Discounty News

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p]
Attention, shoppers! We have big news:[/p][h3]
✨ Discounty launches on August 21st! ✨[/h3][p]
A brand-new playable demo for Discounty just launched on our Steam page! This demo gives you a short & sweet version of the game's opening chapter, showing you the ropes of shop management and introducing you to the quirky residents of Blomkest...and their drama.
[/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]Demo Features Include: [/h3]

• [p]Guided Tutorial for New Managers: A friendly, step-by-step tutorial helps players settle into their new role as Blomkest’s newest shopkeeper – no retail experience required.  [/p]

• [p]Hands-On Store Management: Players can stock shelves, run the register, and make the hard decisions (like whether to carry Lard & Lean ground beef). [/p]

• [p]Build Community Ties: Players will meet the locals, strike trade deals, and expand their business, or at least try to without completely disrupting the town’s delicate balance (your aunt swears it was all simpler before you showed up). [/p]

• [p]Custom Shop Layouts: Stores can be redesigned to optimize flow, or just to look like a giant smiley face. No judgment. [/p]

• [p]Business vs. Belonging: As the store grows, players will need to navigate the tension between personal profit and community impact, because Blomkest doesn’t forget.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Have feedback?[/h3][p]We'd love to hear your thoughts on the Discounty demo! The best way to share your thoughts is via our Discord server. If that's not an option for you, we have an online feedback form to submit your thoughts!

Thanks so much for playing, and as always, thank you for shopping at Discounty!

xoxo
Crinkle Cut Games[/p]

Attention, shoppers!

A couple months ago we asked you what social media platforms you'd like to see us on, and the overwhelming majority of you said: get a dang Discord server already!

Well, just like good shop managers, we are eager to please, so we've built up a Discord server and are making it public...right now!

JOIN THE DISCORD

If you want to hang out with us & other Discounty shoppers, join now and say hi!

xoxo
Crinkle Cut Games

Attention shoppers!

First of all, to everyone eagerly awaiting more news about Discounty's launch, all I have to say is: stay tuned! 👀

In the meantime, we wanted to share a few development updates pulled from our most recent email newsletter. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for the full version — new subscribers get the latest issue in their inbox!

[h2]🎉 A MAZE. Festival: Making a playable demo![/h2]
As we wrote in our last newsletter update, Discounty was nominated for an A MAZE. Award at the A MAZE. Festival in Berlin this year. That also included the opportunity to showcase the game at the Exhibition, along with all the other nominated games.

Because of that, we had to make a demo version of the game! We wanted to show off some of the best parts of the early game in a short demo that could be completed in a half hour. We threw one together then got it all set up at the festival. We met so many cool people, and that alone was worth the trip!


[h2]🌐 LOCALIZATION: Discounty goes global![/h2]
We want as many people as possible to play Discounty, which means we need to localize the game! That means translating every bit of text — from dialogue to quest logs to UI — into a bunch of different languages.


If that sounds like a lot of work...it is! Thankfully, our publisher is working with localizers to bring the game into all of our target languages. (By the way, these are English, French, German, Spanish (Spain), Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified & Traditional Chinese, and Danish.)

But getting the text translated isn't the end of it. After we got the translations back, we've had to make sure they're re-implemented into the game properly. Translations can unexpectedly break code, longer words can extend outside of text boxes, and there are sometimes lines that might not get implemented properly since we have a massive & confusing text database. But it will definitely be worth it when fans all over the world can play the game in their native language!


[h2]💬 Mods? ...Mods??[/h2]
As a reward for reading to the last entry, we're going to let you in on a little secret…we’re going to open a Discord server for Discounty very soon! The Discord is going to be a crucial place for us as developers to gather feedback to improve the game. If you want to be a part of making Discounty into the best possible game it can be, keep your eyes peeled here and on our social media channels for more info in the coming days!

That's it for this month's dev update! If you want to read more, make sure to sign up for the newsletter here. Thanks for reading, and see you next month!

xoxo
Crinkle Cut Games

Attention, shoppers!

We have a YouTube channel now, and just posted our first video! We Made 100 Shopkeepers Fight for $100,000. (Just kidding — it's a general overview about why we've made a lot of design choices that are different from similar-seeming games in our genre.) Check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1mgwn4J5Sw

What other kinds of content would you like to see on our YouTube channel? Let us know! We want to get into the habit of posting there regularly to be able to talk more directly and personally to you.

Oh, and is this where we remind you to like, comment, & subscribe? We're still getting the hang of this whole YouTube thing.

We'll have another update for you soon with more info on our game's progress!

xoxo
Crinkle Cut Games

Attention shoppers!

We recently sent out our April newsletter! A LOT has been happening in the last few months, so we're excited to finally spill the tea a bit. So here's an excerpt from our last email about what we've been up to! Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter for the full version — new subscribers get the latest issue in their inbox!

[h2]🎉 TAGS Event in Copenhagen[/h2]
We recently showed our game to the public for the first time EVER! In February we had the opportunity to show Discounty as part of Copenhagen Gaming Week. Our core team is located in Denmark, but we were able to bring in our publishing team and social/comms manager Ian, and it was actually the first time we all got to meet together in person! It was really special to chat with each other while watching random people trying Discounty, while also getting useful feedback to improve the game.


[h2]🧪 PLAYTESTING: Getting your feedback [/h2]
We've also had our first closed playtests since our last newsletter! We invited a small number of testers to play the first two hours of Discounty. As they played, they provided ongoing commentary and reactions to everything they experienced. We are currently preparing for a much larger-scale playtest in the next couple months, so stay tuned if you've signed up already, or join our newsletter to get the signup link!

[h2]🪞 CHARACTER CREATOR: Be who you want[/h2]
Our much-anticipated character creation system is now fully implemented! There are 6 categories you can adjust to change your character's appearance, each with a wide range of color options. Behold:


[h2]🎵 Meet the Team: James (Music)[/h2]
About Me: I’m a working musician in London but for the last 5 years I’ve been composing music and doing audio for games! It was an easy bridge of two of my passions! Bringing worlds to life and bouncing ideas off a dev team has been an absolute joy. Especially inside the indie game scene where such amazing art and game design really helps fuel the music I can make. I love working with soundfonts and working around their limitations but also any excuse to make something grandiose is never out of the question!

[h2]🏆 Some A MAZE.-ing News[/h2]
Discounty has been nominated for an A MAZE. Award! We are honored to be nominated for the WINGS Award, presented by WINGS Fund, which recognizes games made by teams with women & gender-marginalized developers in key positions, like us!

As part of the nomination, we'll be able to exhibit a demo of Discounty throughout the event from May 14-17 in Berlin. So if you happen to live in the area and want to give Discounty a try, please come by. (And congrats to our fellow nominees! So many cool games!!)


[h2]👋 Until Next Time[/h2]
That's it for now, but since we're getting ever closer to the game's release later this year, we're going to start sending out these newsletters every month. Subscribers get these updates first, and with twice as much content, so make sure to sign up here! Thanks for reading, and see you next month!

xoxo
Crinkle Cut Games