Happy June, Paper Trail enthusiasts! May came and went faster than you can turn a page, and we’ve been hard at work! ([u]How[/u] is it June already?!) We’ve got some really exciting stuff to share, from bug updates to new story content and character animations! Make sure to add Paper Trail to your wishlist to keep up with these monthly updates and more. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback during testing, and to you, for reading this post! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1889740/Paper_Trail/ [h1]Development[/h1] [h2]Improved Folding[/h2] Our lead developer went rogue and secretly redesigned the fold handle UI! On the left you can see the old UI, where we had a relatively small circle, and on the right a rough hand drawn line which spans the edge of the paper. After lots of testing, all our players preferred the new UI! One thing which did frustrate players, and had been raised previously with the old UI, was how small the drag area was, and with some drag interactions feeling missed. This has now been significantly improved and spans the whole edge of the paper. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/e53ed90a555f5afc754e88876707c4fe9b09fbea.gif[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/4e6efab8cf7fd3a6ecde7bcf1fb3e19f982c47fe.gif[/img] [h2]Power Lines Improvements[/h2] From our rounds of playtesting this month, power lines have proven to be one of the most popular mechanics in the game! One person did comment that they felt a bit glitchy, and we were indeed aware of a number of bugs which caused lines to flicker and suffer from other visual issues. These have all now been fixed, and we're confident power lines are release-ready as a mechanic! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/5c0a2cdcc246b9a7749d50c7304f0ab273fcd317.gif[/img] [h2]Dynamic Splash Screen[/h2] This was a super low priority task which had been on our radar for a while, but we wanted to create a layered parallax effect on the splash screen based on cursor position, as well as adding in-game effects like falling leaves and wind trails. We were able to implement it whilst waiting for builds, and it looks great! The next thing we need to do is add accelerometer support to the parallax for mobile. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/a5cb76815d49cbf449760c73c1c97514e44c0d80.gif[/img] [h2]Guidance Arrows[/h2] We found that some players were getting lost in the village at the beginning of the game, not easily following other visual indicators. To really ensure no players get stuck at the start, we've added guidance arrows which trigger after a short period of time, so it's clear where they have to go. This is important as we've found once players get to caves, they're absolutely fine, as it's much more linear. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/9226b167e9fc6fba45f25f8cdcbb9bb1925a706e.gif[/img] [h2]Key UI[/h2] We had a lot of testers suggesting the inclusion of a key UI so it's clear when you've collected one or more keys. The new UI is a keychain, which each new key gets added to! The skeuomorphic touch to the UI is a bit of a departure from the stylised minimalist aesthetic for the rest of the UI, so will need revisiting, but the idea and implementation work well! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/c21a29f7170375beca6a3bab801ce749b47fd7d2.gif[/img] [h2]Lots of Bug Fixes for QA/Localisation[/h2] Despite all the improvements listed above, the majority of development time this last month was spent doing bug fixes for both QA and Localisation builds. For QA we really wanted to ensure the builds were as bug free as possible so we could get clear results regarding good/bad elements of the game, without technical issues clouding their judgement/feedback. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/a6819ab6ca39682508d425c2f650641d0bb50071.png[/img] [h1]Design[/h1] [h2]Cutscenes[/h2] We've now implemented 3 new cutscenes, so roughly half the cutscenes are now complete to a basic level. They still need a polish pass, VO added and some UX improvements, but generally they're right on track and they're working really well to support transitioning between environments. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/cd0c7c7262a51c2052b25945a6b922486fca9843.gif[/img] [h2][h1]Art[/h1][/h2] [h3]Final Characters Complete![/h3] The last two character designs for the game are now complete! Below we have a little mischievous boy in the Autumn environment who starts the fire. We also have the Castaway's wife, who is eagerly awaiting his return to the fishing village! Now these are complete we can move onto animating all the characters... oh wait, that is also now complete! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/fab7c58efd580c952bf3602625dda74da45a1646.png[/img] [h3]Character Animations[/h3] We've now completed all character animations for the game! Below you can see the last batch of characters animated this month! Now we have the daunting task of exporting and implementing all these animations into the game. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/659ab68401a188478fa52e2d12d54f35c3b72dfc.gif[/img] Below you can see the Birdwatcher implemented into the Treetops environment! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/f7769d8de6e83e31d72b15ce68b3f6c002c4e951.gif[/img] [h2]Ruins [/h2] We have finished revisiting ruins, one of our strongest environments - to breathe new life, new puzzles, stronger narrative flow, a well refined difficulty curve, and a heaped tablespoon of new art assets. Some of the puzzles in this environment are our favourite in the entire game, and we’ve been seeing equally positive feedback from testing. We feel the balance between novelty and difficulty is where we want it to be now, as well as feeling like it's a particularly pretty environment. [h3]Unique Sprites[/h3] Although the ruins were in a good place in terms of concept and basic art, one thing it was lacking was variety. We’ve painted up a bunch of new buildings, rock formations, sculptures, statues, bridges, and more - to lend a sense of progression, mystery, and fullness to the environment. It now feels fully fleshed out, with some really lovely art moments scattered throughout. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/1c065f900eab7e7a84398b774f54b5637de80bf4.png[/img] [h3]End Art Scene[/h3] You’ve folded, flipped, dragged, and pushed your way through the ruins to the very end - and are rewarded with the entrance to the next environment, the cathedral! We wanted a grand doorway, shrouded in mystery - that hints at the runic powerline mechanic that lay in wait behind the doors. We had a lot of fun painting and designing this - and are really happy with how it turned out! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/5885fd10f6dd8dfac6301ae04a6f86d5faa7dad5.gif[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/a6819ab6ca39682508d425c2f650641d0bb50071.png[/img] [h1]News and Events[/h1] [h2]Future Game Show[/h2] Future Game Show got in touch with us directly and asked if we'd like to be included in their Spring Showcase. We're super excited to be included in the event, and we're coordinating with FGS and Honest PR to drop a new Steam demo to coincide, along with a press release. We've also got some brand new 4K footage for the stream! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/338224d6fd6b531289f889616f02c4d8764b42c7.png[/img] [h2]Summer Games Fest[/h2] We're also going to be shown during Summer Game Fest! Last year the event attracted 3.5 million peak concurrent global viewers and we're expecting even more this year. We’re really excited about this one and can’t wait to show off the game to more people! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/6d9eca280d0c8c5ec52e6c1eda0937167581c69b.png[/img] [h2]Localisation[/h2] We've now developed all our localisation systems to release quality, implemented a pseudo-loc strings table from Lionbridge which will allow us to identify any implementation issues, have added language switching support, and have included a wide selection of fonts for different character sets which still match the look and feel of the game. We've also sent the final text over for demo localisation, and once we have that translated, will be ready to create a fully localised demo build! [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/144a71ccebc1d110b9c61d9974e1f81b1dd84da3.gif[/img] [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//42245982/a6819ab6ca39682508d425c2f650641d0bb50071.png[/img] Thank you so much for reading - we've got some really exciting news coming up over the next few months. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for playtesting opportunities as well as MAYBE a new demo!