The Light at the End of the Tunnel
Originally published November 1st, 2019
We’re approaching the beginning of the end.
War Ender Store Links:
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/884070/War_Ender/
Itch.io: https://prof-smash.itch.io/war-ender
GameJolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/war-ender/355809
Impressions continues to get closer to completion every day. I’m sure that may seem obvious, but it’s always nice reminding both myself and any readers of this blog of that. Over the course of the last two months Impressions has received a number of updates and now is a good time to take a look at what has been accomplished. Last time we talked about Impressions it was still knee deep into the writing cleanup and we had learned that the development pace would be undergoing a change. By the time October’s dev blog had rolled around we had just cleaned up all the game’s writing for the first two days and filled the recent news ticker addition with content.
The news ticker is one of my favorite additions to the game. In any game where decision making is a big part of the experience, it’s important for those decisions to really feel like they matter. With Impressions, I’m trying my best to create a game where the player is being constantly reminded of their past decisions. The characters you speak with in-game will reference past decisions you’ve made viewers will comment on your actions in real time. News stories may change depending on things you say and social media will have different responses for various decisions. But my favorite element reminding you of past choices is the news ticker.
I think I might like it due to its subtlety. Most everything else in the game is quick to remind you of things you may have said, but the news ticker is not so obvious. After specific decisions are made, the news ticker may update with a breaking news headline. In the above gif, the story goes that peace groups are being formed. This happened because of something the player said which prompted some individuals watching to create the peace groups. There aren’t many situations where the news ticker does this, but when it does I always enjoy it, even if the headline is less than pleasant. And believe me, there are a few of those.
You might have noticed something else in the gif. These characters have…facial expressions? Yes, after a long time using static images, the ability for characters to change expression is finally implemented. In this case, the woman on the left, named Patricia, goes from having an upset expression to anger at Clark’s statement. All the while, he maintains a very neutral expression. Now, with the characters emoting, the impact of things the player says will be better felt. Will they be happy, upset, or even confused by your statement? Choose your words wisely.
In the blue banner lies various comments from the viewers watching the show. Not only are you conversing with the others at the table, but it could be argued you’re talking with your entire audience about this issue. I refer to this mechanic as the “Active Public Response” system, or APR. Like the news ticker, all content for the APR has been created. Some minor adjustments have also been made to dialogue cutoff times and the time limit for selecting an option has been increased thanks to some feedback I received. Really, the only tasks left is to complete the remaining writing cleanup.
This is what I mean by this blog’s title - I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. Day 3 and Day 4 writing cleanup remains, and that’s about it as far as the main content of Impressions goes. Not only that, but I question how much there really is to clean up. I’ve started the writing cleanup for Day 3 and so far have found that I’ve had to edit very little in comparison to the first two days. I guess I did a lot of what I wanted to do with the dialogue the first time around. So the game’s content may be closer to done than I realize. Were this game just text, Impressions would be finished once that’s complete. But, as you can see, there is still far more to be done with the game beyond just writing. It’s still in need of proper art, and there is currently only one sound effect in the whole game.
For November, the aim is to simply finish the writing cleanup. According to my development log I started the writing cleanup for days 1 and 2 in late August and finished almost exactly a month later. If the writing cleanup for the remaining days does in fact go faster than the first two, we may see the game’s content in place before the month is out. But, like always, we’ll see what happens. You can be sure I’ll have a whole dev blog put out there for when this milestone is achieved, whether it be December’s dev blog, a surprise bonus dev blog somewhere during November, or some other time entirely. I really look forward to when I can write that blog.
Until next time!
-Lance T.
War Ender Store Links:
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/884070/War_Ender/
Itch.io: https://prof-smash.itch.io/war-ender
GameJolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/war-ender/355809