To News Or Not To News
Hey ho, everybody!
We are back for another summer edition. So buckle in and let's get rolling! And hey, we're even on time this month! That feels like a minor miracle on its own... so maybe you're in for a real treat with this one.
A Tale Of Two (Or Maybe More) Games
The original idea for this monthly newsletter was aimed to keep Laura Bow fans abreast of the progress on our very ambitious Laura Bow 3 game. It was never intended as a marketing tool or for official press information; just a behind-the-scenes look into what we do and how it's progressing.
Over the years, it has evolved to include the skinny on other projects as well, including Tile Tales: Pirate, Neureka, and The Dryad Stone. We've also thrown in the occasional critique about game development in general or the state-of-the-industry.
We realize that not all of the content will appeal to all audiences at all times. That's why we aim to keep these concise and to the point, without all the marketing spiel. Although, we do always hope that there might be some overlapping interests for you - much like our own varied interests.
And we also realize that there may be times when it feels like there is a lot of back and forth on what we claim from month to month. But let's be real here... things go well some months, and not so well other months - and that's all part of the process. You're getting the raw information, good or bad, and riding that wave along with us. It's a complicated journey and one that not many would bother to even attempt.
Regardless, we always try to discuss things as openly as possible, and avoid hiding behind NDAs or company politics. Of course, there will always be some topics that we just can't or shouldn't talk about, given the sensitivities business relationships or individual people. So, just know that if there is some answer that you feel you aren't getting from us, it's likely only because talking about it would not be in the best interest of the project(s) or people involved. Otherwise, we'd very happily jabber on about it and tell you how we -really- feel about it, ha. We are far from being shy.
Anywho! We hope you can appreciate that - but if it's not for you, no worries. You won't hurt our feelings if you'd prefer to just wait for something press worthy.
And now that we have that out of the way... let's do some progress updates!
A Gold Worthy Update
In case you missed it, we've been working on a significant update to Tile Tales: Pirate! And we are happy to report that it's nearly ready to go. We should be wrapped up within the next couple of weeks, and then we'll officially submit it to Nintendo for approval on Switch 1/2. We've been looking forward to this release for a long time now!
Console submissions do generally take some time - so we're probably looking to release around October at the earliest. And if we miss October for whatever reason, we'll likely wait until January/February to avoid the holiday rush. But as soon as we lock down a timeline, we'll let you know.
To go along with the Switch release, we also plan to do a simultaneous update of the versions on iOS, Android, Steam, and Mac App Store. They'll all get a freshening up! And once they are all available, we plan to finally do a proper marketing push for the game, and see if we can finally turn it into a more successful venture. So that's exciting!
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One of the main features that we're excited about is the ability to skip ahead to any puzzle you want. You no longer will have to complete all previous puzzles, if you want to jump forward to a particular area of the map. However, 'boss' puzzles are still locked down until you've played enough of its associated chapter - and the cutscenes are locked until you complete or surrender the boss puzzle.
We also removed all ads, and now have a new purchase flow in the iOS, Android, and Mac App Store versions. I don't think we'll do the ad thing again - it turned out to be more annoying than it was worth, to be honest.
There are many other tweaks and improvements as well, including an entirely new speaking character in Chapter 1, an updated cutscene for the end of Chapter 6, a skip feature for in-puzzle story elements, a custom achievements display, various game configuration settings, better onboarding, and more! We're looking forward to seeing what you think of it all.
The Demo You're Looking For
Once our Nintendo submission appears to be on the right track for Tile Tales: Pirate, we'll be switching our focus back to getting the Laura Bow 3 demo out on Steam and Xbox.
The plan is to just push ahead and see what happens. There isn't a ton of work remaining to get that build ready... but with so much instability in every aspect of life and business these days, we of course can't promise a timeline on it. Hopefully this year, finally. But it could honestly still all come crashing down with the state of Microsoft/Xbox. There doesn't seem to be any solid footing in the game industry these days - unless you're GTA6.
Speaking of the state-of-the-industry... we promised to have a chat about it this month. But we've already rambled on longer than intended. And, as previously stated, we'd like to keep these newsletters bite sized - so we'll place that on a shelf for next month!
See ya then!
(OK, not as childish as that, but...)