It is about time I finally post a proper 2017 update. So, whats going on? What ever happened to the new game project? Where is the new Steam Greenlight that was suppose to be posted at the end of December 2016? Do you even still make games? Alright, so I haven't been very active on the blog and have been doing a terrible job communicating about progress on current and new projects.
It is near the end of the first month of 2017 and I am just now going to talk about my plans for the new year. I did mean to get this post out way earlier but life just gets in the way sometimes. First of all, happy new year to everyone (a bit late on that one)
Anyway, although it seems like I haven't been very active, I have actually been working really hard on a lot of new things. I have a lot planned for 2017 that I want to get done and put out there, so it has actually been a busy first month for me. I'm actually working on multiple new projects and juggling back and forth between them. I will get more into that in a moment. First, I want to talk about the main project. The most important project that I am working on, "Samer Hills".
Whats up with "Samer Hills"? Why isn't this finished and on Steam yet? So, this is a project I started working on shortly after releasing my first game on Steam "Potato Thriller". I have been posting so many blog articles over the past few months talking about this project and even kept making promises I couldn't keep like saying I would have the greenlight campaign for the new game up before the end of last year, or having the entire project done at a certain date. Despite not keeping these smaller promises, there is one promise I will keep and that is that I will eventually finish and release this new game. Some people think that I just got bored, or lost motivation and canceled the game, but actually, the game is far off from being canceled. I have been spending most of my time working on "Samer Hills" and have made great progress on it even though I haven't really been sharing the progress made every step of the way. I won't make anymore promises and announce deadlines, release dates, etc anymore. I learned my lesson. It will be available when I am ready to make it available. But I would like to confirm that I am indeed working on the game and going to release it as my second Steam game.
"Samer Hills" is going to be a big game. I have made a lot of progress on it and here are some more recent screenshots and images from development to showcase the progress I have been making. Also I will share some more details about the actual game.
Environment: First, lets talk about the setting of the game.
Lovely eyes...
I keep saying "Samer Hills" but what is it? "Samer Hills" is where the entire game will take place. This will be the main setting for the game and it is the name of an old abandoned town as well as the main characters hometown. This game will take place mainly in outdoors types of environments. So settings like forests, caves, streets, farms, etc is where most of the game will play out and the kind of areas the player will get to explore. There will also be some indoor settings like the characters house and some buildings that the player will eventually get to go to because of the game's story progression, but for the most part, outdoors settings is a main focus point. In my previous game "Potato Thriller", about 90% of the game took place inside house/building type environments. The entire first half of the game took place in a long house type setting while the second half took place inside of a challenging tower. My new game, is kind of the opposite of what "Potato Thriller" did.
Gameplay: This game will be entirely a third person game. There will be various features like puzzle solving, fighting enemies, avoiding traps, quick time events and so on. I am doing my best to keep the game entertaining and fresh from beginning to end so I am developing it in a way where it constantly introduces new gameplay elements and throws surprises at the player.
There will be traps, different weapons, etc.
Story, Genre, Characters: "Samer Hills" is going to be a post-apocalyptic horror/thriller game with a non serious and more comical tone thrown in. One of the games biggest focus is on the main character himself. I mentioned in an older blog post that the game will let you see what the main character goes through on his adventure and how he changes throughout the experience. However, throughout the game you will come face to face with many other characters in the games worlds and learn more about them. The characters will be unique and interesting and hopefully memorable. That is something I really want to achieve with this project. Creating memorable characters.
Look at those blood fxs!!!
And here is just some extra screenshots from development:
When will the Greenlight come out?!?!?
What is taking so long? I am really working hard and taking my time with this new game project. I want this game to be perfect and better than any other game I have ever created. After all, the game does have my own real name in it (so egotistical I know.) "Samer Hills" is going to have a lot in it. Especially plot. This is going to be my biggest, most polished and possibly weirdest game ever. So I am really going that extra mile and putting in a lot more effort into this game than any other project I have worked on. It has to turn out exactly how I am envisioning it to be.
I know that there is a good amount of people who visit the blog daily to check for updates on my projects and I think that is so cool. I mentioned this before, but the fact that there is a good handful of people out there who take time out of their own day to see updates on my projects and come visit my blog means the world to me. So thank you everyone for being so patient. I will do my best to keep posting daily. I think the game will turn out better this way. I aim to deliver a really bizarre yet intriguing entertaining game with unique characters and personalities as well as a believable post-apocalyptic game world that you can get pulled into. I want this game to be a memorable experience and hopefully contribute a really unique game to the indie gaming community.
Before I end the blog for today I want to talk about one more thing that I plan on doing this year and that is getting more into YouTube. I have brought this up numerous times throughout the years. Saying that I want to start using my YouTube channel more and start posting daily videos and content, etc but never really got to it. This year, 2017, however is different. I really want to use my skills as a 3d artist/animator/developer etc beyond the scope of just making games. I want to try and do new things and expand from just being a indie game developer. What better way to share content, ideas and art through YouTube right?
Earlier I did mention that I was working on other projects and those other projects are short animation videos that I started working on for my YouTube channel. Here is a little preview.
Looks weird I know and that is because the content/animations I will create and post to YouTube most likely will be weird.. Just like my game projects. The point is that, I love creating and I will continue creating as long as I enjoy to do so. But yeah, I have been working on a few short animations which will be going onto my channel later on in the year. At the moment, my main focus is finishing up my next game, but after that I hope to post videos on a daily basis on the channel.
Lots of new content to look forward to. I am really excited and motivated to create and share all these new experiences. I have a really good feeling about the this year and I hope to make 2017 my most productive and best year yet. I am really just an artist with a lot of strange ideas and I wan't to get as many of those ideas out that I possibly can. Thanks for reading and more updates coming soon!
By the way, most of these screenshots I posted in today's article are more recent screens I posted on my twitter. I am not as active on my blog, but I am very active on my twitter account and post almost everyday, for more daily updates follow me here: https://twitter.com/snowconesolid (I am sometimes annoying on twitter)
