Research Story News

[h2]Hello Researchers![/h2]



The Research Story Demo is up for all to try! We're excited to hear what you think about it! 🥳✨

Some important technical details about our 21-28 Feb SteamNextFest Demo:

• Currently supports resolutions 1920x1080 (recommended), 1366x768, and 1440x900. More resolutions will be supported in the future.
  
• Supports only mouse and keyboard (rebindable keys). Partial-full controller support is planned for the future!
  

If you have any suggestions or bug reports, head over to our forums or use our Google Form to let us know!

Thank you all so much for your incredible support so far, and I hope you have fun! 💖

- Mikixen

[h2]Hello Researchers![/h2]
We recently announced that we’ll be participating in the upcoming Steam Next Fest (21-28 Feb), and have been hard at work for it! This month, we made progress in early quest content, and added a new cave location and new creature.

[h2]✨ Steam NextFest Feb 2022 - Mark your calendars! ✨[/h2]

In case you missed our last update about the upcoming event & Demo, find out more here. We hope to see you there!
[h2]Caves, Mushrooms, and a little salamander 🍄[/h2]

As players progress, new areas such as caves will be unlocked. We don’t plan to add combat to the game, but caves are still full of mystery! There are resources, creatures, and more that are unique to caves.



[h2]Tree Farming[/h2]
If you want a neat little corner for your trees, you can now do so! :)



We also worked on things such as skippable cutscenes and tweaking our sound effects. We’re currently going through lots of internal playtesting to smooth out the rough edges, and will focus on tightening the Demo experience from now up to the event. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us via Steam, email, or our socials :)

Stay safe, take care, and see you at the event! (Sooo excited!! 🎉🎉🎉)

- Mikixen

[h2]Calling all Researchers![/h2]

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be participating in the upcoming Steam NextFest on 21-28 Feb 2022! We’re extremely excited to share a Demo with everyone during the event 🎉



[h2]Should you play the Demo? YES! If you…[/h2]

• Wish to get an early experience of the game
  
• Are interested in learning its core mechanics
• Want to tame creatures, grow crops, and meet NPCs (including our beloved Kipp)!
  
• Want to provide suggestions & bug reports, and help shape the development of Research Story
  

[h2]In the Demo, you’ll be able to:[/h2]

• 📖 Play as a researcher while observing the plants and creatures that have been appearing around Shimmerbrook. Record your findings for 6 different plants and 5 different creatures!
  
• 🔶 Experience the start of the main questline - it's just the beginning!
  
• 💜 Meet some of our NPCs in the game - there are currently 5 confirmed NPCs that will be appearing in the Demo!
  
• 🌿 Build your farm the way you want to, while meeting the needs of your crops and creatures!
  
• ⭐️ Customise your researcher! A limited set of options will be available.
  

This is truly an important milestone for us, as we’ll be getting your feedback on what’s the most engaging parts of the game, what’s not so fun, and things like that! These are valuable insights that would help us make a game that players would enjoy.

Finally, as always, thank you for your kind and continued support! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us wherever you wish (Steam, email, socials). See you very soon for the January progress update!

- Mikixen

[h2]Happy Holidays![/h2]

As the year comes to an end, I’m wrapping up my progress with a few menu-related features - such as a main menu, save system, and player customisation! Of course, I also took the chance to work on some Winter assets this month!

[h2]Visual updates[/h2]

Player customisation! ✨

I started some of the foundational work behind customising the player character. For now, players would be able to select from several skin tone, hairstyle, and hair colour options. More customisation options will be added in the future!



Winter is here! ❄️

It’s December, and that means Winter in Shimmerbrook! Updated a few assets - here’s a preview for winter!



[h2]Behind-the-scenes progress[/h2]

I’ve also spent some time on things such as our Save System and Options Menu.

Save System: Autosaves & Manual Saves
Game files will autosave at the end of each day, and you can also manually save at most points in the game (aside from during cutscenes/events). I hope this gives players more flexibility in choosing when to pick up and put down the game.



Options
I’ve also implemented some basic options - most notably, rebindable keys!



With some of that done, I can focus more on the content and improving the mechanics in the game. And I’m super excited about that!

[h2]Wrapping up 2021[/h2]

It has been a little more than a year since I started developing Research Story full-time, and I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has helped in the making of the game (and its related materials) up till now:
🎵 Composers: Tomás, Mickey, Tyd, Shevone, Bobby
🎨 Additional artists: @joojabirra, @kookab_, @empathique
💻 Additional programmer: cyberfirex

And of course, thank YOU for supporting us in one way or another thus far. It has been an exciting and heartwarming experience sharing our progress and interacting with people who are interested in our game 💖

We have a few things planned for RS in 2022, and will announce them when we're ready (and I'm really looking forward to it!) ✨ Hope you’re having a great holiday, and happy new year! See you next month!

- Mikixen

Hello Researchers! This month, I worked on building up the town of Shimmerbrook, giving each building its own unique details and character. And many of you seem to like it!

[h2]Town buildings 🏡[/h2]

Here’re some of the new buildings:



While some buildings are simply housing for the NPCs, most of them serve a purpose beyond that. Places like the Violet Archive and Blacksmith’s are important for progression, and many buildings are also shopfronts. I hope you enjoy the little details to each building as you explore the town!

[h2]NPC Routines and Dialogue 🚶💬[/h2]

It was a great time to work on NPC routines as the town gets built and each location gains more meaning. We started building the logic for NPCs’ daily routines: NPCs will walk about, do work, take breaks, and talk about different things at different times of the day. For example, here’s Kipp going to each of the postboxes in town:



Behind-the-scenes
I thought it’d be interesting to share a little behind-the-scenes of how the NPC routines are created and tracked. Each circle is a location marker where the NPC can path towards, turn, or stop at. They can also enter and leave different parts of the map:



[h2]Map UI 🗺[/h2]
We’ve also started implementing the map UI, so that it’s easier for players to check where they are. There’s more work to be done here, but this is how it’s looking:



[h2]Introducing Eira 📚[/h2]

With all this talk about maps, we now have our very own Librarian and Cartographer for the Violet Archive! Introducing Eira - you’ll often see her at the Archive, and on Vallee’s off-days, she’ll help manage the place!



That’s a wrap for this month! Next month, I plan to work on the main menu, settings, and the like. Hopefully, I'll get to share more interesting things as well!

Take care, everyone! ‘Til next time! 💖

- Mikixen