Lots of new things to say
Hello Fellow Adventurers!
Another month rolls by and so much stuff to say. Let’s jump right in:
🎮 Epicenter 22: We had a booth at Epicenter22 and lots of people had a chance to try out the Bertie Demo (the March build with some minor tweaks). It was really great to see you all there, especially our Spanish-Slovenian fans! ¡Hola! You guys will probably love Don Coyote!
🚀 Steam page: Our game is now live on Steam! You can check out our Steam page here and add our game to your wishlist. You can also follow us on Steam to get notified of any updates or announcements. We appreciate your interest and support!
🤫 Name change: We are changing the name of our game! We finally found it … and it's none of the ones we mentioned in the survey last month. It's different, but it works perfectly with the theme of the game and the story we'll be telling. It even hints at the ending in a way (hey, spoiler warning Rok!). But I'm not telling you what the title is yet. I will let you mourn the loss of the divisive Bertie the Stableboy. Some of you really loved that title, while others not so much. For now that's still the title of the game, because we have all this amazing art by Marko. Until we have art to go with the new title, I’m not telling you the new name!
🤔 Unique feature: The name change added a new feature to the game. I can't tell you about it yet, I'm just teasing. It's something that's rarely seen in adventure games, and it's going to add a lot of flavor to our puzzle design, … well, alright. Here's a puzzle for you. Figure it out: What falls but doesn't break, and what breaks but doesn't fall? This is what we're adding, or something very similar. If you figure out the puzzle, reply to this e-mail with your answer.
🏃♂️ Cauldron Build: We have started the fourth sprint of the Cauldron Build, which is turning out to be a really big build. It'll be a demo with more than 10 locations and more than 5 different characters from the game. It will also feature a very complex system of puzzles and dialogues, and the first version of the soundtrack, and even voice acting. So it'll take a while. It's what we call a vertical slice. It will be our attempt at making a slice of the game look as much as the final product as possible.
🛠️ Banner Build: We are also updating the Bertie demo, which we have renamed the Banner Build, to fit the naming convention. It's the demo some of you played in March or at Epicenter22. We're building new puzzles and sprucing up the dialogue. Once we have Banner 4.0 ready, we'll be sharing it with playtesters.
🏰 Vacation time: Some of us took time off last month to recharge our batteries and get some inspiration for our game. Ivan even visited Scotland and he said he has some amazing photos to share with us. I guess we won't have trouble building the castle of Celestia! There's also Duncan Douglas, a character from the game that comes from the Highlands of Botania, which is similar to Scotland in some ways. But more on that some other time…
📧 Adventure Trip: I'm creating a series of e-mails that will be unveiling some things about the game, its characters, the land you’ll be exploring, etc. Some of you already signed-up at Epicenter 22, and the others will be added to the list automagically as this e-mail is sent out. You’ll be learning things like what is Bertie's last name and why it's different from his mother's, or what land Don Coyote comes from… It will also be a choose your own adventure, so it will be fun, trust me.
That’s all for this month, folks. I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and are as excited as I am for our game. Share this newsletter with anyone who might want to follow the development of our game. This is where they can subscribe.
The Adventure Continues!
Bertie animation progress
Hello Fellow Adventurers!
I hope this newsletter finds you well and dry, because it’s been raining like there’s no tomorrow lately in Slovenia. But don’t let the moody weather dampen your spirits, because I have some bright and sunny news to share with you about our game. Let’s jump right in!
😎 Animated Bertie: Our beloved stableboy protagonist is now fully animated and ready to embark on his adventure. No longer just a T-figure, Bertie can now walk and run, although his favorite position remains to be bored with anyone and anything. Check out Animated Bertie!
💾 Demo Progress: We’ve been hard at work making fixes from the Bertie build (completed in March) to showcase and/or give out as a demo. We've taken into account all the valuable feedback received during our demo phase and plan to feature it at an upcoming gameshow! Stay tuned for an exciting sneak peek.
📝 The Name of the Game: We want a game title that captures the
essence and spirit of our adventure. Your opinion matters, so we've
prepared a short survey of different titles ideas. Take a moment to fill it out and let us know what you think. It shouldn’t take you longer than 2 minutes.
Game Title Survey (no longer accepting submissions)
🏗️ Year Two Puzzle Progress: The first puzzles for Year 2 have been
completed! Although they're not in-game yet, you can check out the drawing board versions. As you can see from the pictures below, we have a long way to go, but it's worth the wait! Obviously the words of the puzzle are hidden, because otherwise it wouldn’t be much of a puzzle, right? 😉
🙋♂️ Join the Playtesting Party: We are actively looking for playtesters to try out our puzzles, game designs, and general drafts. You’ve been and remain to be invaluable in providing your feedback, so if you're interested or know someone who'd love to join, share this poster or send them this
link: https://stableboy.net/playtesting
🎮 Building Steam: Our game's page on Steam is almost ready for the world!
One person already has the game in his library (lucky me). While you can't
install it yet, you'll soon be able to add it to your wishlist. I'll notify
you when the page goes live!
That’s all for this month, folks. I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and are as excited as I am for our game. Share this newsletter with anyone who might want to follow the development of our game. This is where they can subscribe.
The Adventure Continues!
First Playtesting Experience
Hello Fellow Adventurers!
The summer is usually a time for relaxation, but the team at Stableboy Entertainment doesn’t know how to rest 😎 A couple of highlights from last month:
📢 New team members: Welcome to Hana who’s going to be working on the marketing and PR side of things. We also got some help with the 3D process — Andi to the rescue, helping out with some of the gruntwork. Still looking for these fields though: management, writing, funding, so share this link to anyone interested: stableboy.net/join-us
⛳ Goals: We had a big planning session two weeks ago. We made the scope of the game tighter and worked out the first draft of our roadmap, so we finally have defined short, medium, and long term goals. First up is the Steam page, and after that visiting Gamescom.
🧪 Playtesting: It started as sage advice: “the best video game studios playtest religiously”. We took advice to heart, and started playtesting. The first one just finished. It was a paper playtest where testers had to move a cardboard Bertie around three different environments. We got to experience how players interact with the dialogue and the puzzles, but the best part was Duncan’s poetry, beautifully voiced by our Miha Šoba. Well done! We decided to make playtesting a regular thing, because we learned a lot from the process.
🎎 New characters: Marko, our Lead Artist, is hard at work bringing those two-dimensional sketches into the third dimension. His latest one, Don Coyote, is fantastic. Look at those two together! Doesn’t it make you want to play the game already?
Favorite quote from playtesting
“Can I put glue on the cat? Is that possible?”
It wasn’t possible during the playtest, but it just might be possible by the time the game is released!
More to come in the following months! Share this newsletter with anyone who might want to follow the development of our game. This is where they can subscribe.
The Adventure Continues!
New Members
Hello Fellow Adventurers!
Welcome to another edition of Behind the Barn, where I share with you some of the latest news and updates from our team at Stableboy Entertainment. We're working hard to create a videogame that will take you on an unforgettable journey of discovery, wonder and challenge. A game that will make you feel like a child again, exploring a magical world full of secrets and surprises.
Here are some of the highlights from this month:
🎨 New artists: We're thrilled to welcome two new members of our team, Ivan U. and Valentina T., both in the art department. They are talented and passionate artists who will help us bring our vision to life with their amazing skills and creativity. I’m eager to see their work come to life on the screen and share it with you in the future.
🧙♂️ Looking: We're still looking for a lot of people to join our team… We don't have a budget yet, but if you know any marketing wizards, writing sorcerers or business warlocks who have always dreamed of making their own game, now's the time to join. More info on: https://stableboy.net/join-us
🗓️ Schedule: We've updated our schedule for the release of the next build. We're calling it Cauldron. Why? Because it's fun. And because it's where we mix all the ingredients together and see what comes out. We're planning on putting something out by September. This newsletter is the place to be for all the info!
🫕 Cauldron build: We don't want to spoil too much, but the Cauldron build is us deciding we're getting our hands dirty and doing the middle part of the game as a prototype. Bertie's a bit bigger then, the story gets a lot more serious, and the puzzle design gets all over the place! We're really excited about this part of the game and we hope you will be too.
📏 Bertie's growth: Speaking of Bertie, here's a picture of a comparison of Bertie in Year 1 and Year 3… oh how he's grown! He’s not just a little rascal anymore. The teenager has got quite a mouth on him actually, as you'll see in the upcoming months…
We also have a Twitter account now, so you can also follow us there for some sneak peeks from our game. Follow us at @stableboygames. And by the time the next Behind the Barn comes out, we’ll also have a Steam page where you can wishlist our game and show your support.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share it with your friends who might be interested in our game. They can subscribe to this newsletter by going to this link.
The Adventure Begins
Hello Fellow Adventurers!
Welcome to the first edition of Behind the Barn, a monthly newsletter, where I'll be giving you a sneak peak behind the development of Bertie the Stableboy. If you’re receiving this email, it means you’re either connected to the project in some way, or I think you might be interested in what we’re doing.
Of course, you’re free to unsubscribe at any time, but I hope you’ll stick around and enjoy the journey with us. No hard feelings about unsubscribing, really, since I just added you to the newsletter without asking you, to jumpstart this newsletter. Whoopsie!
So, lets walk around the back of the barn and look at what we've been up to…
🚀 Progress: We finished the first MVP in March and we’re now working on the second prototype.
👩💻 Learnings: We learned a lot from the demo we did in the previous sprint and we’re implementing those improvements in this one.
🎮 Challenge: We’re creating a demo from the middle of the game (basically a couple of scenes from the middle). We're intentionally working on the part of the game, where things get most complex, so that we learn as much as we can.
👥 Team: We’re a highly motivated team, but we’re looking for an extra programmer to join us. Only those that work for coffee and cookies at this point though, but any contacts are more than welcome!
🎨 Creativity: We’re having fun developing new stuff for the prototype, such as new dialogues, characters, locations and more. It's really exciting being part of something like this, honestly. As a huge gaming geek, this is like a dream come true.
So, yeah, we’re making great progress and we’re very excited about the potential for the game we're making. More on that next month probably…