Dev Diary - Issue #9 "Beta Bombardment"
Due to a Steam bug, I have been unable to post announcements with the authoring tools. This has been fixed, please note that all dates in the following announcement were made on September 28, 2019.
It was a busy September here at StudioFOW and it’s the first full month where I could see all the new additions to the team fully integrated into Subverse’s workflow, and I have to say – I like what I’m seeing. We’ve been careful and recruited very intelligently to make sure we have the right personnel in place to deliver the game. As a result, everyone is gelling and we seem to finally have a nice little indie studio vibe going on. There’s even a token gimp leashed to Yagskie’s desk who refills his coffee. Who needs a $5000 espresso machine?
Next up on the waifu conveyor belt is another one of the promised Kickstarter stretch goals, the infamous “Huntress” aka squidgirl. She is a departure from our usual bevy of stacked femme fatales, offering a... flatter alternative for the discerning Captain. Don't let her cute looks fool you, she's a relentless space combat boss that hunts you throughout the game, and we took great pains to integrate her into the main storyline so that she doesn’t feel like a tacked on KS reward. As a result, I think you guys will enjoy her recruitment mission which is an exciting riff on 80s action movies all the way through. We’re applying the finishing touches on the model now and she will be viewable on the StudioFOW website in October.
Another promised reward was the delivery of the Subverse hentai doujin. Over the last few months I’ve been working closely with several prominent mangaka in order to bring this to life and I’m thinking you guys will enjoy the fruits of our labor. The doujins play to each artists’ established strengths, whilst keeping with the themes of the game...meaning that both fans of the mangaka and fans of Subverse will be hype for it. And if you're fans of both...well, then you're in for a real treat. Another great thing about these doujins is that they allow us to explore darker content we are not able to in the game. As we get closer to releasing the manga next year I am getting more and more excited to share snippets with everyone. And of course, the reward will be free to all StudioFOW fans and backers.
At long last the entirety of the script is locked and ready to be recorded by the sultriest VAs we could find. Clocking in at over 400 pages, this is about 5 movies worth of galactic debauchery - full of twists, turns, romance, drama and more toilet humor than you could shake a Chutt’s dingleberry at. We split the writing into three phases
1) Main script including all the new cinematics
2) All onboard dialogue including post-mission conversations and reactions to galactic events
3) Loyalty quests and side missions for each waifu
As you can see, there is a LOT to record. Normally I would have liked to save this until the end, but due to the massive lead-times associated with recording a script of this size, we will start recording sessions as soon as October in order to get as much voiced content ready for 1.0 as possible. I’d rather be slightly inefficient than to miss the 1.0 build being voiced, because the performances really bring everything to life.
The long awaited beta of the space shooter is live this weekend (September 28, 2019, original posting date.) – right on schedule as promised. Eligible backers (£75 and up) need to head on over to the Discord and register your key with the awesomely named “Masterbeta” bot which will assign you a key. Once you have your key you’ll be able to opt into the beta on Steam if you own Subverse in your library. Remember, this is just a bare-bones build so whilst aesthetic feedback is noted, we are honestly looking for feedback on mechanics e.g. does it feel responsive, are you having trouble with a particular enemy type, do the hitboxes feel right for you?
Testers have an important role, but it’s also important to be laser-precise with your feedback. Because there are so many of you, it will take some time to sift through all the feedback and get to the critical issues, therefore patience is appreciated. Heading into the Fall we are really excited to be finishing up the last few remaining waifus and getting deeper into the gameplay elements, working together with our 4000+ testers to create a worthy adult game for pervs everywhere to enjoy.
-DC
It was a busy September here at StudioFOW and it’s the first full month where I could see all the new additions to the team fully integrated into Subverse’s workflow, and I have to say – I like what I’m seeing. We’ve been careful and recruited very intelligently to make sure we have the right personnel in place to deliver the game. As a result, everyone is gelling and we seem to finally have a nice little indie studio vibe going on. There’s even a token gimp leashed to Yagskie’s desk who refills his coffee. Who needs a $5000 espresso machine?
Squidgirl Model
Next up on the waifu conveyor belt is another one of the promised Kickstarter stretch goals, the infamous “Huntress” aka squidgirl. She is a departure from our usual bevy of stacked femme fatales, offering a... flatter alternative for the discerning Captain. Don't let her cute looks fool you, she's a relentless space combat boss that hunts you throughout the game, and we took great pains to integrate her into the main storyline so that she doesn’t feel like a tacked on KS reward. As a result, I think you guys will enjoy her recruitment mission which is an exciting riff on 80s action movies all the way through. We’re applying the finishing touches on the model now and she will be viewable on the StudioFOW website in October.
Mangaka
Another promised reward was the delivery of the Subverse hentai doujin. Over the last few months I’ve been working closely with several prominent mangaka in order to bring this to life and I’m thinking you guys will enjoy the fruits of our labor. The doujins play to each artists’ established strengths, whilst keeping with the themes of the game...meaning that both fans of the mangaka and fans of Subverse will be hype for it. And if you're fans of both...well, then you're in for a real treat. Another great thing about these doujins is that they allow us to explore darker content we are not able to in the game. As we get closer to releasing the manga next year I am getting more and more excited to share snippets with everyone. And of course, the reward will be free to all StudioFOW fans and backers.
Script finished
At long last the entirety of the script is locked and ready to be recorded by the sultriest VAs we could find. Clocking in at over 400 pages, this is about 5 movies worth of galactic debauchery - full of twists, turns, romance, drama and more toilet humor than you could shake a Chutt’s dingleberry at. We split the writing into three phases
1) Main script including all the new cinematics
2) All onboard dialogue including post-mission conversations and reactions to galactic events
3) Loyalty quests and side missions for each waifu
As you can see, there is a LOT to record. Normally I would have liked to save this until the end, but due to the massive lead-times associated with recording a script of this size, we will start recording sessions as soon as October in order to get as much voiced content ready for 1.0 as possible. I’d rather be slightly inefficient than to miss the 1.0 build being voiced, because the performances really bring everything to life.
Beta Commencement
The long awaited beta of the space shooter is live this weekend (September 28, 2019, original posting date.) – right on schedule as promised. Eligible backers (£75 and up) need to head on over to the Discord and register your key with the awesomely named “Masterbeta” bot which will assign you a key. Once you have your key you’ll be able to opt into the beta on Steam if you own Subverse in your library. Remember, this is just a bare-bones build so whilst aesthetic feedback is noted, we are honestly looking for feedback on mechanics e.g. does it feel responsive, are you having trouble with a particular enemy type, do the hitboxes feel right for you?
Testers have an important role, but it’s also important to be laser-precise with your feedback. Because there are so many of you, it will take some time to sift through all the feedback and get to the critical issues, therefore patience is appreciated. Heading into the Fall we are really excited to be finishing up the last few remaining waifus and getting deeper into the gameplay elements, working together with our 4000+ testers to create a worthy adult game for pervs everywhere to enjoy.
-DC