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Progress Report

Going back and improving

Small Wintertwined Update

I'll most likely be replacing the "on hiatus" status back to "in development" soon.

I've been having a much better time working on the game lately, going back redoing some of my oldest sprite works to better suit my current skill level.

I recently completely redid the main menu:


The original for comparison:


It's fun to look back at some of my older art and go "wonder if it'd look different if I did it a few years later."

Especially with this piece, since it was the first landscape I ever did. There's just a lot that bothers me about it, mostly the inconsistent pixel size and the slightly dubious perspective... I knew I had to change it.

I'm also going to attempt to add some more options (like a toggle for the talking bleeps sound effect, improved pixel perfect display and more)

The font has changed as well to a more pixel-like style, though getting it to look even slightly okay-ish is a nightmare. (MV is NOT good with fonts)

Well, that's about it for now, see yall next update!

Miscellaneous

Happy 2nd Birthday to the Wintertwined Demo

Happy 2nd birthday to the Wintertwined demo!


Exactly two years ago I posted a demo online for a game I had been making in my spare time during the pandemic.
This game came to be known as Wintertwined, my first ever long term project.

I had spent most, if not all of my free time during the lockdowns working on my little game.
With the amount of free time I had, it slowly changed into something a little bit bigger than I had anticipated.
What was supposed to be a little side project, got out of hand and slowly turned into something a little more profound and personal.

Looking back, I don't know whether releasing the demo, when the game itself was just 25% finished, was a good call or not.

On the one hand, it made the game better. The amount of feedback I'd gotten was both kinda scary at first, as much as it was welcome. It all helped to shape the game into a better overall product.

On the other hand though, 2 years down the line and it still isn't done yet and I feel like I've killed most of the momentum the demo had.

Since the pandemic restrictions got lifted and I got back to working my day job, I got to spend less time on the game.
I was working a job that, to me at least, felt restrictive and kept me from growing into the industry.

This slowly started to burn me out, especially since it had been my intention to work full time from the very start.
Instead I got covid, which damaged my lungs and made me exhausted whenever I had to do anything physical.
I've also had multiple health related setbacks that made it impossible to sit for hours.
For almost the entirety of 2022, I'd slowly chip away at the game, desperately clinging to the idea that the game must be released that year.

Obviously, that didn't happen.
I've since put the development on hiatus and it hurt to post that.
No more estimated release dates, this created so much unnecessary pressure before.

I also had to learn the hard way, that making a game is hard, and when I say hard, I mean it's HARD fucking work.
I've gained so much respect and appreciation for developers and the medium as whole through this journey.

Something you can really only learn, by making something yourself.

Sometimes I rewatch live streams and let's plays from time to time, and I get a weird sort of reassuring feeling that I made something good. So, to those people a genuine, heartfelt thank you.

Luckily, the road ahead is looking bright.

I've switched jobs recently, and I think I've finally found a place I love and will love for a long time.
Not only that, but most of my health related issues are getting better as well!

Currently, I'm getting used to my new job and with this, comes a new schedule.
One that allows me to make time for my hobbies, which in terms means development time.
I'll be trying to pick up development once a week, keyword being try!
But I'll be doing my best, I can't wait to share my game with the world.
I’m beyond excited to start working on Wintertwined again and want to thank all of you for being so patient with me.

Thanks for reading my ramblings <3

And happy 2nd birthday to my little demo

Progress Report

Going on Hiatus

On hiatus

Wintertwined will be going on hiatus until I find the time to actually work on it.

So, Yeah.
This isn't the update I've been hoping to post, but I haven't been able to get much of anything done since March.
To most, this won't come as a surprise.
I've been far too ambitious with the project, especially as a first time, part time game developer.

I've switched jobs recently.
I have a lot to learn and work before I can comfortably pay the bills.

Currently I'm recovering from surgery, unable to sit behind a desk for hours.
As you might expect, this has impacted the development as well.

When will I pick up working on Wintertwined again?
I'm not sure.
If I'm lucky somewhere in July.
If not somewhere late August.

It all depends on a few things:
How quickly I recover from surgery
How much I earn from working full time
How much time I have in between

Thank you for your patience.
I promise the wait will be worth it.

-Terry Scott

Progress Report

Monthly Progress Report: October

October was a rough month.

TLDR: Due to multiple unforeseen circumstances, I got little to no work done on Wintertwined and I see no options but to delay the game until further notice.

I had a bad start when my cat managed to escape through a small hole in the ceiling and climbed onto our roof, when I tried to rescue him he got scared, attacked me and he fell down. We found him 5 days later, alive and well, I wasn’t able to work on Wintertwined during that time. My hand had to heal from the attack, he bit into a nerve on my index finger and I could barely move it for an entire week.

So when my finger healed, I figured I’d do some retooling with the lighting.
And by that, I mean change the plugin I’ve been using for almost 2 years.
The old plugin was just… Not doing what I wanted it too, so I had to comb through all my events to make sure it all worked flawlessly with the new one.
Besides the flashlight cones, everything seems to work as intended at the moment, so that’s a relief!

As much as I love the month of october and halloween, it’s the busiest month we have at my day job, which is why I barely had any time left to do any work on Wintertwined in the latter half of the month.
So what i managed to do this month can be summoned up as such:

I made this animation whilst my finger was healing:

I created a sneaking mini game that works kinda like SUPERHOT, as in; the camera’s only move when you do. It’s not a game of timing, but of planning. Graphics are not finished however, and the flashlight cones get stuck for seemingly no reason atm…
I did a few small animations and touched up some wooden dialogue, but that’s all I managed to do :(

So, as you might expect, Wintertwined will most likely be facing yet another delay.
This time I’m honestly not sure if I want to have an estimated release date, the stress I’ve been feeling from trying to complete this project has been negatively impacting my everyday life.
I really wish I had more uplifting news to share, but this month has been really tough for me to get through.
I am continuing to work on the game, but at a more moderate pace.
I have a clear road ahead of me and what needs to be done, I just need a little more time to get there.

Progress Report

Demo updated to V0.6 + Plans for the future

The Wintertwined demo has been updated to version 0.6, the penultimate update.

This update contains:

A Diary, to keep track of objectives and memories. These will help the players that might lose track or miss an important clue.

It also houses the updated memories, these are no longer shoved alongside the items, they have their own page in the Diary.

There will likely be one more update down the line, once the full game is released, but I felt it was necessary to iron out a potential game breaking bug.

A few minor graphical changes, like the snowy borders on menus, tutorials and interface for the controllers.

The surveillance office has been changed slightly, the ladder has been moved so you now have to walk through this area, making it less likely the players might miss the save point.

Plans for the future:

December is slowly approaching, and the completion date too. The idea is that I'll attempt to set goals for every month.

I'm currently working on a flashback scene, after this comes two more areas (large ones) and then the finale.

I've planned one month per area, hoping to spend December on playtesting and bug fixing, releasing it later that month.

I plan to take extra days off from work to finish the game before the end of December.

I'll be working extra hard to reach this goal and if I don't make it, It'll be a januari release at the latest.

I'm beyond excited to show you what I've been working on, and hope it'll be worth the wait.

Many thanks for reading, -Terry Scott

Progress Report

Monthly Progress Update - September

Hi yall, Time for something interesting!




From this month onwards, I'm going to try to post updates every month.
This is to show that: Yes, the game is still actively in development and to keep me motivated to post stuff.

The game is slowly working towards its conclusion, currently I'm working on a flashback scene that takes place a year before the events of the game.
This portion takes place inside a place currently known as ''The Hive''
This place is a shelter, a repurposed warehouse to shield people from the snow storm.

This portion will dig into the history of the characters, the time period and the state of the outside world.

Thank you for reading, more updates following in october! -Terry Scott

Here's a little preview of the new area:
(everything pictured is a work in progress, these images may differ from the final release)



Progress Report

Demo Updated to V0.5!

Hi yall!


So here's a small update to the demo, I've gone back and redid an animation I wasn't fond of.
I also discovered a few small bugs, one allowed the player to walk during cutscenes and the other soft locked the game. luckily nobody encountered these bugs as far as I know, but they have been patched!




Furthermore, I've been slowly chipping away and improving the game for months in small but noticable ways, I'm nearing the overall 60% completion of the game as well!
If I can keep this up it'll be released somewhere late 2022, likely December.
Hope to see yall there once it does ^^

Thank you for staying updated on my project <3
-Terry Scott

Progress Report

Wintertwined Demo Update 0.4!




Hi yall!
It's been a long time since the last update, and it's a significant one!
I've been working my way through some difficult parts in the later half of the game and have gone back to improve the demo to make it more in line with the final game!
The demo has been updated to Version 0.4, which has a LOT of improvements:

+Small new area
(I've added a new area: the surveillance office. It's a small area where you can save your progress manually and find some vague hints and lore!)

+New memory
(A new memory can be found in the new area)

+Improved QTE
(Thanks to Kuro DCupu I've greatly improved upon the quicktime events!

+Small visual improvements

(Sometimes sprites disappeared for a few frames)

+Made the chase more fair

(Gave the player a little more room to mess up)

+Controller Support

(Xbox and Dualshock are shown alongside the keyboard controls)

+Improved Tutorials

(Less obtrusive, less words, new graphics)

+Fullscreen Options
(Toggle fullscreen from the menu)

+Toggle Button: Hold To Run / Walk
(You can either hold a button to run or hold a button to walk, the always dash command is back!)

+Slightly Adjusted SFX Volume

(Volume has been lowered on some sound effects)

+Minor Bug Fixes


I'll be trying to update more frequently from now on, especially since I have some really cool set-pieces coming up ^^
I have been working on some parts I wish I could show off, but that would only ruin the surprise and twists that I'm going to throw your way. Just trust me, it's gonna be worth the wait.
Thank you for sticking with me, and I hope to see you all soon.
-Terry Scott

Progress Report

Teaser Trailer + Progress Report

Hi Yall, Got some interesting news!

Wintertwined now has an official trailer!





I hope this short trailer gives off the right vibes of the kind of game Wintertwined is going to be, I had to go a little out of my comfort zone in terms on animation, hope it doesn't look too janky!

Further progress has been kinda slow, unfortunately.
I've been making overtime on my dayjob to make up for the many months of lost income, this in term has caused me to lose time on development.
That bummed me out so much, I've decided to take a little time off of work, to work on some cool new stuff, like this trailer!

Also worth mentioning; Wintertwined is now about 50% complete!
So that's pretty cool!

Really wish I had more to write, but that's going to be it for this time.
I want to thank all 130+ people who downloaded the demo and special shout out to all of you who did let's plays. Yall don't know how much joy it gives me to watch them ^^

Progress Report

Wintertwined Demo Updated to 0.3

First of all, thank you all for checking out my game and giving me some real good feedback! This has been an amazing learning experience for me ^^

I've updated the demo to better represent the full release,
If you've played Ver 0.2 you might notice a few changes:


-More snow that makes for a more believeable world.
-Quicker Item Hunt
-Better sound effects
-Motorcycle has been modified to fit the theme better


Thank you for checking my game out and thank you for all your feedback <3
-Terry Scott
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