Status Update

Hi, continuing to keep transparent, progress is going quite well on the smaller project. Through it I've learned a great deal more about Unreal, all will transfer over to Unnatural Investigations. The goal remains the same, build out the smaller project, get that released, and then start a 50/50 split between both. The smaller project is less complex in terms of scale so it won't be hard managing both.

In terms of time frame there are no current dates set however with the smaller project about to launch it shouldn't be too long. Also, Unnatural Investigations will be in Unreal Engine 5.4 which has a great deal of new features that should make Unnatural Investigations that much funner.

Unnatural Investigations will have a much better ratio with combat and investigations. It will be in a semi-open world, not a crazy large world, but instead, a decent-sized one densely populated. There will be areas that are generally safe and those that are extremely dangerous. You will need to talk to NPCs to get missions(most of which are crime-related), go to the crime scene and find clues on what committed the crimes, and then solve the case by either locating something, destroying something, or taking out the thing that did it. More scenarios will be added.

I appreciate your patience and thank all who have bought a copy and those who have wishlisted it. Keep an eye out for more updates.

Quick update on the current and future state of the game. I did receive some feedback, while not a lot it did align with what I was thinking. Currently, the game is more action and less horror, which in general isn't a bad thing. But it's a bit more than I originally planned, and that's the result of several factors. Not one factor is the cause, but a big one is the scope in terms of levels and bosses. Originally I was working with a few others, so the workload was managable, but as I mentioned I am now mostly solo. Now I had all the systems in place, really just needed to build the levels and the bosses, but that in itself is a large task. It's a task I could complete on my own, but it would take years. So what changed? Well, Unreal Engine was the big change. At first, it was a bring everything from Unity in terms of systems and gameplay over to Unreal for its better network integration. And that went relatively smoothly, and fast considering I had 0 experience in Unreal. The change came after I got the game up to and past what I had in Unity. During that time I was focused on that, and once that was done I began experimenting. What I found was I was able to do many things I couldn't do for whatever reason in Unity. And thus I began to ponder.....

Future State

Originally the Unnatural Investigations was meant to be Phasmaphobia with the ability to destroy the ghost(Demons in this case). I had a version of the game in Unity that was more like that, but I couldn't get some of the features I wanted, and the networking was giving me trouble so slowly it became something different.

So after my time in Unreal, and my side project I have started to look back at those systems I wanted and that had more of a horror feel.

I've temporarily removed the demo, didn't want people to get the wrong idea about the game because it's going to change. Here are some of the details.

• Still 4 player coop
  
• Upgraded Host/Join options (Inviting Steam friends)
  
• Less gunplay, more melee
  
• One large open-ish world map (Not huge, maybe 4 or 5 times the current map size
  
• More Investigations
  
• Random missions (Missing persons, crime scenes, etc)
  
• Equipment, flashlights, scanning tools
  
• Fewer enemies, but smarter
  
• Bosses are gone in the way they are now, instead you looking for indirect ways of stopping or banishing them (Think Traps, spells, special weapons)
  
• New death mechanics
  
• More Jump scares
  
• More team engagement
  
• World events while playing
  
• Subplots and twist

Those are the things I am working on, still prototyping them, but I feel good about those. Now below are some systems and things I want but may not add.

• Environmental Damage (More so for hidden ways or stuff)
  
• Magic in terms of spells both offensive and defensive
  
• Different classes
  
• Abilities

Those are just a few, more will be added and some removed. With all that said I appreciate those who reached out or commented on the store page. I do apologize for the time it's taking and the changes to the core gameplay.

One last thing, I am working on a second project, started as strictly prototyping but has morphed into something I think will blow people's minds. It's smaller in scope than Unnatural Investigation but has opened the door to many new and cool system ideas for Unnatural Investigation. I will post more on here when the Steam page goes live, but if your looking for a 4 player coop game where your stuck in a research facility with a creature, and potentially one of you is infected then keep an eye out for it.

Thanks again.