Research Story News

[h2]Hello Researchers![/h2]

[h3]I’m thrilled to announce that Research Story will be releasing in Early Access on ✨February 20, 2023✨![/h3]

We’ve come so far and I’m so, so excited to be sharing the game with you guys soon. If you’ve been following for a while - thank you for sticking around! And if you’ve newly found this game, welcome to our community!

In Research Story, you can:
📖 Observe and record plants & creatures!
🦊 Bring creatures along to explore!
💖 Meet & date townsfolk!
🌿 Farm, tame, fish, and build!
🔍 Uncover mysteries!
…and more!

Release Date Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgjVbf1ZYDc
Our demo is still available on Steam, if you’d like to try it out. I’ve worked through much of your feedback since then (most of the changes will be in the Early Access release) - though I’m always open to hearing more suggestions!

If you'd like to support us, you can:
🎮 Join our community on Discord - chat, give feedback, and get access to sneak peeks and regular updates.
⭐️ Wishlist our game to get notified on release!
💬 Share about our game!

How many chickens will you tame?

I’ll see you again for the regular monthly devlog soon! In the meantime, I hope you’re enjoying the holiday season~
- Miki

[h2]Next 3 Romanceable NPCs 💖[/h2]
This month passed quickly as I wrote the stories and date events for another 3 romanceable NPCs. There will be 6 romanceable NPCs in the initial release of Research Story. Last month, Theo, Zuri, and Rhea were revealed as romanceables - the remaining ones are *drumroll* - Teagan, Vallee, and Suo’e!



All of them have unique backstories and reasons they came to Shimmerbrook - it’s up to you to learn them! For Early Access, each romanceable NPC will have 4 Heart Events and 3 Dates in which players can talk to them.

[h2]NPC portraits - expressions 🎭[/h2]
I've also been adding different expressions for NPC portraits. Each NPC will have at least 3 different expressions (neutral/happy/uncertain). Here are the ones for Remus and Eira!



[h2]Secondary mechanics[/h2]
Other than the work on NPC content, there’s also been progress in these areas:

[h3]Fast travel 🏃‍♂️🏃🏻🏃🏻‍♀️[/h3]
Players can unlock fast travel during the game. Place your Farm Teleporter anywhere on your farm, and get access to other Teleport locations!



[h3]Player customisation - Outfits! 👚[/h3]
Player customisation has been expanded to include different tops, bottoms, and bags! I’ve also added more skin tones, hair colours, and hairstyles. Here is the updated customisation page:



[h2]What’s next/in the works 📝[/h2]
NPC content

• Completing routines for remaining NPCs
  
• Additional dialogue (e.g. unique dialogue on birthdays)
  
• Completing NPC shops and items (such as Mason’s shop)
  

More systems/side content

• Job board (i.e. fetch quests)
  
• Building & decoration mechanics
  
• Content for books in the Archive (written by NPC researchers)
  

More researchables

• Adding more fish, creatures, and plants.
  

Mines

• Mines where players can collect their ores.
  

Music & Sound

• Adding more music and sound effects.
  

As you can see, there's a lot in the works - I’ll be able to show more soon! We’re getting so close to an Early Access playable build (for internal testing) and it’s all very exciting. Keep an eye out for an announcement sometime soon!

Time for me to get back to work~
- Miki

[h2]Happy Spooky Season, Researchers! 🎃🍂[/h2]

Celebrating the spooky season with a little Autumn creature reveal - Skullbeak! Spoopy borb.


----------------------------------------------------
Back to the devlog - in October, I mainly worked on NPC content. Here's a summary:

[h2]First 3 Romanceables revealed! Rhea, Theo, and Zuri[/h2]
For each romanceable NPC, you’ll learn more about them through two main mechanics: Heart Events, and Dates. What stories will they tell?



[h2]Heart Events 💜[/h2]

Each romanceable NPC will have 6 Heart Event cutscenes (Note: For Early Access, only 4 of such cutscenes for each romanceable will be implemented). These are unlocked at every heart level, and will be triggered when conditions (such as time and location) are right. Some of these cutscenes are tied to the main storyline, and others extend beyond it.

[h2]Friendly Dates and Romantic Dates 💛❤️[/h2]

In a previous devlog (Devlog #9), I introduced “Hangout Events” where players can hang out with NPCs. I’ve updated the system, and now players can schedule “Friendly Dates” and “Romantic Dates”. Each romanceable NPC will have 2 “Friendly Dates”, which you can access once you become friends with them. To unlock romantic dates, players will need to show romantic interest at an appropriate juncture and be accepted by the NPC.

Example of 2 Friendly Dates and 1 locked Romantic Date

I've added more date locations and activities, such as a picnic date in the woods!

[h2]General NPC mechanics 🏃[/h2]
Work Day/Rest Days
All NPCs have fixed work days and rest days as part of their schedules. Some of the considerations I had when implementing this system is to have establishments being run on most days, even when the “main” NPC in charge is not working. For example, you’ll find Vallee running the Archive on most days, but during her rest days, Eira’s here to help!

This system allows players to schedule dates with NPCs on their rest days, while shops and other establishments continue to be available.

Routines
After adding routines for most of the NPCs, the town became quite lively! Especially when you visit the tavern at night:

The Tavern is getting lively!

[h2]What’s next 📝[/h2]
NPC content

• Completing content for another 3 romanceable NPCs.
  
• Additional dialogue
  
• NPC hand-drawn portraits
  

Additional systems/side content

• Job board (i.e. fetch quests)
  
• Building & decoration mechanics
  
• Simple teleportation system
  
• More player customisation options
  

Content for a few more researchables

• Adding more fish, creatures, and plants.
  

Mines

• Mines where players can collect their ores.
  

Music & Sound

• Adding more music and sound effects.
  

With all that said, I’m hoping to do a release date announcement by the end of this year. Exciting times! I’ve said this many times and I’ll say it again - thank you to all of you following the journey of Research Story and truly, I wouldn’t be here without you!! Your patience, support and excitement for the game has been amazing. You’re amazing! :D I'm really excited to be making this game for you. See you soon!
- Miki

[h2]Good day, Researchers![/h2]

This month, I wrapped up most of the main storyline, added important supporting mechanics, worked on more location artwork (such as building interiors), and gave NPCs some routines… There was progress in a variety of areas, and here are some highlights:

[h2]Building interiors and map update 🏡[/h2]
More building interiors have been added. Some rooms require a certain level of friendship with specific NPCs to enter!



Along with more areas to explore, I’ve also updated the Map UI - players can now view location information when checking their maps.



[h2]NPC Stories 💜[/h2]
[h3]Cutscenes[/h3]
Various cutscenes will be triggered as you progress the story, and as you get closer to townsfolk. Here's an example of one involving Vallee and Suo'e:



[h3]Routines[/h3]
Townsfolk will have different routines based on: 1) Whether they are working that day or not; and 2) Weather. For example, most townsfolk will stay indoors when it rains, engaging in a different activity. They will also have different dialogues during different times of the day depending on where they are/what they are doing.



[h2]Fatigue/Fainting System 💦[/h2]
Players mentioned that there isn’t much penalty to using up energy other than decreased speed. I’ve added a fatigue and fainting system: players move and act more slowly when fatigued, and the day is skipped if players faint. This gives the energy system more meaning, and also makes eating food more important!

Player fainting from working too much

[h2]Updates to the Creature System 🦊[/h2]
I’ve added more creature traits, a way to release tamed creatures, and even different types of creature pens that are required by specific creatures!

Different creature pens will be required for different creatures

[h2]What’s next? 📝[/h2]
[h3]More NPC content[/h3]
There is still much work left to do to bring the NPCs to life - cutscenes, dialogue, routines, date activities - that content will take a lot of time! There will be 15+ NPCs by Early Access. There is also a bunch of artwork for the NPCs that needs to be completed and polished.
[h3]More systems/side content[/h3]
I want to work on more supporting systems/mechanics, such as having a job board (i.e. fetch quests)/building & decoration/simple teleportation system.
[h3]Content for a few more researchables[/h3]
There will be at least 60+ researchables in Early Access, which includes plants, creatures, and fish - most of them are already added but there’s still some testing/balancing to do, and I hope to add just a few more on top of what we have now.
[h3]Mines[/h3]
Finally, I’m also working on a Mines area where players can collect their ores - will share that when it’s more complete.

Well, that’s all for now, see you next month! - Miki

[h2]Hello Researchers![/h2]

This month, as I continue to tie the game’s story together, I’ve also been working on RS’ progression systems.

[h2]Crafting Stations ✨[/h2]
First, there will be various Crafting Stations for players to build. Players would be able to craft items required to grow their crops, upgrade their tools, and progress in the story. Here are a few examples:

[h3]Composters and Stone Forges[/h3]
These crafting stations require several materials to process. Composters need Fiber and an additional material (such as a plant), while forges need coal and ores. Crafting takes time.

Composter that makes fertilisers and soil modifiers.

Stone forge to get metal bars from ores.

[h3]Sawhorse[/h3]
Similar to the previously added Seed Sieve, Sawhorses only require one material and crafts instantly.
Using a Sawhorse to get Wood Planks from Logs.

There will be other Crafting Stations in the game for players to discover!

[h2]Research Submissions and Research Rank 🔍📕 [/h2]
Next, I’ve also been working on an overarching Research Rank that tracks the number of books players have submitted to the Archive. As players rank up, they will be rewarded in different ways that opens up more gameplay.

Research Rank Up!

Other changes based on demo feedback

+ Added an easily accessible tutorial menu!
+ Selling Price of items will be shown when checking the Shipping Bin, if players have sold the item before.

I hope that these additions will give players a good sense of overall progression and things to work towards as they play. I’m planning to do more NPC-related content and improve some creature-raising mechanics next month.

As usual, thank you for reading! ‘Til next time.

- Miki