Walkie-Talk - The Base Camp

Walkie-Talk

The Base Camp


Behind the Scenes

Welcome to another edition of Walkie-Talk! In a previous post we showed you an image of the inside of Scott’s hut in Antarctica which we used for inspiration. What about the outside of the base camp though?

Here’s an example of what we were thinking of as a base for the exterior look. A pretty classic log cabin, with some useful odds and ends scattered around outside. However, a building like this alone would be a little dull, and we wanted to spice things up a little with some light steampunk elements.

An early version of the base camp viewed in Unity.

And what says steampunk more than pipes? Along with nice chunky windows, the satellite dish antennas, and fuel tanks, our base camp is recognizable while still having a personality of its own. Remember, this isn’t all just eye-candy – you and your partner have puzzles to solve at the base camp.

The base camp area as it looks today!

Here’s the final product! Adding colour makes a big difference, and you can see we removed some of the pipes and tanks from the base camp itself and moved them to a new section, seen in the foreground here. That’s all for now!


We Were Here Too is out now on Xbox One!

We Were Here Too is out now on Xbox One!

And We Were Here Together is only 8 days away…


Play We Were Here Too on Xbox One!

That’s right, We Were Here Too is playable on console for the first time! For those who have been living under a rock (the Jester?) we released We Were Here on Xbox in September. It was featured as part of Xbox Games Live Gold, and is still free to play for Gold members until October 15th.

Of course, we’re also getting closer to the arrival of the third game – We Were Here Together. You’ll be able to experience new areas of Castle Rock, such as this lively location…

T-minus 8 days – wishlist now!


We Were Here out now on Xbox One!

We Were Here out now on Xbox One!


Xbox Live Gold members play for free… and the second entry in the series will hit Xbox One on October 2!

We Were Here is out now on Xbox One, and is free for Xbox Live Gold members until October 15th – time to start looking for the ‘golden’ puzzle solving partner to join you! It is the first of the We Were Here series to arrive on Xbox One, with the sequel We Were Here Too scheduled for release just a few weeks later on October 2nd. You can pre-order We Were Here Too now for a 10% discount!

Download the Press Kit here.

Watch the trailer:

These cooperative first person puzzle games challenge you and a partner to solve puzzles inside a sinister Antarctic castle as you try to find a way to escape. The two of you are split up in different areas of the citadel, and must use your walkie-talkies to communicate what you can see and work out solutions together.

Project Lead Lucia de Visser said: “We’re hugely grateful to Microsoft for their trust and support in bringing We Were Here to Xbox One. Seeing our games appear on Xbox has been a goal for our team for a long time, and it’s wonderful to see it happening. We can’t wait to find out what new players will think of their first visit to Castle Rock.”

The We Were Here series has been a great success on PC with more than 1.5 million We Were Here downloads and almost 500,000 copies of We Were Here Too sold on PC, and more is to come! The eagerly awaited third entry – We Were Here Together – is slated for release on PC October 10.


We Were Here Too coming to Xbox One on October 2nd!

We Were Here Too coming to Xbox One on October 2nd!


The original We Were Here launched on Xbox One today,
and is free for Xbox Live Gold members.

That’s right, We Were Here Too will be released on Xbox One this coming October 2nd,
which is great news for hungry puzzle fans on console! You can pre-order already for a discount.

For PC gamers, the third game We Were Here Together is drawing ever closer to a Steam release…
we’ll be revealing more teasers so keep your eyes open!


Return to the Antarctic this October 10th!

Return to the Antarctic this October 10th!


We Were Here Together has an official release date: October 10!

The latest entry in the We Were Here series will feature new puzzles, more hours of gameplay, and much more. Here are three notable new features, in picture form!

Explore… outside of Castle Rock for the first time!

Explore… all new areas of Castle Rock!

Explore… and discover equipment in addition to the walkie-talkie!

We’ll be releasing more teasers as we get closer to release, so watch this space

The We Were Here series on Xbox One

For those of you with consoles, or console owning friends, we’re happy to announce that the We Were Here series is coming to Xbox One! More specifically:

  • We Were Here will be released on September 16th, and will be free to Xbox Live Gold members until October 15th.
  • We Were Here Too will be released not much later…
  • And We Were Here Together? Let’s first get it on PC! 😉

For all the latest info on the We Were Here series, you should join our Discord channel (also great for matchmaking!), follow the news on our Twitter or learn more about our team on Instagram!

Last but not least, you can get a taste of the atmosphere with this sweet 360 screenshot!


Heading towards Castle Rock!

Heading towards Castle Rock!


Beta Tests

We have completed another beta testing session, including some in person tests and tests with people who aren’t so familiar with the series. Thanks to everyone who took part, we got some great feedback 🙂

The release is on track for later this year, and we can’t wait to share a date with you once everything is finalized – these beta tests mark a major step towards that goal! Now, let’s reveal a few more details for you all.

New location and a new walkie-talkie!

Behold a brand new area of Castle Rock, revealed for the first time! It’s also the first time you’ve got a glimpse of the castle from the outside, at least in-game. As the snowfall becomes heavier, even this dark and imposing place can begin to look like a sanctuary. You might know better, but your hapless characters unfortunately do not…

Are you ready to return to Castle Rock? You have never seen this part of the castle before…

Today’s new teaser screenshots also show off the new walkie-talkie model for We Were Here Together – we love it already! See how the walkie-talkies have evolved through the three games so far:

From left to right: We Were Here, We Were Here Too, WWHT supporter gold walkie, and We Were Here Together. Which is your favourite?

News on the way…

Stay tuned to our frequency, as we will have news about the We Were Here series every month from here on out until the release, so keep up to date by keeping an eye on our posts here or on Twitter or Facebook!


Walkie-Talk - Puzzling on Puzzles with Niels

Walkie-Talk

Puzzling on Puzzles with Niels


It was puzzle and computer game designer Scott Kim who said: ‘My goal as a puzzle designer is to create a meaningful experience for the player, not just ‘I solved it.’
It’s a good philosophy, especially when you’re trying to create a game like We Were Here Together, which is about atmosphere and exploration as well as solving puzzles.

Getting the balance right can be a challenge – from one point of view, the We Were Here games are all about puzzles. From another point of view they’re all about leaving your best friend to die, but let’s not get into that right now…

Where do we get our puzzles from? To find out, we talked to one of our designers, Niels de Jong.

Walkie-Talk:
Greeting Niels, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions today! Let’s start with the big one: where do the puzzle ideas for the We Were Here series come from?

Niels de Jong:
We steal them from others of course. ;p
Seriously though, ideas can come from a lot of different places.

An approach we take a lot lately is to do a quick summary of everything we already know about the point in the game we want to create a puzzle for, and then we start throwing ideas at each other. In these brainstorming sessions, we can quickly discuss different options. The advantage of working with three game designers is that you rarely run out of ideas!

We’re able to take this approach because we know what most environments are going to be at this point in development. An example of an environment is the crypt at the start of We Were Here Together. So we start off with knowing it is a crypt-like space, and the general atmosphere we want players to feel. The position of the puzzle in the complete game flow is also important. You don’t want to have several high-pressure puzzles in a row, for example. These limitations are often a source of inspiration.

Can anyone suggest puzzle ideas, or is it just the designers that come up with concepts?

Everyone can suggest ideas! The thing is, it takes more than an idea to get to a functioning puzzle. So while other team members can provide the initial point of inspiration, there is still a lot of work that is mostly done by the design team.

Another thing to note is that while we call most of the things we make puzzles, they do not necessarily have to be puzzles. The game is about playing together first and foremost. So if you are doing something besides solving puzzles together and you’re having a great time, then that’s a win for us!

In my experience, the fun is in trying to figure out how not to fail completely at any given task or puzzle… on a side note, I need to find new, better coordinated friends.
Once you have an idea though, how do you work out the details of a puzzle?

Currently we have a way of pushing puzzles through several stages that are more or less the same for each puzzle. We start off with an initial brainstorm as already described. The next stage is to create a paper prototype of the puzzle. Some puzzles are difficult to paper prototype, so we sometimes skip this step and go straight to the next step: whiteboxing.

After testing the paper prototype and making changes based on feedback from testers, we start bringing the puzzle to the digital medium. This usually involves placing the puzzle elements in a 3D space, thinking about viewing angles and level layout and placing lighting.

After this whiteboxing step, we start preparing the puzzle for alpha testing. By this point, we know the puzzle is playable IF you understand it. Of course, understanding how a puzzle works is part of the challenge. In this step, we mostly focus on adding feedback elements that tell the player how a puzzle works. An example: where before you were “pressing” a cube, there is now has an actual button model and a click-sound plays when you press it.

After adding extra feedback elements, a puzzle goes into an alpha build, where all our lovely alpha testers can give feedback and we can spot any glaring issues.

Do you ever encounter problems turning a puzzle from a paper prototype into a digital form – going from the paper prototype to whiteboxing?

Yes, definitely. It makes a big difference whether you are controlling an avatar in a 3D world or looking at some pieces of paper. When fleshing out initial ideas (the brainstorming part), we try to think about how the puzzle will fit in the digital game, even when we do not immediately test the puzzle digitally.

An example: we were working on a puzzle in a cave. The paper prototype was very doable. But of course, when you’re actually standing in a cramped cave with a wall in front of your nose, you have no overview of the entire level. Having no overview means you cannot plan your moves, which in turn means solving the puzzle becomes much, much harder. We had people who ran around in circles both figuratively and literally, because there was no way to distinguish between separate paths in this cave.

I swear I wasn’t one of those people! On the subject of testing, what is the process for testing out puzzles?

We try to annoy our colleagues as much as possible by regularly asking them to test new puzzles! Because we can sit right next to them, we can improvise and get an idea of what a puzzle would be like, without having to actually make each and every element or have the game enforce every limitation. I think it’s time for me to mention the alpha tests again! Those give invaluable feedback.

Thank you for your time!

So there you have it – puzzles definitely don’t spring into existence fully formed, and it can be a tough process sometimes to make them work at all, no matter how cool the initial idea is. Join us in the next edition of Walkie-Talk to hear more from your favorite studio!


New screenshot from EGX!

New screenshot from EGX!


Progress is going great on We Were Here Together! Check out this screenshot from the demo we showed off at EGX… it’s probably much cosier than you’re used to in the first two games 😉

We also have some great news for your puzzle loving, console owning friends – both We Were Here Too and the original We Were Here are coming to Xbox One! We will share more details about pricing and release dates in the near future – stay tuned.


We Were Here merch store is live!

We Were Here merch store is live!


We just got back from a fantastic time at EGX in London – maybe you came by to play the new We Were Here Together demo, or spotted our t-shirts or beanies around the show!

If you did and you liked what you saw, or if you didn’t and are curious, we are delighted to announce that our official merchandise store is live and open for orders! Get walkie-talkie phone cases, warm hats, and t-shirts with Jester artwork right now.

Get hats, t-shirts, and more!

Check out the options and see for yourself!

To celebrate, you can now get 15% discount until Aprill 22 with the following code: LAUNCH19

Our stand at the show!


Merch, Rezzed, and on the lookout for new beta testers...

Merch, Rezzed, and on the lookout for new beta testers...


Play new puzzles at Rezzed London

We had such a good time at EGX last year that we are returning to Rezzed London this week! You can find us at our stand SV6B (1-4) in the South Vaults from April 4-6. We have new and unseen puzzles in a new area of the game to show off, so come check it out even if you came by at EGX. Hope to see you there!

We Were Here Merch!

Walkie-talkie iPhone cases and We Were Here beanies made their debut at EGX last year, and now you can get one of your own – not to mention new Jester t-shirts!

Early Puzzle Testers

Development on We Were Here Together is going well, and the feedback from our current testers has been very helpful. So much so that we’re looking to invite a few more people to test our work-in-progress builds of the game! Read all about it in our earlier post!