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[Studio Deadlines]

Hi everyone! We’re a student team that is currently developing a 2D horror survival game with an emphasis on storytelling for a capstone course. Follow Emma’s story… Emma is an accountant by day with dreams of becoming a comic artist at night. One day, her 9-5 breaks her and sends her into psychosis. Help Emma navigate her nightmarish dreamscape in this psychological commentary on toxic work environments.

Link to the alpha game build: https://www.indiedb.com/games/endless-deadlines/downloads/alpha-build3

This week, we made a lot of changes:
Intro cutscene is BACK!
New Levels and progress on future ones
UI & Dialogue improvements
Additional controls for accessibility
Flashlight mechanic refactored
Lighting and post processing changed
Sanity effects
Additional sound effects
Backend changes for easier content addition
Various bug fixes!!!

General feedback from playtesting motivated us to modify a lot of features in the game on the basis of better player guidance and communicating what is going on in the game. Players seemed to have confusion with controlling the flashlight and the mechanics behind charging it, so we removed controlling the flashlight with mouse control and made charging obvious by giving its own location with effects. We added visual effects when the player loses their sanity so that it is more clear that being in the dark negatively affects you. Things like clearer indicators in dialogue selection and better visibility in the game will hopefully give players a better sense of direction. The UI was simplified and updated since we felt it isn't too relevant and only added to the confusion of players. The UI and dialogue was also updated to better fit the theme and art style. In addition, we split the tutorial section of the game to try and gradually introduce players to the game’s mechanics in an environment without much hazards since players were accidentally failing during playtests. We also expanded upon areas/levels and added more content since the last build in playtesting was mostly aimed to test our mechanics and core features in the game.

Next week, we aim to polish our current levels in the game and potentially add more if necessary. We want to add one more level with new mechanics to add more content for our 15-minute playable demo, and once we fill that goal we can work on cool stretch goals like a working phone system and dialogue combat. Our goal is to have the story fleshed out with rigorous guidance that doesn’t feel unnatural and add more polish like transitions, and sounds, tighten up guidance, and fix any other issues we find from testing!





Let us know about any feedback or ideas you have for our game!

[Studio Deadlines]

Hey everyone! It’s been a busy week with Thanksgiving break on the horizon for us students. This week, once again we made a lot of changes according to feedback from playtesting. Be on the lookout for our final post coming soon in early December!

Link to the beta game build: https://www.indiedb.com/games/endless-deadlines/downloads/beta-build4#downloadsform

Changelog:
Added light switch mechanic
Added transitions
Added additional levels
Added more sound effects and adjustments
Added skip cutscene option
Adjusted visual effects
Changed dialogue to support extra controls
Changed sanity and flashlight to no longer drain in dialogue
Fixed dialogue issues
Improved dialogue smoothness
Fixed bugs
Removed flashlight passive recharge
Updated title screen



For the changes this week, we wanted to introduce some more interesting decisions, so we added a light switch mechanic for players to be able to turn off/on lights in a level. We added new levels which utilize this mechanic and try to force players to venture out into the darkness while also balancing their sanity. Our guidance was still a little rough for some players as they felt there was too much dialogue in the first few rooms. So we are trying to reduce the amount of dialogue in these rooms and make the player figure things out themselves. Our mechanic of flashlight recharging was a bit confusing for players, so we removed the passive charging ability and now force players to recharge their batteries at a charging station. We also noticed players were getting frustrated when sanity is lost mid-dialogue, so this does not happen anymore. Since we are getting close to the game release date, we worked on making the game feel more professional by adding transitions between levels. Enjoy the chibi of Emma in the loading transition screen! One of our artists drew it up! We also added more sound effects, refactored UI artwork to match the game style, and fixed some dialogue in the game to make sense.

Next iteration, our goal is to polish and balance the new levels we added and wrap up any minor problems in the game. We’ll look to fix any issues remaining in the game from the feedback we will be getting this week. Look forward to seeing some music being added to the game from musicians collaborating with us! We’ll be adding an ending to the game so you’ll get to know how Emma’s story ends. Our game will be fully finished for the most part and be ready for showcase by then.

Let us know about any feedback or ideas you have for our game!

[Studio Deadlines]

Hi everyone, good news! We're finally releasing the game after many weeks of work with our little team!

Link to build: Build Link

What’s New? Endless Deadlines is now fully released! The game has received lots of love and polishing from the team. Some minor adjustments to things like UI, lighting, and the tutorial were made. We added more sound effects and music from our exceptional musician working with us! The third level got an overhaul design wise, and we added two new levels for players to tackle and help Emma get out of the office finally! Play the game and get to the end to discover the ending to Emma’s story.

Our intentions with many of the adjustments to the game were done to eliminate bugs and fulfill feedback from playtesting. We hoped to have improved the game’s clarity in the tutorial and indicator of actions with additional sounds. The inclusion of music from our artist will definitely set the mood of Emma’s office. Tweaks to the levels and new ones were added to streamline gameplay and prevent player confusion overall.

What’s next for the game and the team? We are probably going to take a much needed break and focus on exams for classes as the semester comes to a close, but we’re considering cleaning up the game, if necessary, after release.

Let us know what you think about the game!

[markbtesh]

looking great so far. Are you looking for any music for this game? I'd love to collaborate. let me know if youd like to check out my portfolio