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Methods: The Canada Files

Всички Дискусии Снимки Худ. творби Предавания Видеа Новини Ръководства Рецензии

Methods: The Canada Files

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Devlog 61: Writing Six

15 септ.

Writing has begun on File 06!

What I worked on since the last update:

Outlined the mystery for File 06
Wrote Chapter 26
Designed 1 character
Finished Part 2 of The Art of Methods

I've begun writing File 06, after outlining the mystery. I'm trying to apply all the lessons I learned from creating all the previous Files to try to make it the most thrilling mystery yet. I also recently released Part 2 of The Art of Methods on my Patreon and Afdian pages. It takes some time, but it's definitely worth it to fill in all those details about the Methods universe. I will make sure it's finished before I begin production on Motives.

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

Methods: The Canada Files

Update Notes for Sep 14

14 септ.

Fixed "Wrong Room" evidence number count

Methods: The Canada Files

Hangouts Four & Five Released!

23 авг.

Both Hangout Four and Hangout Five have been released, which means that the Hangouts feature is now finished. Please note that the price of the game will increase soon now that the Hangouts are released, so now is a good time to get the game at a reduced price!

With these Hangouts comes two new Outfit sets — Pirates and Suits. Whether you prefer to plunder other detective team's ships or make sure Team Tads looks spiffy for a night out on the town, you will now have the option!

Changes to Hangouts System

Vote choices no longer impact Morale
Outfits now unlock when you get a good ending instead of requiring both good and bad endings

The votes in each File used to impact Hangout Morale — for example, the character who you voted for as "Most Useless" would have a lower Morale when you began the Hangout. This wasn't very intuitive or clearly communicated, and led to some edge cases of players not being able to improve Morale for a character, so this is no longer the case.

I also realized that making you play through both "good" and "bad" routes to unlock the Outfits was a little too demanding. I designed it that way so you would be encouraged to see as much of the dialog as possible, since there is some interesting dialog hidden behind "bad" options. However, asking players to try to get the characters to dislike them on purpose seemed a bit odd and confusing, especially since whether the characters like each other or not doesn't affect the dialog in the main story. After running a poll to get a sense of what solution would be best, I've now changed it so they unlock after getting good endings.

Other Improvements

Bagels and Baguettes has been given a quieter remix to play during Hangout Two
Improperly aligned text in Support minigame in File 04 fixed
Line added for context during File 04 theories

File 06 Enters Production

I've started working on File 06, and judging from how long the other Files took, it will take at least six months to finish. When I release it, Methods: The Canada Files will finally be complete. It's been a longer development journey than I predicted, so thank you for your patience and for supporting the game in Early Access.

Have fun with the new Hangouts and outfits!

Until next time!

— LockedOn & Erabit

Methods: The Canada Files

Devlog 60: Crashing Wave

27 юли

Hangout Five has been written!

What I worked on since the last update:

Wrote Hangout Five
Implemented 3 Outfits
Coded all Hangouts

The biggest hurdle has finally been overcome — writing Hangout Five. The past few months, it was a bit of a struggle to write, but bit by bit, I hacked away at it and now, it's done!

Here's a screenshot from the upcoming release! I still have another Outfit set to draw, Hangout Five's background to create, and of course, the Chinese translation needs to be finished, but it's getting close!

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

Methods: The Canada Files

Devlog 59: Two In One

26 юни

Hangout Four has been written!

Hangout Four has been written, and soon I can send it off for translation! As I was aiming for, it's about 5k words. However, my plan is to go ahead and create Hangout Five as well before the next release. I would like to be completely focused on File 06, so finishing up all the Hangouts first is my top priority, and creating both at once will allow me to save some time I think. It's fitting, since I also created File 04 & 05 at the same time. This will mean that the Hangouts feature will be complete with the next update — there was never going to be a Hangout Six. However, there will be something better, and it has to do with that unknown feature in the Extras menu that is currently labeled with a question mark. ;)

What I worked on since the last update:

Wrote Hangout Four
Designed 5 New Outfits
Implemented 2 Outfits

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

Methods: The Canada Files

Update Notes for Jun 8

8 юни

Typo fixes in Chinese localization

Methods: The Canada Files

Update Notes for May 28

28 май

The axe box originally had broken glass around the edges, however, the glass on the floor perfectly recreates the pane of glass, meaning no glass would've been left behind on the axe box. The broken glass edges on the box have now been removed to resolve this

Methods: The Canada Files

File 05 is Here!

27 май

In this update...

File 05

After last Stage's elimination, Team Tads is a bit shaken as they head into Stage Five — a lightning-paced Stage with an unexpected twist. How will Tads lead the team, and what is Esbekay's plan? Many surprises await in this exciting penultimate File!

The price of the game will not increase until Hangout Four's release, so this is a great time to get the game at a lower price point!

Smaller Improvements!

Viu's minigame in Chapter 3 has now been properly fixed
Sound effects have been added to the dummies (this has been on my wishlist for a long time, nice to have it finally implemented!)
Sound effect updates for Struess's minigame in Chapter 2

Enjoy File 05, and I hope you look forward to the release of Hangout Four... ;)

Best,

— LockedOn & Erabit

Methods: The Canada Files

Devlog 58: How I Did It

13 май

File 05 is already completed and we're finishing up translation! But how did I get it done so quickly??

During File 04's development, I was secretly developing File 05 simultaneously! Every time I reached a milestone, it was actually a milestone for both Files. After outlining File 04, I outlined File 05. After writing File 04, I wrote File 05. After making the sprites for File 04, I made them for File 05. Etc. At each step, I doubled my workload.

I wasn't sure this plan would be possible to pull off, so I kept it a secret. The most essential step was to finish writing both Files — I knew that if I could do that, I could probably complete both at once. I wrote both Files across several very intense writing sessions in the span of a month— it was pretty exhausting, but definitely worth it, as I'd already reduced the amount of time that step usually takes me. Making these two Files together took nine months, instead of the usual six. So this plan of mine ended up reducing the overall development time by approximately three months.

After File 03, I knew that the game was taking much too long to make, and the amount still left to do was daunting. After all, I'd only finished three files out of six so I still had 50% of the game left to make. I couldn't cut back on scope, so I looked at other ways I could speed things up.

One big problem I've noticed is that after releasing a File, I usually need time to recharge, but I also need to dive into writing a Hangout — this makes me a bit burned out and I was requiring more and more time to recharge between File releases.

I also realized that the Hangouts had become unwieldy — they were meant to be fun optional content, but they were taking more and more development time away from the main story.

That is why I decided to try out this idea — by developing them simultaneously, these two Files would feel like developing one File — combining the recharge time for both. And I would save writing Hangout Four until later — avoiding the dip in productivity that usually comes when I have to make the Hangouts.

In the end, this plan was successful. Which begs the question — could I have been doing it this way the whole time? It's hard to say, but I don't think so. The first three Files really required my full attention to get the formula for the game down and understand the characters I was writing. If I'd tried to rush through it, I'm convinced the quality wouldn't have held up. File 05 is a smaller scale File in many ways — an easier mystery, more indoor locations, and less new assets to create. So it was well suited to piggyback off the development of another File. Also, for the first half of development, my top priority was to get the Files out as fast as I could, as soon as I finished them. By File 03, it was obvious that my current development speed was already making the wait long — so I decided to risk making the wait between Files a little longer, if it could reduce the overall time.

Now, maybe you're wondering "Is he also secretly developing Motives?" — No, unfortunately — Motives has still not entered production, however I am taking some lessons from this as way to try to speed up development on Motives as well. My most important takeaway from this has been that yes, I can take on more work than I previously thought at each step of the process without it affecting the quality too much. Though it does increase time between releases, that may be worth it in order to reduce the overall development time.

I hope you look forward to File 05's release.

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

Methods: The Canada Files

Update Notes for Mar 25

25 март

For some reason banner on Score section was displaying incorrectly, it's been fixed
In Chapter 17, Struess mentions a "laptop" (which is no longer in the game) and other items that the player may have not seen yet, this has been corrected

Methods: The Canada Files

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