1. Little Witch in the Woods
  2. News

Little Witch in the Woods News

'Little Witch in the Woods' in Tokyo Game Show 2021

'Little Witch in the Woods' in Tokyo Game Show 2021




[SKT Games Live Streaming]

(UTC+9) 2021.09.30 16:00~16:50

https://youtu.be/TWGweGI8AQw



[Demo available during TGS2021]

*Demo version is the same version of the demo released in Steam Next Fest last June.
*Demo version will only be released during the Gamescom and will not be played afterwards.



[POP QUIZ EVENT]

In addition, there will be a Gamescom-related event on the 'Little Witch in the Woods' Discord, so please participate.

https://discord.gg/gN5E3emb23



Thanks.


Dev Log #4

Hello,
Sunny Side Up here.


Recently, the updated demo was released only for the patrons who participated in crowdfunding in Korea.

Today's patch note will discuss what features have been newly implemented and why in the updated demo.
We hope that today's patch note helps both those who have played the updated version by explaining the reasons and those who have not yet by introducing updated features.



This patch note will be uploaded in twice because of its length.



  • 1st demo: The demo that was on Tumblbug and Steam Next Fest
  • 2nd demo: Updated ver. of the demo that was released only for patrons in August





It's the UI that has already been uncased several times in the previous patch note.
Compared to the 1st demo, which was quite decorated, it becomes more straightforward to focus on its function.

We finally recognized that UI is a part that we need to keep revising until the development gets completed while receiving various feedback and applying those.
Therefore, we decided to decorate it when the development reaches its final stage since leaving the UI like the current version will be easier to modify immediately after receiving player feedback.









In the 1st demo, the players needed to put the ingredients by selecting each from their inventory into the processor to use.
Some material requires two of an ingredient, while some other requires three of it.
It comes to our mind that the player's action to find appropriate ingredients from their inventory and insert the exact number of those does not make the gameplay genuinely more enjoyable--including providing results and information after the player correctly puts appropriate ingredients--.

We finally concluded that those action and process would be annoying as the gameplay progresses. Thus, the processing procedure has been entirely reorganized as follows.
  • When the player operates the processor, a list of processable material appears.
  • When If it is able to process it right away, the name of the material will appear in black. Otherwise, it will appear in red.
  • When If the player selects one of the materials from the list, a brief description of the material will pop up.
    Plus, you will be able to process it right away without selecting one by one from the inventory if it is currently possible to process.

In addition, we were asked to increase the number of processes that can be done at once after the 2nd demo. This will also be improved differently later on.









Initially, the door to the making room was in the form of a ladder on the right side of the entrance of the witch's house.
It was hard to recognize as an entrance, and there were many cases that the players went wrong since it was close to the house entrance.
We believed that we should improve this feature, so as a result, the ladder was changed to a small elevator in the 2nd demo.

We put some distance between the house entrance and making room entrance.
Plus, we developed to make the entry appear when Ellie interacts with a pattern on the floor to eliminate direction errors.
In principle, the elevator moves up and down by a floating rock in the basement of the witch's house.

The very first idea of Ellie's interaction was 'make it move when Ellie steps on a pattern in some order.
However, it was not able to do so since Ellie has dramatically small feet.... Also, if it repeats, it may be annoying.

When it was implemented for the first time, we worried that it would be inconvenient because the player has to interact differently and takes time to make a movement in the game.
After few tests, we concluded that it would be fine, so we could formally implement it.









In the 1st demo, Ellie gets happy if the potion making succeeds and gets frustrated if it fails. Other than Ellie's reaction, nothing gets different.
We thought that there should be more clear notice to the players when the potion making succeeds or fails.

So we made separate effects regarding the result and applied.
The effect will look like a facial expression, so when the potion making succeeds, the effect will look like a smiley face, and when it fails, the effect will look like crying.




This is the end of today's path note.
We will back with the following patch note with changed features and reasons.
Thanks!

Achieved 150k Steam Wishlist!

Achieved 150k Steam Wishlist!



With your tremendous numbers of love, Little Witch in the Woods has reached 150k wishlists on Steam.
In order to repay it, Ellie opens up the event.

Please leave a comment with a unique town name in #as-you-wish 'Little Witch in the Woods' Discord
We will give away various prizes through a draw!

https://discord.gg/h6HnETJNJN

There will be two separate events: name suggesting and voting.
Candidates to be listed for voting will be selected after the internal evaluation.

We will be accepting ideas from September 3rd to 12th, 07:00 (PST).
Candidate announcement: September 16th, 21:00 (PST)

Prize
First place: Nintendo Switch (1 winner)
Second place: Little Witch Goods set (2 winners)
Participation award: Steam gift card - 10,000 KRW (10 winners)

To enter the event: #as-you-wish

'Little Witch in the Woods' participates in the Gamescom2021!

Hello, This is Sunny Side Up.

'Little Witch in the Woods' participates in the Gamescom 2021.

Gamescom will be held online from August 25th to August 27th.

https://now.gamescom.global/

Demo available during the Gamescom2021.
*Demo version is the same version of the demo released in Steam Next Fest last June.
*Demo version will only be released during the Gamescom and will not be played afterwards.

In addition, there will be a Gamescom-related event on the 'Little Witch in the Woods' Discord, so please participate.

https://discord.gg/tR6mV3pXZn

*You can check the detailed information on the 'GAMESCOM2021' channel by accessing the link above.


Thanks

Dev Log #3

Hi guys, this is Sunny Side Up.

Let's start July's patch note.





There was feedback that said that it is kind of boring since Ellie and creatures are the only moving objects in the background from the last demo version.
Therefore, in order to reflect that feedback, we have created and put moving background plants.

It is great to have some plants that keep moving even the character stays still, but we thought it would be more enjoyable to have some movements when the player touches.
So, we additionally put the plants that sway when Ellie passes by.
During the test, we tended to go to the way where the plants move.
Compared to when those weren't there, it was less boring but more fun, so we all were very satisfied with this update.

<Weeds are swaying when Ellie passes by>






We know that it is a fundamental function, but we could not add it easily because Little Witch in the Woods is a pixel game.
The reason why was that if we allow adjusting resolution simply by zooming in or out without properly considering the players' monitors, pixels may be broken or look different even they are the same size.

Thus, we referred to other pixel games and tried to figure out how to make it smooth to solve those problems.
Then finally created a system for the players to choose between the two options:

  • The first option is to set as intended by the graphic artist.
    If you choose this option, the game will be set in the form of 'Pixel Perfect' with the initial pixel size with all the objects in the proper position. However, if the
    player's monitor is not the same as the initial pixel proportion, there will crops at the top and bottom (or both sides) like when you watch a movie.
  • The second option is adjusting the resolution to fit the entire screen.
    Then the crops will not appear, but 'Pixel Perfect' will be broken, and the viewpoint may slightly change.

Besides the resolution, we added features to select the screen mode like full screen, window mode, and full window mode.








We informed that we had developed to make the villagers behave with their own schedules in the last path note.
This time, we developed specific actions and movements with their schedules and applied them to the game.

For example, Rubrum will play with making castles out of sand in the village, and Arden will cook and light up a pot.
We hope you can experience villagers' own characteristics by finding out their unique actions while getting around the village or forest.




This is the end of the patch note.
We will be back with the next one.