Dev Blog August 4, 2020

July Update

Welcome back to the Little Squid Dev Blog!

This past month we’ve been hard at work trying to get a demo up and running. On one hand, it's meant as something to include with applications for conventions and events, but we also want to get it publicly available for all of you to give it a try!

Some who have participated in our playtesting in the past may be wondering how difficult it could be to get something playable if there already have been playable sections of the game in the past. That’s potentially a layered answer but it ultimately boils down to: game development is hard. Especially if you are really passionate about what you’re doing and care about the end product that people see, it’s going to take a lot of time and effort.  

Basically, we want this demo to be as good as it can be and to truly represent the direction of the final game. That means getting all of the artwork and backgrounds that you might have seen us posting about looking great. It means fine-tuning the level progression and difficulty to a reasonable state. It means presenting an aspect of the game’s story and narrative in a compelling way that hooks you. And it means getting the atmospheric elements right, like the sound design and music. That’s not even taking into account just deciding what you’d actually play in a demo – would it be the first major section? Random levels picked from throughout? Some beginning levels for the basics and then later levels for the challenge?

So the demo isn’t quite ready yet because we feel like there’s still some work that can be done to get it to a point we feel proud of, but rest assured that it’s coming Soon™ and we’re working really hard on it!

Now for the month’s happenings:

JULY BUSINESS! This past month we've:
  • Launched our Steam page!!! Go wishlist B-Side and tell your friends to do the same!
  • Plugged away at our demo
  • Worked out a ton of bugs
  • Tested out a ton more backgrounds
  • Made some new press assets - and started to compile some press lists ...ooOoo!
  • Watched the XBOX Showcase - Halo. And Fable. 
  • Received from other indie devs
  • Took part in #PitchYaGame on Twitter, a monthly initiative meant to get eyes on indie games from other devs, publishers, media, and players

We got 300+ video views (even from a couple indie publishers who gave us great feedback on our pitch and game!), some new followers and wishlists, and some practice talking about our game, which should be tremendously helpful moving forward.

JULY GAMES!
  • We didn’t get around to playing all that much this month :( too busy being busy.

Another opportunity to play B-Side will be upon us soon, so hang tight! We’ll keep you posted.

Until then, see ya on the internet! 

- 🦑

B-Side Arrives 2021
Follow our Indie Journey with us! @LittleSquidStudios
wishlist b-side
© Little Squid Studios 2020