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[Nu-Type]

Well I just played the demo, and I have to say the game is enthralling. Totally into Survival Horror types, especially when they are so full of mystery, suspense and mood. I like what I've seen and played so far!

One minor thing, not sure if its been fixed yet or not, but in the room outside the freezer, there is a machine/large metal case next to the elevator which has less depth than your character when you walk past it (temporarily hiding him from view). However when you return to the room later where the shambling creature appears, the creature can walk in front of it, while your guard walks behind it!

[Bruce Leroy]

You just explode my mind! The game is beautiful! waiting for more:-*

[jctwood]

Very beautiful. The cops in the frozen scenery remind me of Fargo.

[TadejVig]

Some updates guys and girls:

The game can now be pre-ordered on Humbe Store! Here's a link: HUMBLE STORE

Oh and we were featured on Yoyogames first page: https://www.yoyogames.com/showcase/101


We just released a new trailer for Uncanny Valley! It's Halloween, so it's only appropriate for a horror game to receive a trailer.





The trailer features an arcade machine called Anarchy Man, where you can spend quarters in order to play a couple rounds of the game to relieve your stress. Yes, it's a game inside of a game! Uncanny Valley is a carefully made product with attention to detail, so we wanted to give something extra for those who like to explore.

We also released a couple of new screenshots, take a look:





If you haven't yet, you can still try the demo by heading on our official site: http://cowardlycreations.com/uncannyvalley.html

 If you want to give us some criticism or praise, please post below or send us a mail to [email protected]

Oh and, it's best if you follow us at our social channels such as Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter or IndieDB (find the links at our official website) to get updates when they come out or little insights into the development.

[TadejVig]

I’m the indie game developer currently working on Uncanny Valley and well, I’m kinda poor right now, so I created a Patreon. I actually lost the job I mention in the patreon description since I wasn’t needed anymore, so I am basically running dry until I release Uncanny Valley.

Because I don’t want to release a buggy, unpolished product, I need some money to work on it full time. So I’m trying now with the Patreon. I don’t expect much, but a bit of money would surely be nice. It would also be nice if you could share this around!

Here's the link: http://www.patreon.com/user?u=272191&alert=1

[AlexVsCoding]

That's real unfortunate to hear mate - have you considered teaching was a method of income? There's at least in the UK a massive push to get kids programming and building games (with many teachers unsure of what they're meant to be doing) - goldmine. You get to work with awesome amazing kids that build cool stuff and you get paid for it. Do a couple of schools first for free to get a course structure in place, get references for running said course then start charging for workshops/approach the local educational council for funding.

The other brilliant thing about getting involved in education is that you're constantly improving your skills by doing it and at the same time helping others.

Another option that's obviously less desirable for the "Indie" scene is finding a publisher. Many developers I talk to regularly have worked with them and had very fruitful relationships. Times have changed. This project certainly has the polish to approach one (and a gripping vertical slice for them to sample).

Played the demo - mate, the tension that the first section creates for the rest of the game was crippling - had me hesitating to do even the simplest thing lest I get attacked. Checked out the trailer and the colour pallete for that sky is just perfect.

I wish you the very best of luck with the project and whilst I'm very very stretched for cash at the moment (last month before release), I'll happily scattergun your game all over the place to rally some interest.

Great, great work. I look forward to seeing where this goes.

[TadejVig]

I'm in a really crappy part of Europe that doesn't know what game making is, so I unfortunately can't do that.

I have been talking to a publisher, more for marketing purposes than anything else, and we've been crunching hard to make a lot of progress so we can present a new version to them and hopefully, get published (and get a small loan).

And thanks! I'm glad you liked the demo. The demo intro is actually the start of the game (with a small section before that), but the overall pace of the game is pretty slow at the beginning. I will suggest to everyone that they play the game in one sitting, which can take from 2 to 3 hours.

It would be really great if you could spread the word about the game! It's really nice when someone writes such a long post as a response, makes you feel all warm inside. Thanks for that.

[AlexVsCoding]

It might be worth me putting you in touch with JOON. He's Belgian and for a good while he nurtured the indie movement in his area (since before that I'm not sure if there was a community around). I guarantee there will be local developers that you don't know about (I've been sat across from games developers on the train and not realised often until they hand me a card or introduce themselves). I've even met developers at events halfway across the country to find that they live less than 15 minutes away back home. Organise an event. With the ones I ran, I just gathered with some friends who were developers in a pub and put out an open invite and now each month there's around 20 to 30 developers and musicians from around the region that turn up. It also helps since you're tackling the same problems together.

What I would also say is before settling with a publisher, shop around - whilst the first offer might seem good, different companies can offer different things. Two examples; Double Fine deals a very strong hand with the marketing and community side, whilst Team 17 can provide funding and offer in house testing and support. And of course as part of that they all ask for different amounts based on what you're wanting. A great way to get to know what a publisher can bring to the table is to chat to developers who've gone with them before or get in touch with people who work for them. Go to things like games expos and usually the people standing on the booths will be employees and should be able to provide some insight.

I also think that for when you're showing the game at events/festivals, you should make a controller out of a flashlight for people to play the game with. It will draw a lot of press to your game add a boatload of atmosphere. The optimal environment would be a dark room where pushing the button to activate the torch would illuminate the space via the on screen light. It's a butt ugly drawing but it captures what I'm trying to explain about the controller design (tablet is on the table and I'm in bed). I've been experimenting with controllers and stuff. If you're interested in reading up more on it, here's an article I wrote on the subject. It's a lot easier than you think.

And no problem about writing a lengthy response - you've put a lot of effort into your work so it's my pleasure to help.

[TadejVig]

Again, I live in a country where the scene is so small, nothing much is going on. I know a couple of developers, but they're in the same situation as me basically. Going to expos, making custom controllers and all is great, but again, you need money for that. I actually really like the custom controller you did, it's a great marketing trick to attract people to your game booth and I'll definitely do that for my future projects.

The only expo we could afford to go was Reboot Infogamer last month, it's like an hour drive from here and everything was free for indies, which we were thankful for. It was an amazing experience when people sit down and play the game in front of you, then talk to you about it for 30 minutes, either praising it or giving you great criticism. I really want to do that as much as possible, I love interacting with fans and getting good critique that helps me improve the game.

I've been talking to Devolver, I hear they're very good with both marketing, which we need the most right now. Anything about them you can tell me?

[AlexVsCoding]

I've got friends who who've gone with them who I could ask for insight from - Funnily enough Devolver was the first publisher that came to mind when I thought of your project. Most events and expos are amazingly generous with their offerings - I think for all the different festivals I've shown Narcissus at (about 10-15), I've paid less than $1000 (which is for the living arrangements/transport costs). Seeing the faces of your audiences and their reactions is the fuel that will keep you going in those tough months of development - keep showing it to people. There may not be many developers over there, but I'm sure there's plenty of people enthused by video games.

When I moved to Huddersfield (the town/city that I currently live in), there wasn't a developer community and no known developers in the local area. After I'd established the networks, we've gone from what for a good while I thought to be no companies in the local area there actually being 5 already existing teams and 6 companies formed with support of the networking group. The reason I emphasise this is because one of the core reasons I want to stay in this industry is because of the communities that I've formed and have been involved in.

Starting a community hub for your country is a wonderful opportunity to be at the heart of the start of something. Even if it's meeting up once a month and reaching out to places like colleges and Universities to get lecturers and their students to come along, it's a super small amount of effort. Even events like game jams - it's literally book a space, advertise out, invite folks then build games for the day (I run a 12 hour one). If you're seen to be one of the founding developers of your countries' games community, it's an accolade that the press might focus on and that even might cement you in the history books of your nation. Who knows? 

[TadejVig]

Heh, again, you don't understand the situation here. There's literately nothing here for developers - Slovenia that is. There's one big game developer I think but it only makes flops, there is one video game magazine left but it's dying, no online community and most players play CoD and FIFA games, maybe Farming Simulators and Blizzard titles.

Like I said, there is a monthly meet up in a city 3 hour away from mine where I sometimes meet other developers, but we're all small time for now. No game jams, no expos, no events in this country. And 1000 bucks is a fortune to me, I usually spend about 150 euros per month for food and basic bills (phone, internet).