Fiction Factory Games

Ye Obligatory Update

Spent this week doing some light promotional work for Penny. I don't know if the money I spent on key mailer is going to really translate it into sales but it was worth a try.

I've also got the next episode of laugh track sketched out. And here I thought this is going to be more of a emotionally driven character study instead of another backhanded slap to our political climate. Oh well. I guess we're just gonna have to deal with the fact that I'm pissed off and I'm expressing it through...

Laugh Track Alpha-01 Released!

Hello, $5 backers! It's time. Literally one year after the first alpha release of The Shadow Over Cyberspace and we've got the first alpha release of Laugh Track.

This Google Doc includes the download link as well as instructions for reporting your feedback and bugs: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j07Rvci6Y8pDVMbDSxU5s6OuxLtQTERfiZnPpdFMlgM/edit?tab=t.0 2025-02-25 18:46:19 +0000 UTC View Post

Voice Acting Ponderance

So for voice acting, there's two common approaches.

If you have the budget -- fully acted out lines. Maybe not the whole game because for a narrative game that'd be tens of thousands of dollars, but at least some. If not, visual novels use "beepers" to mimic the sound of someone talking, or at least represent it aurally in the same way a thumbnail represents a painting.

For The Shadow Over Cyberspace, I drew a line and said "Anything taking place in the real world is fully acted; ...

Laugh Track UI Test

Testing out the main menu animation and the ratings popup indicator. Got some good stuff done today!

[LAUGHTER]

Behold. We have a logo.

I should have a playable build of the tutorial episode up within a month, too.

The Devil's Lettuce

With my retirement complete, I'm feeling pretty energized to do game stuff! I've made good progress this weekend, having finalized the soundtrack -- all stock music, but it fits the corporate sitcom vibe nicely and I have a few audio tricks up my sleeve to make it creepy now and then. And that music plus a couple finished art assets is really making this pop!

...even if some visuals are not quite finished.

Yeah. Well, half the assets done ain't a bad thing! 2025-02-09 15:13:18 +0000 UTC View Post

Still Alive

It's been some time since my last post and I really don't have a lot to share right now, but I can at least say why I don't have much to share.

In my day job, I am an IT specialist working on a federal website. I think you can just take a look at any news headlines from the last week and have a pretty good idea of what I've been going through. I'm not going to give specifics, but I will say that things are shameful.

I'm going on disability retirement by the end of next week. this ...

Refining Designs

Not much to report for the last week -- largely I've been refining my approach for the "season of episodes" that comprise each playthrough. I'm aiming for something a bit more like Penny Larceny, shorter and more replayable. Since there's two major endings (low and high ratings) I'm trying to make sure I have just enough episodes for two unique playthroughs. Penny had three uniques but I think that's overkill here.

Shadow Over Cyberspace is more like Arcade Spirits in that regard -- one...

Teens With Teen Problems: in COLOR!

Juno, Remy, Daniel, and Cat. Whee!

The Laugh Track Cast

Juno, Remy, Daniel, and Cat. Your cast for Laugh Track, our upcoming comedy-horror game about purgatory as a teen sitcom. Concept art by Crowbar, character artist for Penny and Cyberspace.

More to come.

Game's released

I can't believe I just spent the last like 11 hours juggling all these different streams and social media and everything and I completely forgot to just literally tell you on Patreon that the game you helped fund is now available.

So, this is me telling you. It's available. We did the thing. You helped me with the thing. You have my gratitude.

And now? The next thing. More to come. Like possibly even very soon because we've got artwork coming in.

1.0, For Realsies

Just got the last piece of the puzzle in place, the web search for Niara Thompson. Now instead of just saying that she wrote a song, you get to listen to the song! Thanks to Keiko, who also did the lyrics for our previous games title tracks. This one is not going to be released as creative commons, she'll be releasing on her own.

And that's it! The game is complete. I mean I'm still going to issue bug fixes if I find anything else or if I feel I need to tweak the dialogue after release,...

Update

It's been some time since I posted an update, apologies for that. Life's been a little bit crazy lately but I mean, when is that not the case? It's kind of a permanent state of affairs for adults in the 21st-century.

The shadow of cyberspace is 99% done, just waiting for one final music track to come in. We're all set for the January 10 launch. And with that locked in, I've definitely been moving on mentally to the next project, laugh track.

I've been discussing this and showing ...

Version 1.0 Released!

This is it! The final build of the game! Well, unless someone finds more bugs. But everything's in, and if anything changes I'm sticking with "1.0" for the version because whatevs.

This adds in the content warning and FFG logo to the start, and adds in the "Arkham at night" artwork for the intro and finale. It also fixes all reported bugs.

We MIGHT have another major bit of content added if a song Keiko's working on is ready for launch, but we'll see.

Same google doc as last...

Beta-07 Released

We're almost done, folks!

• Reported bugs fixed.

• "Unboxing" sequence at the start of the game fixed.

• Web search "NomiComm Laptop" now works!

• Steam achievements work (and previously earned achievements should unlock next time you start the game)

Remaining to be done:

• Missing art: city at night in intro and finale

• Need to add the FFG logo and content warning when you start the game

2024-12-07 20:38:45 +0000 UTC View Post

Beta-06 Update

Small update. Fixed a few bugs but I haven't fully gone through the list; a few weird ones like Steam achievements, mismanaged humanity stats, and a soft lock on Dec 26 are still in.

The main reason for this update was to test two features, the text-to-speech version of the hacking minigame, and the new main menu screen. The main menu is finalized, hooray! And if you have the "Shareware Donation" DLC we'll be releasing, it adds a shiny gold sticker. (It was hell getting that to work on ...

Odds and Ends

Haven't updated in a bit, so here y'ar.

Text to speech mode now has its own unique hacking minigame -- riddles. You know, spinx-style, one or two word answers, very clever and deceptive. I've got a bank of 76 riddles to pick from so while you may occasionally get a repeat, it won't be often. (This is only for the unisighted accessibility mode. The standard mode still uses minesweeper.)

I've also been kinda blowing up on BlueSky this weekend, thanks to being included in a visual no...

Beta-05 Released

Your Steam installation should update itself to Beta-05 next time you boot up Steam. This fixes all currently reported issues. We still have some known issues and missing assets, note. Testing doc's the same as before.

Hoping to have a final patch out in December which adds in the last backgrounds!

Quick-ish Update

Just a quick update to say that there isn't really much of an update. Needless to say my real life has been kind of a lot for the last week. I'm planning to do another patch to the game to fix reported bugs, put in a new hacking mini game for the text to speech mode, and fill in the final backgrounds one way or another.

Doing some user interface experiments for the game after this, laugh track. But nothing really solid just yet. Mostly during that through discord.

And today, I de...

It Is Wednesday: Well, !@#%.

Welcome to my usually-weekly blog about the gaming industry, and...

And, well. fuck.

We have another four years -- minimum, mind you -- of oppression, bigotry, chaos, mayhem, and injustice ahead of us. And in the most extreme cases, it's going to last for generations as the rules get tilted in such a way as to prevent un-tilting them.

Which is exactly the cosmic horror that my new game, The Shadow Over Cyberspace, is railing against. This is the Strange Aeon, in whi...

Beta-04 Released

The Steam version has been updated to Beta-04. A handful of fixes, but major ones.

• November 31 is now November 30.

• Text to speech mode fixed when selecting pronoun.

• December 8 no longer pops up Buddy in the living room.

• Pauses after periods and commas now shorter.

If you need a Steam key, message me here on Patreon or Discord.

It Is Wednesday: What Is Horror?

It's been a while since I did an It Is Wednesday column musing about the game industry and game design as a whole. Let's amend that.

I was talking about The Shadow Over Cyberspace with someone recently, and they suggested I bill it as "Cozy Horror." I'm really not sure it fits, though. I'm not sure what label it fits into, honestly -- even horror.

Is it cozy? You spend the whole game walking around a very cozy house, generally not in any sort of physical danger, doing web research...

Beta-03, Now On Steam!

I've got a fresh new beta for you! Testing notes are available here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YYhd9jhHOnfhBrUM2MJ0SC1rBRMbEBmuKDCYcr_0crg/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.z8fy9xmz2kbf

This fixes all reported issues and the game is in great shape, aside from a few lingering text-to-speech problems I'm looking into and some miss...

Getting Closer

On Halloween, we'll be launching our release date trailer!

But since y'all are stumping cash to help with development costs, I'll leak it to you early -- January 10th. It'll be before some indie releases later in the year, and hopefully after the inevitable coup attempt. (I am a safe apolitical game developer and not a brand risk~)

The game's almost completely done. I'm waiting for Steam to approve the code, and then I'll be distributing the last beta via Steam -- that way you can...

Quick Update About Cheevos

Yes, I know "the kids" don't call them cheevos. But the word's burned into my brain, so.

I'm going to simplify the achievements considerably; I don't want people to have to play through the game like 15 times, or even the ending sequence of days 15 times to get everything.

The following are cut entirely:

• Happiness in Slavery / Welcome to the Jungle. No Order / Chaos specific achievements.

• Bound For The Floor. Let's be honest, nobody's gonna purposefull...

  2024-10-19 13:02:24 +0000 UTC View Post

Known Issues

Just a quick note, if you're working on testing the beta, please make sure you review the known issues. There are a bunch of crash bugs that have been reported already.

The testing document is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YYhd9jhHOnfhBrUM2MJ0SC1rBRMbEBmuKDCYcr_0crg/edit

Getting closer to the end of the road on this one!

Beta-02 Available

Beta-02 is released! Here's the link to the testing doc and download link. (I just re-used the same doc as Beta-01 because, well, nobody had left feedback yet.)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YYhd9jhHOnfhBrUM2MJ0SC1rBRMbEBmuKDCYcr_0crg/edit

This fixes two progress-blocking bugs, and adds in some new features like the calendar, notebook, and closing cred...

Claim Your Credit

At the end of the month I'm going to jot down the names of everyone who's in the Patreon, to put them in the special thanks section of the game.

If you would like a specific name to be used rather than the name Patreon has on file, please let me know. I'd be happy to use whatever name you prefer to use.

Thanks!

Roughest of Drafts

I've put together a trailer! The "release date" at the end is just a guess and I'll likely spiffy it up a bit more beyond that before release, but figured I'd have you folks paying me moneys get a first look at the rough draft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUWKrV35sYw

The game is in great shape -- nearly everything is in place...

I finished adding the calendar which tracks the date, phase...

Beta 01 Now Available

We're in beta! The game is now fully playable from start to finish and ready for extensive testing. Most art, voice, and effects are in place.

Some assets and features are still missing, so please make sure you review the known issues list before reporting anything.

Download link and tester log sheet here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YYhd9jhHOnfhBr...