[ RELEASED] Dreams in the Witch House

rongel · Thu 02/06/2022 13:38:19

Quote from: Mandle on Thu 02/06/2022 13:02:51
It's so cute that you are terrified. The game is solid and awesome. So get over your fear and embrace the madness that lies beyond it.

Thanks again Mandle for the last minute support. If releasing the full game is 10 x this, I'm not sure if I'm going to make it!

Pax Animo · Thu 02/06/2022 13:53:40

Congrats on the demo release, well done for making it this far. I'm certain everyone who plays it will enjoy it as much as I did.

Mandle · Thu 02/06/2022 14:17:48

Quote from: rongel on Thu 02/06/2022 13:38:19
Quote from: Mandle on Thu 02/06/2022 13:02:51
It's so cute that you are terrified. The game is solid and awesome. So get over your fear and embrace the madness that lies beyond it.
Thanks again Mandle for the last minute support. If releasing the full game is 10 x this, I'm not sure if I'm going to make it!

Failing your SAN check is the most fun ever in a game of The Call Of Cthulhu if you have the right GM.

rongel · Thu 02/06/2022 15:55:05

Quote from: Pax Animo on Thu 02/06/2022 13:53:40
Congrats on the demo release, well done for making it this far. I'm certain everyone who plays it will enjoy it as much as I did.

Thanks, I hope so! Yes, I feel this is an important goal to reach. And great practice for the full release!

QuoteFailing your SAN check is the most fun ever in a game of The Call Of Cthulhu if you have the right GM.

Not sure who my GM is in the real life!

Mandle · Thu 02/06/2022 23:13:40

Quote from: rongel on Thu 02/06/2022 15:55:05
Not sure who my GM is in the real life!

The Black Man? Did you sign anything?

AndreasBlack · Fri 03/06/2022 09:54:37

Hi, i've played little with your demo and i've noticed something a bit odd, i'll put it in a spoiler.

Spoiler

If Walter buys a flashlight, he get's a package from his aunt with another flashlight, looking in the inventory, logically now there should be two flashlights, but the one he bought seems to just have been replaced as by magic. Maybe Walter should say a comment so the player knows he drops the old one? "I'd might as well get rid of this flashlight, no idea in using it anymore now". That way the player knows. Just an idea, i'm not sure i would call it a bug, but yeah. Just wanted to let you know! A minor detail

[close]

rongel · Fri 03/06/2022 10:57:54

Quote from: AndreasBlack on Fri 03/06/2022 09:54:37
Hi, i've played little with your demo and i've noticed something a bit odd, i'll put it in a spoiler.

Spoiler
If Walter buys a flashlight, he get's a package from his aunt with another flashlight, looking in the inventory, logically now there should be two flashlights, but the one he bought seems to just have been replaced as by magic. Maybe Walter should say a comment so the player knows he drops the old one? "I'd might as well get rid of this flashlight, no idea in using it anymore now". That way the player knows. Just an idea, i'm not sure i would call it a bug, but yeah. Just wanted to let you know! A minor detail
[close]

Good point, thanks for reporting it! The starting item is random, so I forgot that scenario might happen. Need to fix it, easiest solution would be to remove the flashlight from the starting items.

The Last To Know · Tue 07/06/2022 08:25:55

I tried the demo and was impressed by the great animations. However, the gameplay stressed me slightly, as I constantly felt like I was missing something. The atmosphere was very oppressive, you managed that very well!

rongel · Tue 07/06/2022 09:53:35

Quote from: The Last To Know on Tue 07/06/2022 08:25:55
I tried the demo and was impressed by the great animations. However, the gameplay stressed me slightly, as I constantly felt like I was missing something. The atmosphere was very oppressive, you managed that very well!

Thanks for the comment, good to hear you noticed the animations, they take so much time to make!

I think if you got to the ending, you played it well enough! Also, Walter's To-Do List gives a general idea of things that you can do and advance (but not all of them are possible to complete in the demo). I'm now making slight adjustments to the gameplay, to try to make it more approachable to a new player. There is currently one clue in the demo that's too easy to miss, so will fix that as well.

The Last To Know · Wed 08/06/2022 22:10:35

Will there be dead ends in the final game? Maybe if I run out of money and get sick because I ran through the rain or something?

rongel · Thu 09/06/2022 10:59:06

Quote from: The Last To Know on Wed 08/06/2022 22:10:35
Will there be dead ends in the final game? Maybe if I run out of money and get sick because I ran through the rain or something?

Because the time is advancing and days pass by even if you just hang around doing nothing, there won't be dead ends as such. Like if you have missed a puzzle, the game still progresses and new opportunites and dangers arise. I think the only dead end is that you die!

If you run out of money, you just need to hang on until the next Monday when you get your weekly allowance in the mail. The odd jobs at the lodging house are also meant to act as a backup, if you run out of money. I try to balance the game so that it's ok to struggle a while, and then get back up again.

rongel · Sat 11/06/2022 12:46:48

The demo got just updated to version 1.04!

Get it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1902850/Dreams_in_the_Witch_House/

There's a couple of really good changes and tweaks based on the early feedback:

- Support for Linux Proton / Wine
- Halved the time progression speed when in real-time. Now one real-time minute is 30 minutes in game
- Stopwatch symbol now shows all the paused situations
- Made a story object in Joe's room easier to spot
- Joe can now have planks for the rat hole
- Starting Math skill now 1.0
- Added 1 portion of food to starting items
- Edited Character Bar descriptions for Coldness and Wetness to be more informative
- Changed Coffee House button text from "Lunch" to "Meal"
- Added a couple of new comments for Walter when interacting with certain items
- New save game slot now empty (no need to delete the previous text)
+ some minor fixes / adjustments

And save games from previous version should work without noticeable problems!

Nowhere Girl · Mon 20/06/2022 12:53:24

Will your playthroughs be available for those who couldn't or, for some reason, didn't want to watch them live?

rongel · Mon 20/06/2022 19:01:56

Quote from: Nowhere Girl on Mon 20/06/2022 12:53:24
Will your playthroughs be available for those who couldn't or, for some reason, didn't want to watch them live?

Probably not, I think I'll leave the streaming to professionals! It was kind of fun and exciting though. Always nice to try something completely new.

Matti · Tue 05/07/2022 21:42:28

I played the demo today and I loved it.

The atmosphere is very good and I was impressed by the overall immersion. I really felt like I was there, being in a new city, a new home, getting to know people and places, and trying to study for the exams. The excellent art is really adding to this.

I also felt a bit stressed by the gameplay, but I guess that's exactly what the game tries to do. I really like that survival-horror-adventure mix. There was a constant pressure to study, eat, get money, but I always wanted to move on and progress. The last days in the demo didn't went too well, being hungry, tired and out of money, but I made it to the end

Matti · Wed 06/07/2022 00:42:31

I replayed the demo once to do things a bit differently and I like the randomness (and dependencies) of many things. This sure has some replayability.

I found a small bug/glitch:

Spoiler

I bought some ear plugs on the first day. Then on the second day, my aunt sent me some earplugs, amongst other things. I still had only one pair of earplugs in the inventory, so at first I thought I just wasted money. Then at some point Walter said that the earplugs are wasted and that he needed new ones. But it turned out they have been replaced by the second pair I had. The weird thing though is that the earplug's sprite was the same of the one that was almost broken, but Walter called it "mint condition"

So the graphic should have changend to new, mint earplugs. But even better, two pairs of earplugs should have been in the inventory.

[close]

rongel · Wed 06/07/2022 19:59:32

Thanks Matti for the comments, great to hear you like the demo! The full game will have a slightly calmer beginning, so it should be a little less stressful.

Also, thanks for the earplug bug report, I'll add it to my fix list (but not sure yet if / when I update the demo).

rongel · Tue 20/09/2022 11:15:44

Hi all!

It's been a while since my last update, so to fix this and to celebrate the new, fancy looking site here's something new!

Can you guess what the machine does? And do you dare to use it?

Also, the development is still going steadily on, and if I just stop adding new stuff, the 2022 release is still possible!

Matti · Thu 29/09/2022 22:23:36

Good to hear that development is going steadily, I can't wait! On the other hand I don't mind you adding more stuff to the game

To me it looks like some kind of resurrection machine. Let's see if I will dare to use it

rongel · Sun 02/10/2022 16:13:25

Quote from: Matti on Thu 29/09/2022 22:23:36Good to hear that development is going steadily, I can't wait! On the other hand I don't mind you adding more stuff to the game

Thanks! It's easy and fun to add stuff, but to make sure it works in all the possible scenarios can be a pain in the ***!

QuoteTo me it looks like some kind of resurrection machine. Let's see if I will dare to use it

Maybe the hieroglyph reads from left to right, making it the opposite