So it occurs to me that I haven’t really laid out what’s going to be happening for Level Squared in 2018 so far.
Let’s do that now…
There’s really not a whole lot to show off visually at the moment. We are continuing to work on Level Squared, with the aim of working it up to a full release. We’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes, where and when we can.
We’re having to make working on Level Squared fit in with everything else we are already committed to as well, working, uni, family life etc. None of us are getting paid to work on the game at the moment, so that’s having a bit of an impact on our ability to dedicate a huge amount of time.
Some of the work that has been done so far includes:
- A pretty drastic overhaul and refactoring of the majority of our code base. A lot of the systems and mechanics that we had created were fit for purpose with a small demo for PAX, but they weren’t going to be able to be extended to a full length game, or were going to interfere with other systems.
- Developing and writing a proper narrative for the game. There were hints of a narrative in the PAX demo, and a mood was set, but there wasn’t exactly what you would call a full emotional arc.
- Reviewing the art and aesthetics. Our overall aesthetic was devised in pretty short order, and kept deliberately simple and able to be scaled. But it’s clear that our art style is going to become dull and repetitive over a full length game, so we are reworking it to introduce a bit more variety and distinction. There is also some work to do to better reflect the game’s new narrative.
- And finally, there has been a lot of work going on outside of the game getting various studio things set up and established.
Sorry if some of that is a bit vague. There’s stuff happening, but it’s not really in a position to make public yet.
Hopefully we will have some more substantial news to share in the near future. Until then, I’ll have to keep being vague and mysterious…
Unfortunately, we’re not going to be heading to GDC this year.
Sorry to disappoint all our legions of international fans, but as a fledgling studio with a total operating budget of $0 we can’t afford to get over there, as much as we would have liked to.
But I know of plenty of people who are heading over, and I’ll be scanning twitter pretty obsessively to keep up with all the goings on!
And speaking of twitter – keep an eye out, cos I’m gonna have a pretty banging image for the coming screenshot Saturday!