We’re just about there! I apologize for the long time span since the last update. Once again, I find myself very busy on the development end, and the last month has just been kind of crazy in general.

The good news? The main quest and three endings (gameplay) have all be finished! That means all that’s left on “the meat” of the game is getting the ending “cinematics” finished and finishing off all the side quests (those won’t take long). The long and short is that the game should be finished around September 29th.

I talked things over with Tim and him and I both agree that - and I know this is the kind of thing everyone hates to hear - we should wait to release until the week of October 16th. Why? That gives a couple extra weeks for bug testing (where we play through the game repeatedly non-stop), finishing touches (fixing grammar, story touch-ups, musical changes, etc.) and most importantly marketing (which is a beast in the game industry right now). We are certain we will release on both GameJolt and Steam, but we’re also looking into at least one other option right now. Hopefully we can share information about that soon if we’re able to make it onto another platform!

You’re probably noticing that I’m posting screenshots straight out of the Construct 2 editor, and if you’re wondering why it’s simply to save time at this point (by the way, the red boxes are there for collision detection and don’t appear in-game). I’ll be making an official release trailer in the next couple weeks and you can expect a load of new, high-quality screenshots to come with that, but at the moment I’m pretty snowed under in keeping up with development.

The three endings take you to three different new locations: Fallcrest Mountain, the Thomas Mansion, and the Deep Forest. The Fallcrest Mountain ending was just finished today, and it offers up three new puzzles that all fall somewhere in the range of a medium difficulty (though some will find them either too easy or maybe a bit too tough depending on their experience with the puzzle genre). I’m probably going to add an option that allows you to get in-game tips/solutions if you so desire. I’ve never been the type to “punish” players, and if they can’t solve a puzzle and just want a solution I’d rather be kind enough to provide it through the game interface than force them to look things up online. Obviously you will also be able to play without the option of having in-game helps if you have no interest in that sort of thing.

The Thomas Mansion was probably one of my favorite areas to put together. It’s a sprawling underground labyrinth extremely similar to the catacombs on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain in King’s Quest VI. In fact, I could hear the ominous music from the catacombs playing in my head most of the time I was working on the mansion. And now it’s stuck in my head again!

The Deep Forest is another fun location, replete with cult guards that walk back and forth and revelations about The Old Paths’ intents and purposes. Chuck gets his Snake on and ducks behind piles of cuts logs to hide from these skulking fiends, so that’s pretty cool. The Deep Forest ending also offers up another fun little puzzle involving a chest and three turning gears.

Obviously, my main focus now is finishing off all the polish of the game to make sure it’s ready for an October release (and have no fears, the date is not moving again barring an absolute catastrophe of some sort). That being said, I hope I get the time to add a few extra features that will help flesh out the story and general satisfaction of the game. When you finish your first play-through you’ll get to see how many objectives you achieved and missed, which I think will both prompt players to go back and play again and to realize that the replayability is really one of the main points of The Grimsworth Reports.

So I’ll end on that note. Playing The Grimsworth Reports only once really doesn’t do all of the available content justice. With about 21 divergent and meaningful paths to follow during the main quest and only 7 you get to choose each time you play through the game, in addition to 3 completely different endings and 7 or 8 side-quests that can only be finished if you make the right combination of choices during gameplay… well, I think you get the idea. My goal was to create a world that really can feel a bit different each time you play through it for the first three or even four plays. My hope for each player is that it’s something they’ll be able to come back to and enjoy several times, even if they never consider it “the best game ever” or even “that great of a game.” Seriously… I don’t expect any awards or even praise for The Grimsworth Reports. I just want it to be what it is - a fun, B-rated adventure game that’ll provide you with a solid 10-15 hours of good times.

Can’t wait till October!