Chaos the Devil Steam page launched

Chaos the Devil is now ‘coming soon’ on Steam!

It has been a long journey. I am thrilled to finally be at the point to share my work with the world.

Wishlist now!

Emerging from his coffin - first play test

Things are getting exciting. Last week, Chaos had his first outing to the wider world, when he attended a local play test party. The play test, hosted by Bristol Indie Developers, was the first time total strangers have taken Chaos for a spin.

The event was absolutely fantastic! Located in the studio of Martian Lawyers Club, it was packed with folks showing their creations. I found out about the event by searching Meetup for events in the area, and was pretty amazed to have found one scheduled for the next week. There was no selection process, anybody could just bring whatever they had, and there was no charge.

Upon entering the event, I was given some table space to setup, had a little chat to the other developers set up next to me, and made sure everything was working correctly.

The room quickly filled with folks wanting to test games. Watching strangers play your game is a strange feeling, right on the edge of excitement and dread. The event was very successful and I managed to get valuable information for how players interact with Chaos the Devil. The feedback will be invaluable to adjust game balance, as I prepare for the first public demo release.

Here is a brief roundup of feedback and observations from the play test:

1. Testers instantly related the game to the ps1 era.
2. Controls and movement was not mentioned.
3. Difficulty was mentioned as high but not clear if it was a bad thing.
4. Early balance needs to be tweaked to offer more level select options early on.
5. Subtitles in cut scenes is needed, the games were tested with audio off.
6. When testers died they always tried again without hesitation, some sessions were longer than I expected.

New adventures, done old - A company is formed

Part of the Steam release preparation included the formation of the company that will release the game. Luckily, this is not the first time I have registered a UK company so formation went smoothly.

Accipitus ltd is born.

Accipitus gets it’s name from Accipiter, ‘a genus of birds of prey’ which relates to my surname, Hawk. The spelling difference is just artistic license.

The company will focus on producing the kinds of games I like to make. Classic style games, made with self rolled engine tech.

Chaos the Devil now has a home. The Steam creator page is now live, you can follow the company there.

The logo was designed to elicit the style of classic logos of the 90s to fit with the game titles of the same era. Simple, straight lines with spectrums of colour.

Roundup

Getting the Steam pages up feels like a huge milestone. The sheer about of work that is required to get everything setup is staggering. I had to completely swap out my developer hat for my marketer hat, and spend all my time just focussed on making it happen.

The play test couldn’t have come at a better time. It was a great way to shift the focus of development to marketing and exposure. I feel pretty fortunate to have stumbled upon such a great group.

Excited to continue the road to release!