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[io3 creations]

Seems like you have a game version that you took to conventions.  Have you asked YouTube/Twitch gameplayers to play your game?  If a full release demo isn't available, would it be possible to create a limited distribution demo?  Also, you could make that available to KS backers that might generate more exposure. 

Some YouTuber/Twitcher lists (some can even be searched by interests).
http://videogamecaster.com/
http://youtubers.brightside-games.com/
http://youtubeforindies.com/
http://tinybuild.com/twitch
http://videogamejournaliser.com/
http://www.pixelprospector.com/the-big-list-of-indie-game-sites/

Of course, you could also ask  backers to help spread the word.  Instead of a spammy/begging type request, if you put a creative spin on it then that could get current backers more engaged in the project.   Perhaps something along the lines of "How to tame a shadow (creature?) ..."  and have some interesting gifs that people can retweet or share otherwise.  Perhaps, You could also post on  you posted on imgur or other social medial?  While some sites have quite a few restrictions (e.g. reddit), others are more open.  Imgur seems to have worked well for some developers.  You can post single images and also create a gallery.

You could also add the KS link to your signature.  Probably, won't make a huge difference but it's still nice to have an easy and quick way to get there instead of trying to track it down otherwise.

[nt]

Thanks for the info io3! I had a demo available but I felt if was not polished enough for general distribution. I did sent it to selected journalists, rockpapershotgun played it and wrote about it.

Update!
So the Kickstarter is 90% funded, there is only 3 days to go. This is getting very close, very stressful. The last 10% feels huge, I really hope I can make it. There is still a long way to go in a short amount of time.

If you want to help out you can share the Kickstarter on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, help me reach more people. I got the most steady graph chart but I really need a little boost for the end!

I added more rewards for some pledges also. If you pledge 25$CDN or more you will now get the Steam key + your choice of PS4 or Xbox One Key. If you pledge 125$CDN or more you will get all three keys!

Thanks for all the support, and thanks to all the backers! : )

[io3 creations]

As you probably know, Kickstarter will send out a notification 2 days before the project ends.  That should help with the final bump.

[Zorg]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/6502b/in-the-shadows-1/posts/1577715

Coooongratulations!!!

[Hephep]

Well done! 

[nt]

It's happening!!

103%! 50 hours left!

[io3 creations]

Congrats on the KS campaign! 

[chriswearly]

Almost forgot to back this! Slightly strapped for cash, but I can't pass up supporting a fellow TIG dev :D

[nt]

Thanks to everyone who backed and supported the game!


The campaign reached 112% by the end, In The Shadows is now FUNDED!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/6502b/in-the-shadows-1/posts/1580057

[and]

Thanks to everyone who backed and supported the game!


The campaign reached 112% by the end, In The Shadows is now FUNDED!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/6502b/in-the-shadows-1/posts/1580057

Awesome! Congratulations

[nt]

I have been working on some better tools to help me make levels and prototyping. It's crazy the amount of repetitive things you do in Unity that you can streamline, when you take the time to do it properly.

My old method to add colliders in the scene was very bad, so I made a bunch of tools to simplify the process and with better visual in debug mode. Also a scriptable debug info overlay helps a lot when playing the game from the TV or console and I don't want to get up to check out some value on the other screen. Z depth of the player is important to note for shadows and sometime to fix the player from going through stuff in Z. I also added a noclip full control of the player, I don't know why I didn't add this before, this saves me so much time when I want to do something in play mode and just translate the player where ever I want.

Debug stuff in compiled version. Sorry for the huge gif file.

Otherwise, I'm still waiting for things to go through with Kickstarter, in the meantime I have been busy revising schedule, breaking down things that were not properly broken down. I got a very thigh schedule until release and everyday count to hit release on time.

I will post an update on Kickstarter soon, I also wanted to post the last part of the series of post I made about my creative process, which was the most interesting I think. You can read the first 2 parts here :

Part 1 : Telling a story and filmmaking
Part 2 : Electronics, programming and tinkering


This week I'll be busy fixing the sound system in the game, and also better gamepad support. I want full customizable gamepad support for the game and after trying the XBOX One controller I got some surprise where it doesn't behave like the XBOX 360 (mainly, the d-pad). But I would like people to customise what button does what and from some early design I did I will be a bit of work.

[nt]

I have not posted here in a while hey. I post my updates once a month on the Kickstarter page and I guess I neglected tigsource.

The game is progressing well, getting things ready for Steam now, I got a working version for Windows Mac and Linux. I spend a lot of time working on handling things on PS4 and XBox one, even with Unity there is still quite a bit of work that needs to be done for console port. A lot of that stuff I will need to do after the Steam release if I want to release the game on PC later this year like planned.

Here is a screenshot I posted on Kickstarter on the last update, for those who don't follow me there.


I upgraded from Unity 4.7 to 5.X also, it was not so bad but it did take me 2 days to fix some bugs, mainly with UI and shaders. Still some weird stuff going on but it shouldn't be a problem to fix.

I didn't take much time in the past to check out Unity 5.X, so many new things to play with. Also I thought the new basic shaders could do all I want based on stuff I read in the past but I ended up still using my custom Shaders since they do exactly what I want.

I also been trying out the cacheserver for unity, I don't know if any of you guys use this thing but I barely see any improvements when changing platform. It's such a pain to have to wait for reimports every time you switch platform.

[Alex N.]

The progress throughout the years was amazing. Your project and few others really had me from the get-go, not to dismiss other projects, of course, but these few are simply satisfying my taste. I can't wait to see it up and running on steam.

I have few questions, marketing and engine wise, that i would like to ask you, and by all means feel free to ignore them if you see fit:
1. How and when did you start marketing your game? And by this I mean the serious marketing, not the dev logs inside the indie community (which personally I don't think has a substantial value market wise, besides the info/ideas on game improvement).
2. Did you altered you initial idea throughout the dev process, or you kept up chipping away the "excess"?
3. Your lights in the game looks outstanding. I just couldn't reproduce them in unity. Did you followed any lighting tutorial (and if so, pls do share it with us) or it was the simple result of trial and error?

See you around and best of luck for the upcoming period.

[tig]

I like the way the light is used to create atmosphere. The usage of shadows is brilliant! This is the first platformer I've seen that accurately utilizes dynamic shadows, without being too over the top. It's a nice touch, I like the way it adds depth. When I saw that your KickStarter was a success, I was glad you got funded. I am sure the resources will be used to make this game even more amazing. Wishing you well on your path!

[crusty]

I upgraded from Unity 4.7 to 5.X also, it was not so bad but it did take me 2 days to fix some bugs, mainly with UI and shaders. Still some weird stuff going on but it shouldn't be a problem to fix.

Oh man I feel you -- I have weird graphical artifacting issues w/ 5.x and certain UI elements.  Also some strange animation errors that seem to be linked to callbacks.  If you feel the need to wax technical about any upgrade issues I would be listening with very attentive ears.  The errors I'm encountering have no stack trace so I've just given up and reverted to 4.x

[alvarop]

I got to try the game today and I really liked it.
I mention this on some other threads (about other games), but even my girlfriend loved it. That's a sign of its quality : she hates games usually.

Can't wait to get it and play some more.

[nt]

1. How and when did you start marketing your game? And by this I mean the serious marketing, not the dev logs inside the indie community (which personally I don't think has a substantial value market wise, besides the info/ideas on game improvement).
2. Did you altered you initial idea throughout the dev process, or you kept up chipping away the "excess"?
3. Your lights in the game looks outstanding. I just couldn't reproduce them in unity. Did you followed any lighting tutorial (and if so, pls do share it with us) or it was the simple result of trial and error?

Hey, thanks for following the game all this time

1 - I don't do much marketing, I do post on twitter/facebook/instagram mostly during time of expo and such. When I did the kickstarter I posted a lot more and I had PAX East the same time so it did bring some attention, also some article about the game helped. I have zero budget for marketing otherwise really, so I do my best, telling people, journalist, when I do something new or an event.
2. The basic idea was much more simple, it grew in the first couple of months, now I still add stuff, but I remove some also. The size of the game has not really change for the past year and a half I guess.
3. I don't know what to say about light. I worked in the 3D animation industry for a while, i've done a lot of lighting/staging in 3D. My workflow to light the game is the same I used when working in 3D, and basicaly the game is in 3D anyway. Just use colors that work together, giving the right feel to your scene, you can light the same thing 100 different way to give a different feel to it really.

I like the way the light is used to create atmosphere. The usage of shadows is brilliant! This is the first platformer I've seen that accurately utilizes dynamic shadows, without being too over the top. It's a nice touch, I like the way it adds depth. When I saw that your KickStarter was a success, I was glad you got funded. I am sure the resources will be used to make this game even more amazing. Wishing you well on your path!

Thanks! yeah the Kickstarter not only helped, but it saved the day. The game would have taken a lot more time without it I supose, now I work on it full time thanks to all the backers who believed in the project!

I got to try the game today and I really liked it.
I mention this on some other threads (about other games), but even my girlfriend loved it. That's a sign of its quality : she hates games usually.
Can't wait to get it and play some more.

Hey thanks for playing the game!


I was at MIGF yesterday, showing the game to my fellow Montrealers, it was nice! MIGF was really fun, people had really long play time, I was surprised how many people took the time to play almost the full demo. Some people waited in line to try it and couldn't even get a chance to sit before someone else did. I had 2 computers but sadly my other monitor got dropped on the floor and broke when we moved the stuff to setup inside, so I only had 1 computer to run the game.

[next2indies]

We really like the background (and foreground) design. It looks pretty gorgeous. Very FEZ-like, we must say... which isn't a bad thing at all!

[Mahn]

Really like how this is coming along, the FEZ-like aesthetics go really well together with that pretty lighting. Any updates?

[nt]

Really like how this is coming along, the FEZ-like aesthetics go really well together with that pretty lighting. Any updates?

I've been busy working on the game, seeing how the release date get push back a little, I try to just get it finished. Ill post a big update soon about what I did and what is happening. I really admire people who keep a regular devlog, I just don't have the motivation to do the devlog these days, I'm so close to the end, I really want it to be done as soon as possible.

For now, the game is still progressing well, I have a booth at PAX South 2017, (booth #12210), I won't be there myself, but you can play the game there!

For news and update, follow me on www.twitter.com/6502b  or on www.facebook.com/colorspacestudio

stay tuned!