Davy Jones Deckhand News

[p]Ahoy mateys, welcome Below Deck!
[/p][p]Things are cooling off from Gamescom in Germany, and heating up for PAX! We’re just a few weeks away from our second business trip of the year, this time to Melbourne, Australia. Tep and I are rather relieved it's just “across the ditch” and not another epic 30 hour journey this time.[/p][p][/p][p]We are approaching the end of our CODE KickStart funded phase of development and now looking ahead to what’s next. Securing more investment is high on our list of priorities, but before that we’ll be aiming to make a great impression at PAX and promote our upcoming Steam demo. We’ve worked very hard over the past year and it’s time to share our efforts wider. There is no exact date set for the demo yet, but keep your eyes on our socials and upcoming newsletters for more info.
[/p][p]Yours piratically,[/p][p]Ben[/p][p][/p][h2]Exclusive look at our upcoming PAX booth (Spoiler alert!)[/h2][p][/p][p]Look at this epic booth design… 👀[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]This is what to look out for if you happen to be in Melbourne and want to find us. Keep your eyes peeled for a pirate and a crab 😉[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Polishing our demo[/h2][p][/p][p]Thanks to our amazing playtesting community (join them here), we’re constantly refining our demo of Davy Jones’ Deckhand. It’s starting to feel really great, and we’re enjoying adding some extra layers of polish to the current gameplay loop before we expand the game with a new set of features.[/p][p][/p][p]This polish pass consists of things like bug fixing, balancing improvements, richer sound and music design, and lovely little touches like these dolphins that Tepene recently animated. We also plan on a few more quality of life improvements, and details such as bespoke artwork on all curse cards.[/p][p]
(Keep your eyes peeled for DOLPHINS! Beautifully hand-animated by Tepene.)[/p][p][/p][h2]🥝 Games Made in NZ - Steam event! 🥝[/h2][p][/p][p]Did you know there is an annual Steam frontpage take-over by little old Aotearoa, New Zealand? Well now you do! It starts tomorrow. Our game will be featured in the upcoming games and strategy sections. Make sure you jump onto the page and check out some awesome Kiwi-made games. You might be surprised to learn what games are actually coming to you from New Zealand.

Check out the games here.[/p][p]
Also, just for fun, we’ll be broadcasting our favourite Davy Jones’ Deckhand gameplay streams and videos on our Steam page for the duration of the event.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]Celebrating the amazing work of Nik Scarr[/h2][p][/p][p]We’ve been working with Nik for almost a year and wanted to take a moment to appreciate the outrageous suite of characters he has created for the game so far! (Tom is screwed.)[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam, blackmail your friends and family to do the same, and help us market our pirate game![/p][p]
If you'd like more regular updates and to chat with the team then please join our public Discord server, we'd love to have you join our growing community. You can also follow us on social media at the links below.
[/p][h3]Wishlist now: [/h3][h3][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Discord invite: [/h3][p]https://t.co/sBqCnmZi9T[/p][p][/p][h3]Previous editions of 'Below Deck':[/h3][p]Can be found on our Itch Devlog.[/p][p][/p][h3]Playtester sign ups:[/h3][p]Fill out this form to access the playtest [/p][p]
Until next time me hearties, yo ho![/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[p]To celebrate the Games Made in New Zealand Steam sale we'll be broadcasting all week![/p][p][/p][h2]Update: This broadcast has now finished.[/h2][p]https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/76561199825638096[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Creators included:[/p]

• [p]The Geek Cupboard: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]
• [p]TalaVT: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]
• [p]Deep Space Matt: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[h2]Update: This broadcast has now finished.[/h2][p]https://steamcommunity.com/broadcast/watch/76561199825638096

[/p][p]Creators included:[/p]

• [p]Deep Space Matt: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]
• [p]The Geek Cupboard: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]
• [p]TalaVT: https://www.twitch.tv/talavt[/p]
• [p]Salt Goblin: [dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[p]Ahoy mateys, welcome Below Deck! [/p][p][/p][p]Tepene and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to Germany. Thirty hours of travel, four nights in Cologne, and then straight back again. We’re tired. Our feet hurt from being on our toes non-stop working the booth at Gamescom, and our backs hurt from sitting through the long haul flights. Despite all this, we’re absolutely buzzing from the event.[/p][p][/p][p]It was a real “pinch-me” moment being there alongside the very best of the NZ games industry, and amongst 80,000+ developers from around the world. Before leaving on Friday we also got to catch a glimpse of the 300,000 game consumers and fans descending upon Cologne to immerse themselves in their favourite IPs and discover new games.[/p][p][/p][p]In this edition of Below Deck I’ll share some pictures and stories from our first Gamescom experience![/p][p][/p][p]Yours piratically,[/p][p]Ben
[/p][hr][/hr][p]
[/p][h2]Davy Jones’ Deckhand at the New Zealand Pavilion at Gamescom[/h2][p][/p][p]NZTE and CODE NZ put together an impressive display for the many kiwi games travelling to Germany.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]
The Cass Bay Games booth[/h2][p][/p][p]Tepene came equipped with some beautiful, impactful details that really made our booth stand out. It was a great place to test out some of his genius ideas ahead of our next showcase at PAX Australia in October. These items included an old map, books, keys, and a tiny wooden chest for business cards.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Representing Games pitching event[/h2][p]
The day after we arrived, Ben pitched the game to a room full of publishers as part of an event hosted by Representing Games. He dressed appropriately.[/p][p]
[/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Our Gamescom experience[/h2][p][/p][p]LEFT: Ben at the booth. RIGHT: Tep at the NZTE Networking Mixer.[/p][p][/p][p]LEFT: Sharing the game with NZ’s Ambassador to Germany, Craig Hawke. CENTRE: Ben pitching. RIGHT: Tep at the booth.[/p][p][/p][h3]
Context:[/h3]

• [p]We were located in the business area in Hall 3.2 which was for trade passes only.[/p]
• [p]We had a silver tier package and were part of the New Zealand NZTE pavilion.[/p]
• [p]We've never done this before...[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Highlights:[/h3]

• [p]Presenting a pitch in a session run by Representing Games meant we were able to get in front of lots of publishers, even those who had rejected in-person meeting requests.[/p]
• [p]With a silver tier booth we had lots of drop-ins, including some publishers we got to pitch our game to, and we had so many people stop by to play (and LOVE) the game![/p]
• [p]We met amazing developers from all around the world and got to hear many inspiring stories of success.[/p]
• [p]Every publisher we pitched wanted follow up and Steam keys to share the demo with their team.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Challenges:[/h3]

• [p]We received many rejections to our meeting requests via Meet To Match (a meetings booking app specifically for games events) and ended up with just 3 publisher meetings booked ahead of arrival. This was somewhat discouraging, but we were very pleased to pull together 3 more pitch meetings while we were there, and they all felt really positive.[/p]
• [p]The phrase "Roguelike deckbuilder" sometimes felt like it was met with a bit of resistance. There certainly seems to be some exhaustion around the genre in the publishing space. We had to really hone how we communicated our points of difference (namely our open world exploration elements and counter-attack system). On the flipside though, we met many, many people who came to play the demo and express how much they adore the genre and just had an overall awesome time with our game.[/p]
• [p]We were approached by a lot of service providers with a pretty hard-sell attitude, several trying to convince us to change the design of our game to be more mobile focused or other such madness... we had to practice giving a polite ‘no thank you’![/p]

[p][/p][h3]Was it worth it?[/h3][p]While we had hoped to book more publisher meetings ahead of time, especially with the huge 30+ hour journey from New Zealand, really it just takes one publisher that's a good fit and we could be set for the next phase of our journey. We will be following up and reaching out to others who weren't at Gamescom. The experience itself was an absolute blast, especially being surrounded by our New Zealand game dev peers! We also came away with some valuable insights to work into our next showcase build for PAX AU.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]Join the crew![/h2][p][/p][p]Don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam, blackmail your friends and family to do the same, and help us market our pirate game![/p][p]
If you'd like more regular updates and to chat with the team then please join our public Discord server, we'd love to have you join our growing community. You can also follow us on social media at the links below.[/p][p]
[/p][h3]Wishlist now: [/h3][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p][h3]
Discord invite: [/h3][p]https://t.co/sBqCnmZi9T[/p][p][/p][p] [/p][p]Previous editions of 'Below Deck' can be found on our Itch Devlog.[/p][p][/p][p]Playtester sign ups: Fill out this form to access the playtest [/p][p]
Until next time me hearties, yo ho![/p][p]
[/p]

[p]It has been a quiet couple of months since our last online playtest back in June. We've been working hard on this new build, and also on our pitch and preparations for Gamescom. We travel to Germany in less than a weeks time![/p][p] [/p][h3]So what's new in this playtest?[/h3]

• [p]2x new bosses[/p]
• [p]Voyage selection screen[/p]
• [p]Intro cinematic[/p]
• [p]First death "contract signing" scene[/p]
• [p]Save system improvements[/p]
• [p]A dedicated "insult" button[/p]
• [p]'Combo': a new enemy status effect[/p]

[p]There are also 3+ new Steam achievements to unlock! Share your progress with the crew in our discord channel.[/p][p] [/p][h3]Accessing the playtest[/h3][p]If you would like to play, please fill out this sign up form to get sent a key.[/p]