The 2024 edition of LudoNarraCon, the annual virtual convention for narrative games, is here!

Explore incredible titles, attend panels, and snag amazing deals (like 15% off Whispers in the West! 💰🤠

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/1868070/Whispers_in_the_West__Coop_Murder_Mystery/

Organised by Wings, this sale is running from March 1-10 bringing players a selection of +400 diverse games, demos & discounts from teams led by women and other gender marginalised developers! 💜🎮

A most-asked question about Whispers in the West is why we decided to offer the cases as DLCs instead of offering a one-off-purchase game. We totally get that this pricing is unconventional for Steam, and we truly accept all the criticism.

Whispers in the West is more of an experiment than a commercial project. We are humbled by players’ preference to purchase all the cases at once - we truly didn’t expect this.

So, we feel it's important to communicate our thought process, and we hope to deliver more value to our players in the future.

How the team behind Whispers in the West was formed is a story in itself.

In 2021, in an already competitive job market, the hiring freeze, as a result of the pandemic, made it challenging for graduates to get started in the games industry that year. So we formed Team Dissonant - almost all the team were recent graduates - and we wanted to make our own game.

Here came another challenge, we all work remotely and we had never met in person. Fortunately, we had games - we played many online multiplayer games together, as well as traditional murder mystery games over Discord. We loved murder mysteries and were surprised to find out there were very few options to play this type of games online, in particular, without the need for a game master (GM).

So we decided to take on this challenge - creating an online multiplayer murder mystery game that can be shared among friends and can be played without a GM.

This is not a typical "first quest" for a group of graduates - mostly for the challenges that come with multiplayer games, even experienced teams don't easily go down this path; not to mention the fact that there were so few multiplayer narrative games.

The team did such an amazing job in making Whispers in the West a reality. And we are so grateful for the help we received along the way, namely, UK Games Fund and Wings.

The core game of Whispers in the West is priced at $4.99, which includes all the content of the free demo plus an hour-long case, The Break-in. All the subsequent cases are offered as DLCs, each priced at $6.99 - however, you can get all the DLCs in a bundle at a massively discounted price, about $25 depending on where you are, which offers 6 - 8 hours of gameplay - and your friends can join the game completely for free - a much-loved feature. If you play a case with three more friends, after the bundle discount, the cost to each player is ($6.99 - 38% bundle discount) / 4 = $1.

We firmly believe games are better when shared with friends, that's why we make sure "Friends always play for free" in Whispers in the West. Whether it's the core game or the DLCs, as long as a case is owned by one of the players, other players can always join the room for free (using the demo). So, if there are two or more friends you like to play games with, the cost of each case for each person is no more than a cup of coffee.

A lesser-known Steam tip is that, the type of bundle of Whispers in the West is called "Complete The Set" - meaning that even if you own part of the content in the bundle, you will only pay for the content you haven't owned when you purchase the bundle. So, for example, if you have bought the core game and a DLC, and now you want to buy the full bundle, you will only be charged for the difference. You will never end up repaying for what you already bought.

Each case in Whispers in the West is an hour long - some players like this, some don't. We can probably talk about the inception of this game in more detail another day. In short, we purposely made the game short and digestible for players. Honestly, it would be much easier to write long dialogues (although there are already 17k words in each case on average because of the non-linear nature of the story). But we cannot expect friends who come to play a game together to spend hours and hours reading the lines. We want to offer quality time for players, by focusing on the deduction and debate.

It's important to mention that, however uncommon it seems for Steam, it's quite a standard practice to offer murder mystery games on an episodic basis. Indeed, the average pricing for traditional murder mystery games is around $20 per case (if delivered electronically, physical copies are more expensive). And the typical length for a case is 2 - 3 hours.

One of the reasons is that, unlike for single-player games, players need to find time to organise game sessions for multiplayer games. This can be challenging for some of us who are only able to play games like this once or twice a year. So, we did not price the game in an attempt to hook or scam the players - quite the opposite - we don't want to force players to pay for the content they don't need.

Another idea we have for Whispers in the West is that, if the game turns out to be successful, we want to invite guest writers to create cases for the game. Offering each case as a separate DLC gives us the flexibility to do this kind of collaboration.



We genuinely welcome different opinions and we do understand why some players feel uncomfortable about the pricing. We will do our best to deliver more value to our players in the future. In fact, we are working on a custom case editor, so anyone can write their own mysteries, play with friends, upload the cases to Steam workshop and share with the wider community - this will be offered completely for free.

Last but not least, making independent games in today’s economic climate is not easy. Every comment you leave on Steam can potentially have an impact on the members of the team. Similarly, if you recognise our values, please do not hesitate to offer us some words of encouragement. Thank you.

Hey, detectives!

We have some important news about the Giraffe case. **A sneaky bug was tripping you up on Day 2, and we're truly sorry for the disruption!** We owe a huge thanks to the eagle-eyed players who helped us track it down.


This one's entirely on us – a silly mistake on our part. But the good news is, **we've just pushed a hotfix to fix the issue** If you had to leave the case unsolved before, now's your chance to dust off your magnifying glass and give it another go. We promise, the story's definitely worth the second look.


**P.S.** This fix should work for most of you, but if you're playing **offline**, you might need to hold tight for a bit. We're working on a new build just for you, and it'll be with you as soon as possible.


We know how frustrating bugs can be, and we take testing seriously. We meticulously comb through every build before it hits Steam, but sometimes these little critters sneak past us. Rest assured, we're constantly learning and improving our processes to make sure your detective adventures are as smooth as possible.


Thanks for your patience and understanding. And as always, if you encounter issues that impact your game experience, please do let us know in the Community Hub. This will help us a million!

"This town ain’t big enough for the both of us…"

Howdy, y’all! We hope you’ve been enjoying solving mysteries in Whispers in the West, because we have an announcement for you!

Are you a brilliant detective? Have you already cracked the cases our town has to offer? Do you wish someone in Brimstone would commit another crime so you can get back in there and solve it? Well, good news!

Our new case, “Two Bad Sisters”, from writer Jon Ingold (Overboard!, A Highland Song, 80 Days), is coming soon!

The elegant Miss Sara Estelle has arrived in Brimstone, and she needs your help tracking down a valuable possession left in the care of the priest. There’s only one problem: the priest swears she already came and collected it herself!

Who’s lying? Who’s telling the truth? And who’s just plain old confused? That’s up to you to find out, detective! Play solo or team up with your friends to solve this case and bring justice back to Brimstone.

In the meantime, why not try out our other cases? While waiting for “Two Bad Sisters”, you can face off against cults, free giraffes, and break curses! There ain’t no lack of crime in this here town, partner…

Wishlist the DLC here:

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/app/2719770/Whispers_In_The_West__Two_Bad_Sisters_ENGLISH/

Get ready to jingle all the way to a good cause! 🎶🎄 Join us for Jingle Jam, the biggest gaming charity event of the year, where you can get great deals on games and support amazing charities. ✨🎮

Each year, Jingle Jam brings together content creators, game developers, and gamers to raise millions of pounds for charities. For a limited time, you can get the JingleJam2023 Games Collection - with over 70 games collectively worth over £1100! - by supporting the following charities:

• Autistica: Funding will enable them to create a Mental Health and Wellbeing Tips Hub for young autistic people.
  
• Campaign Against Living Miserably: Funding will level up their services and creator communities to better support young people struggling with suicidal thoughts.
  
• Comic Relief: Funding for their Gaming Against Hunger project will help families across the UK by supporting local charity work redistributing surplus food to people most in need this winter.
  
• CoppaFeel!: Funding will help them continue their work to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer among young people and under-represented groups.
  
• Galop: With Jingle Jam funding, Galop will unlock a better future for LGBT+ youth with a national abuse and violence service.
  
• Hello World: Funding will allow them to continue to close the digital divide between marginalised children and young people globally.
  
• Justdiggit: With Jingle Jam funds, they’ll regreen landscapes by using indigenous techniques, mobile technology, and communication to inspire farmers to restore their land.
  
• Movember: With funding, they’ll continue to work towards taking on some of the most complex issues facing men, such as mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.
  
• RNIB: With Jingle Jam funds, they’ll transform the lives of children and young people with visual impairments through education, social support, and the joy of accessible video gaming.
  
• Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal: Jingle Jam funds will continue to contribute to the creation of the Jingle Jam building, a unique facility for the hospital.
  
• War Child: With funding, they’ll continue their work protecting, educating, and advocating for the rights of children impacted by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
  
• Whale and Dolphin Conservation: Funds will continue to support the fight to end whaling and hunting.

Starting 1 December - Donate now to the Jingle Jam and get a Games Collection with all donos £35+![jinglejam.tiltify.com]

AdventureX is the UK's only convention dedicated to narrative-driven gaming. Since 2011, AdventureX has been bringing together developers & gamers with a passion for interactive storytelling.

Encompassing everything from retro pixel-hunts to rich, branching narratives, AdventureX is a celebration of creativity, indie development and geek culture.

https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/sale/AdventureX2023

Now 15% off, for this week only.
Please also check out other games from this fantastic community.
https://steamproxy.net/steamstore/sale/gdocexpo

15.2.3

• Fixed a minor issue in hot-joining
  
• Routine Vivox upgrade
  
• Fixed an issue causing the skip button to grey out in "What happened" Optimisation for ultra-wide screens