Feedback [WIP] Not Our Home 2: The Prequel

Hello everyone!

This thread will be here to broadcast the development of our next game: Not Our Home 2, which is the prequel to the first game.

Not Our Home is a horror based game with a big storyline and that is what Not Our Home 2 is heavily based on: the story.

Below I have provided a link that reveals the introduction cutscene between two characters from the first game. No official sounds or music has been implemented yet, and we still want to do a lot with this scene.

The introduction to Not Our Home 2 is meant to be short and straight to the point. This scene is meant to introduce the 2 main characters: Emily and Henry, and what objectives they will have coming up.

This scene consists of Emily’s neighborhood and Henry sneaking into her house to let her know of important information. This scene will lead to the first chapter.

We still want to do more with this scene and we want to add some more features to it. The current state of this scene right now is to let you all know of what to expect with this upcoming game.

You may see bugs, performance issues, etc. and the footage is all pre-alpha. We will make changes and optimizations.

Let us know any feedback you may have!

 

looks like a very promising start. I'm making an 'atmospheric game' (see signature) so i can understand the appeal.

I like the cut scenes and the tension. It looks really cool.

 

Hello everyone!

I want to provide an update on what I have done with the game so far.


I wish to share everything I have done since the last update I have given about Not Our Home 2. Here’s a list:

• Improved the lighting of Emily’s house in the introduction scene
• Added more player controls such as crouching
• Adjusted some scripting within the game
• Improved many transitions in the introduction scene
• The introduction now has hills and the level isn’t so flat
• The introduction scene will now have grey fog after you leave Emily’s house (this is to match the sky)
• Made it to where the map of the introduction scene didn’t look like it came to an end.
• Chapter One has been renamed to “The Secret”
• Chapter One is almost complete with its level design
• Chapter One has a tutorial when you start the scene
• Added all the characters for chapter one along with basic animations
• Scripted some conversations in Chapter One
• Many many bug fixes

Here’s some images to show the work I have been doing:



Let me know any feedback you may have!

 

The first official soundtrack for Not Our Home 2 has been released!

Several weeks ago me and a music producer named Toumi have collaborated to produce all soundtracks for the game.

The first soundtrack we have finished is called “Atmospheric Night,” and this soundtrack will be for the introduction scene.

Give it a listen here:

I’ll be posting a new update next week of what I have been up to lately!

 

Hello everyone!


It’s been over a month since I last posted an update. Here is everything that I have been working on lately.

• Successfully upgraded from Unity 2019.3.12 to Unity 2020.1.1
• Added new post processing effects to the introduction scene and the chapter one scene
• Major graphical improvements to both scenes, including improved lighting
• Added the Introduction soundtrack to the game along with several sound effects
• Glass now appears once Emily falls asleep. This is to show that someone has broken in
• Finished the introduction scene
• Improved the conversation with Sophia including more replies and combinations
• Added a points system with the conversation feature
• You can now zoom the player camera in and out
• Added a basic main menu (this main menu will improve and change in the future!)
• Several bug fixes

Points System


Whenever you are in a conversation with someone, a screen will appear will what replies you can give, along with how many friendliness points, awkwardness points, and aggressiveness points you have.


Each reply you give will add points to your chosen personality, but will decrease other points.


For example: if you choose the friendliness replies, the awkwardness and aggressiveness points will decrease (only if those points are above 0!)



So why is this feature added?


Well, I recently discovered that it was incredibly boring to read replies and choose at random with no benefit whatsoever. Depending on which personality you have the most points in will determine which physical benefit you will have.


Friendliness Boost: Learn all information easily but gain the worst physical benefit: faster running speed


Awkwardness Boost: A bit harder to gain information from people but gain a better physical benefit: quieter when running


Aggressiveness Boost: Much harder to gain information from people, and gain a bad reputation, but gain the best physical benefit: faster crouching speed. (This is a stealth game!)


The reason why it has taken so long to implement the conversation with Sophia is because there is a total of 351 replies and I have needed to develop a system where the game will remember which combinations you have used along with what you have said in the past. If you say something rude for example, you should be able to apologize for your actions and be forgiven.


However, the good news is that I am almost done with Sophia’s conversation and future conversations will be MUCH easier to implement because I will have a template to use for future conversations!


Let me know what you think!

 

Hi everybody!


I apologize for the lack of updates over the past 2 months. School and my job have taken a large portion of my time, taking focus away from development from Not Our Home 2.


Luckily, I have made so much progress since September! Read below to have a list of additions, changes, improvements, and fixes!

• Successfully upgraded to the Universal Render Pipeline instead of the default render pipeline
• Added Sophia’s conversation. You now have 3 options of what conversation you can have
• Added several new scripted events for Henry and Emily and added new conversations between the two
• Henry is now able to walk to a certain location with Emily
• Added 6 new characters to Chapter One, including the rival
• 5 characters in Chapter One now have AI, soon there will be 6
• Added two stealth missions. The first one is pretty easy, the second is bit harder
• It is now possible to play Chapter One in the day
• Added new places to go to in Chapter One
• Added an eavesdropping feature that allows you to listen to conversations in stealth missions
• Added a game over sequence for any character that spots you in a stealth mission
• It is now possible for the game to recognize checkpoints for whenever you have a game over
• You can reset the chapter and go to the main menu in the game over sequence
• The game will now tell you what mission you are working on in Chapter One
• The game will now recognize if you learned new information from eavesdropping on a conversation or not
• You can interrupt conversations in stealth missions
• Leaving a certain area for too long where a conversation is taking place will cause you to not learn any information
• Added several conversations that determine whether or not you learned new information, and what personality boost you have
• Added the friendly boost (faster running speed), and it is possible to remove it if you change personality types
• Added another conversation that is very similar to Sophia’s conversation
• Added a special cutscene that Henry has
• Added Pro Controller support (this will be the only controller supported in the game from what I know so far)
• Changed the walking crouch animation and the idle crouch animation once again
• Significantly slowed down the speed of crouching as it was very similar to walking. This caused walking to have no benefit.
• Emily now has a new outfit
• Added many new animations for every character. Emily now has 2 new animations, 3 new animations for Henry, 2 for Sophia, and more for others
• Added several new UI
• The tutorial now shows up at a different part of the game when it’s necessary
• The game now updates throughout the game to see if you have a pro controller connected or not
• The flashlight has now been removed from the game as it had no benefit or use
• Adjusted some writing
• Adjusted the lighting in the introduction scene and Chapter One
• New post processing effects (again)
• Major performance improvements
• Many bug fixes and improvements

Phew! So much was accomplished since September! I have everything complete that is required to work on the missions that lead to the endings in Chapter One, and I plan on using November to accomplish these goals.



Let me know any feedback you may have!

 

Hello everyone!


Disclaimer: With this announcement, I will not be able to show you any screenshots. The only ones I can show are blurred and only left for speculation.


With the announcement of the demo release date, there is now a major deadline for the demo to be finished! There’s still a lot of work to be done, but I do believe it is possible to get all of it done by early January.


So, what has been done over the past month? Read below to learn about the new additions, changes, and improvements to the game!

• Implemented more day two quests
• Added a new tutorial to the game
• Finished the design of the rivals house, along with furnishing it
• It is now possible to break into the rivals house. This will involve a mini game!
• Added five new tracks to the game: the main menu music, the town day and town night soundtracks, a stealth mission track, along with a cliffhanger track for whenever you reach an ending! All tracks were produced by Toumi, the artist who made the introduction scene music.
• Changed and heavily improved the lighting of the chapter one scene
• Adjusted the lighting in the introduction scene
• Added many new animations to several different characters, including Emily
• Improved the game to have more ways to know whenever you disconnect or connect your Pro Controller
• Heavily improved path finding for certain AI in the chapter one scene
• Added new settings UI
• Added new UI for the main stealth mission
• Added new conversations to eavesdrop on
• Added new dialogue for Emily
• It is now possible to win and lose the main stealth mission
• It is now possible to distract the rival and one other character
• Added new sound effects
• Adjusted many different colliders
• Heavily decreased the draw calls in the introduction scene and the chapter one scene especially
• Performance improvements
• Added some new post processing effects
• Dozens of bug fixes, and I mean DOZENS

Alright, so... what’s next?


Well I plan on finishing the main stealth mission on Saturday, along with beginning the befriend/betray mission shortly after. I hope to finish that mission in the first week of December at the latest. Once that is complete I will work on all of the endings. When the ensigns are completed I will work on the main menu along with the intro story cutscene. Once those are completed I’ll add more sound effects to the game, work on the settings menu, fix any other bugs I can find, improve a lot of writing in the game, etc. It feels great to finally have a release date for the demo and I think I can reach it!


Let me know of any feedback you may have!

 

The NOH 2 official demo trailer is now out!

Steam page coming very soon!

 

You can now wishlist Not Our Home 2 on Steam!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1497490/Not_Our_Home_2/

 

Hi everyone!


Today’s devlog for the Not Our Home 2 demo will be the biggest update out of all of the devlogs I have posted. So much was accomplished this month, and I hope you’ll read what was done.


Before I get started, I want to mention a few things. This update will not have any images on what was accomplished. This does not mean that no progress was made. Instead, it is the complete opposite of that. Everything I have done this month has been major spoilers that I just cannot reveal yet, as I do not wish to ruin the excitement for the game.


This will also be the FINAL update before demo launches!


So, what was done over the past month? Read below to know what was accomplished!

• Finished the main stealth mission
• Finished the Befriend/Betray mission
• You can now eavesdrop on certain conversations in each mission
• Added a new mechanic that makes the befriend/betray mission different than the main stealth mission
• You can now befriend the rival
• You can also betray the rival
• Added four new cutscenes in chapter one that deal with the endings
• Added the cliffhanger that leads you to chapter two
• When the cliffhanger ends, you’re given a “to be continued” screen
• Added new settings to the game. You can now toggle shadows, effects, draw distance, FPS cap, and so much more!
• Added a new main menu to the game
• There are now four different main menus that show how you have completed the demo
• The main menu is fully animated and has many different menus
• When you complete the demo, you’re given a congratulations menu
• Added new UI to the game
• The game now remembers which scenes you have been in
• The game now remembers which endings you have gotten
• You can reset all of your data
• Added more controller support
• Added new assets to the game
• Certain tracks now fade out
• Added a 2 minute and 40 second intro cutscene at the start of the game
• Finished the final soundtrack for the game
• Added the last remaining game overs
• Added a ton more dialogue into the game
• Added many new animations
• Added new sound effects into the game. All sound effects have now been added!
• New effects in certain parts of the game
• The game now uses Unity 2020.2 instead of 2020.1
• The game is now on Steam! (Make sure you wishlist the game!)
• Added a trailer for the game
• Added a new icon
• Adjusted the splash screen
• Many different improvements
• A few design fixes
• Fixed several animations
• Dozens and dozens of more bug fixes

I also have some great news! The demo was sent into beta on December 15! When the game was given to testers, I was given a ton of positive feedback! Barely any bugs were found as well. Until the demo releases, I will continue to make improvements to the demo and fix any bug I see.


The demo has been so stable as throughout development, I fixed bugs as time went on instead of waiting til last minute. This caused me to create systems that results in zero to little bugs! When the demo launches, I hope that barely any bugs will be found and that the demo will be very stable for everyone! But of course, this is not a guarantee.


All the feedback in the beta will allow me to create a great experience when it releases. I hope many people will enjoy it!


Whenever the demo launches, I hope you’ll play it. It will release on January 15! If you do end up playing the demo, PLEASE send me your thoughts and feedback!


Thank you to everyone who has supported the games development. It really means a lot!

 

Hello everyone!


Today’s devlog for Not Our Home 2 will mainly focus on the on the launch of the demo which released on the 15th of this month. I want to go over what to expect in the future, what has been accomplished since the launch, and when I will begin working on the full game.


**What was accomplished since last month?**

• Launched the demo
• Lots of more bug fixing and testing
• More improvements made to gameplay
• Listened to player feedback
• Began plans for the final game
• and lots more!

**What has been accomplished since the launch of the demo?**


Ever since the demo launched, I have listened to player feedback along with viewing the demo from different perspectives. I have released 2 new versions since the demo launched. I implemented a new tips system to remind players of what they’re doing, along with allowing the player to spawn an arrow to help lead them to their destination(s). A few fixes have been made along with a few graphical and gameplay improvements.


**What’s next for the demo?**


I will continue to improve the demo until I feel like the demo fully represents a piece of the final game. I will continue to listen to feedback and make changes, along with taking suggestions!


**When will I start working on chapter two?**


The outcome of the demo will determine how large the final game will be. So far, the demo has gone pretty well! If the demo is successful, the final game will reach its full potential! I still need to decide how large the final game will be. I also need to do a lot more planning for what needs to be added into the next chapters, along with thinking of ways to make the next chapters different than the first one.


I plan on working on chapter two sometime next month.


**What about chapter three?**


I will work on chapter three as soon as chapter two is finished.


**Will we experience chapter two once it’s finished?**


Chapter two will not be playable until the full game is out.


**What if the demo fails?**


So far, that doesn’t seem to be happening. The demo has already surpassed Not Our Home: Platinum Edition in downloads and players! If the demo did in fact fail, the full game would’ve been relatively short and would’ve been copy and pastes of the first chapter.


And that’s all I have for this month! Thank you for checking in on the progress of the game. If you haven’t yet, go ahead and play the demo and let me know what you think!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1497490/Not_Our_Home_2/