Romley Court has been developed past it's beta phase! It is now complete and finished as far as we feel it needs to be. It gets across the feelings and atmosphere we're aiming for without the need for a drastic graphic overhaul or re-modelling. So, you can now explore a more polished Romley Court and unearth what's going on behind closed doors.
Whats new with this release?
- The first noticable change is the 'menu' system, we have a menu that you actually walk around in so you're engaging with the game straight from the off.
- Asset population increased, along with other visual and texture tweaks.
- The final cinematic has added audio samples.
- Custom loading screens.
- MANY other small bug fixes.
- Outside detailing and trees.
- Added in more spot audio throughout the Manor.
- Packaged multiple maps...not a great point, but I (Rhys) finally managed to get it all packaged up, this has been the main issue, it has not played ball at all and has been a major thorn in my side! On a personal note, im glad i can draw a line under this project, and focus on sending it in to the EUROPRIX media competition.
To our graduate show... Romley Court was tentativly recieved at first. After a fairly slow start where people didn't continuously play it (i think, because it has no objective, it's not clear what you have to do), we had a tactical shuffle of how it was displayed, and placed some of our printed Romley Court postcards in plain view. One side of our postcards has a short brief outlining what RC is all about and along with a slightly more hands on approach when explaining it, people started playing it more freely. It was interesting to see the kind of demographics that would play it, walk around for a few minutes and give up, and those people who would sit down and get really into it.
It was very much a love hate reaction as a quantity of people didn't get it. The setting, a busy showcase showroom however isn't the best place to play it when dialogue and atmosphere is key. The main response was good, people who enjoyed it praised us for doing something different and i liked to think that we opened up some people's eyes to the other possibility of games. It was particularly rewarding when a group of 3 middle aged women played it, swapping the headphones over and really engaging with the story. This was more the kind of audience we thought would appreciate the idea and it was good to see our expectations realised.
Photos will go up soon of the grad show, and Romley Court in situ.
Watch this space!
We will update this with any news we get back from EUROPRIX
Take Care
From All of us at Romley Court
Unconventional and explorative mods FTW, definately gonna give this one a try! Good luck in the EUROPRIX competition! :)