Author Topic: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!  (Read 19037 times)

Offline x4000

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Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« on: March 08, 2013, 03:48:46 pm »
Original: http://arcengames.blogspot.com/2013/03/shattered-haven-beta-begins-now.html

Arcen Games is proud to announce that the Shattered Haven beta is starting today!  The beta will last from today through March 18th, when the 1.0 version will be launching.

During the beta period, you can buy the game and get full access to the latest and greatest beta version for 25% off the usual $9.99 price tag.





An Environmental Puzzle Game About Family, Grit, and Survival
Grays roam the land, largely in the absence of human interference.  These aren't your typical Zed -- theirs is a very different sort of apocalypse. Animals spontaneously transform into twisted, violent beings.  The earth decays, collapsing into a network of abysses.  The wilderness thickens.
It has been nine years since That Day when it all started.  Pockets of humanity still exist, but are ignorant of one another.  Within these isolated havens people try to live as best they can -- for even in a world so broken and dark, daily life must go on.

Darrell and Mary Williams were able to build such a life inside a five-acre fenced yard out in the country.  They were even secure enough in their isolated compound that they had a daughter five years after the zombie-like grays appeared.

Life carried on as normally as it could, until another refugee on the run is killed during a nearby attack. Her son is saved and taken in by the Williamses -- who do not realize that this kind action will destroy their home and threaten their entire family.  They find themselves caught in the midst of a struggle between two eldritch horrors, and the path to survival is anything but clear.

Features
  • Solve environmental puzzles under pressure.  Figure out how to use the tools, traps, and weapons in each level to clear all the Grays.
  • Nearly 100 hand-crafted levels with multiple difficulty levels ranging between casual and hardcore, developed end to end by two experienced adventure level designers.
  • Complete bonus objectives for higher scores and gold markers.
  • Follow the story of Darrell and Mary as they try to save their family from a new and unexpected threat through in-game storytelling and painted-style cutscenes.
  • Guide different members of the Williams family through branching story paths that result in one of several endings.  Depending on your actions, the story may end very poorly, happily, or anywhere in between.
  • Music and sound by composer Pablo Vega provides a chilling atmosphere for players to experience.
  • Included level editor:  The same editor used to make the main adventure will let you make your own levels, cutscenes, or even entire adventures.
  • Local 2-player co-op.  Using two gamepads, two players on the keyboard, or any combination of the above.


Screenshots
(More screenshots available at the link above).


Video is coming soon!

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Offline TechSY730

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2013, 04:04:55 pm »
Oh hecks yea!

Will be downloading the beta for this bad boy this evening.

And I see you have already gotten the mantis project started for it. (There are a lot of non-dev filed bugs, was there a limited beta period?)

Offline x4000

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2013, 04:09:00 pm »
Oh hecks yea!

Will be downloading the beta for this bad boy this evening.

Cheers! :)

And I see you have already gotten the mantis project started for it. (There are a lot of non-dev filed bugs, was there a limited beta period?)

Those are all dev-filled, actually.  Zack is the other level designer working on this other than me.  Although that's not really fair to my wife, who probably did around a third of the levels initially, too.  Hmm.  Anyway, she hasn't worked on it since 2008, though.

All that said, we did have a private alpha that was about 10 days long or so, but those bug reports were not into mantis, but rather were via email.  I think it was like 16 people in the alpha by the end.
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Offline Teal_Blue

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2013, 04:33:09 pm »
WooHoo!!   I'm going to order this now!  :)

-Teal


Offline madcow

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #4 on: March 08, 2013, 04:48:40 pm »
I'll hold off till release on purchase. Namely because I remember the steam key fiasco in AVWW1, and don't want to get caught waiting on steam to accept haven's keys.

Offline x4000

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #5 on: March 08, 2013, 04:51:40 pm »
I'll hold off till release on purchase. Namely because I remember the steam key fiasco in AVWW1, and don't want to get caught waiting on steam to accept haven's keys.

One note: there are no keys for Shattered Haven, and the game is not confirmed for Steam.  However, if the game comes to Steam then we will be offering Steam keys to anyone who buys the game during the preorder period and then asks us for one.  This is our first completely DRM-free game in terms of not even having a license key (not that we ever considered that DRM, but some other parties do).
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Offline madcow

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #6 on: March 08, 2013, 04:52:59 pm »
Ooh interesting. Okay.

Offline Aklyon

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #7 on: March 08, 2013, 04:55:28 pm »
No license key?
Interesting choice, Chris.

Offline x4000

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #8 on: March 08, 2013, 04:57:45 pm »
It's something we're trialing with this game.  It gets us in with a certain large distributor that is not Steam and that will be carrying this game at launch. :)
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Offline KingIsaacLinksr

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #9 on: March 08, 2013, 05:03:36 pm »
It's something we're trialing with this game.  It gets us in with a certain large distributor that is not Steam and that will be carrying this game at launch. :)

Hah, I know who it is. :P
Casual reviewer with a sense of justice.
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Offline Aklyon

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #10 on: March 08, 2013, 05:30:46 pm »
Does the 'specialty unlock code' do anything yet? Or is it just a button in the options right now? ???

Offline Jerebaldo1

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #11 on: March 08, 2013, 05:39:20 pm »
Squeeee!

Offline Billick

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #12 on: March 08, 2013, 05:43:04 pm »
Ordered... downloading now  :)

Offline keith.lamothe

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #13 on: March 08, 2013, 06:10:04 pm »
Squeeee!
Careful, the grays could hear you.
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Offline x4000

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Re: Shattered Haven Beta Begins Now!
« Reply #14 on: March 08, 2013, 06:18:15 pm »
Does the 'specialty unlock code' do anything yet? Or is it just a button in the options right now? ???

It has a function internally for Arcen, but otherwise isn't used. :)
Have ideas or bug reports for one of our games?  Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports. Thanks for helping to make our games better!