Methods: The Canada Files News

Happy Chinese New Year from Methods!

The fifth and final mobile game in Methods: The Detective Competition series is coming soon!

Pre-order it here:

⭐App Store:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/methods-5-the-last-stage/id6738909485

⭐Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.erabit.methods.tdc5.paid.gp

⭐TapTap:
https://www.taptap.io/app/33783356

— LockedOn & Erabit

A devlog is definitely overdue, so here's the latest news!



Here's what I worked on since the last devlog!

• 
  
• Composing music tracks
  
• Creating 3D character models for use in CGs
  
• Drawing CGs
  
• Creating new UI elements
  
• Testing the game
  
• Implementing expressions
  
• Revising the mystery
  

It's almost been two months since my last devlog — mostly because I've still not finished what I set as my next "main goal" for File 04: completing all the music.

I had the first playthroughs for File 04 in early December, and though they were very helpful, some pretty big revisions are needed. Having to go back and redo earlier work is always a huge mental block for me — it's very hard to be motivated about it. The task of composing new music combined with having to do these revisions was too much on my plate at once— I had some decision paralysis and got overwhelmed.

So instead, I worked on other things— like CGs. I'm still not done with the music or the revisions, but this month I finally was able to start working on them. The key to overcoming the mental block was to allow myself to take a bit more time on it than I thought I needed. I often underestimate the amount of time things take for me to do, because sometimes I work very quickly. However, I should not expect things to go fast while I'm doing difficult tasks, and I shouldn't put myself in a position where I have two major goals at once—it just leads to confusion. In the future, I will try to make sure those revisions happen much earlier in the process, so that this kind of thing can be avoided.

As I said in my New Year's post, I'm tentatively planning for a March release for File 04, and I'm still on track for that thankfully!

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

File 04's backgrounds have now been modeled!



Here's what I worked on since the last devlog:

• Backgrounds for File 04
  

To celebrate this milestone, I'm happy to reveal the first official image from File 04:



I actually finished these backgrounds a bit ahead of what I estimated — one of the first times I've overestimated how long something will take! Like I explained last time, I first blocked out all of the backgrounds very roughly — basic cubes, and just some simple walls for buildings. This gave me a starting point for all seven backgrounds. Then I did a detail pass where I added textures, lighting, modeled props and got them to look a bit better. Then I did a "mystery props" pass where I modeled and placed all the specific evidence that was needed for the mystery. Finally, a "dummies" pass where I created and placed all the suspect/victim dummies. By that point, all seven backgrounds were finished.

This is in contrast to my approach with the first two Files — completing entire backgrounds one at a time. I believe this made the process go faster, mostly due to psychological reasons — if you only need to complete 20% of a task, suddenly it seems easier. By breaking up the seven backgrounds into "20% tasks", it lowered the psychological barrier for each background.

But there's another reason this worked, which is that File 04 does not have "one big background" — such as the Grouse Mountain Entrance from File 01, the Ubihard Main Office from File 02, or the Museum from File 03. Those big backgrounds were often bottlenecks because it was hard to see the progress being made on them, due to how much more work they required to finish. So in the future, I will take that into consideration and treat those large backgrounds more like separate rooms, or find a way to make them separate rooms.

Now there's just one bunch of assets left for me to finish: the music. So that's what I'll be tackling next!

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

File 04 is now roughly blocked out and coded.



Here's what I worked on since the last devlog.

• Rough blocking/coding for File 04
  
• Halloween art
  
• Prison of Lies Enhanced Edition soft launch
  

So, I decided to code File 04 before working on backgrounds/music, as an experiment to see if it would speed up the File's development down the road. What does that actually mean? Here's an exclusive image of File 04 to show you!



It means the whole File looks like this right now. I have the characters on screen where they are supposed to appear, they open and close their mouths, but they have no expressions. The puzzles show up but the correct answers are not implemented yet, the methods minigames are not implemented, and there are no CGs or backgrounds. This is why coding is at "90%" complete and not "100%" on the graph. However, even in this primitive state, getting it to this point earlier is going to be really helpful I think. In addition to the benefits I mentioned last time, it also means that towards the end of production on the File, all my focus can be on art assets. What you end up crunching on matters — it's difference between deciding to draw CGs for special moments or to cut them out.

My next task is backgrounds. Because it really helped with File 03, I'm going to be rotating between working on multiple backgrounds at once, instead of getting each one 100% finished one after the other. Just another special trick I'm hoping will speed up the process! ;)

Until next time!

— LockedOn.

Just for Halloween, here's some special illustrations of the Detective Game-masters from Canada Files in costume!



Conver as a Mad Scientist!



Foncé as a Mime!



Toska as an Iron Maiden!



Maar as a Cubist Painting!

Thanks for playing and we hope you're looking forward to File 04's release next year!

— LockedOn & Erabit