CRT7 News

Hi all, Tom here!

Life is still unfortunately happening me a lot more than I'd like, but I have gotten some time to work more on CRT7 this month. In particular, I'm working on what happens in the game after the segment in the demo!


Most of CRT7 will take place in the same room, but that doesn't mean things won't change in that dark basement... in fact, things aren't quite right with space and time down there, as you might have already seen in the demo. Rooms seem to come and go, and doors hold strange powers. It's this theme that I was playing with this month, as I got a new fun effect working: layering transparent videos into the scene. That allows me to do things like this...



After all, you've heard that the walls have ears, it's only fair that the doors get in on the party too...

Jokes aside, I've nearly finished mocking up a sequence that will link the end of the demo back into the rest of the game, and I'm really excited to get it finished hopefully later this week. It has taken a little longer to finish that I expected, mostly because I was experimenting with a visual style that would feel more dream-like than the rest of the game, but still fit in its overall aesthetic. A few visual and audio tweaks aside, however, I'm very happy with how it's shaping up!




So, what's next? Well, the next big job is linking this area into some of the content waiting back in the main room. First, I'll finish and test this new sequence and make sure it's all working and maybe tweak a few things here and there. After that, I have a couple of new tables just waiting to be lit up near the monitor in the main room. I hope these parts should got a little quicker as I've already got some of that working – but I always say that, so we'll see! Either way, after a little bit away from the code, I'm starting to get back into the swing of things, and I'm excited to continue working on it!

As always playing, sharing, and wishlisting is hugely helpful and allows solo developers like me to make weird games for you to enjoy. So, if you haven't already, please do nudge a friend or two to try the demo and wishlist CRT7 as well:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2096780/CRT7/

Keep your eyes peeled and I'll see you again soon for another development update!

- Amicable Animal

Hi all, Tom here!

First off, I'm sorry it's been a little quiet around here. I've mentioned before how real life has been busy and getting in the way. The joys of making a game as a solo part-time developer!

I really appreciate you all for sticking around thought, so I've decided to be a little more regular with my updates. From today, I'm going to try and post (at least) a monthly development update to keep you all up to date on the progress of CRT7.

So... what about February? Well, I've finally had a little time to get back to working on CRT7, and I've taken aim at a couple of things I've been wanting to work on for a while... Get yourself a cup of tea and settle in, these posts will be a little longer than my previous ones! Obviously beware of at least minor spoilers too...



First, almost all players I've seen have attempted to read more text messages on the phone when first opening the game. It makes sense, right? Almost everyone has used text messaging or something like WhatsApp, and the fact the in-game phone didn't scroll the messages always felt off to me.

So... I fixed it:



This might seem like a simple change, but there was quite a bit of work behind the scenes to get this working. Previously, the screen was static – I manually made the messages and the backgrounds. Now, however, the messages read from a file that stores (most of) the text that appears in the game. Not only that, but it can tell whether it is a received or sent message and create the background automagically. Long story short: it works more like a real messaging app now. I can define as many messages as I like and it will create the backgrounds, set the colours correctly, and allow players to click and drag to scroll through them. I've even put in a little bounce effect if you try to scroll too far! The messages are placeholder for now, but are easy to change and update thanks to this update.

Not only that, but it is set up that later on I can add functionality for players to receive new text messages as they're playing... Mysterious!



The second major thing I've worked on this month is some new game modes for the CRT monitor arcade game you can play. For a while now there have been five mode buttons, but only two of them you could click. I'd planned the other modes, but not had the chance to make them. Well, this month I changed that:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Above you can see the 'Nuclear' mode in action. It is, of course not finished yet (and also it is set to be way harder than in the final game so I can test everything is working) but hopefully you can get the idea of the main twist in this mode. 'Bomb' pieces will regularly appear on the board, and you disarm them by creating a quad that contains them. It's inspired by modes in other big arcade puzzlers you might have played!

The tricky part is the bomb space blocks you putting down your pentomino, and if you aren't quick they can blow holes in your board... holes that don't contribute to your completion percentage and will cause you issues later. On the more complicated board shapes, things can get out of hand very quickly!

The eagle-eyed amongst you might have noticed another mode in the top right is now active. I wonder if you can guess the big twist to that mode? Any guesses?



But what, I imagine you asking, is next? Well, in March I'm going to start working on what happens in the game after the segment in the demo. I already have a bunch of functionality there from early prototypes, and it's now time to start integrating it into the main game flow again. I'm hugely looking forwards to this, as there are some really fun things I can't wait for you to get your hands on.

In particular, there are more lights that need to be turned on in this dark basement, a strange and potentially haunted radio to interact with, and an important use for those strange gold pentominoes you've been finding around the place... And that's just a taster of what's in store.

As always playing, sharing, and wishlisting is hugely helpful and allows solo developers like me to make weird games for you to enjoy. So, if you haven't already, please do nudge a friend or two to try the demo and wishlist CRT7 as well:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2096780/CRT7/

Keep your eyes peeled and I'll see you again soon for another development update!

- Amicable Animal

Hi all, Tom here!

As mentioned in my previous news post my life has been pretty hectic over the last few months, so I've not had much time to work on CRT7. The good news is, however, that in the new year I'll actually have some time to get working on it again! I can't wait to show you what other puzzles any mysteries I've got up my sleeve to expand on the little world I'm creating here. Seriously, I'm really looking forward to seeing how you react to some of the surprises.

To get me back in the groove, I thought I'd work on something small and festive before the holidays, and well... here it is:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

People of a certain age will probably realise this is inspired by old DOS applications which often had festive games or animations in them if you played them at a certain time of year. It felt very much like the sort of thing that would fit into CRT7! This won't be in the demo, but you can expect a bunch of hidden codes in the full game that will unlock different little secrets like this!

Anyway, I hope you have a nice Christmas and New Year if you celebrate it, or at least a few relaxing days off if you don't. As always, thanks again for the wishlists, word of mouth, and demo plays, you're all awesome!

See you in the new year!

- Amicable Animal

Hi all, Tom here!

I just wanted to give you a quick update about what is going on with CRT7 as I've been a little quiet after getting the demo out. Also some quite public stuff has happened with Unity (the engine I use) since then.

First off, the TL;DR is that if you tried out the demo: thank you so much! I've loved seeing people playing it. Don't worry – I'm still making CRT7 it is just always bit slower at this time of year. If you want more details, read on...

As some of you might know, CRT7 is being made by a core team of one (hi!), with occasional outsourcing/help from awesomely talented friends. Not only that, but I have a day job which varies in how busy it is across the year.

What that means is twofold: I get to make more interesting/personal/weird games for you lot (which I love), but it means some times I have less time/energy to develop CRT7.

But the important parts are: I'm still working on CRT7, I don't have a launch date, and it will still launch as a Unity game now they've rowed back a little on their utterly bonkers original runtime fee announcement. It will just be a little quiet until next year... But don't worry, it's still coming!

I'm really happy with how the demo turned out and people's response to it. It will stay up for a while too if you haven't gotten around to trying it yet. I've been listening to your feedback and I've already implemented some changes and will be implementing more for the full game. Below, for example, is a new option for typed books based on player feedback:



It was, however, a heck of a lot of work getting the demo out and I needed some time away from making CRT7 - especially as my job is busiest in the Autumn. That, combined with the Unity news meant I wanted to spend some time resting up a little. Don't worry though, it's pretty natural for me to do less development at this time of year and I have way more time at other times of year to create more weird and exciting musical puzzles!

For now, take care of yourselves, keep an eye out here for more news in a couple of months, and keep those wishlists/demo plays coming. They all help massively 🧡

- Amicable Animal

Hi all, Tom here!

Just a quick message to say I've pushed a new build of the Demo today - Demo Version 0.17f. You can check the version number in the credits section of your phone. This version contains a few small visual/information tweaks as requested by players.

• New: There is now a small, non-tile-based cursor when you are playing Potential and Kinematic mode on the computer. This is to help you know whether your cursor is near the edge of the tile, in case you move the mouse slightly as you click, and miss stamping the pentomino where you want it!
  
• Tweak: Updated how the stats screen shows scores - especially when you get into the millions. Instead of showing '1M' it will now show '1.23M' for example.
  
• Tweak: Updated the stats screen to have hover text for all the row/column titles, to make it a bit clearer what they all mean. Look in the bottom right of the screen to see it!
  
• Tweak: Updated the stats screen to show the full values when you hover over them. So, it can show '123,352,964' for example.
  
• Tweak: Fixed a colour issue with one of the pages in the printed version of the grey book.
  

Remember, you might have to restart Steam for the update to appear for you.

Enjoy! I'm away for a little now, but when I get back I have some other things on my list to look at.

- Amicable Animal