Reality Check
Hello all! Please bear with be as today I would like to give you all a candid look at where we’re at in terms of development on Ghost of a Tale. Keep in mind that all those progress bars relate to the pre-release, not the final/complete game.
Another very, VERY important notion to understand is these bars you see are NOT all equals in terms of workload and time needed to complete them.
Now that the caveats are out of the way, let’s start the tour…
As you see there’s still some work left in the animation department. That includes a couple of animations on Tilo, some enemies and idle cycles for the NPCs.
Character models are really getting there and the props include skinned and dynamic clothes as well. I’ve been using a different export technique and the result is a much better framerate!
Environments still require some work to make sure everything is complete and works well with the streaming system and the quests.
I’ve started doing a first pass on the character portraits for the dialogs; still a lot of work there but it’s going fine and it’s a pleasure to do.
The game menus are almost there but I still need to include all the graphical options and the input management choices (more on that later).
The HUD and inventory GUI all work fine. However there’s still some visual polish to do there.
I covered the AI last time and I still have to transfer the new system to a couple of enemies. Cyrille is currently making good progress on the saving/loading system and he’s done with streaming.
Day/Night cycle as well as camera management are fully functional (and have been for a while).
Regarding input support: the game is definitely made with gamepads in mind but because Ghost of a Tale is primarily a PC game it means keyboard and mouse must be supported. But I believe it should only be a matter of a few days to make sure everything works as intended.
Jeremiah is going to write a couple more tracks for the game, most importantly themes for the NPCs that will play during dialogs.
I greatly enjoy creating the sounds effects, alas it’s all a matter of time. I usually create new sounds when new animations are locked, so it usually tends to lend at the end of the process.
Dialogs are also nearing completion, thanks to Paul’s mighty efforts! We still have to do an overall pass to make sure the tone is right, the voice of the characters consistent and that we’re not too self-indulgent with the sheer amount of text. But I’m very happy with where we’re at!
The Misc Writing bar is about all the items descriptions in the database, UI words and sentences, etc… The low 50% completion seems quite scary but again it’s mostly a matter of a few days for Paul to take care of this.
Quests are also almost done. We do some neat tricks with them; for example you’re told to accomplish certain tasks but if you chose to do things differently then new tasks are revealed!
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So that wraps up this presentation of the state of things with Ghost of a Tale! Don’t hesitate to ask about topics that are not mentioned in the comments section.
And since I know charts can be a bit unpalatable here’s a look at an animated Kerold, the old pirate frog. Actually this idle animation cycle is an old one and many details are missing (hat’s feathers weren’t rigged, etc…); it was basically a rough blocking pass but I thought you guys might still get a kick out of it. 🙂
The question that many of you will ask is “What’s the release date?”. As I said last time the goal is still to do a pre-release before the end of the year. We are going to do our best to make it happen but I won’t hide the fact that it is going to require a tremendous effort to both achieve that goal AND be happy with the result.
Because ultimately, as I said before (and I will say time and time again) I will never put out something that feels broken or rushed. Even if we’re just talking about a pre-release (by definition a non-complete game) I want what’s there to be thoroughly enjoyable.
So you can take my word for it; Paul, Cyrille and I are going to be working extremely hard in the coming weeks! Wish us luck and see you all in the next update! 🙂
AgentDerf
October 6, 2015 at 10:29 amWoooooo! Great progression! Impressive! And so professionnal !
Carry on to continue to do such a great job!
Don’t rush it, and do it right! We are still here, and we will continue waiting and support! Don’t worry! 😉
Eisfucsh
October 6, 2015 at 10:37 amCouldn’t agree more! Make sure you are happy with the result and don’t rush things out the door just because you think it’s taking too long. We’re following the development with every update you give us, and it makes the waiting time shorter and anticipation stronger 🙂
Seith
October 7, 2015 at 3:20 pmThank you for your support, guys. That’s really nice to hear! 🙂
Fluke
October 6, 2015 at 10:40 amThe attention to detail is awesome 🙂 Really getting excited about playing this now!
Seith
October 7, 2015 at 5:40 pmIt is rather time-consuming but it’s worth it! Hopefully that will show in the finished product… 🙂
Christoph
October 6, 2015 at 1:50 pmThank you for the detailed progress update. Every time I get a notification about an update, I get super excited ;).
Seith
October 7, 2015 at 5:42 pmYou’re welcome! It’s getting there!!!
Neverarine
October 6, 2015 at 3:11 pmare we going to have options to rebind the keys on the mouse/keboard and/or on the gamepad? i use an older gamepad (something that isnt an xbox controller) so often the default and utterly unchangeable layouts do not work well with me (in darksouls on of my joystick buttons was my start button) full key rebinding options would be realy nice….
Seith
October 7, 2015 at 5:47 pmUnity is in the process of improving their input management (which is in dire need of it) but I believe we can technically make it work. It is going to be tricky but fingers crossed!
Dragonhead
October 11, 2015 at 3:57 pmYeah, rebinding the keys would definitely be a nice feature. I’m a left-handed gamer so when all of the commands are around the AWSD keys it makes it difficult for me to game.
lucky
October 13, 2015 at 8:25 amIn unity the input binder and the graphic quality configuration open by default when running the game don’t they?
Seith
October 17, 2015 at 9:42 amYes it’s part of the default launcher. But ideally we would be able to bypass that and include key binding directly in-game (via the options menu). Anyway, that’s my wish.
FirestormDDash
October 6, 2015 at 3:17 pmLove when a dream comes into “reality”. 😉
Seith
October 7, 2015 at 5:44 pmIt’s only “partly” real yet, but it’s becoming more real by the day! 😛
Atte
October 6, 2015 at 4:47 pmThis is fucking awesome! Keep it up!
Seith
October 7, 2015 at 5:48 pmCheers! You’re bloody right we will!!!
Ghibli
October 6, 2015 at 9:04 pmI remember the old good times on crymod when i saw one of your first video featuring Tilo (with a bazooka :p), but also could see that a rat walking test was released 2 years before.
5 years later, here you are, showing us your wonderfull game with all those characters, full of life, so well animated, that it’s impossible to not see how much work and talent were involved into them.
Bonne chance à vous trois, vous méritez tous de rencontrer un grand succès.
Seith
October 7, 2015 at 6:03 pmOh my I remember that! So you were also on the Crymod forums?! That was a time when GoaT was a mere glimmer in my eyes… 🙂
The cryEngine got me interested in video-games again. By then I was still thinking that making a game was just too complicated for me. But Unity came by and the rest is history! Well, the rest is (and remains) mostly a lot of work… ^^
Merci beaucoup!
MundM
October 7, 2015 at 8:28 amGood luck!
Seith
October 7, 2015 at 6:04 pmCheers! 🙂
Mayji1987
October 7, 2015 at 9:48 amWow this is amazing keep it up guys =^_^=
Seith
October 7, 2015 at 6:05 pmThank you very much! We are! We will!!
Hayden
October 8, 2015 at 9:42 amWell done to you and your team, Seith! i’m rubbing my hands together with these progress bars nearing 100%! How’s the optimisation for the Xbox One version going?
Cheers!
Seith
October 8, 2015 at 11:53 amHi Hayden, thanks! Optimization on PC hasn’t officially started yet, so Xbox One optimization is still quite a way away. But I’ll give more information about that when I seriously start to look at optimizing performance.
Steve
October 8, 2015 at 5:33 pmSO excited for this one. Absolutely beautiful. Been reading the “Mouseheart” series with my 7-year-old daughter and showed her some of these videos, she is excited as well. Stunning!
Seith
October 10, 2015 at 9:16 pmThank you Steve! I’m glad the game’s visuals appeal to you and your daughter! (Had to google “Mouseheart”, I hadn’t heard of it)
Crinkem
October 11, 2015 at 1:09 am“I will never put out something that feels broken or rushed.” That’s all I needed to hear, hehe. I’m glad you guys are focused on quality – This game already looks fantastic, and your attention to detail is what will make this game shine.
As eager as I am to play this game, I hope you don’t feel to overwhelmed by the pre-release time period. Take your time and show us your game when you feel comfortable showing it!
Seith
October 15, 2015 at 6:20 pmWell of course there is a small modicum of pressure involved with the endeavor but that’s on par for the course. And in the end the level of quality and polish is what will decide of whether or not we can do the pre-release before the end of the year.
Thank you very much for your support by the way! 🙂
lucky
October 11, 2015 at 4:01 pmCool! I didn’t expect it to be released this year, i feel so happy now 🙂 All the best!
Seith
October 15, 2015 at 6:21 pmThanks! We’ll do our best to try and make it happen! 🙂
Dragonhead
October 11, 2015 at 4:01 pmDetail looks awesome! It’s inspiring for my own game idea.
What do you mean by “he’s done with streaming” and streaming system?
Seith
October 15, 2015 at 6:23 pmThanks you. That just means that the streaming functionality (loading the world progressively, zone by zone) is more or less complete at this stage. So Cyrille is now moving on to other tasks. I hope that answers your question!
Dragonhead
October 15, 2015 at 10:21 pmYes it does. Thanks! 🙂 (Asked as I normally think of streaming as streaming video.)