Dev Log #9
Hi everyone, and welcome to my 9th Dev Log.
In the last 2 weeks I have been working non-stop on getting the alpha version of the Prologue built. And I did! A huge milestone has been marked, and I’m beyond happy. The effort; the time I have spent on it was worth the joy I feel now.
Alpha Testers have already started testing it, and thanks to their great help, I have started collecting amazing feedback. To them, thank you for taking your time. Your feedback and criticism is what will help propel The Darkness Within to greatness.
Also, as a sneak peak, a very early render of the Prologue, where the MC is still going to university and following classes he doesn’t care about.
For those curious about their feedback, I will share some of the common ones, and the things I am going to change:
UI needs some changes. Currently the save/load screen only allows 4 slots. Will increase this to more.
Show, don’t tell, was one aspect at the beginning of the Prologue that needs to be reworked.
Currently, transitory renders need the player to click through them, instead of naturally disappearing immediately. This will also be reworked, adding pauses, to enhance the cinematic feeling.
Sounds and Music are overall good, but need some adjustments (e.g., add atmospheric sounds to scenes where there are still none [something I wanted to do anyways in the future]).
In general the play time seems to sit around 30 minutes. Some reported 15-20 minutes, some 40 minutes.
In general though, the Prologue was enjoyed.
For the next two weeks though, as announced in the Discord channel, I will be on clients trip. Meaning I will not be able to work on the game at all. Once I’m back though, I will immediately start working on implementing the feedback, correcting the typos, perfecting the grammar, and actually start rendering for Chapter 1. I’m beyond excited, as seeing a first built version of the game helped me understand that this feat can be achieved!
After I’m back, I will also work on making the FAQ Post I talked about in the last Dev Log. If you still have questions, please comment them below or ask me on discord as DM or in the Server.
Thanks for everyone’s support so far, both financially and morally. Your help has made achieving this milestone possible. Until the next Dev Log!
May your path lighten up ahead, and the sun shine through the Darkness Within.
— MisheruMaxis