Welcome to Behind the Lens, a series of blog posts focused on various aspects of what exactly is going on when it comes to creating Viewfinder!
Over the next few weeks we will be diving deep into specific topics, whether that’s puzzle design, world inspiration or in game lore, you can expect some great insights into different aspects of the game.
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So what is Viewfinder?
After more than four years of game development, a lot of iterations, and with still a long laundry list of things we want to do and improve, we are releasing Viewfinder.
We are quite happy that the game has a beginning, a middle, and an end, and we want to show everyone the world we’ve created. There are things we wished we could have done differently but generally we are very proud of the team we have, and the game we’ve made.
We also want a vacation, and we want to rest after all of the anxiety and the stress of making a game. It is very hard, but it's also one of the most rewarding things we've ever done and sharing it with you all is so exciting. Right now, we're saying NEVER AGAIN, but of course in a few months we'll find another idea that sparks our imagination, and pushes us to make that idea a reality.
- It is a single-player puzzle game with a narrative. You can skip the narrative, but the cat will remind you from time to time to give you context. It has 5 hubs, and more than 70 puzzles spread out. There are also additional optional puzzles for players who are focused on those experiences.
- We did multiple rounds of private testing for Viewfinder throughout its development. The puzzles alone can take around 3h~5h of average playtime. With the narrative and the story, it was around 5~7 hours. After setting the demo live during the Puzzle Game Festival and Steam NextFest, we wouldn’t be surprised nowadays if someone finishes the game in 20 minutes, go Speedrunners!
- There is no one solution for each level, (see: speedrunners).
- The cat will not help you, since cats don’t help. They were born cute. They exist to be cute. The only way the cat can help you is if you decide to pet them, as some science says that purring helps relieve stress. So pls pet them to your heart’s content and take in those purry vibes
- There are a lot of chairs in the game, and you can spend a lot of time sitting in those chairs. It is very therapeutic, we highly recommend it.
- You can probably figure out now that we put a lot of things in the game to help you relax. We know this game can be stressful, so we wanted you to relax too. We also wanted to relax while making this game.
- We are heavily inspired by games such as Portal, The Talos Principle and Outer Wilds. We know of the similarities with games such as The Witness, Superliminal and Antichamber. We are heavily influenced by SUPERHOT, just in general.
- Full Mouse + Keyboard Support. It is best experienced with a controller as we put a lot of thought into the haptics and wanted to make sure it felt like you were taking a photo with your controller.
- It is not a sandbox experience. Due to the technology of placing photographs in the simulation, there are limitations and performance issues depending on what computer you’re using. We’re more than happy to help you if we can, but know that we don’t have all the answers and we also figure things out as we go.
- Viewfinder is not designed to be a VR game, although Sad Owl Studios have explored this during early development of the game. Only time will tell. Even though some people have a “make this game VR” button, how we want Viewfinder VR would be very different from the game as it is right now. But thank you for saying that the game is how you would explain VR to someone. Pls continue to do that. We want to be the non-VR VR game for people who want to try VR but can’t.
- It is not perfect. We are aware of a lot of bugs that might only occur to you, please let us know if you experience it.
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We encourage people to sit in the chairs we have designed, and then appreciate the spaces we’ve built. Sit for something like 2 hours and then meditate, just appreciate all our hard work and the wonderful talent of our art team. Try sitting in different chairs. We know we can improve the chair experience because some people might feel like the view might not feel right. We might eventually add something to customise this experience. This really depends on people saying they want this. I really have to convince our programmers, they originally didn’t want to add sitting into the game, and now it’s one of the bestest things ever. The cat is also cute, and the watermelon. Don’t forget the watermelon, her name is Melanie.
That's just a summary of some of the things you can expect Viewfinder to be. Stay tuned for more!
Photo Competition!
To celebrate the upcoming launch of Viewfinder We’d love to find some friends for Cait! (the cat)
Share a picture of your cat and tag us on social media @viewfindergame and use #AFriendForCait to be in with a chance to win an Instax Mini 12 camera! We will announce the winners once the game has launched.
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That’s about wraps up what we had planned today. Keep your eyes peeled for the next issue of Behind The Lens where we’ll be delving into the mind boggling puzzles that the game contains. to stay up to date with everything Viewfinder, make sure to
join the Discord and Follow us on Twitter!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1382070/Viewfinder/
