📢 Conference Announcement! 📢
Also a smattering of game updates
Hello hello hello! We’re back again with a quick game update + an exciting announcement!
Out of roughly 1,500 applicants, our game was selected as one of the ~50 games for the upcoming Wholesome Direct Showcase!!! If you haven’t heard of it, Wholesome Direct is a digital conference highlighting unique games with uplifting themes. (Not a lot of Call of Duty on WD). The showcase happens on June 6th at 12 EST. Needless to say we are PUMPED.
In conjunction with the showcase, we’ll be premiering an official “Announcement Trailer”, which we’ve been hard at work on the past few weeks. It shows off Mae creating the cosmos (and subsequently breaking them). I dusted off my copy of Illustrator and did the style frames for the intro… Amanda animated it and Patrick designed a bit of Opie’s “cosmic realm”. Plus our homie Carlos (Le Navigateur) did all the music + sfx for us in addition to his normal job and living the rest of his life. (Big thanks to Carlos).
In addition to prepping for Wholesome, we’ve been adding quite a lot to the game, mostly in response to the playtest we did earlier this year (if you participated- thanks again! Your feedback truly was helpful to us. It very much framed this next version of Wild Chorus.)
I won’t go into much detail yet, but here’s some quick hits:
Sound Sprites now have more specific types and actual abilities (that change based on how many you have)
We have a world map!
“Soundcrafting” has changed dramatically… simpler… but somehow more musical freedom. (I’ll do a deep dive on this in an upcoming newsletter).
Here’s a few screenshots / vids / etc for you to get a look at what’s been going on:
That’s all for this month! I’ll share another update after the conference sometime in June.
What I’ve been playing: Crow Country
I’ve been hyped for this game for a looong time. Ever since I saw the first trailer absolutely dripping with PS1-era Resident Evil vibes. If you’ve ever played those games, you’ll know exactly what you’re in for: moody ambiance, creepy little staggering zombies, puzzles that are sometimes comical in their unlikeliness… tank controls.
I will admit the controls could probably have used an upgrade, but the devs for this game held fast to the source material. If you’re looking for a nostalgia hit with some cheeky horror, it’s a great 5 hr play. Plus it’s set in Atlanta!