Dewborne Dawn: May 2024 Update
5 months ago – Sun, May 26, 2024 at 06:37:12 PM

What is on the Horizon?

Alpha Test Update

This summer is looking to be a very crucial timeframe for Dewborne Dawn's development! First off, for those that donated to the limited tiers, The plan is for the first round of Alpha testing to start near the end of July. As a reminder, these first Alpha tests will simply be testing the prototype that we will be sending to Publishers in August. This prototype will be around 10-15 minutes long, and will showcase a very rough slice of the game. Please keep in mind that the goal of this testing will not be about polishing up the game to its best state, but more about getting the prototype to communicate its inherent ideas better.

In case it needs to be noted, this is not the only round of Alpha testing! We will continually release builds with more and more added as time goes on, until enough features have been added and tested that we can reliably move on to the beta testing state.

Preparing for Publisher Submissions

After the most crucial bugs and feature changes are fixed from the initial Alpha tests, we will begin to start submitting pitches to publishers in August. All of our work right now is focused on getting a vertical slice of the game prepared for this, as well as the Pitch Deck we are putting together. Please note that the process to contract with a publisher can take some time, so production will most likely slow down while this is going on. Don't be alarmed if our social media presence slows down as well. 

Directly after finding a publisher that works with our needs, we are going to be holding Voice-Acting auditions for the next batch of characters. I'll detail that out more in our next update, which should come out sometime in July, but all you need to know now is that the batch will contain around 4-5 characters, and that there will be additional auditions in the future.

Development Snippet #2 - Character Recruitment

One of the main traits unique to Dewborne Dawn, is how we are utilizing the ability to build a party from a cast of characters you can meet in the game. In most metroidvanias, outside of the player-controlled MC, characters often exist as NPCs that help to add to the atmosphere, or to push the narrative in some way. However, outside of that, they don't often affect the gameplay experience in any significant way. While nothing is wrong with that approach, we wanted to try something more "engaging" with these side characters. 

Building a Party

The recruitable characters all have integral parts to play in the story, so the player will have no problem running into them through simply just playing the game. However, to actually recruit them to the party, the player will have to undertake "quests" for these characters that exist outside of the main objectives of the story. I will not give any specific quest details here, but they have the benefit of also expanding the lore of the game, so we recommend sticking with them!

You are free to only recruit the characters that you really like, or you can just skip character recruitment altogether. However, I highly recommend trying to recruit every available character. I don't want to spoil anything, but there are elements of the game that do not fully come together unless the player attempts to recruit all the central characters.

What do Party Members do?

Your Party's usability is two-fold. Firstly, each party member can be summoned to help in combat, offering unique abilities not seen elsewhere. At any point in combat, you can call a party member to use this ability. They will appear on the field, use their set ability, and then they will leave and go on "cooldown", where they can't be called out again for a certain amount of time. Think of them as an additional way to customize your moveset. They don't act on their own, and they are only out on the field when you choose for them to be. With that said, they can be very powerful additions to your arsenal if you call on them in the right moments in battle.

Secondly, they can offer unique perspectives and dialogue options in certain scenes. You can only "set" two support characters to be actively travelling with you at any given moment. Depending on the two that you have selected at any given moment, you can unlock certain cutscenes/dialogue that would not be available if other support characters were set at that time. By going out of your way to utilize as many support pairings as possible, you can gain a myriad of lore and background information.

Dewborne Dawn isn't your standard "Hero's Tale". While you still might play the part of a hero, a big part of the narrative revolves around the idea of bringing hope back to the survivors residing in the Final Bastion, and helping them to reach their own heroic potential. It's difficult to put into words, but I hope that you enjoy the colorful characters we are creating for the narrative, and what your place will be in this adventure. With that said, this story is only possible because of your support, and I can't express that enough. Thank you for all you've done to help bring this project to fruition.

 

Dewborne Dawn: March 2024 Update
7 months ago – Mon, Mar 25, 2024 at 07:39:20 AM

Backerkit Report

Roughly 10% of Kickstarter members still have not filled out their Backerkit surveys. As mentioned previously, it is very important for you to fill out this information! Not only does it put your shipping address into the system (which you can change at a later date at any time before shipping happens, in case you move at some point), but it also gives us details on your rewards, such as how you want your name to appear in the credits!

Don't forget that you can go back and change your survey answers at any time as well, before shipping happens. If you have any questions, please either reach out to us or the Backerkit support team.

Alpha Update

We have been hard at work getting the core aspects of the game developed, as well as creating the assets for the first zone of the game! Now that we have a better idea of the pacing that the team can work at, we now can get a rough estimate of when the first Alpha build will be ready to test! While its no guarantee, it looks like we will have the first Alpha build ready to test in approximately 3-4 months.

This first Alpha build will be a very short experience. It will cover a portion of the first zone, and will be a simple vertical slice of the current game. It will show some of the characters and dialogue, have a single boss to fight, showcase rooms to explore, and upgrades to find. Overall, this first build will probably only last around 15 minutes if all goes according to plan. That is not to say it won't be rough though. Expect a lot of bugs, incomplete mechanics, and missing features, but the game will at least be playable!

Development Snippets

Going forward, with each of these Kickstarter updates, we are going to be including a section that goes in-depth with some aspect of our development lifecycle, so you can get a better idea each time what to expect from the game at its completion. We will be calling these "development snippets", and you can just consider them mini dev-logs that focus on a single mechanic of the game. As for the first of these development snippets, you can see it below!

Development Snippet #1 - Dialogue and Cutscene Progression

With the core focus of our game being the characters, we wanted to make sure interactions between those characters really highlighted the personalities and stories behind them. We were originally doing a system, where illustrated mugshots would appear on screen, but we felt that this wasn't portraying the full-body emotions that we wanted of the characters in their respective cut-scenes.

We ultimately decided to create a set of animated sprites, alongside the dialogue boxes, that portray all of the potential emotions that a character could go through during interactions in the game. To accomplish this, we first look at character dialogue sets from the script, to get an idea of the general emotions that the character will go through in the story. We then take this information, and create models of the character expressing that emotion.

Once those are polished and approved, we move on to creating the in-game sprite dialogue animations of those characters. One other thing to note. There are many points in the game where a character goes through something unique in a cutscene outside of just expression an emotion, such as physical interactions with the environment and other characters around them. These instances are being logged in separate sets, and will be worked on accordingly.

Getting the characters right is a top priority for us. We want them to feel real, fleshed out, and adding to the atmosphere of the game in any scene they might be found in. We want players to not only relate to them, but also to immerse themselves in these character's livelihoods. It may seem like a simple thing to do, but it often feels like a monumental task to write these characters in ways that enhance the flow of the story rather than taking it away. We refuse to provide any experience that is anything less than satisfying though!

Kickstarter surveys to be sent out next week!
8 months ago – Thu, Feb 08, 2024 at 08:06:24 PM

SURVEYS

Look out for Kickstarter surveys being sent out next week! These "surveys" are absolutely crucial and mandatory for us to be able to fulfill/deliver the rewards to each backer, so PLEASE go through them with care and answer each of the questions! These questions will deal with things like collecting your shipping information, as well as other important aspects like knowing how your name should appear in the credits.

You might be asking, "what if I change my address before physical goods are ready to ship?" Our pledge manager has that covered! You have the option to change your address anytime before shipment actually happens. Furthermore, automatic reminders will be sent out prior to shipping the physical goods as well, to ensure that everyone gets what they signed up for.

BACKERKIT

We have officially partnered with Backerkit to help manage our pledges! While we could have just utilized Kickstarter's own pledge manager, it is fairly archaic. By partnering with Backerkit, it grants us a few benefits we would originally not have. These include, but are not limited to:
1) Organizing shipping data with easy-to-manage documentation.
2) Allow for those that have pledged to upgrade their pledge at anytime before physical goods are sent out.
3) Give us dedicated backer support to make sure everything is delivered correctly and handled with care.
There are a couple other benefits that Backerkit provides us as well, but I'll provide more information on those in our next update!

For those interested in changing their pledges, please follow the below instructions when you get the Backerkit surveys in your email:

1) Click on your Pledge Level at the top of the screen.

2) On the next screen that comes up, click on "Switch Pledge Levels?" on the top right.

3) Upgrade, or downgrade, your pledge on the next screen by selecting any of the other available pledges!

• PLEASE NOTE, THAT IF YOU DOWNGRADE A PLEDGE, YOU DO NOT GET REFUNDED ON YOUR ORDER! Instead, you are given "Backerkit Credits" that can be used on other projects that utilize Backerkit.
   

DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES!

Freelancer contracts have been re-negotiated and resigned, and we have started work again on Dewborne Dawn as of last Monday! If you haven't been following us on twitter or discord, I highly suggest doing so, as both of those locations will be our primary hubs for showcasing the newest updates to the game every week! We will be constantly revealing new characters, concepts, areas, and gameplay elements, so make sure to keep an eye out!

ALPHA ACCESS

We are ramping up development to get an alpha prototype ready soon, and so if you have donated to any of the tiers that give access to the Alpha, it is imperative that you join the community discord and let us know, so that we can get things set up early! All communication and procedures involves with the Alpha will be handled through the discord, so please make sure you join if you have pledged to a tier that offers it. We very much appreciate you all for sticking with us so far!

Dewborne Dawn Kickstarter has Officially Concluded!
10 months ago – Thu, Dec 28, 2023 at 05:51:25 PM

Today marks the end of the Dewborne Dawn crowdfunding campaign! Not only did we reach the funding goal, but we also achieved three additional Stretch Goals, including the full voice acting goal that has been a much-asked for feature from the beginning! I don't think I can express how grateful I am to everyone for helping to make this possible. All of the love and support that has been shown to us has given us so much motivation to make this game a truly memorable experience. Anything less than a great game is a spit in the face to all of you who have invested your faith and finances into it. I want to cover a few things for this special update.

Future Updates

All future updates will come out at a slower rate (between 1-2 months), but contain much more information, commentary, and detail. You can think of these future updates as something similar to mini dev-logs. They will often contain a number of visuals and concepts, as well as covering specific areas of the game in greater detail than they have been showcased before. These future updates will also be released when a significant announcement needs to be made, such as when Voice-Acting Casting Calls are being set up and such. 

Declined Cards/Payments

Kickstarter has indicated to us that there are many that have had their cards/payments declined (over 20% of the pledges to our campaign!). You will have gotten an email if you are one of those that have had their cards decline. Kickstarter gives each declined user seven days to fix the payment issue before cancelling the pledge. Kickstarter is pretty finnicky with its payment system, so if you did receive an email like this, you might just need to click the "retry payment" button in the email, and it could resolve the issue. This issue has happened to me in the past, and it was simply a hiccup on Kickstarter's part, and clicking the "retry" button fixed it. However, it could also be something like your bank viewing Kickstarter as a "suspicious" payment, which is something that might require you to speak with a banking representative. The email should detail out if that was the case though, so please double check so that you don't miss out on getting your rewards in the end!

Alpha and Beta setup

If you are someone that has signed up for either the Alpha or the Beta, I urge you to please join the community discord, as that will be where access to these will be setup in the future when they are being run! When you join the discord, or if you are already a member, we will be setting up roles to indicate which kind of access you need. You will be invited to private channels that will go over Alpha and Beta dates and general information more, but we will announce more on that later. Please note, that if you have pledged to be an Alpha tester, that you, of course, will gain access to the Beta as well.

Whether its private messages sent on here, or a DM on twitter or discord, I am always free to answer questions or address concerns! Thank you so much for believing in us and our vision! Your support drives us forward, and makes this all possible. I can't wait to see what the future holds.

Dewborne Dawn is Officially Funded!
10 months ago – Sat, Dec 23, 2023 at 04:15:38 PM

Dewborne Dawn has officially reached its full funding goal!

I don't think I can put into words how much I appreciate all of the support that we have been shown by the community. When we began this campaign, we really had no clue what to expect. We were terrified that the project would not reach its goal, and would have to be shelved. You've made this project a reality though, and we plan to put all of our heart and soul into it to make sure your generosity is not taken for granted.

However, the campaign is far from over! We still have stretch goals to reach! With 5 days left to spare, there is more than enough time to be able to raise enough funds to unlock things like an in-game bestiary, a comic series, full voice-acting, and much more! If, by some miracle, we happen to reach all of the current goals, we have more stretch goal rewards ready to reveal!

As we have reached our funding goals now, I think its best to detail out what the plans are for it. Multiple people have asked how we plan to fund the whole game with the funds, when games usually cost so much more. Well, with the Kickstarter funds, we plan on getting a well-made prototype made in the next 4-6 months that we can use to secure a publisher, which will then fund the remainder of the project! 

This is such an exciting time. The team is already planning our next steps and scheduling out our work for the 2024 calendar year. We have SO many awesome things planned, all thanks to your contributions! We will not stop until this passion project becomes something that everyone can enjoy. We also want to take this time to wish you a Merry Christmas, a happy Hanukkah, a wonderful Winter Solstice, a pleasant Kwanzaa, and just a general nice and peaceful time during this holiday season!

For today's shout-out, we are showcasing:

Found in the Forgotten: Issue #1

Found in the Forgotten is a mature comic series featuring sapphic romance in a grimdark fantasy world. Created by a small group of queer creators, you can rest assured knowing that they will do the genre justice. With a gorgeous atmosphere and attention to detail, they could really use your support! Included below is a mock page of the comic:

Click here to support them!