Beast Hour: January 2022


Hello everyone!

We are developers of Beast Hour – asymmetric PvP-horror with parkour & monsters! 

The game is being made primarily for PC players of horror, asymmetric and online games. Our indie team has made a long way and now Beast Hour is in the pre-Alpha stage. This is our Steam-page, and here’s where you can sign up for Alpha-testing.

We love talking with our players! That's why we want to tell you more about the game’s development, share details about the behind-the-scenes content and, in general, keep you in touch with everything interesting happening with Beast Hour. The beginning of a new year is thematically the best time to start, isn’t it?:)

USER INTERFACE (UI)

It’d be fair to say that Beast Hour didn’t have a proper UI at all. I mean, user interface was technically in place but the thing is – it was a temporary solution that wasn’t particularly good-looking and user-friendly.

Last year we started prototyping a new UI almost from scratch. This month the first new version has seen the light of day and it has been put to the test.

Just compare how user interface looked like back then and now:

Main menu:

During the gameplay:

I want to make it 100% clear – it’s NOT A FINAL VERSION. On the one hand, we already have the plans for UI improvements and, on the other hand, what is more important, there will be Beast Hour Alpha testers’ feedback.

LOCATIONS

The center of attention this time has become the “green district” where mushrooms have grown and many new mini-locations appeared, such as a windmill, graveyard and other fascinating places!

Underground location of the green district. December of 2021 and January of 2022:

Windmill:

BEAST HOUR COMMUNITY CREATIONS

We do love our fans and they reciprocate our feelings! For example, MrAvogato has made a rap song about Beast Hour which we then turned into a full-fledged clip. Check it out!

It’s inconceivably cool when our work inspires others – we as well draw inspiration from other games, many of which gave us ideas to start the development of Beast Hour.

BUGS

I remember how someone asked us: what was the funniest bug you ever had in Beast Hour. Truth be told, we were confused as realized that there was nothing especially interesting to share on the matter (more often bugs annoy rather than entertain our devteam). But right after there finally appeared a funny one: every character on the map increased in size in 2 or even 5 times.

But this month we’ve got a new hilarious bug: a character starts spinning while interacting with Arkana – the source of EXP in Beast Hour:

Of course, the problem has already been fixed by now but it was good fun playing with it:)

MOST SUCCESSFUL POST

We got into the habit of posting a new piece of content on our social media channels at least once a day. It doesn’t matter if it’s a weekend or a holiday even. It’s not easy to work at such a pace but we believe that this is the way.

The most chunk of attention, likes and retweets we got under this post on Twitter. This gif shows how Beast Hour looked like a bit more than a year ago from now.

And what do you think: is full decoration crucial or are you ready to play the game at an early stage?

STEAM-PAGE UPDATE

Steam-page is like the face of the project. For more than half a year we didn’t change its content at all. At the end of December it became clear that it’s the wrong approach. Many screenshots got outdated and the description was too cumbersome. It was time to change!

The logline of the project got remade with the strong emphasis put on the asymmetrical nature of Beast Hour. We also tried to describe our key features in a better way. Every new screenshot now ought to have an interesting narrative conveying through it. 

Just have a look yourself!

OPEN Q&A-STREAM

Ever since the launch of Beast Hour Patreon-page we held a closed Q&A-stream every month for our supporters. Now it’s open to everyone!

We did have some sound issues but hopefully they will get resolved within a few months:)

START OF ALPHA-TESTING

Right now all of our programmers are busy preparing servers for the launch of Alpha. Gameplay-wise the game is mostly ready, but the process of connecting to a game server is not an easy thing to do:

  1. One of the developers creates a room thereby becoming a server.
  2. Then he or she sends other players his or her IP address.
  3. They put this IP address into a special line.
  4. Players connect to the server and they can play.
  5. After the end of the match players have to redo everything again.

Once the programmers have finished their work, the connection becomes much easier:

  1. You press “Play”.
  2. Then you connect to an automatically created server.
  3. Profit!

We do our best to hasten the day this matter is settled to start Alpha-testing!

But if you are eager to try the game out right now, we have a solution for you – join us on Patreon! You’ll also be first to receive our lore materials about the game, you’ll get access to a closed chat and special roles on Discord and your name will be in the credits. We value this support very much!

Join our social media channels, wishlist the game on Steam and tell your friends about Beast Hour. Every player matters!

Contact us via email if you want to participate in the development or feel like discussing other forms of cooperation – bizdev@beasthour.com.

The Beast will come!

Leave a comment

Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.