Hello Game-Jolters, Game-Joltites, and Jolties alike. I'm Sage, or "CocaNut" and I wanted to use our first Devlog to give more insight as to who we are, and what the fuck is a Contracted.

Firstly, a bit about us. Obviously I can't speak for the personal experiences of UnknownBoxy and Epic, but I'm going to anyway fuck you. Boxy has been making games as a hobby for years, probably most of his life. He's got all the required skills to pull off this project, even if it is a hard time actually finding time to work on the game due to him being terminally empl*yed. Yuck. But he's the Programmer, the one actually making the game. What a guy! No offense to him, but he's also a great demographic example of a "casual gamer", which is important to ensure we're not gonna make something far too complex, cryptic or difficult. So y'know, he makes sure Contracted is actually fun.

Epic is our 3D artist, as while the game will be 2D and made with a majority of 2D assets, there's plenty of things that would greatly benefit from being a 3D model, then turned into 2D sprites later on. He's been making models with Blender for years, and it's a hard time making something that's 3D fit in with a 2D world, but he has more than enough skill to do so. Epic also knows a thing or two about what makes a good game for those willing to grind it, so he's always got plenty of ideas on what to add, and what's "fun" for those sick fuckers.

And then I'm here. Hi. I'd personally describe my role as "Main Asset Creator", I make the SFX, Music, as well as the 2D art, which there's a lot of. I'm used to drawing cartoony little goofballs, so Contracted is an insanely fun mix-up. I've loved exploring this pixelated style, and creating assets for an actual horror game. Not to mention the sound design has also been a blast so far. However, I've especially had fun with desinging Contracted alongside my two buds, my chums, my peers if you will. I'm definetely a stickler for "polish", wanting things to be super smooth and really capture whatever idea is churning around in my skull. Which means pestering Boxy about how a slider should control, and other arbritary shit. But making all these assets, and seeing them be put into an actual video game, especially one I can help design, is really cool. And I'm very thankful for the opportunity to be working with my favourite people on a project like this.

Wow it smells like paragraphs of slop in here, anyway. What IS a Contracted?

Contracted will have the player entering different buildings or "levels" using their ship, which they sit inside of, using monitors to complete tasks, and watch cameras to see where the "Mutants" are. Depending on a bunch of factors, you get currency to spend on varied upgrades, as well as completing your Contract, which is the main goal. Completing more and more Contracts, getting to higher and higher levels, and finding different items to make weird synergies/builds with an overall emphasis on Risk & Reward. Rewarding players that are skillfull enough to take on the risks, but not punishing those who can't. The real nitty-gritty of it all can't really be described yet, as the game isn't complete. But if I, personally, were to try and describe what we're going for, I'd say it's like a mix between the Point & Click style of FNAF, the horror design of Lethal Company, and the addicting synergies of Balatro, but minus all the lame RNG. And I feel a bit of Risk of Rain 2 in here as well, with it being a majoritively skill-based game. There's also a demand on having to strategise, really thinking ahead, in order to optimise your runs.

Roguelites are fun.

With this being the first Devlog, there's not much to show, at least not much that I personally want to show. I'd rather show things off when they're in a better state. I appreciate you reading all this, and we're all excited to show off our progress in the coming months. We won't let you down.