Its that time of the month for an update on Ninja Town's progress for this month. This month has been a little bit slower than usual with my kids getting sick and then Elden Ring DLC dropped which then occupied some of my time.
Did you know Ninja's in ancient times were farmers during the day?
I have been working on the foundational functionality for the crops and its growth stages in-game. In the video below I'm just progressing through the corn crop growth stages in real-time but this won't happen in the real game as it generally would grow over night and you would see the result in the morning.
Below are some in-game screenshots of the plant produce that you will grow in the game.
I have registered Ninja Town for the upcoming Steam Next Fest event in October where I will have a demo of the game as part of the event. Hopefully I'll be able to get everyone a chance to play it before the event. The demo will feature the tutorial area where you will get to try the farming, combat and stealth gameplay but nothing relating to the actual campaign.
This is just a quick reminder that our entire games catalog is available at a significant discount for the Steam Summer Sale through July 11th! Let's take a quick look at some of the highlights!
You can get the ENTIRE Outbreak series for up to 80% off NOW with the Outbreak Complete Collection! This is our full 10 game series, including DINOBREAK, Railbreak, and even What Lydia Knows! It also includes our suite of DLC for our legacy titles! This is an absolutely incredible deal for anyone who has yet to dive into our games, and if you have a few of these titles already, you can purchase the rest of the bundle at a massive discount!
Step into the shoes of Lydia Daniels when Cypress Ridge is overrun by an army of dinosaurs in DINOBREAK. Featuring classic survival horror gameplay, this spiritual successor to Dino Crisis is sure to leave your heart racing! Blow away dinos, avoid touching eggs, and solve puzzles before Cypress Ridge becomes one big dino snack! You can save 66% if you dive into this thrilling adventure today!
Save 50% on our on-rails arcade shooter Railbreaktoday! Featuring a fully voiced Story, five additional modes, nine playable characters, optional two player co-op, and so much more, fans of House of the Dead and Time Crisis will feel right at home! Shoot, shoot, and shoot some more as hordes of zombies disgustingly rendered in Unreal Engine 5 overtake the streets of Cypress Ridge. Remember: the only good zombie is a truly dead one.
Our latest title, Outbreak The FEDORA Files: What Lydia Knows is available for a 50% discount! This two-game pack is one part visual novel, one part turn-based RPG! Step into the shoes of Detective Lydia Daniels as she investigates the mysterious disappearance of her partner in this prequel story to Outbreak: Shades of Horror! Additional bonus features including the Scene Studio, a concept art gallery, and a music player featuring music from the entire Outbreak series await you as you explore the game's branching path's and 24 unique endings. Hop into Outbreak RPG for a change of pace in a randomized adventure that changes every time you play!
These are only a few of the deals available for those of you who haven't fully explored our huge library of games! Don't forget -- the Steam Summer Sale runs until July 11th, so act now and explore the history of Dead Drop Studios ahead of the initial release Outbreak: Shades of Horror this summer!
Just letting you all know I sent out another big batch of packages for the backer rewards! This one was primarily international backers, though I did get a few more domestic backers in here and there. BackerKit lets me group backers' packages based on their contents, so backers who got more common combinations have gone first, since it was easy to do all of them at once - now that I've got the big chunks out of the way, mostly I just have to do the unusual combinations and the stragglers who came in after I sent out the first bunch.
I've been seeing photos of people getting their backer rewards, and it's been... well, rewarding!! It was a bunch of work getting all these things manufactured and put together for shipping, but it's also been a bunch of fun. By the end of this, I should have a bunch left over, so I may open up BackerKit's pre-order store to let late backers get their hands on them, once I have everything squared away and have taken inventory on how many extras of everything I have left over. I'm definitely going to be keeping a few of the extra enamel pins for myself though! What if they fall off my bag? I want spares!!
Thanks again for being such a supportive community! I'm really blessed to have such wonderful, generous people looking out for us. Until next time, happy petaling!
Hello everyone! Check this out: it's a big pile of boxes in my living room
A big pile of boxes in my living room
Of course, this picture is a bit out of date, because as of today, that big pile of boxes is no longer in my living room - it's at the post office!
This batch includes domestic backers (in the US), mostly people who got the complete merch package (with signed or unsigned posters) - those are the big boxes - and people who only got the enamel pins, which are in the little parcels there in the box on top. I'll be working on getting the international backers their rewards soon, along with those who got unusual combinations of merch (like just the poster, or extra enamel pin sets).
If you haven't filled out your survey yet, don't fret! I'll be checking back in periodically and sending out batches as they come in. Better get on top of that, though! Also, a few people haven't locked their addresses, or their cards have been declined - if you're unsure of the status of your order, you may want to double check!
Getting this merchandise made and shipped out has been a bunch of fun. Down the line, in like some months or a year or something, I might even do a crowdfund campaign just for more Petal merch at some point. Let me know what sort of stuff you'd be interested in!
Looking forward to seeing you all get your rewards - if you put the pins on a bag or something, take a picture and show me! I'd love to see it!
I have been working on the core system over the past month. I got the game's saving and load functionality up and running, the localization system and character builder!
With the localization system in place, I can add in different languages as I build the game. At the moment I'm only supporting English and Japanese, but will add other languages later on. Most likely post launch.
Game dialogue in Japanese.
Below is a sample of the different character models, costume, face, hair, mask and gear accessories so you can build your unique character. When certain gear is equiped, it will appear on your character as well. Some may be cosmetic while others adds to your characters attributes. Will look to add more over the coming months.
I also have been working on some of the shaders in the game, so expect more visual changes in the coming months as well.
Check out the water shader in the Youtube video below.
Pre-order Store:
For anyone who missed the backerkit campaign, you can still pre-order and support the project on the pre-order page here.
The survey "smoke test" didn't reveal any issues over the long weekend, so we're starting to send out surveys to everyone now! Be sure to check your email and your BackerKit account on the website to see if your survey has come in!
I'm more or less ready to start shipping out rewards, so as the finished surveys come in, I'll periodically 'lock' them in batches to get cards charged for shipping and additional addons. Then, rewards will start going out! Exciting!!
Digital rewards like the Backstage Pass invites, game keys, and cosmetics will be distributed separately from the physical rewards. I'll post an update when those become available!
I'll keep everyone posted, but in the meantime, enjoy a world of "petal" in it!!
We've now ordered and paid for the merch to be produced and shipped to us so we can start shipping out orders! We expect to start shipping between august and September!Â
Inside the digital rewards for backing up the Barnaby's Portrait tier, there's a reward for Barnaby Chase Demo but there was a demo handed out previously with the same link as the one rewarded for the tier. Is this a mistake or just a miscommunication?
Please someone let me know!
