Morning soldiers!
It has been a few months since my last update, so I thought I’d put together a new dev blog for you all.
First, I’d like to step back a bit and give a bit of background about myself and the project! Those who have been around since the start would already be familiar, but I tend to forget that there are of course newcomers every step of the way. And it has been a long journey! So if you’ve only just recently discovered CONSCRIPT, welcome to the trenches!
I originally started this project in 2017 with no prior game development experience. I would have been around 20 years old at the time and studying history at university.
Over the coming years I taught myself coding, art, sound design, marketing and a bunch of other skills to get to where we are today. It has been a very long journey that has spanned the better part of my 20’s, but here we are - with a nearly complete game that I’m very proud of.
I knew from day one that I wanted to make a survival horror game. But early on, the game didn’t have much of a concrete identity - so I decided to hone in on the historical theming.
At the time, WW1 was becoming a bit of a fascination for me. And before Amnesia The Bunker, there weren't really any WW1 themed pure survival horror games on the market. So, I decided on this setting for the full game. And it was a perfect match.
Along the way, I’ve been lucky enough to showcase at Gamescom and Pax AUS, I’ve traveled to Verdun for research material, and been fortunate enough to sign a big publishing deal with Team17.
That’s a very abridged version of the story, but for those who have stuck around since the beginning, thanks for your continued support!
On the production side of things, the past few months have been what I would consider the final push of development. It has been equally grueling and rewarding - as is to be expected at this stage. Seeing 7 years of work come together into something ultimately cohesive has been a surreal experience.
The QA process has been intense, but very worthwhile. I feel like the game is at a level of quality that wouldn’t have been possible if I had decided to go the self-publishing route. Having dedicated bug finders has gone a very long way.
Many of you will be happy to know that the classic survival horror staples are all here. 10+ hour handcrafted and replayable story. Multiple endings. Limited resources. Puzzles. Bonus costumes. Extra weapons. A merchant. Happy to say that most of my original vision is here.
In other good news, localization is nearly complete and we have quite a few languages available (stay tuned for a full list in the future). When you have a multitude of different languages, the QA process basically becomes 10 times more intense, which has been difficult. It’s very easy to design a game purely for just say English, which then really complicates the matter when you try and just replace all English text with the localized equivalent. The silver lining however, is that the lessons learnt here have been invaluable for future projects.
I get asked every day about the release date, and while I can’t reveal the exact day at this very moment - just know that it will be relatively soon! I look forward to being able to announce a concrete time. Appreciate all your patience!
That’s all for now.
Stay safe, soldiers!
Jordan