Demo Update: Steam Games Festival, Summer Edition!
almost 4 years ago
– Thu, Jun 11, 2020 at 08:08:42 PM
Mesdames et Messieurs,
Many of you have asked when you'll be able to get a chance to play a demo of Ambition: A Minuet in Power, and we are happy to announce exactly when! We were recently accepted to participate in the Steam Game Festival, Summer Edition from June 16th to June 22nd!
This online only festival will mean that any Steam user will be able to download a demo containing the prologue of Ambition: A Minuet in Power. During this time, we'll also be doing a live event on our Twitch Channel where players will be able to ask questions of our Writer and Game Designer while he plays the game.
"But what about the beta?" You ask? Well, fear not! We're still working on the beta of Ambition, and that will still be exclusively to our QA Team and to our Backers who backed us at the Baroness Tier $30) and higher, or purchased the appropriate add on via our BackerKit Store. The date for the official start of the beta has yet to be determined, but we will make sure you hear about it as soon as it's ready.
While the demo will be a polished version of Ambition's prologue, the beta of Ambition will be the entire game, with finalized mechanics. While these mechanics will still be unbalanced, and will most certainly have bugs in them, the beta phase is all about hunting down those issues and polishing the game until it shines like a diamond.
As we've mentioned on a few of our social media channels, we've opened our discord channel to the public, in order to give more people the opportunity to join, build the community, and talk about the game.
Click the image below to join, and please feel free to send this link to your friends who might be interested!
Thanks again for reading, please stay safe out there, and have a great day!
All the best,
- Luther
Writer and Game Designer
Joy Manufacturing Co.
Development Status Updates, The Missing Fiance, and Antoine's Theme
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Apr 24, 2020 at 10:46:25 PM
Mesdames et Messieurs,
Thank you all for your patience while we worked on getting this update ready. While production hasn't halted on Ambition during the pandemic, we must admit that it has slowed our productivity slightly. After all, the struggles that come with navigating quarantine life affect us much as they do everyone else.
But enough of that, and on with the update!
While our team is still marching forward on milestones, we have completed almost all of the art in the game, and I can proudly say that all of the game's 'Critical Path' story has been completed! This means that all of the core story points are ready, and now all of my spare writing hours are being poured into the random events that can occur on the Paris Map, or at extravagant Parties, in order to give each playthrough the feeling of depth that it deserves.
While we don't have release dates for the Beta or a Demo yet, one of those may change in the near future. Stay tuned to this space for updates on that front!
This character update will be devoted to the last of the game's romance options, even though he is technically the first. I am, of course, referring to the Baron Armand De Marbo.
You and Armand met at a small party in your home village. Simply put, you bonded because you'd both grown tired of a place that never seems to change, and where your actions never seemed to have any significance. Armand never made much of the fact that he was the heir to the Barony, instead trying to succeed on his own merits. He is educated, playful, and deeply concerned for the well being of the common people but Armand's current actions and motivations are unclear. Those who wish to continue their romance with Armand my find themselves embroiled in mystery, mired in uncertainty, and questioning the true meaning of loyalty.
Thanks for reading our update, please add Ambition to your Wishlist on the Steam or Humble Bundle store, and please give us your thoughts on Antoine in the comments section below!
Our latest musical update is the romantic theme for Antoine, who we gave a proper introduction in this previous Kickstarter Campaign Update. You can listen to this fantastic, tense and passionate theme here.
For some background: "Young, political, and full of burning passion, Louis-Antoine de Saint-Just was a revolutionary firebrand before the revolution had even started. His radical views have put him at odds with many of his more moderate peers in the revolution, but anyone that gets close to Antoine may find themselves in a relationship defined by fearsome passion, and genuine danger."
Thanks again for reading, stay safe, and have a great day!
All the best,
- Luther
Game Designer
Joy Manufacturing Co.
PAX East 2020 Report
about 4 years ago
– Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 01:23:19 AM
Mesdames et Messieurs,
It's been over a week since PAX East 2020 wound down, and I think I'm finally recovered enough to write about it! With that in mind, I wanted to give you all an update on how the convention went. The short version is that being selected to exhibit with the Indie Megabooth was an enormous honor, and it was a fantastic event for Ambition, in general.
The longer version is below...
Positioned within the 'Story Orchard', one of the neighborhoods set up in the Indie Megabooth, our team came face to face with a serious reality.
This was our first major convention... ever.
Did I mention this event was big? Because it's really big.
Before this, we had only exhibited to an audience of around 150 at the various Playcrafting events in San Francisco. It was a bit of a jump to set up a full booth at an event with an expected attendance of around 70,000. To say that I was nervous, was an absolute understatement.
An elegant booth... some assembly required.
However, if there's one thing that being nervous is good for, it's making sure that you're extremely prepared! Once we had our booth set up with our four demo stations, we started to feel a lot more comfortable with our situation. It also helps that our neighbors at Timberline Studios, and Studio Zevere couldn't have been more welcoming.
Now, this is more to our liking...
The show itself opened the next day, and what better way for us to celebrate the opening than with finery worthy of the era we're depicting?
I wear a lot of hats at this company. Writer, game designer, booth babe...
But enough of the preamble, let's get to what's actually important, the game itself! Our demo featured several things we're extremely proud of, including some of the music tracks with live instrumentation (in fact, you can check out a preview at the end of this update!) We had four demo stations set up, and a remarkable amount of people interested in playing our game of romantic intrigue, revolutionary politics, and dangerous skulduggery.
Pictured: Quiet intensity.
Our four demo stations were filled for nearly the duration of the entire convention, which was amazing to see, and the reactions from players were extremely encouraging! One phrase we heard over and over again was "It's like you made a game just for me!".
That phrase is exactly the reason why we started making Ambition. Deep down, we knew that this was a video game story that would appeal to lots of people, but nobody was telling it. You, our wonderful Backers, saw this vision the earliest of anyone (in fact, several of you were awesome enough to drop by the booth!) but it was extremely vindicating to see others saying the same.
The booth team, consisting of our Lead Engineer Mike, our Art Director Alexandria, myself, and our great friend Bree!
After four days of interviews, demos, handing out flyers, and generally being on our feet and talking for ten hours a day, our team was exhausted but happy, and all there was left to do was taking a photo with all the other indie developers at the Indie Megabooth!
If you squint really hard, you can almost see us! We're in the back, with a sign.
That was PAX East 2020 for us. Don't worry if you didn't get a chance to play the demo, we hope to have something playable for our wonderful backers soon, and something even bigger for our beta backers, further down the line!
As I mentioned earlier, one of the latest exciting developments on Ambition is the fact that our soundtrack is finally getting the live instrumentation, and truly coming alive. You can preview how this sounds by clicking this link here and listening to Pierre's theme 'The Fourth Estate'.
For some background: "The less-than-savory proprietor of the newspaper 'Le Trompette du Peuple', Pierre Renaudot is always looking for gossip and rumors in order to sell newspapers. His cluttered office may not look like much, but he insists that it is a finely oiled journalistic machine, and the final bastion of the fabled Fourth Estate."
Thanks again for reading, and have a great day!
All the best,
- Luther
Game Designer
Joy Manufacturing Co.
Ambition: A Minuet in Power will be at PAX East 2020!
about 4 years ago
– Wed, Feb 12, 2020 at 09:02:42 PM
Mesdames et Messieurs,
I will keep this exciting announcement brief. As some of you may have heard on the various social media channels, Ambition: A Minuet in Power has been selected to be shown as part of the Indie Megabooth at PAX East 2020! This is an enormous honor, and one we're humbled to have received.
If you're attending PAX East 2020 in Boston, MA then please visit our booth (Booth #22048) to play the latest build of the game, and meet the team! We absolutely love meeting our backers, and would relish the chance to speak with any of our first fans about the game.
All the best,
- Luther
Game Designer
Joy Manufacturing Co.
Development Status Updates, and The Young Firebrand
about 4 years ago
– Tue, Jan 28, 2020 at 05:00:16 PM
Mesdames et Messieurs,
Greetings, and a belated Happy New Year! Shall we skip straight to business?
Development continues apace with Ambition: A Minuet in Power and our writer is currently in the midst of penning the thrilling conclusion in Chapter 3. Given the various possibilities that can occur during gameplay, this has quickly turned into our most complex chapter, as the game must constantly check for factors like: your personal relationships, the political state of Paris, and whether any of the characters have died during the course of the game (we weren't joking when we said it was a dangerous time).
Still, these additional complexities will help ensure that the ending for each playthrough feels both 'aware' of the player's decisions throughout the game, as well as help provide a suitably satisfying conclusion for the game.
For example, you generally don't want to end up anywhere like this...
Behind the scenes we're also working on the mundane things like UI improvements, the save system, and all the other little things that are necessary for a game. The nice thing about making a video game is that you get to make everything yourself. The problem with making a video game is that you have to make everything yourself.
In this character update, we’d like to introduce your to another possible love interest: Louis Antoine de Saint-Just!
Young, political, and full of burning passion, Antoine was a revolutionary firebrand before the revolution had even started. Originally trained as an orator, then living as a struggling playwright, but always a champion of liberty at any cost, Antoine embodies the uncompromising zeal that would later come to define the revolutionary cause. His radical views have put him at odds with many of his more moderate peers in the revolution, but anyone that gets close to Antoine may find themselves in a relationship defined by fearsome passion, and genuine danger.
Thanks for reading our update, please add Ambition to your Wishlist on the Steam or Humble Bundle store, and please give us your thoughts on Antoine in the comments section below!
All the best,
- Luther
Game Designer
Joy Manufacturing Co.
