Welcome to Friday Fun, the blog where I poke my head up from underground, let you all know I’m still alive, and hopefully entertain you with some bits about my project progress and game development experience.
Today we will be focusing on a topic that has consumed me all week – getting Dehoarder 2 into the hands of early adopters willing to provide candid and constructive feedback. The short and skinny of everything that follows is that a playable alpha demo of Dehoarder 2 will open up on itch.io for Beta Cat and higher tier Patreon Patrons on Tuesday, October 25.
It’s Time to Push Dehoarder 2 Out of the Nest…
…and hope that it can fly.
For the last three months, I have worked full time on almost nothing else except Dehoarder 2. The game has come a substantial way since I picked back up on developing it in July.
This is by far the largest project I have ever undertaken – currently the installed game sits at about 1GB, and those that know my games know that I don’t release size-bloated games. Its development has spanned a significant portion of my lifetime. It has taken a lot of effort to tame this project, stop it from overrunning itself, and keep it within reason.
During these last few months, nothing in the project has been held dear, and everything has been subject to scrutiny. Design decisions that once seemed set in stone were challenged and dethroned. The opening chapters of the game have been completely redesigned in light of everything I’ve learned about game design since the start of the project. The game is much better for it.
Modding is now not only possible, but is THE way to get content into the game, even for me. The Lua scripting system for the game continues to grow in power and maturity each day. The technical architecture of the game is much better overall with such a comprehensive modding solution in place, because it enforces hard architectural boundaries and thus makes the game easier to reason about.
Due to all of these efforts, Dehoarder 2 is well-positioned to continue development much more efficiently than it was being developed before. But what is still unknown is how the game will fare once people start playing it without me looking over their shoulder.
In the past, I’ve talked a lot about games that I was working on, but often kept the gameplay experience closely guarded until release, soliciting feedback through a lucky few with demos at expos and Meetup events. But I’ve learned that while such feedback is good for some things, it is not a good barometer of potential player engagement, and relying on it as such has not served me well. There is one thing different about the feedback received about Dehoarder 2 relative to my other games, though.
What makes this game different than my earlier offerings is that many people that have played have communicated to me that this game strikes a chord and resonates with them. I’m provoking an emotional response, something I’ve struggled to do with my earlier games. So many people can either relate to the main character directly, or identify him with someone they know.
So I think I have a good game, and I think I have a game with much more potential than any game I’ve created before, but my belief is based on the filtered and unreliable feedback I’ve received so far. To gauge whether this game may actually be successful and how to make it successful, I need to be more open with it, to gather feedback a much wider and more candid sample of people trying out the game much earlier in the development process.
Therefore, it is time to start showing this game off more publicly and building buzz for it. Only then can I know if it will be worthwhile to expend the effort to continue development.
Alpha Demo for Beta Cats – October 25
Of course, beyond the people that I have shown the game to through in-person demos and indie showcase submissions, the first people in line to get their hands on Dehoarder 2 would be my Beta Cat tier and higher Patreon supporters. So that’s where we will be starting. On October 25th 2022, a Dehoarder 2 alpha test demo will be made available to any Beta Cat tier Patreon supporters via itch.io.
What you will be getting at first is a VERY incomplete, RATHER buggy, not-at-all-final look at the current state of the game. Currently it is most aptly described a “vertical slice” of what the final game may look like, with some core game mechanics set up and working in a tentative state. Some artwork is more final than other artwork. Yada, yada, you probably get it, the game ain’t done yet, so please keep an open mind.
My hope is that by opening up and providing this ground-floor access to my game, I will encourage you to open up and provide candid and constructive feedback so that I can make this the best game possible.
Full details are available on my Patreon, but the way getting access breaks down is this: With Beta Cat tier support, you get first-day access to the game as soon as I release the alpha version on itch.io. Download access will continue while Beta Cat tier patronage is maintained, and for a generous six month period afterward. Any version of the game that you download during that period you can keep and play forever. With three months of Beta Cat tier support or a single month of Angel Cat tier support, permanent access to updates for the game will be granted for all itch.io releases, plus a Steam Key will be provided when it is available.
As a reminder, any Beta Cat or Angel Cat tier subscription also includes the perks of all lower tiers, which in turn include a Steam Key for Prepare For Warp.
Ohayocon 2023 – January 19-22, 2023? (Application pending)
After a three year hiatus, I will be returning to the expo scene next year, hopefully starting with Ohayocon right here in Columbus running from January 19-22. If my application is accepted, I will primarily be demoing Dehoarder 2 there, with a light sideshow of Prepare For Warp.
Steam Next Fest – February 6-13, 2023
Dehoarder 2 has been invited to participate in Steam Next Fest, running from February 6th to 13th, 2023. Of course Dehoarder 2 will be there! More details to follow regarding this exciting opportunity.
More to Come
While my ability to travel is currently limited, I do hope to do more online and local events to show Dehoarder 2 throughout the development of the game!
Again, the quickest way to get a hand on Dehoarder 2 will be to become an official Beta Cat on Patreon, which will grant you access to download the game the moment it is released. If you are not ready to take the plunge yet but think this might be worth checking out when it’s further along, then please Wishlist and Follow on Steam to let me know you are interested.
This has become quite the lengthy blog post with huge news dropped, and at this point I’m feeling quite shagged out for the writing of it. So next week I will return with a wider variety of topics. Possibly I’ll have the Modding documentation whipped into good enough shape to talk about it, but no promises. Until next time, have fun and be good to each other.