Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara

[CaptainD]

@dactylopus - thanks! 

Just a little incomplete part of a location from Act III to let you know we're still alive...

[CaptainD]

Right, thought it was time for a proper update. So here goes...

• Acts I & II are essentially feature-complete (sans voicing and achievements)
• Act III is fully playable in placeholder mode and several assets are already made, including a fantastic sweeping orchestral piece by Eric. Will just need final assets added and than a good polishing session and it should be all shiny.
• Act IV is about 60% coded and the artwork is coming along very nicely.
• Acts V & VI are being conceptualised, they look good already (in my head!)

Here are some (incomplete - in that objects etc may be missing) screens from Act III:













Lorenzo's work is, as always, amazing. He probably rates it as "quite good" because he's a very modest chap.

The demo of Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara is available from:

Steam
Itch
FireFlowerGames

[CaptainD]

What's happening here then? (I suspect most sci-fi fans will immediately know...)

[Rik_Vargard]

I just finished to play the demo and I had great fun.
Notably how fast I got dragged into the story, the ambient, the characters.
This will be something.

keep up the great work! 

[CaptainD]

Thanks so much, Rik! Glad you enjoyed the demo. 

[CaptainD]

As always, life is hugely busy and just finding time to dev and talk about the game is a major challenge, but we have continued to make good progress on the game overall. Here are some highlights:

Development

Acts 1-4 are essentially feature-complete, minus voicing and achievements, which I plan to add when the game is otherwise completed.
Act 5 is in development, quite a bit of work has been done on the early puzzles for this. This act is probably going to be a bit more dialogue-heavy as a significant amount of the history behind what's happening is revealed here. I've been very pleased with the dialogues I've written so far - every character has a unique way of talking, and the information is portrayed in what I hope is an engaging fashion rather than an exposition dump. I'm delighted with the way all the plot strands are weaving together seamlessly (at least, it seems that way to me) and slowly revealed to the player throughout the game.

Testing

Acts 1, 2 and 4 have been fully tested and most bugs / issues found have been corrected already.
Act 3 is currently in testing. Although obviously this is to pick up bugs and issues, the main focus is to ensure that the game flow works as intended. I may add an extra small section to this act, although I am reluctant to open myself up to scope creep - I've got enough work to do already!! :-)
Game structure

As you already know, the game is split into 6 different acts (plus an epilogue cut scene). I've been trying to work out what I can tell you about the different acts without revealing too much. That's always a tricky business, but here's my attempt:

Act I

Correlates to the demo, if you've played that. Captain Disaster gets a distress call, meets some aliens, frees some aliens... nice easy puzzles and a bit of dialogue to get things started and set the scene.





Act II

CD lands on a planet with more aliens, and discovers that they have a significant problem Being a nice chap he decides to help out. He also finds that a character already known to him (from "Death Has A Million Stomping Boots" is on the planet, and is demanding an apology for certain events in the past!

This act has quite a number of characters to talk to and many puzzles involving inventory items. Just like in the good old days.










Act III

In order to help the inhabitants of the planet, we travel to another area to put a plan into action. This part of the game features only one character to talk to (unless you count remote communication with Zero-Bit, the ship's computer), and a handful of inventory puzzles, but the main focus here is more technical puzzles and use of interfaces for devices.







Act IV

We again journey to a different area, but this time (and because the screenshots give it away instantly, I don't consider this too much of a spoiler) Captain Disaster finds himself thrown into a digital world, having fallen foul of a security application. Obviously a skit on TRON, a movie I have always loved and made Lorenzo watch for reference even though he's not a fan of Jeff Bridges, it has a completely different look and feel to the rest of the game. You still have inventory items, but they are mainly things like mods and viruses. Defeating the security application is key to finding out about the history of the planet, however, and of course you have the opportunity to escape, because you need to get back to the real world for the next act...





Act V

This is where I don't want to reveal to much. I will simply say that we will journey to a very different part of the planet, and meet completely new aliens. The dialogue here will really give you a feel for what has happened over the centuries on this planet, what has led up to the present state of affairs, and why the stakes are so high. I have decided, for better or worse, to not include any of the screenshots from this act just yet. I don't want to say too much about the puzzles and other aspects of this part of the game, but let me just say this... you may well find yourself very surprised by one aspect of it.

Act VI

No screenshots for this one yet as we haven't made it! Don't want to say much about the plot here really, just that Captain Disaster will be largely acting as a peacemaker. Which won't be easy...


Planet location walkthrough

Just a little tour of some of the locations in Act 2. The park with the kids playing is one of my favourite places in the entire game.

[CaptainD]

Progress has been slow recently due to pesky real-life stuff, but I'm slowly getting to the point where the game will be playable from start to finish, and another round of testing can start before final polish and voice acting added, all Steam achievements implemented, and the final round of testing begins.

[CaptainD]

Just a brief update...

Yesterday I coded the very final sequence that happens in Captain Disaster and the Two Worlds of Riskara. Obviously that's a pretty nice milestone, but it doesn't mean the work is done. Far from it.

In fact, I've decided to put the release date back to next year (aiming for early in the year if possible.) The reason for this is that I'm really not confident of delivering the game by the end of the year without taking short-cuts.

I would much rather release the game later if that means I can make sure it's as good as I can make it, and that it's been tested as thoroughly as possible. I hope everyone will feel it was worth the wait, once the game does come out.

Anyway, that's my update for today.

If you haven't already wishlisted the game, you can find it here:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2242270/Captain_Disaster_and_The_Two_Worlds_of_Riskara/

We truly appreciate all wishlists, reposts and any spreading the word, since our wishlist count has been growing extremely slowly!

[The Last To Know]

That's a good decision. Take your time. I know it will be great. :-)
And of course I wishlisted a long time ago!

[CaptainD]

- Thanks TLTK!

---------------------

So, one final update before this year ends.

Recently, we started true end-to-end testing to prove that the game can be played from start to finish. This has been proven, and a lot of little improvements have been made to the game as a result.

This is where we are with the project now:

- Story and game design are 100% done.
- Graphics and music also 100% done (unless we decide to add anything!)
- Playtime 8-12 hours (maybe longer for achievement hunters!)
- We just have Voice Acting, final testing and refinements to go...
- Estimated release date by Q2 2025.

Thanks to everyone who's supported the project since its inception, whether as part of the team aiding in development or testing in any way, helping to spread the word on social media, or just words of encouragement / interactions here or on other forums etc. It's all very much appreciated! 

Boos and scowly faces to everyone who hasn't supported us 

I feel that we're creating a game that people will really enjoy, and hopefully that turns out to be true... until then stay safe, Disaster Friends!

[Kini Games]

Heyyy, Cap'n!

I've haven't been on X much recently, so I haven't been following the game's development as closely as I otherwise would have been.

It's great to see how much progress you and Lorenzo have made - and 8-12 hours of gameplay is more than I was expecting. What a treat!

Really, really looking forward to this one. Fantastic work!

Hope you're well. 

[Stupot]

Great to see development ticking along steadily. All the best with the final stages. Can't wait to play.

[CaptainD]

Thanks @Kini Games and @Stupot! It's been a long journey, but the end is in sight...