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Happy October 1st, everyone! If you watched the latest Q&A you'd know some big changes are coming for Apollo Studios and how we create/produce content.

The first of those changes is happening today! I'm sharing a test demo for Hollow that covers Chapters 1 and 2. Work is well underway for Chapter 3, which is on the horizon! But we wanted to give you an early look at what the new hybrid style looks and feels like.

Your feedback would be great so we can work on perfecting this style. Any changes and suggestions will be looked at and considered, so we can keep this new format streamlined but also enjoyable for you as the player.

Let's quickly go over what changes you'll see :) Visuals: You'll see updated visuals, especially in the beginning scenes. We're slowly going through Chapter 1 to update the visuals, and this will be an ongoing process with each update.

Dialogue: Some scenes now have extended dialogue. The new format allows us to spend more time creating fun conversations between characters without worrying about how many images we'll need or the impact on file size.

Sprites: The addition of sprites has dramatically decreased production time, allowing us to focus on key scenes in the game that do need that cinematic touch. The variety of sprites and poses will increase over time :) Animations: You'll see one or two animations added; these aren't final and still need some tweaks. We are working on implementing more, but we need some more time to execute them correctly. I'll refer to the Eternity test animation to give you a tease of what's to come!

Download Links: (PC and Mac only)

PC Download | Mac Download

Thank you for your continued support! We're incredibly excited to start this new path and bring you even more gay content ;D

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Comments

t

I'm going to be honest here, the introduction of the sprites take me out of the story. It makes it look cheaper.

Apollo Studios

Thanks for the feedback. The use of sprites is going to continue as the current cinematic approach isn’t sustainable production wise. Are you able to offer any deeper insight into why you think it’s looking that way - and what we could do to lessen that? :)

Matt

I had feared much worse but the result is, in my opinion, quite ok. The sprites are noticeable, but it feels like they are used less than in other great projects (such as Freshmen, which uses them extensively). The story quality is obviously unvaried. So... thumbs up :-)

Apollo Studios

That’s great to hear thank you! Yeah there’s no getting around the obvious fact that sprites are different than cinematic shots - but we really tried to make them compliment the scene rather than dominate them. We still wanted a unique and immersive feel, but just streamline the production as much as possible. Glad to get the thumbs up!

Matt

On replaying, maybe a small point for you to consider. The sprites get a bit crowded in large groups (I think currently the game goes all the way to five or six sprites simultaneously). The visual marker for the person who's talking (the sprite changes to an open mouth) gets a bit lost with so many characters. For sure, this isn't really a problem for understanding who's talking (it's written in the text). But it is a bit of a shame that the sprite of the person talking isn't given any particular emphasis to visually communicate that it is them.