Development Update: Milestone Report Summer 2023
Hi Everyone… It's been a while since I gave you an update on how the development of Last Time I Saw You is progressing, so I wanted to share a little something with you!
This is taken from the notes that I create when delivering milestones of the game to the publisher. The report provides an overview of what we have been working on over the previous months (basically since the previous milestone build of the game) and highlight what’s going well and where we may have some challenges 😬
What is a milestone some of you may be asking?
It's a way for us as developers to provide a scheduled status update to the publisher, Chorus. In a nutshell it's a regular delivery of the game, including the content originally promised in the production plan - or hopefully something close to it! 😅
Here’s the last one we wrote that I want to share with you:
"At the end of the previous milestone (April 2023) we decided to spend some time revising the save system, fixing the issues with the original one we built earlier in the year. Now you can save and load at the numerous checkpoints scattered throughout the game (Ayumi's desk and the small shrines in town and the forest). This allows you to play from the beginning of the game to the end without having to do so in a single run (like was happening before having this new system).
It may seem rather obvious, but having this system in place as soon as possible is incredibly important for anyone that needs to check, test and playthrough the game while it's being developed!
We have also completed Day 6 (the game is separated by days), which is the longest and most complex of the entire game due to the large number of events and ramifications it has. This has meant that we’ve had to dedicate an entire milestone to a single day (along with the save system, the notebook menu and numerous bugs and errors that occurred in previous scenes reported by both Chorus and ourselves). This doesn't delay development, but rather has been a matter of moving one thing that was planned for later in order to do it now.
Apart from what we’ve included in this build, the animators are already working on Day 10 animations and, in terms of writing, we have already written all the main story dialogues of the game and they are approved (both by me and the narrative consultant) until we check them in-game. Apart from that, we’re currently working on sidequest dialogues.
Day 7 is already fully assembled in Unity and I’m starting to work on Day 8 asset implementation. As soon as we finish and deliver this build, the programmer will start working on Day 7.
Conclusion
After the huge number of hours we have spent fixing stuff that was present from the beginning, the game now is much more stable and enjoyable. The new music and sound effects really add a lot and make everything feel more cohesive and final!"
I hope that you have found it interesting to find out a bit more about how we approach the game development and what goes into a milestone report. Soon I will also start sharing DevLogs with you with more insights about the game and what inspired me to make it :)
If you have any questions, drop them in the comments or via Twitter @MaboroshiArt.
Oh! And apart from this, we’ll also be at Tokyo Game Show 2023, which will run from September 21st to 24th at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. If you happen to be there, please come to the Chorus booth at the Indie Game Area in Hall 9, booth 09-E67 and say hi!
I’ll probably be hanging around on Saturday! 😊
Thank you so much! 💙
.Juan
This is taken from the notes that I create when delivering milestones of the game to the publisher. The report provides an overview of what we have been working on over the previous months (basically since the previous milestone build of the game) and highlight what’s going well and where we may have some challenges 😬
What is a milestone some of you may be asking?
It's a way for us as developers to provide a scheduled status update to the publisher, Chorus. In a nutshell it's a regular delivery of the game, including the content originally promised in the production plan - or hopefully something close to it! 😅
Here’s the last one we wrote that I want to share with you:
"At the end of the previous milestone (April 2023) we decided to spend some time revising the save system, fixing the issues with the original one we built earlier in the year. Now you can save and load at the numerous checkpoints scattered throughout the game (Ayumi's desk and the small shrines in town and the forest). This allows you to play from the beginning of the game to the end without having to do so in a single run (like was happening before having this new system).
It may seem rather obvious, but having this system in place as soon as possible is incredibly important for anyone that needs to check, test and playthrough the game while it's being developed!
We have also completed Day 6 (the game is separated by days), which is the longest and most complex of the entire game due to the large number of events and ramifications it has. This has meant that we’ve had to dedicate an entire milestone to a single day (along with the save system, the notebook menu and numerous bugs and errors that occurred in previous scenes reported by both Chorus and ourselves). This doesn't delay development, but rather has been a matter of moving one thing that was planned for later in order to do it now.
Apart from what we’ve included in this build, the animators are already working on Day 10 animations and, in terms of writing, we have already written all the main story dialogues of the game and they are approved (both by me and the narrative consultant) until we check them in-game. Apart from that, we’re currently working on sidequest dialogues.
Day 7 is already fully assembled in Unity and I’m starting to work on Day 8 asset implementation. As soon as we finish and deliver this build, the programmer will start working on Day 7.
ConclusionAfter the huge number of hours we have spent fixing stuff that was present from the beginning, the game now is much more stable and enjoyable. The new music and sound effects really add a lot and make everything feel more cohesive and final!"
I hope that you have found it interesting to find out a bit more about how we approach the game development and what goes into a milestone report. Soon I will also start sharing DevLogs with you with more insights about the game and what inspired me to make it :)
If you have any questions, drop them in the comments or via Twitter @MaboroshiArt.
Oh! And apart from this, we’ll also be at Tokyo Game Show 2023, which will run from September 21st to 24th at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. If you happen to be there, please come to the Chorus booth at the Indie Game Area in Hall 9, booth 09-E67 and say hi!
I’ll probably be hanging around on Saturday! 😊
Thank you so much! 💙
.Juan
