Hey everyone, welcome to the March 2024 Devlog of Hack's Custom Night!

In tradition, every month I'll talk about what's been done within the past 30 days. Originally, I planned on talking about what's been going on for the past 60 days due to the different direction the previous devlog had. However, I don't have much well documented for me to go through. Even then, I'm not sure if it would be well worth the effort just to point those out.

With that being said, I do have major news regarding the current direction of playtesting builds and the potential demo.

Development Priorities (+ New Gameplay)

For a long while, I have been working on either extra features or content for Hack's Custom Night in order to keep the pacing of development going while the character artists work on their roles. All the work for a planned demo had already been done a couple of months ago (with the exception of a couple of people) to create a bit of a steady for the game.

My motivation to create or getting on my art software had been diminished pretty low with the interest of programming things on my own. It had always been this way for many years, hence why I didn't have much interest in doing other things like I used to. (Hack's Mechanic was already drawn and worked on many months ago.)

However, after taking higher consideration in the success of the first playable HCN build within a circle, I do not want to keep continuing to make promises on the development group or the audience. At the same time, I do not want to pressure myself to have finished assets for each character.

Which is why I decided, a month ago, that I would be prioritizing on implementing characters using the assets we have created, while also not focusing on post-producing the sketches into finished assets to create less pressure mid-development.

Doing this so far has increased motivation to the character artists themselves, it adds a lot of fulfillment without worrying about the finished artwork mechanic-wise. If we continue development like this onward, we'll not only be able to release more HCN builds significantly faster, but we may be able to get an entire public demo this year!

Of course, I cannot make any promises at the moment if this is the case, as I do not like making any goals without being absolutely sure if it can be achieved. But rest assured, me and the whole development group are doing what we can.

With that said, here are the following mechanics that are recently programmed with unfinished assets:

Zee's Mechanic

Introducing another character to the roster, Zee! She is a alien slug creature that wants to be a girl to fit with everyone else like the humans.

Your obstacle with her relies on the office more than using the tablet. Whenever she spawns, a couple of blobs will appear in the office. Hold your flashlight onto each blob until they go away. Failing to do so on time will have Zee progressive reach closer to consume your fate.

Emma's Mechanic

Briefly mentioned from other devlogs, we have Emma! She is a creative in-between different realities, best as a form of a black wolf!

She wants (needs) you to purchase a plush of her choosing before a random hour hits. Gather enough byte coins to buy her plush, or she will go on a riot! Keep in mind that purchasing the unsuggested plush will not fend Emma away!

Abby's Mechanic

From another dimension, we have Abby! She is a cheerful and hyper shapeshifter who likes to frighten others for fun!

At the office from a distance, Abby will get slowly closer the more you view the tablet. To fend her off, you need to flicker your flashlight on her face only if she's the closest to you. Doing so on her other positions will result in a near instant kill into the void.

Knockout Coin

Returning from UCN, we have the Knockout Coin! (Previously known as "Death Coin.") Like the original game, you can purchase it for 10 Coins to remove every susceptible character on-screen. However, if you are in Normal Mode, the cost of the coin will increase based on the night's point value, making it more difficult to use it on harder situations.

Devlog Conclusion

I apologize if any of the footages you've seen may look a bit lackluster and rough, but that's just something that we all have to go through in order to get the product we need. It's important to have this process as to not only get less pressure, but to see how the ideas play in execution.

Once I release this devlog, I will get to work on releasing a new build to the bug testers soon as I can! If the first build manages to make a lot of people around me excited for HCN through its rough edges, then I think it's best to make an even rougher build to pitch the game to them.

I hope for the best of luck for my project and how it'll accelerate forward. Thank you to everyone who has supported me thus far. I hope you all have a good day or night!

— Hack 💜