Painscreek Devlog #1: Let's Make A Game!

A few years ago, a friend of ours asked how goes our work. At that time, there were three of us and we were working on CG ads. I thought we did fine, although we were always hunting for jobs. He then asked, “Have you considered creating your own IP?”

So in June 2012, we decided to try our hand at game development, all in the hope of creating our very own intellectual property. Plus, having passive income is a nice change for us. By Summer 2013, we were done with our last freelance job and started working full time on The Painscreek Killings. Looking back, we realized we were very naïve to quit everything and moved to something we have never done before. But at that time, it seemed like the best choice to make.

Announcing 'Painscreek Devlog' Series

As The Painscreek Killings is now on the market, we looked back and reflected on our five-year journey. Through a series of articles, we will illustrate the problems we faced, the breakthroughs we had, and how we brought an idea into a full commercial product. We hope anyone interested in or currently making a mystery solving walking simulator can benefit from our experience.

Hope to see you all next month.

Available Now On Steam And Green Man Gaming

We are happy to announce that our first game, The Painscreek Killings, is now available for purchase on Steam and Green Man Gaming.

In this game, you play a female journalist whose job is to investigate a 4-year old murder case in a town called Painscreek. You are free to roam anywhere to proceed in your investigation. Using your camera and power of deduction, you are to find the truth about the murders that happened there. When your game ends, you will need to point out who the killer is.

Key features of the game:

1. It's a semi-open world game. This means it's not a linear game and there's no set path to follow. You explore wherever you want, most of the time based on clues/hints you found.
2. You can end the game anytime. If you think you know who the killer is, you can leave Painscreek and submit your findings to your editor. The results you choose will be published in tomorrow's paper.
3. It's a traditional murder mystery. You will find yourself photographing important stuff in-game, and maybe even jot down notes outside the game for easier reference.
4. There's no handholding and no quest markers. All the puzzles are there right from the start rather than hidden until you found a clue about it, and there's more than one way to crack some puzzles. Should you come across them early in the game and have them solved, you can quicken your investigation time.

For those who are thinking of getting it, Green Man Gaming is currently offering a 24% discount on its site.

New Trailer Out

We have a new trailer for The Painscreek killings. Hope you enjoy our new trailer and add our game to your wishlist.

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Finalizing Our Game

(The books are sinking into the shelf.)

The past two weeks, we have been working on bugs fixing. We added or removed props and items in our game. We worked on making badges and trading cards. We changed and added some important story plots and information to improve the flow of the story. Then we submitted the game for approval.

How We Survived Without A Programmer In Our First 3 Years

Did we have a programmer? Truth be told, we did, eventually. However, our first three years consisted of a few CG artists who just wanted to make a game. This was what happened.

Why We Use Unity

(Testing terrain and foliage in Unity 4.)

To understand why Unity was chosen for our game project, The Painscreek Killings, we have to first share a bit about our background.