Whim Independent Studios - Development Log #70

Hey all, it's been a little while since the last development log, and I wanted to talk about some updates going on with whimindie for this year. This update is going to be a bit more text heavy than demonstration so thank you for reading this.

---

Addressing the 2023 New Year's Day Cyberattack

As some of you may have seen and heard, I fell victim to a cyberattack on New Year's Day. After doing some travelling during the holidays and not getting much sleep (and not thinking clearly), I received a message from someone who I thought was trying to get their game up to a point to where they could pitch it to our studio. Little did I know that I was going to be the target of a cookie stealer Discord scam which used my personal login information on my computer to troll my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, attack several other accounts (including Amazon and Reddit), and have them take control of our itch.io developer account. 

For three weeks, they turned our itch.io account into "Wyntale" and uploaded versions of our games that contained malware and other viruses, using the same method that compromised me. After working with the itch.io Support Team, we were able to restore our account on Thursday, January 26th, and we rebuilt all of our pages and content and put our games back online on Saturday, January 28th.

We have taken measures to protect our studio accounts so that we can collaborate on updating our game pages in a way where 2FA-methods can remain enabled and we will no longer be accepting new game pitches/demos in a way we have done before nor will we allow play my game downloads on our Discord or through DMs. 

If you're reading this and have visited or downloaded anything from "Wyntale Independent Studios" or "wyntale.itch.io" during the period of January 1-26, 2023 I recommend to please clear all of your cookies on all of your internet browsers, delete any installed programs that look suspicious, and run your antivirus programs and rkill to stop anything weird that may be running in the background. 

We have also upped the requirements of new people joining our Discord that they must have a verified account with a phone number and unable to interact for 10 minutes so that we can evaluate those who come in and out of the channel. Furthermore, legacy members who have been sitting unverified on the server and haven't agreed to the rules of the Discord will be removed from the Discord on February 1st, 2023. 

Thank you for your continued support and this is a situation that we will make sure will not happen again.

---

Updates to Selatria

This is finally the year that we're working to complete Selatria. We're bringing a lot of hands on deck from our other projects to be able to finish cutscenes, dungeons, battle adjustments, and generally tie things together for the final game. We also made a handful of adjustments to the core game to make it Steam Deck compatible. 

This Spring, we're going to be pushing out one final update to Selatria: Advent of the Dakk'rian Empire to update it with all of the features that we've developed for the final game and to finally give it some much needed compatibility with the Steam Deck. A shoutout to Shadoe and Jon for making all of the conversions required to get it playable. We still need to figure out a handful of bugs, so please wait a little bit longer if you own the game and have been trying to play it on go with the Steam Deck. 

With Selatria: Full Version we will have a simultaneous launch for PC and Steam Deck so you can play on the go/docked or at your computer. We're aiming for the second half of the year for the full version and hopefully we have more details and updated assets to share soon. 

---

Upcoming Conventions!

This upcoming weekend, we will be making an appearance at Anime Gaming Expo in Fresno showing and selling Steam codes for Spellbearers! 

We also have plans to show Spellbearers and Selatria at our return to LVLUPEXPO in Las Vegas in mid-February, So Cal Retro Gaming Expo in early May, and at a special shared booth at San Diego Comic-Con in July! 

--------

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and join our Discord! See you soon at Anime Gaming Expo in Fresno and LVLUPEXPO in Las Vegas! It's good to be back.

Purchase Spellbearers on Steam!

Listen to the "On a Whim!" Podcast
Follow whimindie on itch.io Wishlist Selatria - Full Version on Steam Wishlist Corpse Castle on Steam

.

Post-Release Depression and POC in Game Industry

I'm going through a post-release depression atm after Spellbearers. I try not to use that term lightly, but a lot of symptoms are there. I'm tired, irritable, sad, lethargic, and have lacked the drive and motivation I usually do to keep things moving on over the past few weeks. 

Even with Spellbearers being successfully Kickstarted, we used a lot of personal funds to make sure the project kept going and didn't become another Kickstarter failure as well as keep as much of the team together as we could during uncertain COVID times.

The typical advice I've received should have me glad I released the game. "You're farther than the x% of devs who didn't finish. Good job!", but at the same time I feel like I've wanted out after seeing how poorly the game has turned out to be financially.

It has had me consider really just looking at it and stopping and exiting while I could. I think it's the burnout speaking, but I needed some time to focus on repairing the damage to my savings/bank account to save the Spellbearers project. Selatria also needs to be finished.

Seeing today's news about Yoshi-P and POC was a good wake-up call on why I need to keep trying to make games. Yoshida is my favorite game developer and idol and it's heartbreaking to see his words come off like a politician in regards to Final Fantasy XVI. I would have liked to see this as a template to create more people of color. They could implement a character randomizer using their own implemented tools for XVI characters instead of having the generical look.

I also want to say I'm very thankful for the \team at whimindie to keep things positive and moving along with our games while I've been mainly offline to collect my thoughts while I've been in this funk. Please give Spellbearers a play. Thanks for reading.

Whim Independent Studios - Development Log #69

Here is our 69th update with what's going on at whimindie! Please note that a lot of this information will be cross-posted to our Spellbearers project page on Kickstarter for project backers.

We're finally here! The release of Spellbearers for Steam. The trailer above was edited by Jessica M. Jacuinde who also worked on a lot of the user interface in Spellbearers, and the narration was done by the talented Aimee Smith! If you backed us on Kickstarter, you should have been emailed your code. If you haven't received it for any reason, please message us on Kickstarter or Discord and we can get it sorted out. Aside from the Selatria tier which will be completely fulfilled when the game is completed, we have fulfilled the rest of the rewards possible for the campaign.

Spellbearers is available on Steam! We have a launch discount of 30% off until October 21st. If you play it, let us know what you think!

Now that we've released, we'll now be working on future patches and content for the game, and I also wanted to use this time to answer some FAQ from the conventions and community about some of our future plans for Spellbearers.

------

Frequently Asked Questions from the Community:

Will you ever change levels to counter a meta or tactic, or at least tactics that are considered to cheese through the game or level?

There are some safe spaces in each fight/level where you can learn or practice a tactic, but we don't have any plans to change any tactics that cheese the game. It's already difficult as it is. If there's something broken though, like walls people can run through, we may make changes to that.

Will you ever add extra color Spellbearers? (Even if it means they will be DLC) 

Yellow is a color I would personally like to see added - I don't want to put one in the game in a way that makes the character feel like an afterthought  or DLC for the sake of being DLC, so we're going to watch sales, and see if this is worth adding in later with additions to other changes.

Would you consider adding a difficulty above Hard version? Like Nightmare difficulty or something for elite hardcore players.

We have the chance to see the percentage statistics for players who cleared hard mode. If a lot of people clear hard mode, we would like to do this, but if the percentages on clearing hard mode are still really low, then it might be best to hold off on the feature. The Hard mode is really difficult as it is.

Would you ever consider adding a boss rush mode?

I'm not sure we have enough bosses to warrant adding this. If we expand the game and add more bosses, this could be something to look into.

Would you ever consider a stat tracker for players, or at least the Highest score ever achieved for each level/etc? What about Cloud Saves?

We have plans for a future patch to add this! We want to add Leaderboards and cloud saves so your saved progress will transfer from PC to Steam Deck and vice-versa seamlessly. We want to show the players how they compare. I need to discuss with the team how best to organize it. I don't want an easy or normal player to be ranked higher than a hard mode player just because they made it further and have a bigger score/life count.

Would you ever release a Spellbearers official soundtrack?

The official soundtrack is on all major digital platforms already, and we're working on a physical release. Check us out on Amazon music or stream on Spotify!

What's the status on the console versions of Spellbearers? We are currently actively working on the Xbox One and Series X|S version of Spellbearers and in talks to port the games to other platforms. Without getting into specifics, it's been an uphill battle to talk to other consoles, and if you enjoy playing the game we would really appreciate the positive word of mouth or positive steam reviews on the game to make it easier for us to work with them on porting the game!

---

Finally, I asked some of the development team to share their thoughts on the release and I gave my own personal message as well. Please take a look!

------

Messages from the Development Team Members on Release:

It has been a real pleasure to work on this game with such a talented team and to see an idea I had four years ago develop and finally come to life. It couldn't of happened without you all! My deepest appreciation to the Kickstarter backers and everyone at whimindie who made this happen. As I was inspired by other games to create this one, I hope this game may inspire some of you to create your own. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy playing the full release of Spellbearers.

Spellbearers Director
Gerren Willis

--

Wow, it's been four years since this game has been in development, just as long since I first joined whimindie as the Director of Marketing and Advertising! I can't thank everyone enough who supported this game from just when it was a small Kickstarter that very few knew existed and throughout the various expos and digital events the game has been presented at! As a marketer, this is one of my first projects, and I hope to continue introducing new games to gamers, whether old or new! As a gamer myself (a very terrible one, but I have fun), I know this will be enjoyable and fun for all. Spellbearers takes inspiration from great SNES games back in the 90s, like Super Smash TV, The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, and even Castlevania. It pays homage to those games and adds a new modern flair that just kicks ass and is incredibly entertaining for your friends and family in co-op mode! So I hope you have your couch all warmed up and the pizza and Mountain Dew ready to go because you're going back to the 90's with this game, and you're going to love it! 

Director of Marketing and Advertising
Jabari Mizore Lewis-Smith

--

Heeeeeellllllooooooo!!! It's been a long road but here we are, release! I want to thank every single one of you for believing in Spellbearers and helping us bring it to life. I'm so proud of the team; they put in so many hours of hard work and I hope it shows in every pixel, in every sfx, in every musical note. We have many plans in the works and I hope you stay tuned for what we have cooking for Spellbearers and for our other projects. Until next time... keep it nerdy!

Spellbearers Executive Producer
whimindie Administrative Director
Paul Vela

--

Thank you for all of your support! We have been working on this game for four years and I'm really happy to bring this game out to the world. Thank you to everyone in the team, and a massive thank you to our Kickstarter backers who supported us and were patient with us over the delays while we worked to get the game done. We have plans over the next year to now get this to additional platforms and work on additional features to Spellbearers, and to show the game off to many more shows and conventions! PS: Share with us on social media (@whimindie) if you stream the game! We would love to share it.

Spellbearers Producer
Grover Wimberly IV

Thank you!!!

--------

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and join our Discord! Until next time!

Purchase Spellbearers on Steam!

Listen to the "On a Whim!" Podcast
Follow whimindie on itch.io Wishlist Selatria - Full Version on Steam Wishlist Corpse Castle on Steam

Whim Independent Studios - Development Log #68

Hi everyone! Here is our 68th update with what's going on at whimindie! Please note that a lot of this information will be cross-posted to our Spellbearers project page on Kickstarter for project backers.

This update will also be primarily Spellbearers focused, as we will have more Selatria news to share in the coming months.

Spellbearers

In the last development log, I mentioned our timeline for soft launch and beta testing to take place in "Late July 2022". I apologize that we weren't able to reach that planned timeframe, but I am happy to say as of today that the beta version/early access of Spellbearers is now uploaded and ready on itch.io!

New Free Demo Available!

We have also uploaded a new free demo of Spellbearers on our Spellbearers itch.io page. This includes an expanded difficulty mode and updates to lighting systems, UI, and other effects. As with the previous demo build, it will only showcase Level 1. Please give it a play and let us know how you like it!

Below I would like to share some details about how code distribution will work for backers and for those who would like an early look at Spellbearers. 

Early Access of full game on itch.io and first-wave code distribution to backers

Starting today, we will begin itch.io code distribution for Early Access for Spellbearers. We're using the time between now and Steam release to gather feedback and bugs so our official release in October can be as smooth as possible. We have a lot of backers to send codes to, so please be patient! 

* Do note that during the early access period, you will be unable to accumulate or get credit for any achievements and we have disabled the feature temporarily. We are aiming to have implementation for this beginning in October with the official release. 

We would love to hear feedback on bugs, issues, or the overall experience. Please feel free to write out your thoughts on the early access or demo build on our survey and bugs can be reported to us directly on our Discord under the #bugs-and-issues channel. 

Progress Reset/Wipe on Launch Day 

Because we're still working on Achievement implementation at the moment, it will be necessary for us to perform a save data wipe/clear on launch day so that players who have played Early Access can be able to play through and obtain Achievements that might have been triggered and saved otherwise. 



Steam Release Date Update

We will be slightly delaying our game release on Steam from October 7th, 2022, to October 14th, 2022. This will allow us to demonstrate our game at the upcoming Steam Next Fest, which we have a lot of plans for! Backers will be receiving Steam codes around launch day as well, so please look forward to it!



Regarding Steam Deck

For early access, we recommend playing the build with Proton Experimental settings ON to be able to play. It should run decently on the platform. We hope to have more consistent requirements of Steam Deck before the official release. 

---

Upcoming Conventions for our Games

Another reminder that we will be at the Mega Bit Game Expo showing Spellbearers, Selatria, and another game being developed by CSUSB alumni Star Rider in Simi Valley (Los Angeles) on September 11 at the Grand Vista Hotel!

Please come check it out if you're in the area!
https://megabitgameexpo.com/

We'll be demoing Spellbearers at the Steam Next Fest in October livestreaming Spellbearers and showing off our new trailer. Please look forward to it! 

We will also be at Sin City Anime November 18th-20th showing Spellbearers and Selatria as well in Las Vegas! Please come and say hi! https://www.sincityanime.com/ 

---

On a Whim! Podcast

We do a weekly podcast show where we talk about development of our games and other news going on in the game industry and other topics! Check it out on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We put out a new episode weekly.

---

That's all for this development log. Thank you for your support! See you Simi Valley in a few days!

Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and join our Discord! Until next time!

Listen to the "On a Whim!" Podcast
Follow whimindie on itch.io Wishlist Selatria - Full Version on Steam Wishlist Spellbearers on Steam Wishlist Corpse Castle on Steam

Easing back a bit after Selatria and Spellbearers are done

I had this entry drafted since sometime in February, but left it as an empty entry until now. I'm personally against people just announcing publicly on social media about taking breaks (just do it), but at least writing it down here even if no one is reading may help me remember putting these words down on paper.

I'm going to take a much needed break from game development after my obligations for Spellbearers and Selatria are finished. That's not to say whimindie is done, though. We have other talents taking the helm for immediate next games in the pipeline, and we have the project management set aside to handle it. 

I think I'd like to just take a good amount of time to relax without the pressure of getting something done outside of mandatory life/work. 

And as my best friend puts it (constantly) - I can take a real vacation. 

I promise I'm going to blog/write more often. Even if it's just my thoughts on web paper, it helps me get into a calmer state.

(Wow, my English was all messed up on this entry. I had to edit this multiple times. Time for sleep.)

Whim Independent Studios - Development Log #67

Hi everyone! Here is our 67th update with what's going on at whimindie! Please note that some of this information will be cross-posted to our Spellbearers project page on Kickstarter for project backers.

---

Spellbearers

We have a Steam Release Date! (Also updated Timelines) 

October 7th, 2022 on Steam - Save the date! 

Last week, Gerren and I finished taking all of footage for the upcoming release trailer and up until this date we will be working on polishing and testing various aspects of the game and Jessica is working on the final trailer to be shown later this summer.

Here is an updated timeline on where we stand:

Late July 2022: Soft launch / Initial "Beta Test" release on itch.io platform (itch.io codes will be provided to backers on the Early Bird Tier/"The Game" and above.) - This will include an updated Level 1 free demo on itch.io and Steam to gather feedback on the normal difficulty. Achievements will be disabled.

October 7, 2022: Initial release on Steam/Steam Deck addressing feedback and patches from itch.io release. We also plan on reaching out to curators and have a new trailer around this period. (Steam codes will be provided to backers on the Early Bird Tier/"The Game" and above.). The ability to receive achievements will be enabled on this date.

Late 2022-Early 2023: Initial release on Xbox platforms/Xbox/Microsoft Store

2023/Future: Focusing on PlayStation versions

TBA: Research other possible platforms for Spellbearers release

*Please note that for those with the Selactic Spellbearer FLASH TIER! that Selatria codes will be sent out when that game is completed. 

Implementing Changes to the Player HUD and Changes to Bosses:

In the last development log, we mentioned how some information was difficult to understand for the players. What did the diamonds mean near the characters? In the last development update, I shared a mockup by Jessi on how the new UI would be implemented. I would like to share the final HUD that will be presented in game! See below:

We'll be moving forward with using chevrons for speed boost buffs. And as you can see in the second screenshot, we've made the decision to implement a Health Bar for all bosses. The boss health bar will only be visible in Easy and Normal modes of Spellbearers, so players looking for an additional challenge will have to deal with the bosses without any help! Good luck!

--- 

Selatria

Work is continuing on the final two chapters. The end of Chapter 5 is taking a lot longer to finish than planned, and we're unfortunately about 4-5 months behind where we need to be for the project as a whole. We're going to be reallocating some of the team over the next few months to place emphasis on Spellbearers and Selatria and finishing these two games will be a priority. 

Unfortunately, there's not much more I can share on this project for this development log. I hope to have something more substantial to show next time. 

---

Some Upcoming Conventions for our Games

We will be at the Mega Bit Game Expo showing Spellbearers, Selatria, and another game being developed by CSUSB alumni Star Rider in Simi Valley (Los Angeles) in September! Please come check it out if you're in the area!
https://megabitgameexpo.com/

We will also be at Sin City Anime November 18th-20th showing Spellbearers and Selatria as well in Las Vegas! Please come and say hi! https://www.sincityanime.com/ 

---

On a Whim! Podcast

We do a weekly podcast show where we talk about development of our games and other news going on in the game industry and other topics! Check it out on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. We put out a new episode weekly.

---

That's all for this development log. Thank you for your support! See you at Megabit Game Expo in September!

Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and join our Discord! Until next time!

Listen to the "On a Whim!" Podcast
Follow whimindie on itch.io Wishlist Selatria - Full Version on Steam Wishlist Spellbearers on Steam Wishlist Corpse Castle on Steam

Whim Independent Studios - Development Log #66

Hi everyone! Here is our April update with what's going on at whimindie is here! Please note that some of this information will be cross-posted to our Spellbearers project page on Kickstarter for project backers.

---

Spellbearers

In February, we released an update on changes to co-op gameplay, so please take a look at that if you haven't. 

As of this month, our main focus of the game is working on the final boss battle design and implementation, so that we can go through the whole game and implement the final achievements UI. 

We're also doing a lot of testing in both 1-2 player modes to make sure we knock out a lot of critical bugs and make sure the difficulty scales appropriately. For now, we're trying to determine what's acceptable for a "Normal" mode of difficulty, and use that to tune the "Easy" and "Hard" modes. 

We are considering releasing a test build for Kickstarter backers to give feedback once we iron out our internal testing. Is this something you might be interested in? Please let us know.

Upcoming Changes to HUD: 

We're also in the process of addressing some feedback that some of the icons in the HUD of the game are difficult to understand. The diamonds weren't being understood as the indicator for speed boosts and the circles weren't being understood as the indicator for the familiar stacks, so we'll be making adjustments. 

Our UI designer Jessica M. Jacuinde came up with a mockup that we're planning on adapting into a final design and implement later this month. Please take a look! 

Is there a design that stands out to you? We would love to hear your feedback!

Update on Retail Release Date Timing and Staggered Approach: 

Due to our ongoing participation in the Rogue Jam, we cannot release Spellbearers before the show airs unless we disqualify ourselves from the ongoing competition. If it is determined that we are not advancing forward for any categories and/or do not receive any funding to expand the game even further, we will then begin to plan out final release dates for the game as we are polishing it today.

Here is kind of a rough timeline of how we plan on releasing if the Rogue Jam does not pan out. We want to do a gradual approach to release to make sure we have smooth launches on all of the available platforms and we can give each individual channel its needed attention for feedback and adjustments.

Early-April: Internal Testing and Bug Fixing + Development of Level 4 Boss Battle

Mid-Late April: In-Game/Steam/Xbox Achievement Implementation and Testing and Research and Implementation of Steam and Xbox Leaderboards

April 18-May 16, 2022: Rogue Jam Competition

Late Spring-Early Summer 2022: Soft launch / Initial Release on itch.io platform (itch.io codes will be provided to backers on the Early Bird Tier/"The Game" and above.)

Summer 2022: Initial release on Steam/Steam Deck addressing feedback and patches from itch.io release. We also plan on reaching out to curators and have a new trailer around this period. (Steam codes will be provided to backers on the Early Bird Tier/"The Game" and above.)

Late Summer-Fall 2022: Initial release on Xbox platforms/Xbox/Microsoft Store

2023/Future: Focusing on PlayStation versions

TBA: Research other possible platforms for Spellbearers release

*Please note that for those with the Selactic Spellbearer FLASH TIER! that Selatria codes will be sent out when that game is completed. 

--- 

Selatria

We also have a lot of information to share regarding updates for Selatria. We're making a lot of progress towards linking up all of the completed cutscenes with all of the gameplay. While we do that, we are also working on various quality of life improvements.

Updates to Font Style 

We found out that the font style we've been using with Selatria is a Microsoft owned font "Tahoma" and so we've switched Selatria to switch to an open-source equivalent "Wine Tahoma". We wanted to choose something that is similar to the font we've used this far, but it also results in some of the text looking a bit thicker, so we are making some tweaks and adjustments to certain windows in the new font style. You can see an example of the changes below. 

(Old)

(New)

Updates to Gobby's Moves and Animations

Jon is currently going through all of our characters and making sure the animations and playability is fun

Barrage: Effect is being changed to three attacks in succession on the same target. The animation is being changed to be quicker. 

Fusillade: Effect is unchanged but will show a new animation on all enemies. 

Keyboard Layout/Changes 

In the last development log, we showed off the changes to the controller layout, and now we have changes for the keyboard layout implemented as well. Unfortunately, this means that the controls will no longer be customizable with the F1 key. 

In the previous development log, I mentioned that we're making the control diagrams easier to understand. Deborah and Jon completed the implementation of the updated keyboard controls. We are only showing the player controls based on the current scheme.

Here's how the controls will look if the player is using a keyboard.

(Old) 

(Now)

Do keep in mind if you prefer the old way without the controls visible on the screen, this can be turned off in the Options menu.

---

On a Whim! Podcast

If you haven't had a chance to listen to our whimindie podcast, checkout the "On a Whim!" Podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts. We talk a lot about current events, gaming trends, and some of our gameplay design decisions in more detail. We release an episode every Tuesday, and we have plans in the future to bring on guests in team as well as other friends in the game industry.

---

Reuploading ANTics and The Dastardly Dairy Debacle (Android Version) on itch.io

We've had a lot of requests both from the public and from the team on us taking down our older no-longer supported projects "ANTics" and "The Dastardly Dairy Debacle". As of today, both games are now available once again on Android through our itch.io channel for software archival purposes. 

Please keep in mind that support for both of these games have ended in 2020 and we have no plans to have the Android versions of these games supported on newer hardware. Download and play at your own risk.

View ANTics on itch.io
View The Dastardly Dairy Debacle on itch.io 

---

The whimindie Super Mario Maker 2 Game Jam! 

I'm putting together a Super Mario Maker 2 Game Jam on the whimindie Discord to make or play through levels created in the jam between now and 4/16. We'll create, play, and (constructively) critique levels created. 

Anyone is welcome to participate! But for now only levels created from now and in the next two weeks should be posted! 

I've had a Super Mario 3 level simmering in my head for a while and finally looking forward to putting it on paper myself this upcoming Saturday. Let's a-go! 

If there's a lot of levels created, maybe I might stream them... Note that this is NOT a Nintendo event nor are we sponsored by Nintendo to do this. It's just a great game design exercise. 

Join the whimindie Super Mario Maker 2 Game Jam!

---

That's all for this development log. Thank you for your support!

Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, and join our Discord! Until next time!

Listen to the "On a Whim!" Podcast
Follow whimindie on itch.io Wishlist Selatria - Full Version on Steam Wishlist Spellbearers on Steam Wishlist Corpse Castle on Steam