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[hannahontrek]

Hey! Thank you!

I actually thought about adding a way to get to the stairs from other angles, I'm glad you said something. For the detective agency would it be helpful to be able to click on the desk from further back?

For moving backwards, I think that's an interesting idea to have a button to go backwards, I'm just not sure I'd be able to implement it since it's a camera system rather than a 3D space the player is navigating. I'll mull it over.

Thank you for taking the time to play the demo and give me feedback! It's very helpful   

[nathy after dark]

You’re welcome! Being able to click on the desk from further back would help, yeah.

[Flenn]

Hello, I like your game Alex Hill Mystery, it has great graphics and an attractive theme, I would like to create the soundtrack, I leave you my previous works:
https://www.instagram.com/flen__campos/?hl=es-la

[hannahontrek]

I've adjusted the UI so that it's easier to turn around in the game.

https://ibb.co/VQbJBqL



I've also finished the script, cast the voice actors for the characters with some awesome talent, and the majority of environments are done! The Indiegogo campaign I ran in the fall helped pay for the voice actors. I might run another later in the year to help with continued development.

I still have a number of levels to finish putting together, I need to make some more puzzles and minigames, and I need to get all the character animated which will be a big undertaking. I plan on using mocap assets to help streamline some of that as long as it looks good.

[hannahontrek]

I'm working on animation next!

I'm currently testing some mocap and live link options with Unreal Engine. I actually went to school for animation and I was training to be a film animator, so my challenge is letting go of the quality I would like to have. In film, you have time to put all the details and work into a few seconds of the animation. In games, especially as a solo developer, I don't have the time to make each animation the quality I was trained to look for. So, I'm looking at using Live Link for the facial animations and then using a few mocaps per character to have gestures while they talk, which is pretty typical in games with a lot of dialogue. I'm going to try to keep the animation count low.

[nathy after dark]

Cool stuff about the animations! I know nothing about animation so it's really informative and I empathize with the struggle to accept "good enough" on an indie/hobbyist budget.

[hannahontrek]

I'm glad it was informative!

Yeah, I think accepting "good enough" is a learned skill  . The animation has been the hardest one so far.

[hannahontrek]

My game is now available to wishlist on Steam!! 

[hannahontrek]

I'm working on animations for the game and I'll be working on that for the next month. I ran into some issues with some of my audio, but I'm getting that worked out. It's coming along nicely!

Here's sneak peak of it!

I've also announced the cast for Alex Hill: Whispers at White Oak Inn over on Twitter and Instagram!  I'm so excited about the talented people involved with this project.

[SoniaLevelsUp]

I've been following your progress for the past few months, ever since you posted on reddit before even starting your indigogo campaign. I seriously respect your dedication to making this game happen! It is so satisfying to see all the progress updates and the game coming together. I would love to see more insights into the process of developing your game! It's like those "behind the brand" or small business vlogs on youtube where people give insights into the behind the scenes of making their products or packing thier prodects etc. Like how did you make the characters? They look so good. How long did it take? What is the hardest part about game dev in your opinion? I know it is still early, but will we be getting a second game? 

[hannahontrek]

That's so cool that you've been following along all this time! Thank you  

As to your questions:

Like how did you make the characters? They look so good. How long did it take?

I can't take much credit for the characters. I used a character creation tool called Metahumans. It allowed me to decide what the characters looked like, but the models were already made. (Kind of like character creators in The Sims games) If I had made the models myself I probably would have had to add on another year of work and they wouldn't have looked as good.

I might use a different tool next time around. Metahumans are a little hard to optimize in games, but I'm so thankful for tools like this. I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing without them.

What is the hardest part about game dev in your opinion?

This answer might change depending on what stage I'm working on. Right now fixing bugs has proven to be a challenge, but for me, writing the script was the hardest. I spent two months just on that and it was hard to sit down and write everyday. I have grown in respect for all the writers out there! Writing isn't easy. Thankfully I had another game developer help me edit the script and she was able to help me create a stronger story. She's also writing a few in-game assets as well

I know it is still early, but will we be getting a second game?

I have ideas for the next two games Since writing the script was so hard for me I want to get a head start on the next one, so I do some brainstorming whenever I get a chance.

Thank you for your questions! I'll try to do more behind the scenes type stuff.

[hannahontrek]

I had a tough couple of weeks fixing bugs. A handful of people playtested the game which was super helpful! But one bug in particular I wasn't able to replicate. The inventory kept disappearing for a player and I couldn't figure it out. So, I restructured my levels and was able to fix it!

There's now an updated Demo that can be played on itch.io and Steam! Woohoo!

[hannahontrek]

I finished adding all the dialogue to the game! It was a bit tedious, but someone had to do it. Since I'm the only one on my team, I figured I was the best choice 

I realized that even though I was VERY organized, there are some things I will do differently the next time around. Some of my dialogue trees weren't as well thought out as I thought they were. But alas, I have learned my lesson.

Now I will be spending the bulk of my time animating the dialogue lines!

[hannahontrek]

I've gotten the majority of the face animations done, now I'm working on body animations for the dialogue, and I'm saving the few cutscene animations I need for later.

I'm keeping the body animations simple for this game since animation can be a long a process. I'll be making a few body animations for each character and then re-using them throughout the game.

[hannahontrek]

I've been working on some of the puzzles and a lot of the logic for the game lately. I'm definitely getting better at coding and I'm starting to love Blueprints and variables in Unreal engine. I've learned some things that I wish I had known from the beginning, but at least I know them now.

I recently coded a puzzle/game that is randomized everytime you play it. It was fun figuring that out!

[hannahontrek]

Somedays I feel clever when I code my game. Somedays I have a blast doing it. Somedays I feel like I actually know what I'm doing inside Unreal Engine.

Today is not that day.

Today is one of those times that coding makes me feel brainless and frustrated.

I recently coded a puzzle for the game. It took me around ten hours to do, but I thought I was finished with it. I plugged it into my game just to make sure everything was working smoothly, but I noticed that if I left the puzzle and came back, the puzzle was buggy. It wouldn't have a problem the first time I opened it up, but the second time it had major issues. Elements kept disappearing off my screen when I clicked on them, but not reappearing the way they should.

After hours of testing and trying to debug it, I figured out that one of my widgets (a 2d element on the screen) wasn't being destroyed when I left the puzzle. So every time I went back to the puzzle there were multiple widgets on the screen. When I tried to play the game, the code was confused about which widget to get its information from — hence the bugs.

I tried everything I knew to destroy the widget, but I couldn't figure it out. This widget wouldn't die no matter what I did.

Finally, I found a forum that mentioned a "collect garbage" node. I don't know why, but sometimes Unreal Engine has to take out the garbage when it comes to widgets. It worked! My widget was thrown in the trash and my puzzle now works seamlessly.

[hannahontrek]

I have an

and a release date for my game!

Alex Hill: Whispers at White Oak Inn comes out March 7th!!

I'm so excited and a bit freaked out that it's only two months away!