July 2020 Update

Dear backers,

I'm a little late posting today. The studio has been very busy.

Last month I did a 3 hour walk through of the latest First Playable build, and then we released 600 keys to our Design/Art backers and above. The stream was a bit long. Sorry about that. I got into the weeds on some of the systems and was too excited to show off as much as possible. Hopefully you got a chance to watch the bits that you're interested, or you got a chance to chat or watch a stream from some of the other backers.

Unsung Story Discord

At the end of the stream, we gave the Discord invite link, and since then we have had many players join our Discord to discuss the game and give feedback. I want to thank everyone for posting their thoughts. Everything has been carefully read and passed along to the various teams. We have made an initial pass to clean up the various channels and separate each game to reduce spam. If you are interested in looking at feedback or posting your own, you can join here: https://discord.gg/fhfvH4x

Also make sure to follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/unsungstory

Next, I'm going to talk about upcoming milestones as we track our way to the Q4 release of Chapter 1, and then I'll give a sneak peek of some of the missions you haven't seen yet.

Upcoming time line

Right after the 1st of June, we had a large internal discussion of how to move forward. The core question was whether to (a) interrupt progress to release another playable in July based on feedback or (b) push forward towards the Alpha of Chapter 1.

Here is how the next couple months should play out:

July 2020 = Complete In-Game Screen UI, Chapter 1 cinematics, and equipment design. Continue progress on 3D modeling and art for characters, jobs, and environment polish. Some feedback from Kickstarter playable incorporated.

August 2020 = Complete Chapter 1 front end UI, Harmony Skill system design, remaining Story Characters, World map, and mission select. Continue progress on 3D modeling and art for characters, jobs, and environment polish. Some feedback from Kickstarter playable incorporated. The plan is to try and get an Alpha for Chapter 1 released to backers in late August/early September. Please don't beat me up if we don't hit this exact time frame.

September 2020 = Complete Chapter 1 Weapons. Complete Character customization UI. Complete Chapter 1 hair. Complete Chapter 1 heads. Complete Chapter 1 cosmetics. We are aiming to try and get a Beta for Chapter 1 released to backers in late September/early October. Same note as above. I'm sharing these dates for transparency, but sometimes development is unpredictable.

October 2020 = Complete Chapter 1 animations, FX, audio, remaining UIs, and all dialog. Chapter 1 will release to backers and the general public in late October / early November.

November 2020+ = Finishing the remaining chapters for release in Q4 2021.

With that schedule in mind, we have decided to stay focused and push forward. That still means we are only about 2 months away from getting you guys another build with all the feedback incorporated.

Work in Progress

-- MINOR SPOILER WARNING --

Don't keep reading if you want an unspoiled experience when the game comes out.

Without revealing any plot or game play elements, here are two movies that we put together to show off where we're headed.

For context, all of Chapter 1 happens on the same day. It starts in the morning and gradually gets later as each chapter unfolds. By the time we get to Missions 4 & 5, things have gotten pretty rough. Missions 2 & 3 are indoors, so we wanted to change things up a bit and introduce some very cool outside visual elements and game play locations.

Mission 4 - Takes place in a burning market in Branholme

Mission 5 - Takes place just outside the clock tower in the rain

I appreciate your continued patience. Things are picking up pretty fast now. We hope to have the first teaser trailer for Unsung Story ready before next month's update.

As always, I'll be back next month for another update.

Sincerely, Matthew Scott