Another year is starting, and after what we know was a very long hiatus in the updates, we are back and ready to bring to life our full vision for 3:00am Dead Time, the ultimate horror experience. But before telling you all the exciting news, improvements, additions and content that you can expect for the upcoming months, we have to address the reasons behind the waiting.
From 2012 and up to 2014 we set up a pre-sale for the game's Beta versions, expecting to raise enough money to fund the development of the game. Our team has been formed from the beggining by four members, three of them working on the main game, the other one working as a creative, and all four of us funding the development with our own money. The funds we tried to raise would have made it possible for some members of our team to get more free time to put into development, as well as to get better tools, mainly the professional version of the engine we were using at the time, Unity 3.5, Sadly, those goals were never met, and only a handful of Beta keys were sold on that first attempt.
However, the community was showing great interest in our game, and the early demos received very positive reactions. We decided to not sell any more Beta keys, and focus entirely on the development of the game, trying to gather first enough attention from the community. But as it tends to happen, life got in the way. Starting in 2015, the team had many health issues, our modeller had to be hospitalized again (people who follow us from the beggining may remember his heart afflictions that had him in the hospital before), and all of us had far less time and funds to keep the project going, having to pay very high medical fees.
Since June last year, only one member of our team has been able to get time to develop consitently, that is our programmer. The other members of the team keep working as much as they can, but their schedules have gotten much heavier recently. Last year, we managed to release three games for smartphones, one small game for PC, and announce a brand new fighting game that is halfway production at this moment, as we attempt once more to raie enough funds. But we have to be very clear about this : 3am Dead Time is, since December last year, being developed in full force by our team. We have managed to reorganize our team, to streamline our work and to stabilize our personal lives enough to come back in full strength to the development.
Our programmer is still the only member who can spend more time into development, and all the last updates you have seen lately have been mostly his work.However, the development process continues strong, our team is working on it at top speed, but with less time and manpower behind it, it has taken longer than what we expected to get back on our feet.
But now that we are back on track, the development will continue in the best of ways. This, however, doesnt mean that we dont need the funds anymore. We will start new campaigns this year to raise the money needed to finish the development, but we will talk about that in another article.
With our team reorganized, we also decided to reorganize the game, and go back to our original vision, the original idea we had for the game, and the vision that we know you as players will enjoy.
There is a new mission coming soon, in the form of a brand new demo, showcasing all the upgraded graphics of the game, the finished version of our AI that controls the paranormal behaviors, better and more terrifying scares, better sound design and more platforms for the game, as well as the return of many features that had to be cancelled during the game's brief time using the Unreal engine.
This new mission is a never before seen level, that will tie directly into the main story of the game. The starting point, the pilot episode of the new and better 3:00am Dead Time. More immersive, bigger, and much more scary.
This year will bring back the development diaries, offering regular updates in our work, new videos and trailers, interactive galleries, etc.
To all our followers with a Beta key, remember to keep it safe. Soon, it will be needed again, as we release the new Betas of the game, as well as other exclusive content only for funders. We will give you the content you all deserve, because even if we didnt meet our initial goals, the reception the game has had is extremely important for us.
And even more important, here at Irreverent Software, we want to thank you all, every single one of you, for your incredible support during these years, and all the expectations you have for our game. It means so much for all of us as developers to see the community appreciating all the effort put into bringing this project to life. It hasnt been easy, and there's still a lot to cover, but we believe the game will surpass your expectations, and be well worthy of the wait.
A sleepless night is coming...
Kind Regards
The Irreverent Software Team.
