Hello you out there! It’s been a good while since I gave you a proper update on how things are going with Hiboka. Well, since summer is coming to an end, I thought today could be a good time for that.
Long story short, work on Hiboka is still going strong every day!
(Even though unexpected life events can slow down the pace of production, and one’s commitment to making a great game can lead to getting lost in the small details, I believe patience and perseverance are key to releasing work you’re truly proud of.)
This summer, I tried to focus my attention on advancing the gameplay section of our second main character, Ramala. Since Ramala investigate the Sanatry Mansion at the same time as Alexandre, I had to work on fully implementing our timeline system that we call Perfect Sync. In short, the system records the states of objects when playing as one character and keeps them consistently in their last recorded state when passing through the same area later with the other character.
While I spend my time setting up the gameplay, I must also give a big thanks to our new VFX artist, Tomoya, and our sound designer, Ahmed, in helping me with much needed new visual and sound effects for our latest demo.
Unlike Alexandre, Ramala’s motivation is simply to escape the Sanatry Mansion and bring her father back to safety. During her quest, she encounters Pylorus – the gate keeper of the world of the dead; this is a new enemy that I have also been working on this summer. Pylorus is relentless in his pursuit of intruders, and is likely to add much tension to Ramala’s quest!
Ramala’s quest is not only about escaping from Pylorus; there are many traps, puzzles, and deceptive shadowy figures that pose a threat to her. So come prepared for action!
Aside from working on advancing Hiboka, I also had the chance to bring our new demo to the Indie Game Zone at Comiccon Montreal, and also to Otakuthon Montreal thanks to Pixels & Poutines. It was a blast to see people enjoying Hiboka and I hope to do more events like that in the future. Montreal truly has a great indie scene!
So, that was my summer! Going into fall, I’m focusing on advancing Ramala’s section even more, and on preparing for more showcasing.
Have a great end of summer and thank you for reading!
Salim
