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Back to the Dawn Dev Q&A Issue #2 - Hello 2023!

Hello Inmates,

Happy 2023! It's been a rough 2022 with Covid, inflation and political instability in some parts of the world. But as all things go, the situation cannot stay bad forever. So let's stay resilient and look forward to better times ahead! We wish you success in everything you do for the new year. We also look forward to you meeting the full cast of Back of the Dawn soon as we work toward releasing our game over the next few months. Lastly, please keep your questions and feedback coming. Your support is our motivation!

Let's get going with our Q&A!



Q - Back to the Dawn looks like the sort of game that is hard to play for me as I suck at puzzle solving!

A - Come on now, these are not Einstein equations we are talking about lol! OK, on a serious note, we can understand that some players prefer a gaming experience without the 'stresses' of puzzle solving. But to be clear, Back to the Dawn is really more of an RPG game and the focus is on navigating your relationships around a prison. But puzzle and problem solving help contribute to the story-telling and improve the overall gaming experience, so we decided from the start that we would have those components. As such, it is unlikely that we would consider a version of BTTD without puzzles, at least for now.

Having said that, we will test the game rigorously to ensure that the puzzles are not too complex and they uplift the game so that you can have a great experience playing it. You can trust us on that! :)



Q - Can you add on sound effects of animal grunts and growls when the characters are conversing, to give the impression of how real animals may actually interact.

A - OK, that's an odd request, but a great one! As a matter of fact, we have been experimenting with this but not gotten good results. We are going to continue trying and hopefully we will get it eventually!



Q - Can you give Thomas the ability to barter and negotiate prices when trading items?

A - This feature was originally in our plan, but not compatible with our current state of the trading system. It is something we would still consider incorporating in the future if possible.

Q - Can you give Thomas an electric drill and make one of the escape methods an escape by drilling his way out of prison?

A - That is an awesome idea! Thanks for suggesting it! We would keep this idea in mind and seriously consider it after first finishing our initial planned content.



Q - I'm a bug lover! Can you add more bugs to the plants in the prison yard?

A - OK, to be honest, we added a lot of bugs to the yard initially, but they were unfortunately terminated by a pest control company :P. On a serious note, we don't want to just add more bug variety to the game for the sake of doing it. We want to consider their functions and how they can contribute to the game. This takes time to plan out properly and at the moment, we are more focused on making the core gameplay great. So here's us saying that we would certainly consider adding more bugs in the future, but it's not a guarantee.



Q - Going to the hospital for a checkup is confusing! Can you make it simpler?

A - We've made tweaks to improve this in the demo. It should be better now!

And that's all for Issue #2 of Back to the Dawn's Q&A! If you have other burning questions of your own, please feel free to ask them in the comments section below, and do follow us on our socials!

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Back to the Dawn Dev Q&A Issue #1

Hello Inmates!

As we work hard to get Back to the Dawn ready for launch, we will be increasing our frequency of posts on Steam so that you know what we are up to.

We will also be starting a regular Q&A issue where we will be answering some questions we receive from you!

So here goes!

Q - Will Back to the Dawn support other operating systems?

A - Our priority is to make sure the game runs perfectly on PC, and then look at the Mac OS (but we can't guarantee it at the moment).

Q - Will there be an endless mode for the game?

A - Looks like some of you really dig the idea of staying in prison lol. On a serious note, while we would love to make it happen, it's not going to be easy as the events happening in the prison are individually designed and hard programmed at the moment. To cater to an endless mode, the events have to be procedurally generated and we would have to redesign the game flow logic and engine. At the moment, this would be a herculean task and disrupt our plans, so we would prefer to keep the option open for the future.



Q - Can I use Thomas to get involved in more brawls in the actual game? I didn't get enough of him in the demo!

A - Absolutely! In the official game release, you are going to get as much action as you like getting into scuffles with inmates!



Q - This is a bit of an odd request. Can you create different sounds for Thomas when he walks across different floors?

A - At the moment, we have different sounds for when Thomas walks on wet floor and cemented floor. We will try to add in more sounds in the future, but making the gameplay experience unique is our priority!



Q - Can you make a 'low health' Thomas look less healthy?

A - Aha! Great minds think alike! We are thinking of making it such that the main character's health will be reflected by his head portrait, much like the early versions of Doom. We probably won't make it such that Thomas will look bloodied, but he most definitely would look quite haggard when he's unhealthy.

Curious what it will be like..? Here are some work-in-progress iterations that we are working on, just for your eyes!



Q - Pretty sure I've seen enough of the intro scene in the demo. Can you let me skip it please?

A - Your wish is our command. The function to skip the intro scene has been updated in the demo. You can now jump straight into the prison action!



That's all for Issue #1 of Back to the Dawn's Q&A! If you have other burning questions of your own, please feel free to ask them in the comments section below, and do follow us on our socials!

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Back to the Dawn On WePlay 2022!

The 2022 WePlay Exhibition has concluded! Here is Back to the Dawn being broadcasted on the Steam sales page:

Back to the Dawn on the sales page of Steam!

We spoke to several developers and gamers who after playing Back to the Dawn, shared with us valuable feedback and ideas. These feedbacks are important for us and we will take them to make our game better for you!

A gamer trying out Back to the Dawn and sharing with us his feedback

And before we end, here is an in-game screenshot of what was showcased in WePlay 2022!

Getting ready to battle the Crocodile leader

We will be releasing a lot more exciting updates in the coming few months, so be sure to follow us so you'll be kept informed of what's happening in the animal prison!

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Check Our Game on IndieCade 2022 and WePlay EXPO 2022!

Hi inmates!

We bring the demo to IndieCade 2022 and WePlay EXPO 2022, don't forget to check!

On IndieCade (Nov. 4th to 11th): https://store.steampowered.com/curator/5419830/sale/indiecade2022



On WePlay EXPO 2022 (Nov. 7th to 13th): store.steampowered.com/sale/WePlay2022



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Fresh recap on our 1st gamescom 2022 and TGS 2022 debuts!

Long time no see!

Last a few months were really busy. We were buried by BTTD developing, and also had to make time to gamescom 2022 and TGS 2022. Luckily, we have you. You guys give us so many supports to encourage us to achieve more!

Please let us share the precious memory with you.

Have 5 unforgettable days at gamescom 2022. Thanks to all inmates (and Dragonborn, hacker...) for visiting the booth at IndieArenaBooth and trying out the demo! Everyone ROCKS!





We feel encouraged to have Mr. Shuhei Yoshida trying BTTD in TGS 2022!



There are our fox stuffs!



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