Methods: The Canada Files News

Hello everyone! For the past two weeks the Translation Masters and I have been hard at work on the Chinese translation for File 01.

As of right now, you can finally play the first file in Chinese! A huge thank you to them for making this possible in such a short amount of time!!



In addition to the Chinese translation, I took this opportunity to implement a few other things. I'm still working my way through all the different feedback I've received, but there are a few quality of life improvements in this update as well!

• Struess mini-game hint! Now hopefully not as many people will be stuck on it for hours!
  
• When submitting evidence, the characters say "need more evidence" or "need less evidence" once you reach the last hint, if you submit too much/too little evidence, to help nudge you in the right direction!
  
• Evidence should now deselect after submitting!
  
• There was a problem with the solution to the mystery, as Anadyne's suggestion would not actually matter in terms of the time of death. Anadyne's explanation has been changed to the next best thing, to resolve this logical hole
  
• Many other little tweaks and typo fixes as well!
  

I decided it was best to get the translation in your hands sooner rather than later, so this update does not include the extras, which I'm still working on implementing.

Thank you so much for your patience everyone. Enjoy!

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

Working on some very Canadian extra content...



First of all, thanks for supporting the Early Access everyone!

I'm so glad that everyone has been liking the game so far, and I've also been collecting your feedback about it! Definitely hearing that a lot of people are finding the hacking minigame puzzle a bit too obscure haha. I'll be adding a hint system to that minigame so that hopefully not as many people get stuck there.

The translators are working very hard to get the Chinese version out! Meanwhile, I finally finished writing the Hangouts — a new feature that is replacing the Interviews. It was way harder than I thought it would be, but I think it's worth it. I also worked on the bios, which now include more information, with these basic facts about the characters that people ask me a lot about Methods characters.



Canada Files is requiring a lot more detail and polish than Methods. I'd hoped to be done with all the extras by now, but I think it's going to take another week. I'm also not sure when the translation will be done, but I'll keep you posted on that as well. My current plan is to hold off on releasing another build for the time being and just getting these extras and translation done first.

I'm also going to return to doing artwork commissions this week, which will slow progress down a bit. Thanks for your patience!

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2063530/Methods_The_Canada_Files/

View the backlog of devlogs here on my website!

Support the game's development on Patreon!

This is a small update that adds a few suggested improvements.

New hotkeys!

• Press H for text history screen
  
• Press Q for quick save
  
• Press L for the load screen
  
• Press S for the save screen
  
• Press O/P for the options screen
  
• Press C to open the casefile
  
• Viu's method now works with WASD and arrow keys on keyboard!
  

In addition to that...

• Added new text to Struess and Viu methods to hopefully explain what to do better
  
• Added fullscreen/windowed toggle to the options menu (was previously only available by pressing 'f')
  
• Increased the size of the hitbox on Perspective eye icons and Pinpoint paths to assist people playing on smaller screens
  
• Quality of images increased from 80% to 95%. Now there should be less noticeable artifacts, yet the game is still much smaller (300mbs) than its uncompressed size (700mbs)
  
• Removed 'CHANGE EVERYDAY' from the note you find in the computer as it may have made the note seem more important than it is
  

This game is a work in progress, and I'm going to keep making improvements. I appreciate the feedback!

Thanks!
— LockedOn.

Methods: The Canada Files Early Access has been released! Join detectives Downs, Viu, Struess, Anadyne, and Tads for the first round of Stage Four in the mysterious Canadian detective competition!



This game is a work in progress.

The Early Access release contains File 01. A Chinese translation and extra features are currently in progress. I hope to release them soon.

Let me know your thoughts so that I can continue to improve the game in future Files! Each File will add an additional $4 to the game, with a final price of $25 for the whole game. I arrived at this decision after seeing how long it took on average to complete the first File, and factoring in development time and cost. If the game ends up not taking as long to play as I thought, or I am unable to deliver on the amount of content I'm planning, then I will reevaluate this pricing plan.

Speaking of future Files, I think it is safe to announce that the next File's mystery will take place in... Montreal! ;)

Enjoy, and I'll see you in the next devlog!

— LockedOn.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2063530/Methods_The_Canada_Files/

View the backlog of devlogs here on my website!

Support the game's development on Patreon!

A Canadian trailer has arrived!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]



I spent the past week putting this trailer together, as well as collecting feedback about the beta version from various people who have played it and making adjustments. I think I can now safely say that any major issues with File 01 have been solved, and the "beta test" phase is complete enough for me to move on to getting the demo together.

My new plan is to release the demo by the end of the month so that more people can experience the story. The demo contains the entirety of File 01, but unlike the Methods demo, will not contain any extras. Once the first two files have been translated, I'll launch it in early access at $5. Then, as I've said before, for each subsequent file I'll increase the price by $2.50 until all six files have been released.

These new files are not additional DLC by the way. Anybody who purchases The Canada Files for $5 when it's first released will be able to play all six files without having to pay any additional cost, same goes for anybody who purchased it at $7.50, or $10, etc. This is very similar to my original rollout for Methods.

If you didn't have access to the beta, well, it won't be that long to wait until you can play it! ;)

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2063530/Methods_The_Canada_Files/

View the backlog of devlogs here on my website!

Support the game's development on Patreon!