#solo dev

[morbethgames]

THE FIRST HALF OF CHAPTER 4 IS NOW LIVE!

Everyone, I’ve been working on this for months now, and the impressive and also sad part is; it’s only halfway done! But it’s also 60k words and brings the average playthrough of the demo to 65k words long, so I figured it was worth uploading. Can’t go too long without an update, right?

In this update, pair with Lance and Alvarez as you infiltrate the abandoned warehouse with the S.W.A.T. team on a mission to take down the suspects and end put a close on this case once and for all! There are a lot of different branches to this one. Like… maybe more than I realistically needed. But, I wanted people to be able to craft their own story and make sure they had something to come back to a second time around if they were so inclined. I may even go back and add a little more to parts of this scene before the official release, but that’s a discussion for another day.

Thank you all so much for supporting me, whether you’re a paid member or a free member, and I hope you all continue to enjoy the story I’m crafting!

You can check out my Patreon here for side stories, original short stories, audiobook readings and more! Morbeth Games | Creating Interactive Fiction | Patreon

You can play the demo here! https://dashingdon.com/play/morbethgames/the-bureau-wip/mygame/

You can talk about the game here! https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/wip-the-bureau-chapters-1-3-600k-words-updated-12-22-2023/99993

Stay Brilliant,

-Vi

[acidspaceshippsdevlogs]

These masks are called "Oddities"

And this is their equip animations

There are currently eight “Oddities” created in the game build. I planned around ten.

[cinebeastdev]

one of the pirates you meet in my game -- she's the ship mapmaker!

[glugslove]

Spell of rotate cube

[olessan]

Bunnies. Masters of stealth

[256gb]

some more flickshot footage from the other day’s playtest :^) i think after the big catch releases i’ll redouble my efforts and get flickshot in a releasable state.

[alexhillmystery]

Let's go! The Indiegogo campaign for my Nancy Drew-inspired mystery game, Alex Hill, is officially live, and I'll need your support to bring it to life! 👊

Join in by backing it at igg.me/at/alexhill and spread the word to your friends, communities, and favorite content creators. Together, we can make it happen! 🙌 🕵️‍♀️

[pixellangel]

"Don't you feel stupid answering these questions when you don't even know who you are?"

STORYTELLER SYNTHESIS SCENE 1 - A GIRL NAMED V

overview - masterpost - taglist

____

Storyteller Synthesis is an indie cyberpunk RPG that I’m currently writing and designing. This is the first scene of the game, where we're introduced to our first party member - a girl named V. Please enjoy!

____

Onyxveil is a troubled city. The streets are covered in litter, the skies are gray with smog, and the only sources of light are flashing neon advertisements on walls. Within this bleak cityscape stands an equally troubled young girl, one with hot pink hair and an unfocused gaze. Just a few years ago, she experienced a horrific eve-

"Can you shut up and give the Player control already? Nobody wants your stupid expository speech."

...Ahem. As I was saying, just a few years ag-

"Why can't you ever listen? The Player isn't interested and neither am I. Get it over with."

Ugh. Fine. I came up with this whole summary, but if you're so ungrateful I GUESS I can throw it in as flavor text somewhere...

"Perfect, I'll make sure not to read it. Now get rid of this black screen so the Player can see."

Excuse me? I know what I'm doing.

"Sure. Just get rid of it."

Ugh. Fine.

[Now, in tile RPG format, we see the aforementioned girl from behind. She's at the edge of a rooftop, looking out into the smog-covered cityscape. The camera shifts downwards to show another person, one with a long, pale blue ponytail. The girl turns around and walks towards them. She keeps her distance, but begins speaking. Her character portrait shows a girl with purple, rectangular irises. Her hair is spiky and she wears some sort of strange cropped techwear hoodie. She looks dissatisfied.]

"So, "Sylvie." Long time no see."

> I could say the same to you.

...

"How long has it been now? Three years? Four?"

> Three.

Not sure.

"And how was your little warrior's expedition? Successful?"

Very.

> You could say that.

Not exactly.

"Good, good. Now, Don't you feel stupid answering these questions when you don't even know who you are?"

Wh- hey! I already told you not to go off script!

> I'm not sure.

Oh. Sorry, you don't need to answer that. Let me just fix this... small bug.

[The Narrator goes silent for a moment and the girl stiffens.]

There! Much better.

[The girl's character portrait is different when she speaks again. Her eyes are wide open with no shine. She has a wide, fake smile. Her hair spikes stand up a little less.]

"So sorry, SYLVIE! I don't know what came over me there. I'm glad your expedition went well! Woul d y ouu be wil lin g to h e-"

[She snaps out of it, shakes her head, and glares up at the sky.]

"UGH!! Stop doing that!!! I would literally NEVER talk like that. You of all people should know. Ughhh... anyway, Player, I'm not gonna keep up the "Sylvie" act. You aren't her and we both know it."

If you go off script again, I'll have to keep acting for you. Get back to the story or else.

"Shush. Player, follow me."

[The Narrator protests as the player follows the her down from the rooftop. The two come to an arcade, which the girl enters without hesitation.]

Ahem. Sylvie. You don't need to go in there. If you would just give me a minute, I can get her to come back out...

Sorry, this is going to take some time. Please be patient.

[The player enters the arcade anyway while the Narrator is distracted.]

"Hey. Glad you could make it."

[The arcade is empty, save for the two of them. Most of the machines look like they're out of order. A few of the arcade cabinets are still working, though.]

"If you're waiting for him to talk, you should know he can't hear us in here."

> "He"?

"The Narrator. He's messing stuff up in Onyxveil, and probably in other cities too. If i had to guess, I'd say his other targets would be The Sunbasked Stratum and Karma Point. They'd be good settings for a story, so..."

> Why can't he hear us in here?

What is he trying to do?

Who are you?

"I dunno. My guess is that he never intended for anything to happen in this arcade, so it's barely more than set dressing. I've never heard him speak a word while I’m in here, though. It’s pretty nice."

Why can't he hear us in here?

> What is he trying to do?

Who are you?

"He's writing some stupid story. I don't know... it's hard to explain, and we probably don't have much time. All you really need to know is that he's meddling with reality for his own selfish reasons and not taking anyone else into account."

[Her face contorts in anger.]

Why can't he hear us in here?

What is he trying to do?

> Who are you?

"My name's V. There's nothing else you need to know about me."

> Who am I?

"You’re the one playing the video game. Obviously."

> That's not what I meant.

"Oh, you must want to know who's body you're in. It's another person from Onyxveil. Their name is Sylvie. They went out on some training journey a few years ago. I... haven't seen them since."

> ...

"It doesn't matter. I need your help, Player. I don't want to be trapped in this stupid reality where I'm a character in a story I never asked to be a part of."

> What do you want me to do about that?

"I want you to help me kill the Narrator."

[V looks determined, but angry. This Narrator person has very clearly wronged her in some way, and based on her face, it looks like it was extremely personal.]

> How are we meant to do that?

"I don't know all the details just yet. However, I think the most effective method would be for us to assemble a party of several people. More people means more firepower, and he already wants us to gather more allies to fight the robots that keep appearing in the city. It'll be easy to fly under the radar as long as we don't discuss it in front of him."

[She speaks quickly and confidently. It seems she's been thinking over her plan for a long time.]

> Do you know who we need?

[devsgames]

Breakdown of a Dialog Tracking Document

Here's a little overview of the Voice Over tracker template I use for tracking dialog in my games! If anyone wants to view these in action please check out this Google Sheet and make a copy for your own use.

I think this format is mostly useful for games that are smaller and/or only have some VO, I can't imagine it scales well to larger projects which might need more complex software like Articy. I use a separate 'working copy' of docs like this with additional language columns for tracking translation specifically, but this structure I find is a useful starting point for managing any kind of string-based localization or VO to your game. I do most of my writing in docs like these.

Overview

Generally I keep docs like this for my own sanity when organizing VO, and also for sending out to collaborators like localization specialists or Voice Actors who need access to this organized information. Keeping docs like this not only helps yourself during production, but also anyone else you might be working with.

You'll notice that in this doc for an unreleased game I have it broken down into 'Days' (effectively levels in the game), but in terms of Macro Structure I tend to lean towards whatever makes sense for each game. Some games I break it down by level while others might be broken down more by sequences or events - it really depends on the game you're making or how your VO will be applied.

I typically have a "Guide" section to walk a user through how to use the doc (some people have never used spreadsheets before, after all!). I also often have a "Generic" section to catch dialog that doesn't fit elsewhere like character barks, noises, grunts, etc. "Data" is just isolated section for spreadsheet data like Roles and the like.

Speaker

This column indicates the speaker of the line. I typically have these filterable, so that if I'm working with Voice Actors they can break it down to their line exclusively to read from the sheet directly, or if I need to only view certain actor's lines while working.

Line Key

Each line is given its own key which indicates its place in the structure of the wider game, as well as relative to each other. This is vital for certain implementations like Localization/Translations, which pull from Line Keys instead of directly from the line itself. This allows the line to be changed for each language independently, the only thing linking them being this key. This also allows you to change individual lines without breaking dependencies.

I typically name keys as [Actor]_[Context]_[NumberOfLine] as a baseline.

Context

This is for direction of voice actors and localization, to give people who may not have access to a build better context of the lines - especially if the lines might be confusing when viewed in a vacuum. (Note that in most cases you'll want your collaborators to have access to some kind of build to make their lives easier).

Notes

Similar to context, to apply any direction for VO or additional context that may be relevant to collaborators (e.g. direction to Voice Actors, intonation notes, or elaboration for translators).

Line

The content of the line itself; what the line should say!

Anyway yeah, feel free to copy this and use this how you like. I just find docs like this are super helpful for not losing your mind when it comes to planning game structure and dialog sequences. :)

[morbethgames]

Chapter 4 Victim’s House route is FINISHED!

Hello all! As the title says, the newest part of Chapter 4 is completely finished and ready to play! A couple things to mention, there is a TW for mentions of SA and Torture in this chapter. This is a mature story with mature themes, and the themes in question are handled with the utmost of care and respect. 

Another thing worth mentioning is, TEXT BOX INVESTIGATIONS ARE A THING! I FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE THEM A THING THAT WORKED! Okay, so they break randomtest in CSIDE, small downside. But other than that, from what I tested (for hours today) they work just fine and I am very proud of myself for figuring it out. It may be a pretty small feat, but darn if it doesn’t feel cool to be able to implement a feature in these games the isn’t just click a button on the screen. 

It took a lot of work, and there are still additional features that aren’t going to be out until the full release of the game/when I get around to adding them (like a record of all the clues you’ve found for the current investigation, which will be able to be accessed through the stats menu). For people that aren’t a fan of the text box investigations, I would like to add that in the final product, they will be optional. 

This has been months in the making (mainly because school was a thing) so I truly hope you enjoy, and let the investigation now fully be under way, and don’t forget to check out the new EXTRA SCENE in the stats menu in the beginning of the game, after reading Special Agent Lance’s session with Dr. Cullen!

Demo: https://dashingdon.com/play/morbethgames/the-bureau-wip/mygame/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheBureauIF

Forum Page: https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/wip-the-bureau-chapters-1-3-500k-words/99993

[acidspaceshippsdevlogs]

pew pew

[cinebeastdev]

some screenshots from my indie game, Dirthead! some of these have WIP elements, but they all do a good job showing off the game's atmosphere, I think

[neonrain-dev]

Now we're a proper Metroidvania.

:P

[olessan]

They're incredible at hide & seek

[stupirot]

Thank you @riceofchaos for assistance on the Katolin line ♡

More familiars yeah

[bloofbloofbloof]

There's a cult in Vivian's house

IT'S BLOOF BALL LET'S GOOOO