Archive for November, 2017

Shadowhand behind-the-scenes development video released

Thursday, November 30th, 2017

Grey Alien Games, the developers of Shadowhand (the card-battling Highwaywoman RPG coming to Steam next week on December 7th) have today released a cool ‘behind-the-scenes’ video, which offers a candid look at the highs and lows of forging an original game set in 18th century England.

The video is now up on YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/argag8E8IDU

About Shadowhand
Set in late 18th century England, we follow the story of Lady Cornelia Darkmoor, a beguiling young aristocrat who masquerades as the notorious highwaywoman, Shadowhand. Fleeing a crime scene and forced to act under the cover of darkness, Shadowhand’s mission to safeguard a woman she holds dear leads to a web of corruption, smuggling and blackmail.

Shadowhand is coming to Windows and OSX on 7th December 2017, and will be priced $14.99 (With a one week launch discount of 10%))

Shadowhand’s Steam page is already up and live, so people can add the game to their wishlists in anticipation of the release right now:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/427490/Shadowhand/

On release day, the game will be available from Steam, GOG, The Humble Store, and direct from the publisher’s website at www.positech.co.uk.

The previously-announced trailer for the game is here: https://youtu.be/tKWGHhfkjK0
And you can follow the developers on twitter at @GreyAlien and @BCHezza.

Shadowhand’s developers are Grey Alien Games, the makers of Regency Solitaire. The publisher is Positech Games, publisher of Big Pharma, and developer of Gratuitous Space Battles, Democracy and Production Line. A press pack is available from http://www.positech.co.uk/shadowhand/

Shadowhand dev diary #29: The final countdown

Tuesday, November 28th, 2017

Don’t forget that you can wishlist Shadowhand now on Steam!

With launch day for Shadowhand just ten days away on December 7th, we are excited that so many people can’t wait to play the game. Fortunately our publisher, Positech Games, is currently working on many aspects of promotion so that we can concentrate on testing and last-minute details.

Content complete
The game was finally content complete on 22nd November – until that point we had various enemy artwork and levels that we had designed that had not all been slotted into the game. Every detail is mapped out on spreadsheets first. That’s right, until a few weeks before launch the game in its entirety only existed in our heads and in Excel.

Balancing
Jake has been doing stirling work balancing the battle elements in Shadowhand. We have numerous meetings to talk through consumable items, weapon damage and effects, enemy and player stats and so on. This ties in to level design and difficulty. I designed the levels, which we then order and edit together to fit their final location in the game.

As well as the more obvious enemy health and defense, there are a number of factors that we can use behind the scenes, such as tweaking the intelligence of the enemy AI, to ensure that players get a fight that is just challenging enough.

Testing
After balancing the first half of the game and automated testing, it’s back to me (and soon a number of beta testers) to play test the game. Inevitably we have found a few issues with level design that mean we will have to make changes. But of course I’m also looking for the difficulty and fun factor, whether the game economy works, and flagging up any frustrations.

The good news is that I’m loving it! Our plan was to use a card game to drive an RPG with a lot of player choice and customisation. I honestly think that we have delivered. As I was testing, I felt this every time my enemy scored a health-giving steak and ale pie during a battle and I coveted his lunch. I was delighted each time one of my swords delivered a surprise counter attack. I spent a while pondering whether to wear a corset that protected me from stun or bleeding…and I wore my ruffian beard, both an excellent disguise and to boost my stealth.

Checking the enemies’ stats before a fight becomes increasingly important, and switching out weapons or defensive clothing items can make a real difference. Here’s mine at the end of Chapter 10:

The rapier I’ve selected comes with a chance to counter attack, and because it is a “sea” class weapon the Swashbuckler Swordbelt, designed to go with sea swords, boosts its damage by 10%. At this stage in the game Shadowhand could equally be wielding a club, an axe, a duelling pistol or any number of other weapons. For her off hand I’ve chosen a blunderbuss that comes with a built-in chance to stun.

This waistcoat is also anti-stun (I’ve just come fresh from a fight with a bludgeoning enemy). My breeches, shirt, bracers and hood all stack to boost stealth – the chance to go first in fights. Other items, like my hat and boots, add to my character’s defense.

Here are a few of the alternatives at the same stage in the game, with garments that are are better for combatting bleeding, animal attacks, and resisting the debuff effects of alcohol:

There’s more testing and level polishing to do, as well as finalising Steam achievements and a host of other tasks. Onward!

Launch Announcement

Friday, November 17th, 2017

Stand and deliver!

Positech Games (publisher) and Grey Alien Games (developer) are excited to announce the release of the full official trailer for SHADOWHAND, the new indie card-battling adventure game set in 18th Century England, along with the final release date for the game…

A full copy of the trailer can be grabbed from the Positech website here:
http://www.positech.co.uk/shadowhand/media/ShadowHand_1080p_STEAM.mp4

Or found on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/tKWGHhfkjK0

Set in late 18th Century England, we follow the story of Lady Cornelia Darkmoor, a beguiling young aristocrat who masquerades as the notorious highwaywoman, Shadowhand. Fleeing a crime scene and forced to act under the cover of darkness, Shadowhand’s mission to safeguard a woman she holds dear leads to a web of corruption, smuggling and blackmail.

Shadowhand is coming to Windows 7 OSX on 7th December 2017, and will be priced $14.99 (With a one week launch discount of 10%).

Shadowhand’s Steam page is already up and live, so people can add the game to their wishlists in anticipation of the release right now:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/427490/Shadowhand/

On release day, the game will be availble from Steam, GOG, The Humble Store and direct from the publishers website at www.positech.co.uk.

The developer Grey Alien Games is also the developer of the PC game ‘Regency Solitaire’ (Currently on Steam). Publisher Positech Games has previously released the Gratuitous Space Battles & Democracy games and currently has ‘Production Line’ in Early Access.

For more information contact Cliff Harris at Positech Games ([email protected]). A full press kit is available for download from the Shadowhand website at:
www.shadowhandgame.com