Posted May 19, 2023 by MonsterBox
#In Heat
Hello hello fans!
Sorry this one is a bit delayed compared to most devlogs, the recent changes with ITCH's systems have been interesting to say the least.
Anyway lets get into it shall we?
Good news for anyone really wanting a Steam release, due to the issues surrounding payment processors on ITCH's platform, we have basically been forced to focus on a Steam early access release. Do not worry this DOESN'T mean you will need to buy the game again on steam. You will always get the latest updates here on ITCH.io regardless.
With this Steam Early Access release planned for roughly this fall, You should be seeing a fully complete first level, and a good chunk of the story included in the secondary game mode. Lets go over a quick roadmap of what is to come.
You might notice some new things addressed above, in order to not copy other surveillance horror games, and other titles that use the FNIA characters, we will be including an investigation gamemode!
Now what is an investigation gamemode? Well to put it simply, many surveillance horror titles have you consistently checking cameras. An idea bloomed with the team, that suggested that perhaps while you are going through and checking out the girls, that you might be able to find objects in the game world, kinda like I-SPY. If you have been a fan for quite a bit of time, you might remember that we used to have a selection of video cassettes that you could find in the admin room. Imagine that, but with several interesting items that will teach the player about the lore of Diamond Straits, while potentially giving some insight into some of our beloved characters.
The Monster Girls of Diamond Straits are rather secretive, but with enough clues you might be able to get them to crack. We will be featuring a small VN-like game mode where you will be able to interview Sammy, Poppi, Maddie, ect. using the items you found whilst using the cameras to perhaps get a better grasp of the truth. Think of this like how the Ace Attorney, and the Danganronpa games do it!
=======================================================
Next, while everyone might not be into that sort of gameplay, fear not as we have some upgrades to our key surveillance horror systems.
Besides a model viewer, we have plans to set up an unlimited night mode, and a custom night mode. All things you guys have been craving for.
But I do ask, would you people be interested in a Roguelike mode, where the monsters continuously get more and more difficult, and you need to find items via the camera systems to upgrade yourself? This is an idea I'd really like to have in our game, but I am not sure if the fans are totally into roguelike systems.
We will provide additional updates to highlight these new systems when they are a bit more flourished, but I hope you are as excited as I am!
========================================================
With Update 0.801, we have two different build variations. One has an optimized baked lighting system, the other uses unoptimized Lumen. Please do tell us your experience with both. I am fed data that we shouldn't need to worry about people playing the game on Potatoes, yet I feel like its a duty as a game developer to have your game be as playable as possible on systems, funny really.
Here are some updates to this build as well. Sorry again for the lack of content with this update, as rebuilding a game in 4 months is much harder than it looks. We will be hopefully releasing Ari with the update in June, so things are looking brighter and brighter!
0.801 changes
- Tweaked overall difficulty
- Replicated previous version's camera angles
- Removed old placeholder barriers
- Iterated menu visuals
- Placed sanity overlay on all in-game menus
- Heavily altered lighting (again)
- Made the funny T-Pose rarer
- Added a temporary porn gallery
- Swapped videos over to bink
Join the discord at discord.gg/monsterbox
If you have any questions or concerns, please join our Discord or comment below and I'll try to get them all answered!
Thank you all again for your support, and I hope you all have an awesome weekend!