle and buy the two seperately ?

Or would the offer for the package deal replace the two separate offers for as long as it lasts ?

astralwolf92~5Y

I'm not sure about the specifics but I think regarding bundles and sales Tobias has the agency to specify its durations and other details

codyfun12329~5Y

Steam soundtracks are installed and displayed as a separate library item from the main game (also, they can be purchased without owning the game).

When installed, there is a "Browse Local Files" button beneath the "Play Album" button which will open up the folder.

Some games, such as Shadowrun Returns, which predate Steam's soundtrack system, settle for installing DLC "goodie packs" containing music, pdfs, and whatever else as a folder tucked away in the game directory. An in-game button that opens up that folder on behalf of the user would be ideal, but that's not always provided.

purplerabbits148~5Y

I know Doki Doki Literature Club had some stuff the you needed to fiddle with the files in order to get certain endings in the game. Though that's more a feature and not the same as the walkthrough.