Hey Folks,

So it's time for the second weekly Devlog, and today I thought I would discuss what happened between Captive Audience and the creation of It Will Find You, and how the new game came about.

Before we begin it's probably worth introducing myself. My name is Nick and I was the Writer/SFX on Captive Audience, and head of the redesign that occurred post-release.

As some of you may know, Captive Audience was originally designed as part of a Masters in Game Design course, and so the original prototype was created under a fairly heavy time constraint. This prototype was then expanded upon and polished following the deadline until it was at a releasable state, and from there sent out into the wild. The next few months were spent adding additional content, redesigning the interior, and just general bug fixing to make what we hoped was a good portfolio piece the best game it could be. What we hadn't expected was the huge amount of positive feedback we received, with the game being picked up by several big streamers, and a lot of people clamouring for more.

We'd discussed adding to the series during development, and that seemed like the perfect opportunity to see if we could take the project further and secure some funding, but in hindsight we did this in a non-committal and rushed state, hence why it was unfortunately unsuccessful.

During that process though the discussion of what a sequel would look like began to take place, and so I began to draft up a series of different stories we could explore that would both expand on the current universe, while still keeping the story close to it's origins. After all we left Matt in a pretty dark place, at some point we'd have to find out what happened to him.

Since funding hadn't been secured, unfortunately the team moved on to pursue careers in the industry, but I still had my Master's Project to complete as I was a January starter on the course, and figured that if I was going to make any game, i'd like to carry on the story i'd started to tell.

The aim of my project was to create a narrative driven game that utilised a Reactive Narrative System to promote immersion, and so you can expect to see this reflected in the game-play of It Will Find You. Whilst the game does not directly present any options to the player, each situation they find themselves in, and how they choose to act in those situations, will affect something in the game, whether it's the next segment of dialogue, the creatures aggression, or which 7 endings you receive.  Oh and yes, there is a creature this time, and as the title suggests It Will Find You.

So, 5 months later and here we are, with It Will Find You nearing release. The project has been a great experience for me to make as a solo developer, and with some of the original team contributing to the final product i'm hopeful it will meet players expectations for the next chapter in what i'm calling the "Tales of the Compendium". The game is fully voice acted again with a stellar cast of very talented people, and the story is filled with twists and turns that should keep you on the edge of your seat.

This won't be Captive Audience, and we're not returning to the TV set just yet, but Player's can expect to find out more about the world it inhabits, how certain characters ended up there, and more.

Next week i'll be diving into the story of It Will Find You, and what people can expect when they step into the role of Julia.

Until then,

Nick

If you want to come discuss the game, have a general chat, or reminisce about Captive Audience, why not join our discord or Facebook pages, or follow us on twitter for more news!

Discord: https://discord.gg/bhgXgH

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ItWillFindYou/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeraldofLoco