Whoa! Where have we been? Hiding in a cave? Maybe, but that doesn’t matter. Because in that time our little trollkins have been up to a lot of mischief. Take a gander further in to see what we have in store for 2020!

What We Have Been Up To

For the past two years (yes, two years since our last post) we have been diligently working to bring you fun games during our spare time. So, here it is, our four big things we have been up to.

• Built up some boring infrastructure and operations
• Rewrote an entire game
• Revamped all of Eight Hours
• Started a collaboration

We also have a fifth thing we have been up to. But we will hold you hostage reading this for the big reveal.

Boring Stuff

We found that we were doing a lot of manual things and it was hard to do basic stuff for Troll Purse and all of our games. So we built up a bunch of automation and testing to make sure we can move fast - without breaking things. We can now spin up a new website in minutes using our technology stack, automated processes can be deployed in minutes, and stuff heals itself after it breaks. All in all, pretty cool - but a lot of work. It took up a big portion of 2018.

After that we did a few tweaks on Eight Hours and pushed a demo update on October 31, 2018. Eight Hours also got it’s own website, separate from Troll Purse’s domain.

We also kind of updated the Troll Purse website with some better colors.

We Rewrote a Game

The first thing we did during 2018 was rewrite a game we had worked on in late 2016 to early 2017. It had no name at the time. It was a Multi User Dungeon (MUD). However, we found that it didn’t have the game play elements to make the multiplayer part of the game fun and engaging. So, we decided to take what was fun, the chill nature of the adventure and role-play elements and rebuild it. Taking a server out of a game (written in an entirely different language mind you), is no easy task! Plus, there were no tests! The result is World of Phyntasie (yes, we finally named it too). We hope that you can enjoy it as much as we can.

We Revamped all of Eight Hours

After a lot of internal debate, we decided it was best to update the Eight Hours Demo due to some glaring issues. A lot of these issues were as listed:

• it took to long to get to the core of the game in the demo
• it was not obvious or learnable to navigate teh game controls
• it was too dark - people couldn’t see in the game!

We also saw some opportunity to update a lot of game play controls and reoccurring issues due to our original code. So with that we also updated a bunch of developer workflows and game configurations, as well as these player facing features:

• new custom dialogue added with subtitles (English only)
• an actual entity model
• totally rebuilt and better lit demo level
• more natural progression of learning the controls
• gamepad support for the PC
• better audio
• better player feedback for interactions within the game
• actual win and losing conditions
• JUMP SCARES!

As we were working on those elements we also identified a few more features that could make this into a full game! So we are actively working on fleshing out the game for a full release! What we hope to add is the ability to capture entities with a photograph and a video feed. We would also like to add achievements for all of the marketplaces we deploy to.

We have many great plans, but we can’t know if it is worth it without your feedback! That is why we decided to set up a booth at the Midwest Gaming Classic for 2020 on Friday Preview night. We will be working with the Wisconsin Games Alliance to secure that location and get some great player feedback. So, if you find yourself in the area, come on down and support us. Or, if you are able, download the demo and give us your feedback. The newest demo will be available mid to late March 2020.

We Started a Collaboration

Every once in a while someone comes up with a great idea and reaches out to you. That is the case here. You may have noticed another game entry on our Troll Purse website - Burnt to Perfection. This is in association with Mad Griffin Games. We plan on using our new boring automation to spin up some more informational websites for anybody interested.

Where We Plan to Go

2020 will be an interesting year for Troll Purse and out games. We are aiming to release a new Eight Hours demo in mid to late March. We also plan to distribute a digital release of the full Eight Hours game come October. We will also plan to release a demo for our collaboration game - Burnt to Perfection. We may also add some fresh artwork to World of Phyntasie. If we find MGC 2020 valuable to go to, we will definitely look into showing off our game in more public places in the future.

Well, back to the cave with our trollkins, they have work to do. Until next time.