A few months back we released a demo for a game I’ve wanted to do for a while: Occult Case Files. What started as a simple mock-up went on to become one of our most successful games!
This was done specifically with games like Uninvited, Shadowgate and Deja-Vu in mind. I really enjoyed the style of those games, along with the horror elements found in Uninvited! Although nowadays it isn’t really all that scary, I’m sure for it’s time it was as scary as it could get though. With that in mind I sought out to make a similar styled game that actually IS scary.
Overall, I set out to see how far I can get in development over a span of 2 months. I’ve really been trying my best to scope properly and manage time wisely. After a few years of doing this, I’m starting to feel more and more confident with these things. Yet… I still need more work on them haha.
Accessibility
From the mock up to the final build, a lot of things were moved, changed, removed, etc. I think this UI layout is properly fitted and wont have to be adjusted anymore in the long run. Although with that said, accessibility was and is something I’m always willing to fine-tune.
One major complaint I received overall was the constant changing of the selectable actions. Folks didn’t like having to select an option, go back up to the main screen, then going back down to select another option. So to combat that, I had it so hitting “Select”(Shift) would bring the selection you made back up. When that wasn’t enough, I made it so hitting it again would cycle through the options. When THAT wasn’t enough I made it so hitting CTRL would cycle backwards. And when THAT wasn’t enough, I had it so hitting the numpad will bring up the respective action as well.
I may sound pessimistic about the above, but overall if it makes the experience for someone that much more manageable then I’m all for it. I get it, some of the design choices back then compared to now are a little archaic and there’s no reason not to improve upon them now. I think the only thing I can do to make it even more accessible is to have the mouse itself be able to act as the cursor as well. I’m kind leaning towards not implementing that though, unless of course there’s a big demand for it.
One thing I really loved about developing this is art didn’t take me too long! The frame in the top right is 116×117. Smaller than the Game Boy’s resolution, but still enough room to work with. I’ve seen folks say I should make that part bigger (One guy suggested I ditch the entire UI and make the screen just that frame) but in the end that just increases my workload and its something I’m dead set on. The size of that part of the screen will remain as is.
What’s Next
I was not expecting the reception this game got. It seems like folks really dig it for what it is and want more of it. It was something that came from a love of retro games, Japanese horror and an excuse to make some creepy art with a larger palette (Getting kinda tired of just using 4 colors hehe) and I’m glad folks are behind it. I was going to use the demo to gauge how folks felt about it, and depending on that figuring out whether I should put it on the backburner or give it priority over other projects. There’s so many games I want to make, and such little time. But thanks to the positivity folks have expressed over the project, it’s been bumped up on my list.
I have an plan for story beats, locations and scares all in mind. I’m in the process of gathering it all up and writing it down so that when the time comes to ramp development back up, I’ll have everything laid out and read to work and expand upon. To give a brief idea of what to expect, the game will take place over a week. As a student, you’ll attend school, talk to classmates and folks around your community as well as explore your neighborhood and a number of locations surrounding that. From local shops to shrines in the woods, I hope I can really give life to these locations and give folks something cool to explore.
Once The Third Shift is wrapped up, Occult Case Files will be up next. It won’t take as long as TTS has, so hopefully it’ll be following it up shortly after. I’ll be sure to post progress here when the time comes, and I hope you all look forward to it.
If you’d like to try the demo, you can find it on itch here: https://teebowah-games.itch.io/occult-case-files I’d love to hear what you think! Is this game something you’d be interested in seeing us finish? Let us know! In the meantime, please take a look at this marvelous cover art that our friend
@sombrepainter painted for the game. They did a phenomenal job with it and it’s safe to say this project wouldn’t be the way it is without their contribution.
