Getting closer!
Development keeps moving forward at a brisk pace! We have reached a symbolic milestone: all the quests and dialogs for the pre-release are playable in-game from start to end. Which is super awesome!
Now of course there’s still a lot of work to do in order to insure nothing breaks along the way. But it feels great to see everything coming together. We are clearly moving closer to a stage where we’ll be able to put the game in your hands. Which is both scary and exhilarating.
And it made me realize a simple thing: Ghost of a Tale is not really a game you “beat”; it’s a game you should get immersed into. It’s about discovering things, exploring the scenery, talking to the characters, etc… In a nutshell: taking the time to enjoy it. Although Ghost of a Tale is a small game (compared to juggernauts like Skyrim or The Witcher), please believe me when I say that I’m doing my best for the experience to be a very nice one indeed. 🙂
Oh and recently I came around to implementing bendable grass; which is grass that physically responds to Tilo’s presence. It’s a subtle detail of course, but seeing that the game is aiming to achieve a certain level of immersion (without going overboard) I hope you’ll agree it does hold some value.
Anyway, here’s a test video of the system in motion:
So it’s very hard work all around but I believe the quality is starting to show. And very soon you will be able to vote for the game on Steam Greenlight! But I will talk much more in details about the pre-release in an upcoming update (very soon if everything goes well)!
Neverarine
October 27, 2015 at 2:51 pmi love things like that grass, playing tales of zestria now, and they dont have that, they have little grass clippings get generated every step, regardless of the long grass being there or not, its weird, and i dont care for it, having the grass animate around you will be much much nicer
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:10 pmI’d say it both depends on the care of the developer and the power of the target system. Usually on PC it’s something well affordable; a nice little visual treat.
heyjoey
October 29, 2015 at 12:11 amkeep it up guys. i can’t wait to play this game. i’d want to do a let’s play of this in my youtube channel.
Noah
October 27, 2015 at 2:58 pmGreat! Take your time. The longer it takes, the better it will be.
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:13 pmAbsolutely! But at some point I also have to make sure I haven’t made a mistake by quitting my day job and developing Ghost of a Tale can prove to be a financially sound decision… 🙂
evilkinggumby
October 27, 2015 at 3:09 pmI love that the grass is built from HD pics you took from your own yard. It’s like I get to play a mouse and run through your lawn all day. YAY
Great news on the dialogue and questing. Everything seems to be ramping up to be a phenomenal experience. I’m so excited for you!!!
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:07 pmThank you, Nefarious Sovereign Gumby! 😛 It is sometimes exhausting work, but I always say “it’s worth it”!
althrioan
October 27, 2015 at 3:10 pmGreat to hear that you are aiming for a total immersion. I love a concept like this! Looking forward to the final version. Thanks for doing this, it looks astonishing!
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:17 pmThank you! I hope you’ll like the final version, and that you’ll maybe even try the work-in-progress one when it’s made available!
Dragonhead
October 27, 2015 at 3:24 pmNow what we need is a ‘roll around in grass’ action. 😀
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:20 pmThere actually WAS a roll-around/dodge action at some point but it got discarded since the “sprint-on-all-fours” modifier made it obsolete… 🙂
Dragonhead
November 4, 2015 at 2:15 amOooh nice! 😀
Énio Fernandes
October 27, 2015 at 3:24 pmTake your time, and be sure to bring it to linux sooner or later!
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:23 pmRegarding a potential version of GoaT on Linux: it all depends on whether or not Unity can do tessellation on Linux. If it can, then a port is technically feasible at least.
Énio Fernandes
November 4, 2015 at 7:23 pmIt’s supposed to arrive on Unity 5.3
lko
October 27, 2015 at 3:25 pmVery nice! It is really coming together!
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 10:22 pmIt looks like it is, yes! Still lots of work to do though!
KwisatzHaderach
October 27, 2015 at 6:48 pmI LOVE the bending grass effect in games and it’s great to hear you could include it in GoaT! Just please be sure to make the clover bend as well ?
Oh, I can’t wait to get my paws on this game! But take your time and don’t rush things. But hurry up also!
Btw: I’d love to hear something more about the music in GoaT! The track that has been released is brilliant (and doesn’t wear off, I’m still listening to it every couple of days) and it would be interesting to know how the music will be integrated in the game (dynamically, depending on area, tracks for certain characters…).
Now that I think of it, an update about music and sound design would be fantastic! But also don’t forget to finish the game! I’m getting all fidgety here ?
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:32 pmAlright, I’ll hurry up right away! But wait, I’ll take my time as well! Oooh I don’t know what to dooo…!! 😀
Your suggestion about sound and music is interesting, I’ll keep it in mind!
Tom
October 27, 2015 at 8:20 pmTotal immersion.. Great! 😀 Love that grass effect..
And take your time, game is going to be fantastic!
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 10:22 pmHehe thanks. Well it wouldn’t be total immersion without a VR headset, now would it! 😛
tannim
October 27, 2015 at 9:43 pmThe grass looks good. Somebody else mentioned a roll around option to enjoy that grass. It would be cute.
Will users be able to extend the game by making and adding their own maps/content?
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:40 pmModdability is not a main concern with the game at this point; you would need access to the actual game asset files in order to change things in a stable way. So I don’t think this will be supported officially any time soon, sorry…
Stephen
October 28, 2015 at 12:59 amDon’t know about STARTING to show… Seems to me like a fair amount of quality has been showing all the way through 🙂
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:43 pmThank you for the compliment, Stephen… 🙂
scearls
October 28, 2015 at 4:04 amWOW, even this demo is worth the wait 🙂
Congrats on even getting the models this far. Keep up the great work 🙂
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 10:20 pmI certainly hope it will prove worth the waiting! Thanks Scearls!
lucky
October 28, 2015 at 9:52 amYeah! The grass seems very good, congrats!
Would I dare to ask you how you achieve this? Did you use a plugin or code it yourself?
Can’t wait to test 🙂
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:47 pmThanks Lucky! The grass system is something I coded; it’s very simple. It just rotates the blades of grass away from Tilo. And that “dynamic” asset is swapped back with a static one (batched) when Tilo exits the grass. So the impact is fairly minimal.
lucky
October 29, 2015 at 2:13 pmAh ok very smart, thanks for replying!
Fresh
October 28, 2015 at 11:49 amNice 🙂 … Can’t wait to play and immerse into Tilo’s world.
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 10:18 pmMerci Fresh! Here’s to hoping you like it when it’s out!
Jean Charles
October 28, 2015 at 4:33 pmVery nice work Seith ! Want to see more !! 😉
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 10:16 pmMerci Jean-Charles! And you will…!!! 🙂
Iain Pennington
October 28, 2015 at 4:36 pmSince i first seen this on a demo disc a while ago i have been following any news and eagerly waiting to experience the story. Everything is so impressive i can not wait. The small nuances all add together to not build a world but create a feeling from the detail. So looking forward to this more than the halo type titles. xbox tag. ROSSI1275
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 10:02 pmThank you Iain! Ghost if a Tale is definitely not in the same league as the likes of Halo but I’m glad you hold it in such high esteem!
Akusativ
October 28, 2015 at 7:43 pmGreat news! I’m waiting for this game from first trailer. It’s nice to hear that process of making yours game is about to end. I very like this type of cRPG’s and I think, Ghost of a Tale will be great game. 🙂
Best wishes for yours team. 🙂
PS – I’m sorry if I made some mistakes, but English is not my native language.
Seith
October 28, 2015 at 9:59 pmThank you very much for taking the time to express your support, Akusativ! And don’t worry about your English, it’s all good! 😉
Jimmey
October 29, 2015 at 12:24 amSquishy grass is looking good, wouldn’t want it to look like Tilo was skewering his paws on sharp green triangles!
Not being a juggernaut is no bad thing. Smaller games can sometimes amplify the feeling of immersion with what they leave up to the imagination… Kinda like a good book.
Looking forward to seeing this on the Greenlight!
Seith
October 30, 2015 at 4:36 pmThanks Jimmey. You’re right, there’s a certain amount of stylization in GoaT. By that I mean not everything is perfect (as opposed to a game by Naughty Dog for example).
Also there are no cinematic cutscenes in the game; it’s all about what you learn through dialog and finding information in the world. So there is definitely a part left to the player’s imagination.
MundM
October 29, 2015 at 12:33 pmI wasn’t expecting anything else then a game about immersion, I already told my Greenlight group about to keep an eye out for your submission! We are 519 members and focused on finding out which developers are shady and what games are scams, asset flips. etc. so we are especially happy, when we stumble upon a game with such a high quality as yours in between all those bad submissions.
I have no doubt, that your game will not have to suffer long in the Greenlight waiting list.
Seith
October 30, 2015 at 4:31 pmHi MundM! Thank you, that’s very nice to hear. Let’s hope you’re right and Valve agrees with you (and your group)! 🙂
v1ld
October 31, 2015 at 6:51 amThese immersive touches are great to see! Far Cry 2 did this kind of thing very, very well and I wish more games did it.
It’s great to see you are putting time in for this kind of detail and also that you’ve decided the game is not just about getting from A -> B via C but about exploration and immersion.
This is the game I’m most looking forward to among all those I’ve backed, more than Torment or any of the other big name RPGs. That’s partly because, while it has influences, it’s not derivative but an entirely new creation shaped by your vision.
Seith
November 3, 2015 at 4:43 pmThat’s quite an endorsement! Thank you very much indeed… 🙂
Lewis
November 1, 2015 at 4:30 pmOh god, I just had a nerdgasm while watching that grass. Really hope you can get into the game preview think on Xbox, I will immediately buy it if you can. Keep up the amazing work!
Seith
November 3, 2015 at 4:49 pmHehe. Wait till you can run through it… 🙂
Regarding the Xbox One preview thing: it could happen but at this point I really cannot say when. In any case I’ll do a post if anything new pops up on that topic.
Lewis
November 4, 2015 at 3:06 pmIt’s also amazing that you take the time to reply to us 🙂 Well here’s to hoping it does happen. I’ll be getting it regardless, I just want to run around in that grass as soon as possible 😉