Kinfolk Dev Log #3

The Demo is well Underway!

The last month has seen a lot of work being put into quality improvements, both in-game and abroad. There was a large focus at the beginning of the month on polishing up the presentation for Kinfolk. New capsule art was commissioned for the Steam page, which we should see by the end of August, and the messaging for the game has taken on a much more fun-loving and sarcastically whimsical tone and a new an improved gameplay trailer!

Back in the game, I've been working on polishing up the game and fixing bugs. So many bugs! Every time I do a test session though, we find less and less, and the big bugs have been all but squashed. The most pressing issues now are related to the main project that I had on the go this month, which was tying kinfolk into the Steamworks API to unlock some much needed standard features, such as grabbing usernames to display in-game, and that Join Game button that a game like Kinfolk absolutely needs. I still need to confirm that some of the last vestigial issues are resolved there, but barring that, we should be... full steam ahead!

Gameplay wise, not a lot has changed this time around. The gameplay, art style, control scheme and all that jazz have been crystalized, so the additions to the game at this point focus on improving the little things in the game, and fixing any of the small issues that keep cropping up, so let's dig in to some of those now!

The Grim Reaper

Players can die now, which is.. fun? Up until recently the game wasn't really "dangerous" because the players couldn't actually meet their maker, but now, they can! It's been really important since the beginning for Kinfolk to approach death with two things in mind:

First, it should be hard to die

Life in the middle ages was fraught with danger, on the best of days. There were a million ways for a person to kick the bucket, and it's important that the game reflects that. The problem with this though, is that if people are dying left and right, with no way to respawn, then the game is going to get extremely boring extremely quickly. To address this, I've made it difficult to actually die, but there are a hundred ways to permanently maim your character, for the duration of the round at least! You can break a leg, you can poison yourself and end up bed-ridden, you can end up with a condition that I call "getting Anakin'd" and crawl around while you smoke and suffer. All of these things would mean a slow and painful death to the peasants (and nobles!) of old. In Kinfolk, however, gameplay takes place over the course of a day, so none of these things spell doom for your character. Instead, you end up having to adjust your approach to finishing your objectives, and pray you somehow make it to sunset.

Second, The Game Should Always Be Fun.

Whether a player has wound up with a terribly disfigured character as the result of some unfortunate "accident", or they've wound up face to face with the Grim Reaper himself, they should be able to have fun and engage in the game in some way. This has been a challenge with the various ailments that can befall a person, and will undoubtedly be something that I continue to tune and tweak throughout the lifecycle of the playtests and demo release, but so far, I'm quite happy with how it's turned out. For those that end up in purgatory, they can peruse the map as a ghost. While their interaction with the world is limited, there are some fun opportunities for ghosts in Kinfolk, if they manage to play their cards correctly!

A Link to the Past

One of the big inspirations for me has always been Zelda. I know, I know, that's so cliche for a developer behind a medieval pixel art game, but it is what it is!

One way that Kinfolk pays homage to Hyrule is with Chickens! Chickens in Kinfolk have become public enemy number one. They wander the village eating up pretty much anything they can find, which is especially troublesome for the Farmer, since they'll peck at crops and render them useless. They absolutely need to be stopped.

But it's not so easy! There is a card that players can receive called Pacifist, which the player will fail if they perform a violent action against another living being. Well now, chickens are distinctly alive, so that means that you can't hurt them. Sorta. Enter The Chicken Toss!

A "peaceful" way that players can get a handle on the chicken situation is by picking the little buggers up, and in the words of one playtester, Nad, "Teach them how to Fly".

The Journey Continues...

There's still quite a bit left to go to get the Demo done by the end of the month, but one way or another, we'll make it happen, if for no other reason than I've applied to a few festivals the first of which is happening in September. Crunch is never a good thing for developers, but deadlines are always a good thing. This is going to be a good experience for operating under a hard deadline. I'm looking forward to it!

Stay tuned for some more updates as I press on this next month! The next time I check in will be with the release notes for the Demo! Woohoo!

If you haven't heard yet, I'll have a playtest version up in a few weeks! You can request access to it from the homepage!

Finally, if you haven't yet, be sure to Wishlish and follow Kinfolk, so that you know when the demo drops!

Thank you for reading, and don't forget to put out your hearth!