Jaws of Hell News

[p]A Note About the Art and Voices in Jaws of Hell and The Hive Pandemic[/p][p]As the solo developer behind Jaws of Hell and The Hive Pandemic, I want to be fully transparent about how these worlds were made.[/p][p]These projects blend the talents of many—real artists, AI tools, and a whole lot of long nights at the keyboard and piano. I’m a musician by trade, and some of the music and voiceovers you’ll hear in these games are my own. Others were created with the help of AI tools that allowed me to extend my vision further than my own hands could reach—tools that helped narrate, sing, and visualize cutscenes when I was working alone.[/p][p]I also had the incredible privilege of working with amazing artists and studios who contributed to the look and feel of these games. Tragically, one of our lead artists and my close friend passed away during development. Their work lives on in these games. After their passing, I leaned on AI and my own skills in Blender to keep going. I can hold my own—my Blender work is comparable to some indie games like Schedule 1—but I believed the game would be better with a tapestry of styles from multiple creators and studios.[/p][p]There’s been a lot of debate about AI and art, and I understand the fear and frustration. But what concerns me most isn’t the tools—it’s the system behind it all.[/p][p]The real problem isn’t artists or AI. It’s the way the industry is structured. Major studios and corporations pay their CEOs hundreds of times more than the people actually creating the work. We leave democracy at the door of every workplace, trading it for top-down, dictatorial structures. Artists and developers deserve better.[/p][p]I believe in a different future for games—a future with open pay structures, shared decision-making, and real safety for those doing the work. A workplace where collaboration isn’t just a buzzword, but the foundation. That’s what I’m building at Starving Lama Games.[/p][p]So yes, this game was made with help from AI. Yes, I paid artists through open markets. And yes, I believe both can exist together if we fix the system they’re trapped in.[/p][p]Thanks for being a part of this journey. And if you’re reading this and you’re struggling—whether with creativity, purpose, or just getting through the day—please know you are not alone.[/p][p]We’re building something better. One story at a time.[/p][p]– William
Starving Lama Games[/p]

[p]*Uploaded a video walkthrough of the demo to YouTube and linked it to the community hub. If you have questions about the game please head there, here or the questions section.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]*Country internet did not come through. Doing a live broadcast in town later this weekend. I will be uploading a video playthrough of the demo with more info on the Game.[/p][p][/p][p]This morning I am playing through Jaws of Hell on my first live playthrough. I will be doing another demo playthrough tonight at 5pm [/p][p][/p][p]Come ask me any questions you have about the game and check out the gameplay of the Demo.[/p][p][/p][p]I will do a walkthrough of some of the later levels on Friday, and a Concert on Saturday with piano and guitar and some AI. I have to figure out how to do all of that live but we will see what I can work out![/p][p][/p][p]Thank you for checking out my work![/p][p][/p][p]Jaws of Hell starts on Arionis - Arionis was the name of the band Clark and I started in school. From Arionis we travel through the Milky Way and to the Andromeda Galaxy. Please join me as we start this journey together![/p]

[p]I did it guys! new demo is up but it still patches the old one. What this means is if you got the demo early then you will have part of the source build and can debug or mod and if you get the new one then you have a smaller build that runs a little better. Ended up in Panda, Internet was better than Starbucks.[/p][p][/p][p]Unreal lets you do a source build with content that will let you debug or mod if you are building a game with modding. when moving my game from UE4 to UE5 I forgot to click this little box that says I want a binary build instead of a source code build. If you ever see a unreal build that is insanely large they probably forgot to click the little box too. [/p][p][/p][p]The way that Steam works, which is awesome if you do things on my end right, is take what exists and adjust it to the new build data. But it will not get rid of the source code so the file is still big. Both demos work fine, as long as you have 6gb of ram... But One option if you want the smaller build, but you have to be willing to hunt the demo down again (Please!), is to delete the original demo build and when you redownload it will be the new build which is only 16gb.[/p][p]If the new build is still patched with the old build it will stay around 30gb but I just tested Remote Play and it works![/p][p]Let me know if you guys have any issues.[/p]

[p]Join the Next Fest Hive all week with playthroughs, demos, trailers and more! [/p][p][/p][p]Jaws of Hell is part of Steam Next Fest![/p][p][/p][p]Thank you so much for checking out Jaws of Hell! Here is a schedule for the week.[/p][p][/p][p]Wednesday - Demo playthrough and Q&A 5:00 pm Central time on Steam[/p][p]Thursday - Build a Level together 5pm central time[/p][p]Friday - Game showcase and Playthrough 5pm central time[/p][p]Saturday - Live Concert piano, guitar and make an AI song together 1pm central time[/p][p][/p][p]I will be here all week uploading new trailers and content so let me know if you have any questions or would like me to do anything I am not to show off the game. [/p]

[p]I am trying to shrink the demo for you guys but the country internet is too slow.[/p][p]The internet was crawling out in the country where I live so I had to drive into town but the library doesn't open until 9 so I am at Starbucks uploading the new demo build. Not the best start to Next Fest.[/p][p][/p][p]The demo works it's just too big. I forgot to check the binary build when packaging. What this means is that the demo is currently a source build which is good for debugging and modding but not needed for this game or the demo. You can still play the demo but the binary build will be half the size and a little faster so framerate should be better and perhaps it will work on a older computer. I changed the specs after testing the demo and updating to UE5 from UE4 but I didn't realize I did a source build. I will test it asap on my gtx system with 4gb of video memory and see if it works. The current demo needs 6gb of video memory. It was tested on a HP Victus with a 6g mobile RTX. [/p][p][/p][p]I am uploading the demo to a new depot and will make that the default build when done this way it doesn't upload on top of the other build. I am learning Steam but I think this should work. [/p][p][/p][p]I will be here as long as it takes! More coming soon. Demo playthrough is now Wednesday and everything else is the same. [/p]