Hey everyone!
This week, we have been working on our Kickstarter video, and are gathering together some impactful stuff that we think will really get people pumped for what we think will be a really solid SCP experience.
Kickstarter Video:
This is one of our favorite shots we have gotten and demonstrates the grappling mechanic as well as the ability to kill the SCPs in the constant struggle of staying one step ahead of them. We are putting this video together right this moment and are going to have a professional sound pass done to it so it comes out extremely crisp and clean.
One of the things we didn't want to do was just cinematics, so we made sure to include a lot of gameplay to really show people what they are going to be playing, especially since we are releasing the demo publicly and don't want anybody to feel mislead by the trailer.
Kickstarter Rewards:
Thanks to a new advancement, we are no longer forced to choose between just making the adorable SCP-323 plushie or SCP-939 plushie, and instead are going to be able to make BOTH! You may remember the design looked a bit different, and that is because the company we have making these was having issues with our first design, so it needed to be "plumped" up to better work with their processes. Luckily, we think the design came out even cuter than before and cannot wait to show you all the test batches we receive!
Final Game Updates!
One thing that has been a constant hurdle for us has been game optimization, which mainly stems from lighting and a couple of other persistent issues. However, our preliminary testing has shown that frame levels are meeting our 60 FPS threshold on the minimum recommended hardware (GTX 1060) at Full HD. However, the final area in the demo, which is the reactor area and is covered in flesh has been giving a persistent issue with frame drops in this area as an ironic result of adding too much flesh.
We will be optimizing this zone over the coming week and should have it stable pretty quickly, but of course, it comes down to removing things here and there without running the aesthetic of the area, since it really is a centerpiece of the demo and we absolutely adore it.
The final challenge for us to overcome is the AI system. There are some pesky issues here and there with the system going into states it should not be in, which can sometimes cause the SCPs to look a bit off. We have since decided to spend a bit of extra time doing a rework of their systems in order to prevent having to use the generously donated Kickstarter money to go back and rework a system that should have been nearly final in the released public build since doing otherwise is imprudent use of Kickstarter funding and we want to be able to end Kickstarter and begin full development on a really solid foundation with good core internal systems.
When is it launching?
This question we know is on all of your minds, and for good reason. Given there are a couple more things to do with AI and the small issues with game optimization, we cannot give a FINAL date for the Kickstarter just yet since instead of giving ranges like we have been (and then having to push them for one reason or another) we are deciding to only do a final date announcement when we have the actual date and time the Kickstarter and demo will go live finalized.
We are looking to launch the most functionally complete demo we possibly can, and with the upcoming playtesting sessions, we are looking forward to making something we are extremely proud of that very well could define the standard for future SCP games.
There are a couple more surprises we have planned too, so make sure to sign up for our email list and Kickstarter so you don't miss them!
If you'd like to follow Kickstarter to get the plushies and all the other fun stuff, you can here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hststudiosllc/scp-fragmented-minds