Re: The Vale Demo
In case you weren't able to read the Google document:
Hey there folks!
We’ve been real busy ramping up to our ‘early-2020’ release!After our last demo we’d like to take some time to address the feedback we’ve received.
1. Will The Vale be released on Mac (or other platforms than PC)?
a. Currently we don’t have any concrete plans for releasing on other platforms – however we are certainly open to the idea of releasing on Mac and other platforms post-release. Should The Vale be successful we’d love to have the opportunity to let more people play it.
2. This demo only lets you play as a female-identifying Alex, what happened to the choice of playing a male or female protagonist?
a. We’ve decided that Alex will only be a female-identifying character. We’re happy to be contributing to an ever-growing landscape of female protagonists in games.
3. Will The Vale be localized for other languages/regions?
a. Localizing The Vale would involve re-recording the whole game. As voice-over work is the most costly part of development for us, it’s unlikely The Vale will be localized without additional resources. But should the opportunity arise, we’d be happy to localize.
4. Will the demo be more updated than the just the village?
a. Currently, the demo of The Vale runs through the introduction of the game and into the first village. As The Vale is a story-driven adventure we have to tow a line between giving players the opportunity to try the game and provide feedback without revealing too much of the story. Currently, we’ll be using demo builds to iron out bugs and features on our way to release.While there may not be more story revealed with future demos, that’s not to say there isn’t going to be new content. Combat mechanics, system mechanics, boss battles, exploration, and more await players in the full release – and maybe some of these aspects will make appearances in future demos, time will tell.
5. Is The Vale actually a “video” game?
a. We’d like to consider The Vale a “video” game, even if it is designed to be played without visuals. It’s our goal to bridge the communities of mainstream gamers, blind gamers, and blind/low-vision people who haven’t gamed before. We want all people to be able to have the same experience playing ‘video games,’ so I’d like to think that keeping the namesake of ‘video’ helps us achieve this kind of unity.
6. How will screen readers access the game?
a. This has been a major concern of ours since we began development. For years now, Steam (the main digital marketplace for games) has been under fire for its lack of accessibility. We’ve been informed by many community members that screen readers and Steam are not very compatible. Fortunately, The Vale will be releasing across a number of digital marketplaces, one of these being itch.io. Itch.io is an online marketplace that came recommended to us for its visual accessibility. We’re happy to say that after having our consultant and other users test it, itch.io is our platform-of-choice for screen-reader accessibility.===================
Happy New Year from Falling Squirrel! It’s hard to believe that it’s been so many years since we started development! Onwards to 2020 and the release of The Vale! Wooo!
Kai
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