next »

[Chris Polus]

I think we hit a point with the Dev Diaries where we have to change something in order to make the Dev Diaries interesting again to a larger crowd. We're currently constantly losing viewers on YouTube, telling us that our current Dev Diary format isn't interesting enough anymore. And we're spending too much time doing these diaries that apparently get less and less interesting.

I'd really like to ask you what you think.

• Why do you think about the current dev diary content? Why could it be that we lose viewers? Isn't it interesting anymore? Did we show parts of the game for too long, so it just did get boring?
• What do you think would be a great dev diary then? What content would you be interested in that you think a lot of other devs or gamers would be too?
• Should we direct the dev diary at developers or gamers?
• Should we continue showing the progress or focus on more general themes like "how to make a game". How our process looks like, what roles we have and what people do what kind of work. Game design questions, programming tips... Showing more what we learned, soft skills, working in a distributed team...
• Showing other devs and introducing their projects, or some tech talk interviews with other devs that have some cool tech? Sort of a indie podcast among game devs?
• Other ideas?

Thanks for any input. We're all learning here and I think discussing some marketing is important for all of us.

[Chris Polus]

Hmm, a bid sad we didn't get any answers how you guys would like the dev diaries to continue. What would interest you personally to see?

If you'd watch a dev diary regularly, what should it contain?

Meanwhile, here's our latest one. We're going behind the scenes again to show how cutscenes are made.

• In our "behind the scenes" series we take a deeper look at how cutscenes are made in Son of Nor.
• We programmed our own tool for creating cutscenes. See how it works and how Ricardo's daily routine looks like when he has cutscene tasks assigned by our producer Alex.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO WATCH VIDEO

[Chris Polus]

Son of Nor HUGE Community Content Update out today on Steam Early Access! We have launched the second major update to Son of Nor. Watch our trailer that shows everything that's new since we first launched on Steam Early Access!

Wanna help? We'd extremely appreciate you retweeting our announcement to get the word out, THANKS! https://twitter.com/sasGames/status/532853002487754752

• Several level overworks and community feedback integration - As per community request the abilities of the player to fight in close-combat situations has been improved so the entire combat feels more polished and smooth.
• More sidequests in several levels.
• Level: Taro A - A city frozen in time by a powerful spell, haunted by lots of ghosts and interesting puzzle situations to solve.
• Level: Taro B - Players encounter the most powerful female mage in the game “Orare”.
• Level: Future Edge - The level is set during a big invasion of the human hometown, which players desperately try to defend. At that point, players already have all the powers (wind, fire and essence) and are as powerful as they can be!
• New Customization Option: Vanity Items (connected to collectibles) - Players can now receive decorational items that do not influence gameplay, such as bracelets, pouches, shoulder gear and the like.
• Proving Grounds Update - Collectibles now unlock the ability to spawn enemies in the proving grounds!
• emotiv EPOC support implemented

[Chris Polus]

Community feedback cuts out the work for us these days. We're polishing and removing annoyances.

• As you may have heard we released a big content update on Steam and produced a trailer to show what's new since we first launched on Steam Early Access:
  
  
• The past weeks was defined by polishing work. Look at Julian's list of smaller and bigger things we worked on.
• NEW DEV DIARY SCHEDULE: We'll release a dev diary every 2 weeks from now on. We need all the resources to ship Son of Nor

[Chris Polus]

According to our testers, our efforts to improve those little gameplay details have a big positive impact. It's rewarding seeing the improvements work!

• More work on animations, visual effects, comfort features, spellbook, collectibles, and spell variations.
• Indie Corner: This time we feature Team Indie, by our friends at Brightside Games. It's a puzzle platformer where current indie heros have to work together to succeed. All with their individual powers: BitTrip Runner's CommanderVideo can slide, Jitters can create platforms, Braid can manipulate time, and characters from Tiny & Big, Badland, Dustforce and others help you out! http://teamindie.brightside-games.com
• NEW DEV DIARY SCHEDULE: Just as a reminder, we release a dev diary every 2 weeks.

Click the image to watch the video.

[Chris Polus]

We implemented THE FIRST VOICE-OVER recordings. It's amazing hearing townspeople and villains speak!!

• This week: New Sarahul scout model, improved visual feedback on various spells, great news for all geeks who enjoy hidden secrets and story elements.
• We also implemented voice-over recordings which were recorded in professional studios in LA by pro actors.
• We show you Dave B. Mitchell, who voiced characters such as Ash in Alien Isolation, Ciggma Khint in Bravely Default, and the judge in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2022559/
• And Liam O'Brian, who voiced characters such as Gollum in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, Phillip in D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, or Gaara in Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3). http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1240448/
• HOLIDAY SCHEDULE: We're taking a break over Christmas. The next dev diary will air January 11th, with more voice-over integrations and new cool things.

[Chris Polus]

Next batch of professionally recorded voice-over!

• This week: stillalive christmas party, final animation update, Sarahul can catch fire, visuals of spellbook improved.
• We also implemented more voice-overs which were recorded in professional studios in LA by pro actors.
• We show you Kate Higgins, who voiced characters in Legend of Korra, or Sakura in Naruto Shippuden and is our main female player voice http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Kate-Higgins/
• And Oliver Vaquer, who voiced characters like Robert Lutece in Bioshock Infinite or played in TV series like Dexter or gave his voice to the Killer Queen in Family Guy. He's our Vuushaar http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1192100

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR FULL VIDEO

[Chris Polus]

We completed implementing all English voice-overs! And: We have the voice of the Prince of Persia for our male player! WATCH!

• This week: We spent 2 days recording German voice-overs and I thought it would be interesting to learn how such a session works. If you ever thought of integrating voice-overs, we show how we worked with 2 professional recording studios and several actors.
• We also completed implementing all the English voice-overs!
• We show you David Shaughnessy, who voiced characters in World of Warcraft, Elder Scrolls Skyrim, Mass Effect, and is our Tanath, vase artisan and a guy in town http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0789479/
• And Yuri Lowenthal, who voiced characters in Diablo 3, he was Sasuke in Naruto, he was in Guild Wars 2, Mass Effect AND ... see for yourself. He's our male player character http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0523180/

CLICK TO WATCH VIDEO

[Chris Polus]

Today we should get the German voice recordings from the studio. Let's see if we can just integrate them now that we evened out all bumps with the English version. Or if I need to go into the raw recording files because things were cut up and named the wrong way.

[Chris Polus]

Coming ever closer to release! Kickstarter awards went into production!

• This week: Kickstarter rewards (physical and digital ones) are being produced. Bible of Nor, game boxes, t-shirts, medallion of Nor, Kickstarter exclusive characters and vanity items are in, backer NPCs are in, too! Also, credits for the wall of heroes and end credits are finalised.
• German voice recording was finished, edited and implemented. All translations are now done, too. German, Russian, Spanish, Italian and French.
• Ricardo shows how he created the game's intro movie.

CLICK THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE MOVIE

[Chris Polus]

Son of Nor has a release date!

• Julian walks you through all the little details we optimized in the tutorial level the past couple of weeks. There's so much we improved!
• After integrating all the voice-overs, all translations, backer characters, credits, names, there's not much left to do. We looked for an optimal release date and hope we finally found it on March 31st.
• It's extremely hard to find a release date for an indie project. We have ONE SHOT at getting a little press brouhaha and it's important not being drowned by AAA titles that will surely take away journalist's attention. We spent 3 years developing this ambitious title and it would be pretty stupid rushing it at the cost of nobody noticing. It seems March 31st is a calm week.
• Having said that, we're pretty much done with Son of Nor and use the time to improve small things here and there and looking into some last bug reports!

CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH DEV DIARY

[Chris Polus]

We need help! People in the office can't decide if the dress our female Son of Nor player character wears is blue, gold, white or black! What's your opinion?

[eyeliner]

White.

[Chris Polus]

We're wrapping up Son of Nor! It's almost ready!

• It's less than 3.5 weeks until release! AAARGHHH! Release is March 31st 2015!
• Intro movies are now rendered in full HD and with great sound for English and German voice over. Also the outro movie is now done!
• Secret revelations about the Horastes statue.
• Original soundtrack was wrapped up, too, and looks gorgeous in one's music library.
• Chris was super busy the last few weeks creating all planned release trailers for the marketing and PR team. Sneak peek.
• What's our next project? We're already working on a new game at stillalive studios. Follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/SASGames), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/stillaliveStudios) or subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/stillaliveGameStudio) to see what's next!

[Chris Polus]

This is the LAST dev diary before the release on March 31st!

• 9 days from today, Sunday 22nd! YEEEAH!
• The release will be THE most important event in the game's 3 years of development! Please spread the word on Twitter, Facebook, download one of our Facebook banners. We got really cool ones with 2 more to come: http://sonofnor.com/community/
• Our focus has shifted towards promotion. Julian had some interviews and flew to San Francisco last week for a promotional tour. Chris is working on the 4 release trailers that will start appearing this coming week.
• Because it's fun, Chris will appear on Hot Pepper Gaming, where he'll talk about Son of Nor but first has to eat a super hot pepper. Join in, we'll link to the video once it's out!
• Curse's gamepedia will be the official place to go if you're looking for tips, secrets, tactics, or where you'll gradually find the location of all the collectibles. Curse hosts our official Son of Nor Wiki! http://sonofnor.gamepedia.com/Son_of_Nor_Wiki
• What's our next project? We're already working on a new game at stillalive studios. Follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/SASGames), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/stillaliveStudios) or subscribe to our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/stillaliveGameStudio) to see what's next!

[phyerboss]

Last diary entry eh?

Well, I say "Congratulations"! 

And good luck with your KS! The game looks sweet and Im a bit dismayed how there so little to no feedback from the community on this project. 3yrs is a good long bit of time to see such a major endeavour all the way through!

[Chris Polus]

Thank you phyberboss!

Im a bit dismayed how there so little to no feedback from the community on this project.

Well, I love TIGSource and I like to lurk in other projects. But I think this community just likes 2D / retro / pixel games more than a game like ours. There are so many comments in project posts with superb 2D pixel graphics, even if they're just starting out and maybe never see the light of day. But anyway, we'll stay here and continue enjoying this community. Thanks for your comment though! Much appreciated.

We hope to be back with our next project soon.

Cheers! 

[phyerboss]

Thank you phyberboss!

Im a bit dismayed how there so little to no feedback from the community on this project.

Well, I love TIGSource and I like to lurk in other projects. But I think this community just likes 2D / retro / pixel games more than a game like ours. There are so many comments in project posts with superb 2D pixel graphics, even if they're just starting out and maybe never see the light of day. But anyway, we'll stay here and continue enjoying this community. Thanks for your comment though! Much appreciated.

We hope to be back with our next project soon.

Cheers! 

Mmmmm...

Not quite. As our own project itself is a retro-ish 2D game with dare I say, "stunning pixeled graphics". But, barely has 4 comments that aren’t my own>.>

So I cant really say whats the "secret formula" here

[Chris Polus]

Our FIRST release trailer in a series of FOUR. Here, we focus on the powers terraforming & telekinesis. Son of Nor is coming 5 days.

[Chris Polus]

Son of Nor Focus Trailer #2. We're diving into the magic system. The video starts with a scene containing voice-over, which we're proud of as a small indie team.

We recorded it in a professional studio in LA with voice talents that spoke for Diablo 3, World of Warcraft, Mass Effect, Naruto, and we even have the guy voicing the Prince of Persia in the Sands of Time trilogy. Release date is March 31st ^^ enjoy.