Mid-summer 2020 Update
Dear friends,
Welcome to the weirdest summer of 2020. We hope you're staying safe, happy and eating lots of snacks. We're hard at work on Backbone, and the production is going really well. Here's a list of stuff that's happened since the last update (it's a big one):
[h2]1. Localization & Prologue update.[/h2]
We started the process of translating the Prologue to Russian. We're picking up a good pace and establishing a working pipeline that we're gonna apply for other languages. The update for the Prologue with new UI, Russian localization and other cool stuff will come out sometime this Autumn. We're currently planning to translate both the Prologue and the full game to Russian, Brazilian-Portuguese and Chinese, the other languages will be announced later or after release.
[h2]2. Current progress on the full game.[/h2]
We've just completed the greybox prototype of the full game. Our next big milestone is "Script Complete", when the full text for the game is done, and then we can start full localization to multiple languages. “Content complete" milestone will be reached right before we can start porting Backbone to other platforms. After porting and QA are complete, comes the console certification and other essential things required for the release. If everything goes according to plan (and it has been going well so far), Backbone will come out in Q1 2021. With so many moving parts it’s tough to set an exact release date, but you will be the first to know when we’re sure!
[h2]3. So what is Backbone?[/h2]
With all building blocks in place, and very clear understanding of the ending and overall structure, we can tell you more about what kind of game Backbone will be.
Backbone is a game about making personal connections and the butterfly effect of touching people's lives. It's about the unintended, unforeseen consequences of your actions, how we all have potential to do good or cause harm. It's a game about experiencing a world through different lenses and about how being a detective is, at its heart, about being empathetic. It's about putting together a picture of the truth, weighing it against your own moral code, and learning to cope with the tension between them.
Hopefully, that sounds as exciting for you as it does for us. If you want to learn more about our vision for this game and our team, we invite you to read these wonderful interview articles about Backbone in Unwinnable Monthly: Part 1 and Part 2.
[h2]4. New people.[/h2]
Super stoked to announce that we're now a team of 15 people!
We were recently joined by Sonya, our new environment and character pixel artist. She will be making each scene in Backbone extra-rich in tiny beautiful details. Follow her art work on Twitter.
We're also super lucky to be joined by a goddess of sound and voice Arooj Aftab. She's a super talented musician and composer based in New York, and together we'll be working on eerie and jazzy soundscapes of Backbone. Listen to her album Siren Islands on Spotify.
Speaking of music, Arooj found us through this Backbone OST Inspiration playlist that our composer Nikita made on Spotify. Highly recommend for your rainy evening enjoyment.
We're currently telling more about each team member working on Backbone through this Twitter thread - be sure to follow our account for project news and raccoon memes.
[h2]5. Cinematics.[/h2]
There's a new feature we've been working on - cinematics! These are animated sequences of storytelling, adding a ton of vibe and atmosphere to the pixelated world of Backbone. Some of them are going to have non-interactive narration, and some are just gonna be used as a buffer between various story beats.
Here's the WIP opening cinematic, which appears when you leave Howard's Apartment in the Prologue and head over to Granville for your first investigation. Sound on!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]6. Behind-the-scenes content.[/h2]
So this happened - Valve interviewed us WHAT
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
And then we played the Prologue on stream and looked through development archives covering pre-Kickstarter and pre-Prologue periods! It was so so fun, and even though this video is 4 hours long, if you want to learn more about us as people or the game, give it a watch.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
That's it for today, detectives. As always, thank you for your neverending support. Please take care of yourselves, and we'll see you in the next update!
Join our Discord server - https://discord.gg/backbone
Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/backbonegame
Welcome to the weirdest summer of 2020. We hope you're staying safe, happy and eating lots of snacks. We're hard at work on Backbone, and the production is going really well. Here's a list of stuff that's happened since the last update (it's a big one):
[h2]1. Localization & Prologue update.[/h2]
We started the process of translating the Prologue to Russian. We're picking up a good pace and establishing a working pipeline that we're gonna apply for other languages. The update for the Prologue with new UI, Russian localization and other cool stuff will come out sometime this Autumn. We're currently planning to translate both the Prologue and the full game to Russian, Brazilian-Portuguese and Chinese, the other languages will be announced later or after release.
[h2]2. Current progress on the full game.[/h2]
We've just completed the greybox prototype of the full game. Our next big milestone is "Script Complete", when the full text for the game is done, and then we can start full localization to multiple languages. “Content complete" milestone will be reached right before we can start porting Backbone to other platforms. After porting and QA are complete, comes the console certification and other essential things required for the release. If everything goes according to plan (and it has been going well so far), Backbone will come out in Q1 2021. With so many moving parts it’s tough to set an exact release date, but you will be the first to know when we’re sure!
[h2]3. So what is Backbone?[/h2]
With all building blocks in place, and very clear understanding of the ending and overall structure, we can tell you more about what kind of game Backbone will be.
Backbone is a game about making personal connections and the butterfly effect of touching people's lives. It's about the unintended, unforeseen consequences of your actions, how we all have potential to do good or cause harm. It's a game about experiencing a world through different lenses and about how being a detective is, at its heart, about being empathetic. It's about putting together a picture of the truth, weighing it against your own moral code, and learning to cope with the tension between them.
Hopefully, that sounds as exciting for you as it does for us. If you want to learn more about our vision for this game and our team, we invite you to read these wonderful interview articles about Backbone in Unwinnable Monthly: Part 1 and Part 2.
[h2]4. New people.[/h2]
Super stoked to announce that we're now a team of 15 people!
We were recently joined by Sonya, our new environment and character pixel artist. She will be making each scene in Backbone extra-rich in tiny beautiful details. Follow her art work on Twitter.
We're also super lucky to be joined by a goddess of sound and voice Arooj Aftab. She's a super talented musician and composer based in New York, and together we'll be working on eerie and jazzy soundscapes of Backbone. Listen to her album Siren Islands on Spotify.
Speaking of music, Arooj found us through this Backbone OST Inspiration playlist that our composer Nikita made on Spotify. Highly recommend for your rainy evening enjoyment.
We're currently telling more about each team member working on Backbone through this Twitter thread - be sure to follow our account for project news and raccoon memes.
[h2]5. Cinematics.[/h2]
There's a new feature we've been working on - cinematics! These are animated sequences of storytelling, adding a ton of vibe and atmosphere to the pixelated world of Backbone. Some of them are going to have non-interactive narration, and some are just gonna be used as a buffer between various story beats.
Here's the WIP opening cinematic, which appears when you leave Howard's Apartment in the Prologue and head over to Granville for your first investigation. Sound on!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h2]6. Behind-the-scenes content.[/h2]
So this happened - Valve interviewed us WHAT
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
And then we played the Prologue on stream and looked through development archives covering pre-Kickstarter and pre-Prologue periods! It was so so fun, and even though this video is 4 hours long, if you want to learn more about us as people or the game, give it a watch.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
That's it for today, detectives. As always, thank you for your neverending support. Please take care of yourselves, and we'll see you in the next update!
Join our Discord server - https://discord.gg/backbone
Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/backbonegame
