Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing News

Only two weeks until the release of Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing! As a little sneak peek, we want to give you a few insights into our working methods - and talk about what has changed compared to A Bavarian Tale.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

In today's video, our communications person Julia spoke to character and 2D artist Hanna about the creation processes of our NPCs and the Choose Your Own Adventure parts in The Ebbing:

• What do our creation processes look like?
  
• How and where do we research in order to portray people historically accurately?
  
• How do we translate the 3D character models into a coherent 2D version?
  
• What have we learnt and done differently for The Ebbing?
  
• Who is Hanna's favourite NPC?
  

Have fun watching! We look forward to your comments and follow-up questions, either on YouTube, here on Steam or on our Community Discord.

Only a few more weeks until Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing is released! We're looking forward to it - are you?

We've taken a lot from the feedback on our Ebbing demos and of course A Bavarian Tale. It's really amazing how much you get into a tunnel yourself and no longer perceive things neutrally. That's why your feedback, which reaches us either via Discord or here on Steam, is incredibly important to us! As a result, we've reworked some aspects of the gameplay, added new mechanics, but also let things go. And of course, some things have stayed the same.



[h3]At least 5 different endings[/h3]

In The Ebbing, your decisions also influence the outcome of the game. Depending on who you make friends with in Havstedt, you will gain information that will help you solve the case.



[h3]Even more detective work[/h3]

With the revised Detective Sweep, you can make sure that you haven't overlooked anything in a room. You can now also inspect elements and examine them for hidden clues, just as you can find important clues in furniture.



[h3]Improved stealth mechanics[/h3]

Our stealth mechanic in A Bavarian Tale was ... definitely one of our wilder experiments as First Time Game Devs. That's why we completely reworked it over The Ebbing and built some very nice quests around it that will hopefully keep you on the edge of your seat.



[h3]New: Combination and number puzzles[/h3]

Some information is hidden behind tricky combination and number puzzles. In The Ebbing, it's no longer just your interpersonal skills that are required in dialogs with the NPCs, but also your deduction skills.

[h3]No longer included: Fistfights[/h3]

Yes, we know you loved the music during the fights in A Bavarian Tale. However, the fistfights themselves were one of our most buggy mechanics and didn't really add much to the story. Since we know that there are quite a few RPG players who would like to play a game without combat mode, we're going to give it a try. Our Inspector Valentin really isn't a powerhouse - otherwise he wouldn't have become a civil servant.

What is your favorite gameplay element from The Ebbing demo or the prologue? Play it and let us know on our Discord server!

Hello everyone,

Our old demo was gone for a moment - and now it's back: From today it's called “The Ebbing - Prologue” and is available again as a free, polished mini-game with three hours of playtime!

Wanna give it a go? This way, please!

[h2]What has changed?[/h2]

The game now has exactly the name that best describes it: The plot is actually the prologue to the events that take place in the main game in tranquil Havstedt. From the moment Valentin leaves the ship, the story continues in The Ebbing. This means you can get in the mood for our release on April 7th by playing the prologue!

You can also leave us reviews for the prologue now. We'd love to hear your feedback so that we can take it into account when developing the main game.

[h2]What's the storyline of the prologue?[/h2]

Accompany Valentin on his well-deserved vacation from the Bavarian civil service to the North Sea. Right at the beginning, this is overshadowed by a drama: The captain of the steamer taking Valentin and the other passengers to an idyllic North Sea island collapses out of the blue at lunch and is fighting for his life.

Was the captain poisoned? Or was it the alcohol or the opium that was his undoing? Valentin's job is to find out what happened - and in doing so, he comes across a web of relationships, dependencies and motives among the ship's crew and passengers that must be penetrated in order to find the real culprit.

Get the prologue here!

[h2]Have you already secured your NPC character booklet "The residents of Havstedt"?[/h2]

No? Then it's high time you did! If you sign up using the link below, you'll receive a whole boatload of information:

The Inhabitants of Havstedt: A free PDF handbook with space for your notes to help you keep track of the characters' complex relationships and motives.

Historical background information: Learn more about the NPCs and their lives in the 19th century. Perfect for delving deeper into the history of northern Germany.

Personality test: Find out which of the three NPC archetypes you correspond to - General, Scholar or Juggler?

Get the booklet!

Our demo is now two weeks old - now the developers are playing in the livestream themselves. We'd love you to join us! Bring snacks, a thirst for puzzles and all your questions.

When: 27.02.2024, 6:30 pm
Where: On our Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing store page and on Discord

This way to the official watch party on Discord.

We look forward to seeing you there!

The Active Fungus Team

Hello everyone!

Our demo has now been out for a week and has been played by several streamers! We’d like to say thank you – your support helps Inspector Schmidt - The Ebbing reach more people.

We joined several streams live in the chat and had a great time with the communities, especially when unexpected bugs led to some hilarious moments. Here’s a list of all the Twitch streams that have played The Ebbing so far.

In the meantime, we’ve fixed a lot of bugs that were reported to us via Steam, Discord, and the Twitch community. If you’ve been waiting for a smoother gameplay experience, next week is a great time to check out the Ebbing demo.


[h2]From February 24th to March 3rd, Steam Next Fest is happening – and we’re part of it![/h2]

Why is this important?

During Next Fest, Steam showcases demos of unreleased games to a large audience. The more people support us during this time by adding us to their wishlist or leaving reviews, the more likely Steam’s algorithm will notice us –and boost our visibility even further.

So if you play our demo soon and enjoy it, we’d be thrilled if you added it to your wishlist and left a review!

On February 27th, we’ll be streaming live on Steam as we play our demo. We’d love to have viewers join us! At the same time, we’re hosting a watch party on Discord – you’re warmly invited to join, chat with us, and help solve the quest.

If you’re planning to stream the demo yourself in the next few weeks, let us know! We’ll try to be present in as many stream chats as possible.



[h3]By the way: Have you already gotten your character booklet 'The residents of Havstedt?' [/h3]

It's a free PDF introducing the NPCs from Inspector Schmidt – The Ebbing, giving you an overview of their quirks, motives and preferences. We also included space for personal notes, very handy if you play The Ebbing in Detective Mode with reduced hints in the quest log. Quite a few people did this in past streams with A Bavarian Tale!

Get the character booklet here!

Yours,
The Active Fungus Team