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Memody: Sindrel Song Testing - v0.10 BETA (Update 2 - 19 June)

5 years ago2,397 words

Finally! I've uploaded the latest version of this game for some final testing, to ensure everything works as it should and to resolve some lingering uncertainties.

It's apparently been about four weeks since v0.09 BETA, which is a shockingly long time. I feel I've done a lot in this time - I've been working on it for hours almost every day - but I suppose even 'small' things take ages when there are a lot of them and I'm trying to do them all myself. Plus there's all the usual mental health issues I've had to contend with. EVERY DAY IS A STRUGGLE!!!

Here are some of the changes:



Title Screen

There's a proper title screen now! It was added mostly out of necessity because of changes to the world map, but I like how it turned out. It contains elements that fit with what the game is actually about, like the focus on Memody and her mental state, it has the purple and yellow motif, etc.


New Dialogue
The biggest addition - and the thing that took the most time - is a lot of new dialogue. Previously, Hearth had new bits of dialogue at the start and end of every day. Now, every one of the wintrels has new dialogue at both these times; their nodes glow to show they've got something new to say. Some of the bits are fairly forgettable (it's hard filling ALL those slots with something interesting!), but others are things I like quite a bit and which I think really enhance the characters and their relationships. All this dialogue is optional, and it can be permanently missed, which is a concern, but I don't see any way around that.

I've been wondering whether the amount of dialogue you witness should affect the final thing the wintrels say. Currently their relationships with Memody develop over the days, but it's a bit silly if you ignore them until right at the end and then they speak as if you've been keeping in touch the whole time. So I might give them a colder response if you've not heard everything else they've said, but since you can't go back and redo missed dialogue, I'm unsure about it.

I've also made some changes to the script as a whole.


Renaming
I decided to go with the term 'daemons' instead of 'symboliotes', since I feel that the 'demon in my head' idea is something I very much wanted to evoke, plus it has that mythological history as the name of mystical guiding spirits, so the good/evil connotations of the word seemed fitting.

I also renamed Dolour to Duhrge!


Atmosphere

I talked before about wanting to repaint all the skies, to give them a proper otherworldly look, but instead I've just decided to use simple gradients for them all, which I think works a lot better anyway and took way less time to do.

There are also day and night versions of each stage.

I've added 'post-processing', which I talked about previously; basically it adds things like bloom and colour grading and makes the whole scene look more polished and 'real', but I get the impression it's a complex operation that might cause slow down on less powerful machines. If it affects you and causes lag even on the lowest graphics quality setting, let me know.


Graphics Settings
Speaking of which, there are now three of these quality settings rather than the six Unity defaults there were before. Let me know if they work as they should (eg "Fastest" actually is on hardware that struggles with the higher settings).


An ending
There's a proper ending now, with a new post-game 'world map' where you can retry the songs as much as you like (plus there's new dialogue here too). You can redo Memody's song on Challenge (or Expert) here, which should have been possible before but apparently wasn't. I was going to have her perform her song with the other wintrels, but it would have required a lot more time to do, so unfortunately she just performs with herself.


Crediting Testers
There's currently a Credits page, but it's empty. If you've tested and provided feedback and want me to include you there, let me know what name to use!


Animations
All the characters have all their animations now. There are a few I wish were better, but I just don't have the time, energy, or skill to do them amazingly, so these'll have to do. They're functional enough! (This is something else that took a bigger chunk of time than it seems like it might have.)


Audio Changes
The sound when a new line of dialogue appears is now unique to each character; they're musical intervals, chosen to fit the feel of that character. If you've played before, this will be jarring at first, because it clashes with your mind's expectations about the experience, but you get used to it after a while. I don't think new players would find it aversive in the same way, but I'll be interested to find out. Since they're musical rather than just noise, they can create some interesting effects like making the background tracks sound off-key for a moment, but that's hardly catastrophic!

There's also new music for the world map(s), and I've redone Vivace's 'ambience' track to sound more lively (since she represents life and all). I did that literally this morning though so I don't know how it'll fit with some of the dialogue she has!

This is more of a gameplay change than a pure audio one, but there's a bit of Hearth's song that's different; I think that's happened since the last update? It's easier now, anyway, but you'll likely be thrown off if you've tested the other version(s).


Gameplay
You can select from the options whether tempo slows down on missing, and whether the note 'pulses' are connected with lines. There were mixed reactions to these, so I thought it best to keep them in, but to allow them to be disabled too.


Levelling up
Here's a big thing that I'm unsure about what to do with. While thinking about ways I could reward basic gameplay, I added a simple XP/level system. It was mostly added as a test with every intention of just removing it later, but I think it worked out alright, so I'll probably keep it. Maybe? Though I'm not entirely happy with where the number is on the circular GUI... Currently though levels do absolutely nothing; if you've got some ideas for what they could do, I'd like to hear them!

One thought I had is that I could introduce some new character, perhaps some kind of animal - or I could even give the shrine an AI personality - which narrates tutorial stuff with some personality instead of just having the tips panels, and this same character could be accessed from the world map as a kind of 'shop' which gives you things based on your level, maybe? I don't know what things you'd be given though. It'd mean that levelling up would unlock new features, anyway. They could be decorative, but I'm not sure how to handle that since clothes are already unlocked as part of the plot.


Rewards
I'm uncertain how to reward performance in general, still. Currently getting 200% completion on any song - or all the songs - gets you nothing other than the satisfaction of having done so, but obviously the player should get *something*.

I considered having physical objects Memody can decorate her tent with, one for each character, but you can't actually access her tent (directly) in the post-game, so that wouldn't work. I could add something like that in Hearth's Grotto instead, but I'm unsure. Perhaps some kind of trophy case or equivalent? Or perhaps instead of static trophies you could unlock little animals that skitter or flutter around? Or maybe the wintrels get crowns on their heads when you get 200% on their songs? There are a lot of possibilities, and I'm very interested to hear any suggestions.

I'm intending this testing phase to go for maybe a couple of weeks, or even longer if necessary, so if I can come up with something I can fairly easily add during that period then I think it'll be worthwhile to do.



I'm interested in hearing from existing testers, but also in hearing the opinions of people who've not played the game before. Some people have volunteered but I've not replied to them yet, so if you're one of those - or anyone who's generally interested in helping out with feedback before release - then let me know if you're still interested in an(other) email at tobias@alorafane.com.



If I'm going to be having new eyes on me, I'd like to tidy up a lot of things relating to my online presence, especially on this site, alorafane.com, and I'd like to set up fighunter.com in a basic sense again, so I'll be trying to do that over the coming days.

I'd also particularly like to write a post here about "my story", specifically what I've been up to for the past few years (being mentally ill and having brain cancer, yay), for people who might wonder why (and get annoyed that) I'm releasing something like this rather than MARDEK 4: Mugbert's Revenge. It could also explain why I've made a game about memory and mental health in general, to people unfamiliar with me.

I also also need to set up game-related but non-development stuff, like promotional materials, screenshots, maybe a trailer as well... That'll take time. I'll do that first so then I can set the game to 'Coming Soon' and raise at least some awareness of it before actually releasing it.



Some responses to the past two posts have left me constantly tense and mentally drained, so that's great. It makes me worry even more about what the response to this thing might be, and to me as a person from strangers. But this is the position we're at now, and it's not like I can change my mind about all this at this point. I'll release this game, then at least I can feel like I'm getting back into this development thing. Then we can see where's best to go next based on the response it gets. It'd be great if the reaction warranted a sequel, because that'd be relatively quick and easy to make, but if not then I've been playing around with a few different directions I could go in.

I'd also like to play a lot more indie games once I've got this one out there, for inspiration and to support their developers, and to get a better idea of the landscape.

So yes, if you're a tester, I'd very much appreciate feedback about this newest version. I'd recommend starting a new game, as I've changed a lot that might actually make old saves function improperly. And if you're not a tester but would like to be one, let me know.

As before, the update should be available through Kartridge.

UPDATE, 18 JUNE:

I didn't exactly intend to spend today this way, but here's a thing I've mostly added:



It's the shrine, which is a character now, sort of; it has a distinct personality and emotes using its aster-like eye. It's designed like a huge smartphone, which is an idea I came up with before Sindrel Song even began, so it's interesting seeing that come to life finally.



At this shrine, you can buy new clothes using tokens gained from levelling up, or you can equip or unequip clothing items you've earned from the wintrels for completing their songs.

This solves the last remaining issue of rewards, plus it adds an element of customisation as well.

I need to add a few clothing items - from 200%-ing the songs, and as level up rewards - which I'll do between other things over the following days, most likely. I have some ideas! There are still a few things I need to do with this before it's worthy of uploading an update, but I've pretty much gone from the concept thing to a working implementation in less than a day, so that's something! I'll likely write more about it in detail when the update's ready.

UPDATE, 19 JUNE:

I'm not sure who'll even see updates to this post, but here's another anyway! I intended to spend time on setting up promotional materials etc, but I've spent all day on extending this shrine thing because it's the last major thing to do before I can consider the game complete.



It works and you can equip different clothing items; I've spent most of the day making some of those items. I'd like to spend more time designing some nice clothes you could earn, but I can't keep pushing the release forward again and again, so I'll have to hope the items I've quickly come up with will do. I'm going to base the ones you win from 200%-ing the wintrels' songs on their costumes, and some of the others are based on costumes from my older games that most people who play this won't even recognise. But maybe like two or three people will?!?!?

I'd also like to add at least one based on some well-known game character, but I wasn't sure if that'd lead to potential legal issues, plus I wasn't sure who I could even use.

You can visit the shrine in winter, which doesn't make much sense, but it gives an idea of how the world looks outside during this time, at least? There's snow, though it's not obvious from the static screenshot.

My plan of action is to spend the rest of this week until Sunday doing development stuff, fixing issues that have been reported and finishing off the last things on my To Do List (there are many short minor things still on there). Then, I'll try to do all the promotional stuff starting on Monday.

It bothers me to keep putting that off, but I need to make screenshots and some kind of trailer or something so it's best to have the game in its final state before doing all that!