Progress update

Howdy.

As we're about halfway to the second update of SD I thought I'd post a progress report. I'm adding a picture and lots of info. If you're not interested in game dev and just want content, or if you don't want any hints whatsoever about upcoming content, then you might wanna skip this.

This second update marks the start participating in Crucible for our heroes Jon and Eva. The game will change from being entirely linear (and limited to Jon's perspective) to being a bit more open-ended, built around an in-game clock, and playable from either Jon or Eva's perspective. The true game loop will be established.

The choice of perspective is made fairly early on in this update, and it will persist throughout a given playthrough. It's a bit of a shame that I didn't give the player a chance to test Eva in the prologue, but who knows, maybe in a future update I'll get an opportunity to remedy that. The aim is to make the choice of perspective feel seamless and immersive, but that's somewhat of a challenge.

As the game show starts, we'll meet several new characters. There are dozens of contestants in Crucible, but Secret Dawn will focus on a handful of them. You could maybe compare this to the show "Lost", where you follows a core ensemble within a larger group. The goal is for the story to be relatively tight, and for the distinct personalities of different characters to shine through, without everything becoming too confusing. One man within this group will be the powerful main "antagonist", if that's the right word. Another person you'll become acquainted with is the woman with her arms crossed above.

At the same time, the player will also be introduced to a new technology: the Link. The Link is a communications device used by most people in the world of Secret Dawn. It's comparable to a smartphone, but directly integrated with the user's body. Our heroes are equipped with a Link once they enter the Crucible. I'm quite happy with the programming that's gone into making the Link actually interactive and "real", rather than just a pre-determined set of images or anything like that (which would be very cumbersome to iterate on). That interactiveness will add to the immersion and storytelling.

Other than that, I'll only say that the render/animation side of things is coming along swimmingly as well, as I'm sure players will agree when they get into the next update. It'll be out for members on the 1st of April and the public 4 weeks later.

Best,
Haldane