TIGSource - August 2013 (35 posts)
#578 August 01, 2013 07:16 AM
Done!
I made it! It’s still summer! Thank fuck!
Papers, Please is all set to release next week, August 8th on Steam, GOG.com, and the Humble Store. Pre-orders are open now on PapersPlea.se
My apologies for the silence on here. These last months have been completely insane with finishing, testing, fixing, tweaking, polishing, signing contracts, making store assets, redoing websites, setting up support systems, check user-submitted names, and stressing the fuck out.
Pre-orders open today and I’m actually still working on small things for the game. The final build needs to be boxed and shipped by Monday morning to hit the Thursday release.
From the Beta
I took feedback from the open beta and tried my best to fix everything while adding as much content as I could. Originally I had planned on 30 days for the full game but when laying out all the events (by far the hardest part of the development for me), I just couldn’t fit it all in. So the final game has 31 days.
20 Endings
There’s 20 endings in all, which is honestly way too many. Adding a new ending became a logical and elegant way to handle all the different things the player could do. 12 of the endings are considered “early” in that they appear before the 31 days are up. The remaining 8 are attainable at the end of day 31. Which ending you get is dependent on the decisions you make during the days and nights. The branching save system makes it easy to go back and try different things.
Endless Mode
The full version features a separate “Endless” mode that’s unlocked by reaching a certain Story mode ending (or finding the unlock code on the net). There’s 3 game-types (Timed, Perfection, and Endurance) and 4 rule-sets (which documents and rules are in effect at the checkpoint) to choose from and Steam leaderboards for the score rankings.
Launching
I’ve done my best to coordinate everything (press emails, twitter announcement, this post, greenlight update, website update, stores going live, etc, etc) to make the announcement today. Honestly I’ve been pretty overwhelmed by this part of the project. Making games is great fun until the last 10%.
Support
The thing that scares me the most about releasing this game is the support. Mainly, I’m worried about someone buying the game and having it not run properly on their system. I fixed a lot of issues from the beta but wasn’t able to run a complete system test on the final build. My plan is to work as diligently and quickly as possible to fix any issues that come up after release. Steam makes it very easy to update a game in the wild which is great for a small developer like me. GOG and Humble Store are a little harder, but I’ve at least set up a pipeline that lets me create update builds quickly and easily. There’ll also be a support page where I can put common problems and their solutions and players having issues can fill out a form to request support directly.
Replies
#579 Rusk (August 01, 2013 07:44 AM)
Congratulations! I’m looking forward to finally finishing it. :)So where should I get the game? I suppose you have different deals on all these places. Or maybe you want steam sales to have a better chance of front page display?
#580 Rez (August 01, 2013 07:55 AM)
I’d like to congratulate you on this victory.
Finishing a game is difficult, but you pulled it off in quite a nice fashion. You’ve got loads of fans and hype, and with good reason!
#581 August 01, 2013 07:58 AM
Quote from: Rusk on August 01, 2013, 07:44:30 AM So where should I get the game? I suppose you have different deals on all these places. Or maybe you want steam sales to have a better chance of front page display?
You know I’m not sure. Humble Store gives the biggest cut but yeah, that means it won’t get a feature on Steam. I think Steam at least isn’t that interested in the preorder phase since there’s no bonuses or discounts. I really wanted to add bonuses, but Steam isn’t built for extra non-DLC content that’s external to the game.
Quote from: AlphaRez on August 01, 2013, 07:55:58 AM I’d like to congratulate you on this victory.
Finishing a game is difficult, but you pulled it off in quite a nice fashion. You’ve got loads of fans and hype, and with good reason!
Thank you!
Replies
#582 MegaScience (August 01, 2013 08:13 AM)
Ah, I have a topic on an unrelated forum about the game that someone bumped with this information. I updated the topic there. :) Can’t wait!#583 Razzek (August 01, 2013 08:15 AM)
Congratulations! I’ll be sure to pick up a copy, as I loved the beta.#584 gimymblert (August 01, 2013 09:46 AM)
yes!#585 Zaphos (August 01, 2013 11:10 AM)
Congrats!That 8/8 release date looked like a score for a moment, in your poster/ad image … (although I guess for that purpose releasing on 10/10 would be more ambiguous!)
#586 josh_s (August 01, 2013 11:20 AM)
Excellent, well done.Glory to Arstotzka!
#587 Fleury (August 01, 2013 11:36 AM)
Quote from: Dr. Cooldude on August 01, 2013, 11:21:09 AM Woo, congrats!
Going to pre-order it right now!Shit, my credit card is currently blocked for some unknown reason. :/
DISCREPANCY
DETECTED
- You are a male or female?
#588 terri (August 01, 2013 12:24 PM)
Oh man, I’ve been waiting this, congratulations on release!
Glory to Arstotzka!#589 Impmaster (August 01, 2013 12:51 PM)
Oh man, this is one of those few projects I’ve seen here that actually finishes quickly and goes on major stores. Congrats!BTW, if you don’t mind, after a while, could you tell us your sales figures? I’d love to see how a game this size sells. Thanks.
#590 emacs (August 01, 2013 01:24 PM)
Congrats man, I’m really excited to pick this up. Good luck with the sales (with all the publicity you’ve gotten, I think it should go quite well :wink:)!
#591 August 01, 2013 01:27 PM
Quote from: Evan McClane on August 01, 2013, 01:24:27 PM Congrats man, I’m really excited to pick this up. Good luck with the sales (with all the publicity you’ve gotten, I think it should go quite well :wink:)!
Thank you (and everyone else)!
It’s been so long since the last public beta, I’m beyond nervous about how the game will be received. So many little things I want to tweak and fix but at the same time I’m completely burnt out. The last big task which I’m forcing myself to do is go through more of the submitted names with the goal of including as many as possible.
Replies
#592 jO (August 01, 2013 01:50 PM)
Quote from: dukope on August 01, 2013, 01:27:52 PM The last big task which I’m forcing myself to do is go through more of the submitted names with the goal of including as many as possible.
I’m also really excited about your release :gentleman:
Is there any way to check if a certain name is already in the game?#593 Panurge (August 01, 2013 09:42 PM)
#594 Eigen (August 01, 2013 09:49 PM)
Wohoo! Congratulations for completing the game. I know how stressful this last leg of the development must be but this game will change your life. For the better, I hope :)You have my deepest respect, good sire.
:gentleman:
#595 Franklin’s Ghost (August 02, 2013 12:28 AM)
Nice to see this has a release date now. Will definitely be getting this on the day.Goodluck with it and looking forward to seeing all the different endings.
#596 devMidgard (August 02, 2013 01:58 AM)
Congratz in finishing this game. Looking forward to purchasing it!I want the sales information too :>
#597 accolon (August 08, 2013 10:04 AM)
Loved the beta, preordered, and just started playing! Great work! And thanks for including my name. :grin:#598 crem (August 08, 2013 01:02 PM)
No linux version? :-(Went to look for a windows machine..
#599 Kurt (August 08, 2013 04:07 PM)
Wow… this is really good. Picked up two copies for myself and my friend.#600 Rusk (August 08, 2013 04:48 PM)
Hope it’s doing well. I just read a very positive review at ars technica: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/08/papers-please-review-paper-trail-of-tears/#601 Hangedman (August 08, 2013 05:38 PM)
I am glad that this game exists.Well done, dukope :hand clap: :tiger:
#602 Impmaster (August 08, 2013 09:13 PM)
You got PC Gamer Editor’s Choice!http://www.pcgamer.com/review/papers-please-review/
#603 marineta (August 09, 2013 08:01 AM)
Loved the beta and preordered a few days ago :) Now I want to have time to play it!Contrats for the game, really amazing :D
#604 Audiosprite (August 09, 2013 08:26 AM)
This game looks awesome! It looks like it plays out like a logical/mathematical proof.#605 happymonster (August 10, 2013 12:07 AM)
The Verge just gave this a great review (8/10)Well done! :)
#606 TunaUppercut (August 10, 2013 06:35 PM)
The beta for papers please is incredibly addictive. Congrats on finishing the game.
#607 August 10, 2013 06:43 PM
Thanks for the support!
Busiest two weeks of my entire life. Since the launch I’ve been working 20 hour days on support responses and putting the first update together, which fixes a shit ton of stuff.
On top of that, there’s been an endless stream of review code requests. To help deal with all this stuff I ended up preparing several user-facing websites beforehand and tweaking them throughout the launch.
So I’ve finally got things puttering along on the support/media side and just finished a test run of the first game update. If you want to try it out, I’ve set up a preview release on Steam. The fact that Steam allows this kind of branch distribution is really great.
Just a quick post now but I’ll be back when things cool down a little bit with more info about the launch.
Replies
#608 melos han-tani (August 11, 2013 01:03 AM)
Post-launch! The horror!Glad to see things are going very well.
#609 kinnas (August 11, 2013 03:28 AM)
As a soviet bloc eastern european I am proud to say - game of the year all years!I love how the gameplay marries so well to the narrative and moral ambivalence. Here’s a quote for the back of the box: “Nothing will ever be the same again - Papers, Please makes The Witcher style “gray area moral choices” and Mass Effect RPG flowchart narrative look like crude stoneage tech.”
#610 DantronLesotho (August 12, 2013 01:11 PM)
Papers, Please got a decent review on RockPaperShotgun:http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/08/12/wot-i-think-papers-please/
#611 Whiteclaws (October 11, 2013 10:38 AM)
PAPER PLEASE IS ON A VALVE VIDEO ;OOOOO#612 muki (October 11, 2013 01:00 PM)
Quote from: Whiteclaws on October 11, 2013, 10:38:39 AM PAPER PLEASE IS ON A VALVE VIDEO ;OOOOO
I came here just to post that!