VOTE NOW FOR LAST STITCH GOODNIGHT ON GREENLIGHT! 

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=679226994

The focus recently has been screen overlays so you can pick your weapons, get around the mansion quick-like, and buy stuff.  This last one is especially exciting – up to this point the only thing you could do with the money you found was save up for retirement.  NOW you can blow your nest egg on protein bars and skin tape!

Of course, all the things you buy from the vending machine are pretty fleeting.  You use ’em once and they are gone forever, and you have to keep earning money just so you can keep buying.  If you want something more permanent, you’ll have to explore deeper into the mansion and find something a little more valuable than money.

VOTE NOW FOR LAST STITCH GOODNIGHT ON GREENLIGHT! 

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=679226994

The first step of our haphazard plan for global domination is getting Last Stitch Goodnight on Steam!  JOIN ME AS WE TAKE OVER THE WOOOOORLD AND VOTE YES!

Also, a new trailer for IMMEDIATE RETINAL DIGESTION!  DIG IN!

And alongside that, the game keeps transforming in ways that one could hypothetically label as “more than meets the eye.”  The quest log and the map system are both in place, so you can now put your notepad and graph paper away and breath a big sigh of relief.  I also gave the world a bit more depth with some added shadows.  And added the weapon select screen.  And let you save the game.  Its amazing what you can get done when you don’t have to focus on building a universe from scratch!

The old residential wing has some new occupants.  And not all of the new tenants are as adorable as rats.

Good news!  I just finished my third pass of the main game content!  You get better at design with every room/enemy/scenario you create, so allowing myself the chance to make multiple sweeps through ALL the content means that I can revisit things from the past and apply lessons learned.  This pass introduced a TON of new content, retooled virtually all of the bosses, and I can say (with uncomfortably intense enthusiasm) that the game is getting AWESOOOOOME.  The kind where you have to sing the word “awesome” when you say it.  And lock eyes.  Uncomfortably.  Intense.  Enthusiasm.

So whats next?  A whole lot.  You can play the entire main story line from the beginning to the end, which is good, but also necessary, because I haven’t implemented all of the save system.  After that I have to work on the maps, the side quests, and a billion tiny little details.  BUT.  They are a lot easier to tackle than “make the whole damn story”.

When it comes to making games, there is no substitute for play.  THINKING about a level can be a waste of time.  The second you put somethingANYTHING down on paper, you’ve moved out of the “how do I make it” and into the “how do I make it better”.  And its an AWESOME feeling.  Instead of the infinite unknown, you actually start to get a few tasks you can work on.  If you just keep focusing and don’t give up, you can dig up some ideas that you would have NEVER had outside of the game.

I just finished a big section of the game where the rooms felt right, but when you sat down and played it, something was off.  The enemies didn’t really compliment each other or the environment, and the boss just felt out of place.  The solution?  Fix the meh enemies and boss fight in one swoop by using those same enemies to build up to an EPIC boss fight.  And along the way, I realized I could work in some REALLY important bits of the higher mythos.  Turns out, making a game better is way easier than making a game.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 2016!  You don’t look a day over a day.

This has been an amazing year for Well Bred Rhino.  Last Stitch Goodnight’s story has been locked down, the mansion and offices were built, and all the bosses were put in their places.  And amongst all this world building, we’ve been able to polish the bejebus out of it thanks to fantastic feedback from the St. Louis Game Developers Co-op and from everyone who came out to the Pixel Pop Festival.

The biggest goals for 2016 are interaction, polish, and making people question my mental state.  I CAN NOT WAIT to get this into your hands!

But I leave you with one final HORRIFIC NOTION THAT WILL SURELY CHILL YOU TO THE BONE!  In a house of horrors, what if you are the TRUE monster?

Floooosh.  Terror flush that uses up all the cold water while someone else is trying to take a shower.   EV-ILLL.

The art of Last Stitch has been a journey that started in the previous game, All the Bad Parts.  And while the world art evolved, the character art stayed true to its roots.  And lo did those two art styles battle, CAGE MATCH STYLE!  In one corner we had outlines!  Cell Shading!  Chunky character design!  And in the other corner, bold crisp colors!  Details!  Sweet mustaches!

Up to now, the art has been this hodgepodge of dark outlines on characters, crisp no-outlines on the world.  BUT I REFUSE TO BARE WITNESS TO ANY MORE HODGE!  It’s time to commit.  It’s time to redraw alllllll the characters.  And I now know it’s something that needs to be done to make this game the best it can be.  THE WORLD DESERVES NOTHING LESS.

And if the player/guard tests are any indicator, I think it’ll totally be worth it.

Remember, if someone suggests you stand behind a lead shield, you probably want to stand behind the lead shield.  And cover the human bits that are your favorites.

In other news, Movember is going FANTASTICALLY TERRIBLY FANTASTIC.  Thanks for asking and not looking directly at my face.  It stops itching, right?  I hear it stops itching.  I just really need my face to realize that growing adorable tiny knives and then stabbing itself with adorable tiny knives is not the best idea.

Design wise, bosses can be a blast.  You get to test the player on everything they have learned in the last level, and if they flunk, THEY DIE!  In the game, that is.  Not in real life.  Murder is wrong.

The weapons in Last Stitch Goodnight (Último Sutura Boa Noite!) have to do double duty for this to work.  The weapons are tools are weapons are tools.  Sometimes you need to hit the boss over the head with a lead pipe.  Other times you’ll have to…

Wait, are you trying to cheat for the final?

When you are up close and personal with a game, it’s hard to reset your brain and play a level for the first time.  The below GIF shows off just how important it is to show your game, talk to folks about it, and (most importantly) listen to what they have to say.  Both the dodge and the green arrow on the ground were born from talking to folks on YouTube and PixelPop.  Thanks to these awesome people, the combat is more dynamic, and the world is MUCH more navigatable.  YOU ARE RAD.