Dev Blog

Hello everyone,

It’s about time for an update. It’s been more than a year since the 2nd chapter was released, and we wanted to let you know what we’ve been working on since then. We haven’t posted many updates, but we did make a lot of progress which we’d like to share with you.

So, what have we been working on this past year?

Mainly, we’ve been working on moving the game to Unity. I have been working with Elad Yekutiel, our new lead developer, on an engine for the game, which will hopefully make it easier to develop future chapters.

 

The Engine

In this screenshot, you can see that the the engine allows us to build new rooms and control their various attributes – like music, background, type of floor, and also the “mirror state” of the room (whether it’s real or mirror, shadow or not).

 

Here you can see the various elements you can put in the room. furnitures are marked blue, characters are marked red, and “tile interactions” (tiles with special features. It’s mainly walls, but also some other stuff) are marked green.

 

It’s also possible to “switch” between the shadow and non-shadow states of a mirror room, and edit them separately.

 

Here you can see the panel for editing and changing the attributes of an element (in this case – the door) – like position, size, and interactions that you can do with this particular furniture.

So, all in all it’s already a pretty elaborate engine, and we’re planing on adding more stuff to it in the future, like editing dialogues and cutscenes.

 

This is what the game looks like in Unity. Pretty much the way it looked in Flash.

 

The Chapters

So, after working on the engine for a few months, it was time to test it. I decided to build the 2nd chapter again, this time in Unity, in order to fix bugs that may appear in the process. I thought it would be quick, since I already had all the assets, but it took longer than expected, since copying the existing chapter required going back and forth and checking everything’s the same all the time. It wasn’t fun.

Anyway, that’s behind us, since it’s almost finished now. I’m planning to put it on the website once it’s finished, so if there are any bugs in the engine, they can be fixed before the 3rd chapter is released. In the future it will replace the Flash version, and I’ll also use it to create versions for other platforms.

The 3rd chapter is also in the works and expected to be finished in a few months. After that, hopefully, the 4th and 5th chapters will be a lot faster to make. Also, we hope to make a version of the game for tablets, which might happen after the 3rd chapter is released.

So, stay tuned. More updates will come soon.

 

Thanks for reading,

Stav

 

 

 

 

Hello everyone,

It’s been a while since I’ve posted un update, so I would like to write about what we’ve been up to since the release of chapter 2, and also a little bit about chapter 3 and how it’s been going.

So, chapter 2 was released on September 18, 2016, and the following weeks were dedicated to reading comments, bug fixing and small improvements. After that, I presented my game at a few conferences, including “Game In” festival and “Casual Connect” in Tel Aviv, which also took some work, plus, brought on more fixes and improvements that came up while watching people playing the game.

After that, I took some time off for some very needed rest. The last 4 months of development were very intense, and the release was super stressful. It took a while until I felt as if I could start working on the next chapter.

Then, when I felt a little bit more ready, I took out my notebook and started, slowly, to write down some ideas for the chapter. I do have a skeleton of the plot for each chapter, but I had to dive in and write down dialogues, puzzles, and to expend the details and histories of the characters. It takes a while until ideas start to flow more naturally, but I think the thing that was slowing me down the most was the question of which engine I should use for my next chapter. Chapters 1 and 2 were developed with Flash, and I really like this program, it’s comfortable and I know it very well, but I was starting to understand that, for many reasons, I might have to switch to another engine. I didn’t know which one, and I was dreading having to learn a new program and a new programming language, so this question pretty much paralyzed me for some time.

It was especially hard for me since I am not a programmer. I am a game artist by profession, and my programming skills are quite basic. I enjoy programming, and I am getting better with time, but I am missing a lot of knowledge when it comes to deciding which engine would be ideal for me and for my game. So I had to consult a lot of programmers, who gave me different answers, and eventually I decided on Unity, because it has a big community, and I understood it was a relatively comfortable engine with the capability of exporting to different platforms.

So I started to learn Unity for the past few weeks, and I really like the engine so far. I have a programmer friend who is teaching me not only how to use the program, but also how to build the engine for the game in the most efficient way (certainly more efficient than the way I was building it), so I’m sure that it will help me implement the content faster, when the engine is done.

So, I am optimistic, thought I can’t say yet exactly how long it will take until the chapter is done and released.

Thank you for your patience, and here’s a little teaser from the beginning of chapter 3, which is going to be a flashback to a few weeks before the events of the game started, when llehctiM was found by geM and Stella at the abandoned asylum:

Thank you for reading!

Stav

 

 

 

Hello everyone,

Since some of you have requested a walkthrough, I made one, hope it helps.

 

The Splitting: chapter 2 – Walkthrough

After the opening scene, head up for the local pub.

At the pub entrance, pick up a blanket from the trunk of the car.

Enter the pub. Collect the key from the wall, on the upper left side of the screen.

If you enter the toilets, Daniel will say that there are too many people there, and he can’t go through the mirror like that.

Enter the dissolved kitchen (remember, we are in the mirror world). Pick up a piece of goo from the old pot, and a rusty fork from the table.

Use the key to open the door to the storeroom. Enter the storeroom. You don’t have to anything there yet, just stand there for a second, then get out.

In the pub will appear a water can on one of the table. Press “pick up”, and Daniel will accidentally spill the water on the reflection sitting there. The reflection will then get cold, asking to turn off the air conditioner. Daniel will then learn that feeling can pass from reflections to their real selves.

Go to the storeroom again, and then pass through the mirror into the real storeroom, and put the fork in the vent.

Then go to the pub again, and cover the wet reflection with a blanket. He will then ask for the air conditioner to be turned on again. The fork stuck in there will make a noise and the bartender will decide to call a technician.

Go to the storeroom, and press “pick up” on the technician reflection’s tool box. Daniel will take a wrench from there.

Go through the mirror to the real storeroom and open the pipe using the wrench. Then put the goo in the pipe, clogging it.

Go to the toilets (in the mirror world). They are empty now. Pass through the mirror to the real toilets, where Daniel will see (and smell) the flood that he caused. Now you can proceed to the real bus stop and catch the bus from there.

   

You arrive at the asylum. Daniel needs to find llehctiM, who’s inside the abandoned building in the mirror world. Go up and the right. between the two buildings you’ll find a stone. pick it up. Go further right, until you reach the edge of the abandoned building (the grey one with the vines on it). There you’ll find a window with no planks on it. Use the stone to break the window, then enter.

   

Now you’ve reached “the maze”. On the bed you’ll find a map. Take it – it will fill itself with information as you go along. In the first room, open the closet and enter through the mirror. When you arrive at the mirror room, close the closet door. It will dissolve the room, and an opening will appear in the top wall.

   

Now you’ll arrive to a room with a revolving mirror. rotate it to restore the room, then open the dresser and pick up a key. Use it to open the top door. In this room, there’s a small table with a tablecloth and a vase on it. Pick up the tablecloth, and Daniel will accidentally break the vase (so clumsy!). Use the tablecloth to cover the mirror. The room will dissolve, and the locked dresser on the top right will lose a door, allowing you to pick up the silver key inside. When you take the tablecloth back and restore the room, Daniel will discover that the tablecloth and the vase are back to the way they were before he broke it. Looks like when you uncover a mirror, the room resets to the way it is in the real world.

Go back to the room with the revolving mirror. Rotate the mirror again and dissolve the room. An opening will appear on the right, and you’ll arrive at a corridor. Go to the door on the bottom right, and use the silver key to open it.

You’ll arrive at a janitor’s room. There are shelves with cleaning fluid on them. Pick it up. Cover the mirror and go through the opening on the top. There is a mirror there, covered with mould, which you need to clean up in order to pass through. Go back down and pick up the tablecloth again. You’ll notice the cleaning fluid came back. Use the pocket knife you have in your inventory to cut a piece of the tablecloth, then combine the small piece with the cleaning fluid. Cover the mirror again, then go back to the room with the mouldy mirror and clean the mirror with the cloth piece, but you’ll find out that there isn’t enough fluid to clean the whole mirror. You’ll have to do back down, restore the room, take the duplicated fluid and then do this process again. Now the mirror is clean and you can pass through.

   

You’ll arrive to the real room, and in the corridor you’ll find an old, heavy book. Pick it up. Go up and then enter the room to the left. There is a wardrobe there with a bench next to it. On the closet appears to be some sort of handle, but you can’t reach it. Place the book on the bench, but you’ll see it’s not enough to climb and reach the top of the wardrobe.

 

Now this part is a little tricky. You need to pass through the wardrobe mirror to the mirror room, then “reset” the room (close and open the wardrobe), in order to duplicate the book. Now you can pick up the book here and place it on the real bench again. Now when you reset the mirror room there will be 2 books on the bench. You need to repeat the process once more, since 3 books are enough to climb and reach the top of the wardrobe. The handle will open the green door on the left. In the mirror room, it will open the green door on the right.

Now, go to the mirror room with the wardrobe and pass through the green door. You’ll arrive to a dissolved office with a broken dresser. Pick up the gold key from there. If you try to open the real office door with it, Daniel will tell you this is the mirror key. You need to create the real key, using the mirror one you have.

   

Put the mirror key on the key hanger in the real room. When you go to the mirror room and reset it (by closing and opening the wardrobe), the key will duplicate, and appear as the real key on the mirror key hanger. Now you can open the real office door.

After coming out of the office, you will arrive at a big, empty hall. Congratulations, you finished the maze part!

   

Go through the mirror, and there you’ll meet llehctiM, who will introduce you to geM, and her community. They will talk about Dorian, a mysterious guy who’s supposed to arrive later and help llehctiM find Mitchell. After geM leaves, go to the to top door on the right, where you’ll find llehctiM. Ask him about Dorian, and he’ll tell you he’s an ex detective. Go back to the main hall, then up to the corridor. visit the 6 guest rooms:

Upper corridor:

1) The room on the left is locked.

2)the room on the right has a suitcase in it. Look at the suitcase and Daniel will pick up fingerprint powder from there. He will suspect this suitcase belongs to Dorian, but he can’t prove it.

   

Lower Corridor:

1) The upper room on the left is your room. llehctiM’s bag is in there. There’s nothing you need from this room.

 

2) The upper room on the right is geM’s room. talk to her and learn about this place.

3) The lower room on the left is Stella’s room. talk to her about herself and her research. you’ll learn she arrived to this place following a case that she was never able to solve. Take the recorder from the shelves in her room.

4) The lower room on the right is an empty room, take the hanger inside the small wardrobe.

Now go out of the building. When you are at the entrance, look at the blood stain. Then go left. You’ll find a redhead man sitting on a bench. Talk to him. You’ll find his name is miJ and he wants you to help him free his twin, Jim. Keep talking to him until he asks for help and leaves the screen. Then go to the asylum in the mirror world (the pink building), and you’ll meet miJ there. He’ll give you a small key. Use it to open the closet. The room will restore itself when you do.

    

You’ll need to get the access card to the staff room. If you just take the receptionist’s reflection’s access card you won’t be able to leave the room, because it can potentially hurt the reflection. So you’ll need to take the card, and then reset the room (by closing and opening the closet), and the the card will be duplicated, and you’ll be able to leave the room with it.

In order to go up to the lobby, you’ll need to buzz yourself in using the phone near the receptionist’s reflection (it’s only available when the room is not dissolved). You’ll arrive at the asylum lobby. go to the top door on the left, and use the access card on the card reader. Now you’ll enter the mirror staff room.

There are 2 nurses in the staff room. You need to get them both out so you can pass through the mirror and find Jim. Take the sandwich from the one on the right. It will make her leave the room and go to take a snack from the vending machine. Take the broom from the shelves on the top left. Take a glass of water from the water cooler.

When you go to the reception you will hear the reflections of the receptionist and the nurse talking. They’ll talk about the TV which keeps blacking out, and about the fact they need to lift the fuse back all the time.

Combine the broom with the hanger that you got in the empty guest room. Go to the asylum mirror back room (the one with all the boxes). Use the new device you made on the mirror in order to retrieve the real key from the real back room.

   

When you arrive at the reception again, you’ll hear the reflections talk about a bunch of old files sitting in the back room. If you’ll go there, Daniel will think Stella’s lost patient might be in there  in them, but he must have more information, since there are too many files to go through.

Now, go to the real world reception, then out to the asylum entrance. Turn left and you’ll arrive at the fuse box. Use the key to open it, then use the fingerprint powder in order to discover which fuse is used the most. The TV then will be turned off and the nurse will have to come out and fix it. Now the staff room is empty.

   

Go through the mirror into the real staff room, and then to the real lobby, where you’ll find Jim. He won’t respond to you. You’ll need to go to miJ, recored his voice using Stella’s voice recorder, and then play the recording to Jim. This will make him trust you and he will come with you to the other side. There you’ll meet miJ and they will leave together.

   

After miJ leaves, his room in geM’s community will be open (the left one in the upper corridor). Go inside the room and look at the painting. Make sure you previously talked to Stella about a lost patient she was looking for, who lived in this asylum more than a 100 years ago. He was a painter, and this painting belonged to him. The painting will give you information about the year he painted it, and also his initials.

Now you can go to the asylum back room in the mirror world, and find the file. Then go back and show it to Stella. She’ll get very excited and leave the room. Now you can look at her desk and find a picture of Dorian. Then Stella will come back and ask you to leave the room. When you go out of the room you’ll meet llehctiM, who will get mad at you for insisting on looking for Dorian.

   

Show the picture to the woman in the geM’s community lobby, standing next to the sofa. She’ll say she saw a man who looked like the picture, who was just leaving. He was heading for the bus stop, and maybe you can still catch him.

Go to the bus stop in the shadow world. You’ll find Dorian waiting for the bus. Talk to him, and then llehctiM will show up and convince him to reveal the information about Mitchell. llehctiM will go away, and Dorian will then have to leave, asking you to find geM and tell her about it.

Go up, and you’ll find a gardener’s reflection, trimming the bushes. Go to the real world asylum entrance, and put the tuna sandwich you picked up earlier in the cat bowl. The cat will show up and start eating. Go inside the reception and pick up the blanket he was sitting on.

Go now to the asylum entrance in the mirror world, and put the blanket on the gardener’s reflection. He will start sweating. Now go to the real world entrance, and you’ll see the real gardener is sweating over there too. Offer him a glass of water and he’ll gladly accept, putting down the garden shears. Now you can steal them from his reflection.

Now go to geM’s room. you’ll see it’s locked, and she’s not answering. You need to get to her twin room in the real world, and access her room from there. Go to the abandoned wing main lobby (the empty room with all the chairs), and cut the wire fence using the shears. Now go to geM’s twin room (you can use the map to find it, just press M).

    

In her twin room, open the closet, and go in through the mirror. Look at her desk, and you’ll find out she has a twin who’s a patient in the asylum. Go to the mirror asylum, and enter the patient rooms corridor. There you’ll find geM talking to Meg, her twin, and the ending scene will begin.

* THE END *

    

 

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed the game 🙂

Stav

 

Hello everyone,

After a year and a half of hard work, we are very happy and proud to release the 2nd chapter of The Splitting!

You can play it on our website

On Game Jolt

We really hope you enjoy the game 🙂

Stav

 

 

Hi everybody,

So… I know, the chapter hasn’t been released yet, but I’m happy to update that it’s already at the playtesting stage, which means it’s actually very close to being released. It’s very exiting and scary for me, since I’ve been working on this game for the past year and a half, and now it’s coming out to the world.

People playing chapter 2 at the GameIS DevDay 

I believe that it will take 2-3 weeks for me to finish playtesting and fixing all the small and big issues that have come up. In the meantime I’m also working on a new website and on a trailer for the game. I still don’t have a specific release date for the 2nd chapter, but I believe I will soon.

Anyway, thank you for your patience. We’re almost there.

Stav

Hi everyone,

I haven’t posted in a while, so here’s an update for the current state of “The Splitting: Chapter 2” –

Right now the expected release of Chapter 2 is around the end of June. I really wanted it to come out around April / May, but it has been taking longer than I thought, and I’m sorry for that.

Why is it taking longer than expected? It’s mainly because my original schedule was really optimistic. I thought it would take something between 4-5 months, like the first chapter, and it turned out to be about twice as much.

Of course, I knew from the beginning this chapter was going to be bigger, but I thought that since I already had the basic code structure and the graphic style, plus most of the gameplay choices were already made, It was going to save me some time. Well, it did save some time, but not nearly as the work that was added.

It’s not only that Chapter 2 is, like, three times bigger the Chapter 1, and this is the first time for me working on such a (relatively) big game . It’s also because planning chapter 2 meant to also plan ahead and think about the next 3 chapters (There are going to be 5 chapter in total), and how the whole story turns out.

When working on the first chapter I didn’t have a solid skeleton of the plot, just a vague idea of the storyline, the characters and the ending. I basically knew what I needed to know in order to make a first chapter and to plant some clues. The reason for that was that Chapter 1 was sort of a “pilot” for the game, and I didn’t know if there was even gonna be a second one, so I didn’t want to sit and plan 5 of them. But after the first chapter was released, and I decided to continue the game, I knew I didn’t want to move forward before I build the whole story, and it took a while.

Another reason I think this chapter takes more time is that there’s more planning involved. There are some new mechanics which make some of the puzzles more complicated, and I wanted the player to get to know these mechanics very gradually. Also the plot is a bit more complicated. More characters are introduced, and I had to think about their relationship with the main character, as well as with one another.

Mostly, I just want this chapter to be as good as it can be, and I try not to rush it, even though I really want it to be out already. I believe by now the chapter is 90% done, and in about a month of hard work it will be 100% done.

And finally, I wanted to thank the people who showed interest in the 2nd chapter over the past few months, your comments are really what gives me the motivation to keep going. So, thank you.

And here’s a glance at the 2nd chapter 🙂

Thank you for reading!

Stav