Hello everyone! We just want to give you some updates regarding our game, Delphyq. The project is still very much alive. We have continually been hard at work developing the game, improving it, and growing our team in the last two years. We may have gone quiet for a long time, but we never left.
When Delphyq was picked as one of the games selected to be showcased in the 2017 IndieCade E3 floor, we were just a small team of five people. We had a playable demo then, but it was no way near ready for production. We had to buckle down and solidify the design, revisit the architecture, and create a compelling story. Then, we went deep into production mode.
Delphyq was selected among thousands of entries to the IndieCade Showcase at E3 back in 2017.
Along the way, our team has constantly grown in terms of size and experience. In 2018, we doubled our team size and added an experienced producer, two senior developers, and two artists. We expect to add two more people in key positions this month for a total of 12. Not a big improvement, but we’ll take it nonetheless.
Additionally, in our review process heading to production, we realized how ambitious this project is and how small our team is compared to teams that worked on similar projects in the past. For this reason, we had to revisit our design with two goals in mind. One is to keep the core design intact while trimming the fat that bloats the production schedule. That leads to goal number two which is to release the game in 2020. For us, this meant an increase in focus, effort, and efficiency on our part.
We also realized that the architecture of the demo did not have a good foundation for the final game. It would have been a better scenario for us and the project as a whole if the architecture and design were already solid as we worked toward the release of our playable demos between 2016-2017. However, having a 5-man team when we first started working on Delphyq and the urgent goal of having a playable “proof of fun” for our investor did not allow us to follow the ideal route. For this reason, we found ourselves facing the monumental, albeit dreadful, task of “refactoring” when we went into production mode.
We had to revisit almost every aspect of the game systems (i.e. AI, player controller, UI/UX, etc.), and each visit had us staying for a much longer time than we expected. As we dove deeper into the different systems, we also realized that we needed various tools that would help the development process and bug-fixing in the long run. These tools are already proving to be essential in our development process.
“In order to debug the AI decisions in the game, we have developed a suite of build & Editor tools that assist both developers and designers in understanding why enemies make the decisions that they do, and what internal and external considerations that lead to the decision being made.”
We are doing our best to deliver a game with a fresh new take on strategy & tactics. If you have visited our new Delphyq website, which we just launched recently, you would have learned that the game revolves around the concept of a mastermind. And a game that revolves around the “Mastermind” concept will not be complete without a fitting story. We are happy to announce that we feel we now have a compelling story full of unpredictable twists and turns that would provide the player an immersive and suspenseful experience similar to watching a Mission Impossible movie. We hope to deliver a game that keeps our players on the edge of their seats, not just in gameplay, but also through the story.
The story will be delivered via cutscenes at certain points of the game. Although we are aware that many players skip through cutscenes, we encourage everyone to watch them when the game comes out because they are a vital part of the full experience we aim to deliver.
“The Delphyq story will be delivered via cutscenes throughout the game. It is intended to be a vital part of the full experience we aim to deliver.”
Two years may be a long period to many but for a small team like ours working on a sizable project, the time went by too quickly. You never have enough time in game development, but you can make the most of the time you have. And that’s what we did.
In that regard, we are happy to say that our efforts paid off. We feel that the tactical combat aspect of Delphyq is now on solid ground, and we can only build up from there. This is a direct result of our work on the A.I. and player controller. The A.I. now reacts and behaves so much better than how it did in our past demos. Player Controller is now more streamlined and intuitive not just from refactored code but also from redesigned UI/UX. Adding and refining the “Player Unit Abilities” also increased the “tactical combat” fun factor.
We also improved the overall user experience by tweaking the lighting in our Tutorial Level, which we aim to release as our Demo 2.0 in the next few months. This is the same level as the one in our 2017 E3 build but better in many ways. It was not just the visuals that we needed to improve but the optimization of the level as well. We were successful in that regard, and in the process, we learned what we need to do in creating the rest of our levels.
“The upcoming Demo 2.0 will feature new Player Models, UI and VFX. Look out for the release of Demo 2.0 in the coming months.”
The last two years were focused on pushing through the grind. It was all about working hard and persevering even when the going gets tough. As a result, we recently were given a pat on the back. Delphyq had been selected as a finalist in the 25th Indie Prize Awards to be held in the upcoming GameDaily Connect USA at Anaheim, CA on August 27-29, 2019. Needless to say, we are excited that our efforts were somehow validated.
It had been a challenging but fruitful journey these past two years, and we know we still have some ways to go. The good thing is that we are finally seeing the light at the end of this long and winding tunnel. However, from this point forward, we want you, our community, to come along for the ride and be part of the rest of our journey. We will be sharing our joys and agonies as well as our struggles and achievements. It will be a bumpy ride toward our finish line, but the journey will be more pleasant and meaningful with you keeping us company.
