00:00It's been a while since our last dev diary as all of our focus has been on finishing the game.
00:05With the release of Hellblade Senor's Sacrifice now imminent,
00:08this will be our last dev diary before launch.
00:16This is the first time that we're self-financing and self-publishing
00:19a major new game off our own backs,
00:21and our resources and budget was severely limited for Hellblade.
00:25But we didn't want anyone playing the game to feel like we've cut corners.
00:29And we knew it would be a fight to get this game done to the quality we wanted,
00:32but we didn't really quite anticipate just how hard it would be.
00:36We've got a really good chance with this, and the platforms are really excited about it.
00:40I think we've got some cool things going on marketing-wise, so nothing's guaranteed.
00:44But certainly what we're aiming for with this is doable and it's realistic.
00:49A few months back we hit Alpha, which meant that the game experience was complete but unpolished.
00:54Some areas were strong while others were weak,
00:56and we knew that the last few months would be crucial as we shifted our focus from content creation
01:01to improving the player experience.
01:04But how can you make sure that the game is compelling and working as intended when you're so close to
01:08the project?
01:09A good rule of thumb is that you should never trust yourself.
01:12And so we invited people to the studio to play the game.
01:15People that we trust, who have a good eye for story, combat, gameplay and so forth.
01:20It's not about the shock of a juxtaposed world. It's about a subtle shift.
01:27And it feels like something in my brain has been shifted.
01:30The team's sole focus is to address this feedback week on week until we get to the very last day
01:36of the project.
01:37This includes combat play testing where we test gameplay mechanics and difficulty with a mix of Ninja Theory staff from
01:43other projects,
01:44friends within the industry and expert players from the gaming community that we trust.
01:48People like Sawdash.
01:49We took all of their feedback and added it to the mountain of things that we knew that we wanted
01:54to do to the game.
01:55So it's not about getting a hundred people to play test a game and then gathering massive amounts of data
02:01and stuff like that.
02:02This is a game about the experience, so it's focusing on the quality of the experience.
02:07You do what it takes to make the game better, regardless of what your plan or schedule says.
02:12And it requires intense focus and concentration from every team member.
02:17Nothing is off the cards. If we need new attacks or enemy behaviours, we make them.
02:21If we need to reshoot scenes, we get the axes back in, get back on set and shoot them.
02:28Or if we need to completely redesign a section of the game that's not working, we dive in and we
02:32do just that.
02:37Fear and desperation can set in, but you have to keep reminding yourself that there's no point finishing a game
02:43unless it's the game you intended to make.
02:45At the same time, there's a massive optimisation and debugging effort going on.
02:49Getting the game to run at a good frame rate, to fit in memory and fixing bugs and crashes is
02:54an ongoing effort that takes the best part of a year involving most of the same team members.
02:58On top of this, there's PlayStation 4 Pro and high-end PC support with things like 21x9, 4K across multiple
03:05graphics cards and support for 20 languages with subtitles.
03:08The list of areas you have to polish seems endless. Combat, traversal, puzzles, animation, cinematics, audio design, music, VFX, story.
03:21It just goes on and on and it can feel overwhelming.
03:27But you have to keep your cool, focus on one area, polish it, move on to the next, focus, polish
03:33and you just keep going until you just can't go anymore.
03:35And with Hellblade, there was an additional factor that was essential for us to get right.
03:40For over two years, we've been collaborating with mental health professionals and people with lived experience of psychosis.
03:46We showed them a near final version of the game to get their final feedback to ensure that we weren't
03:51misrepresenting them in the experience.
03:53We took all of their final feedback and added it to the list.
03:56It also inspired us to create a 25-minute documentary feature on our collaboration which is included in the game.
04:08The final step is to prepare your game for submission for PlayStation and for PC.
04:13Sony in particular have very strict technical guidelines that you have to adhere to.
04:17And we planned for three submissions.
04:20The first one bounced back due to technicalities.
04:23So we fixed these and submitted a second time.
04:26That again bounced back and we had our third and final time to submit and pass.
04:31Otherwise we would miss our ship date.
04:33Thankfully, we passed.
04:36We hope to prove that the industry still has room for developers like us
04:40who want to make smaller, more creatively driven high-end games
04:44in genres that AAA publishers have abandoned.
04:47But to do so, we have one more battle to fight.
04:50And that is to get the word out there.
04:52And so from here, we are counting on your support.
04:55Thank you.
05:12These ones areanzuaries.
05:16This one on Social O'clock.
05:18These filters were made possible, and we brought VSPY.
05:18They were tekst, and there are already tools that would come to see them,
05:19Everything is supervised and natural,
05:54Grazie a tutti.
06:22Grazie a tutti.
06:37Grazie a tutti.
06:58Grazie a tutti.
07:07Grazie a tutti.
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