Posts

Posted on

The Well And More

Hello,

here we are with another update and some important news about Chico.

First of all we fixed annoying bugs that some players might have experienced:

1 – objects spawn issues
2 – player getting stuck
3 – glitches or abnormal resizing

We have fixed all of them but unfortunately we had to change the saving system and therefore the old save file is no longer compatible; this means you need to reset the game by using the appropriate button ( Options->Game->Reset ).

We are very sorry for this inconvenience, but fortunately there is also some good news today, since we did some improvement:

1 – looting is now much faster than before

2 – you can choose your favourite default screensaver camera from the screensaver menu

3 – we added the well, a new asset with two dedicated animations

4 – we added some dedicated cameras to some already existing animations

5 – we added three new idle animations for the screensaver

And before we say goodbye we give you a little preview of our next step: based on the fact that Chico is mainly a screensaver customizer, in addition to the survival mode, in which you need to loot and craft, we are going to develop the sandbox mode so that you will be given the opportunity to put any asset in the world without effort.

That’s all folks,

1Monkey2Brains.

Posted on

In Game Screensaver And More

Hello,

this is our first update after the early access and we want to thank you for all the interesting feedbacks we are receiving.

We became aware that there was no clearness on the meaning of Chico and so, following your suggestions, we have made our first change in order to make it clearer that Chico is meant to be a way for customizing your windows screensaver. We renamed the old “Play” button in “Customize” and added a new “Play Screensaver” button to the main menu which will give you the opportunity to switch between customizer and screensaver; in other words you can still activate the windows screensaver by the menu, but now you can also start the screensaver in game at runtime ( you don’t have to wait for windows to launch it ).

We also made some changes in the UI and you can now better look at which type of camera filter you are just setting.

In respect of our plan to keep adding content over time we added a new sketch ( you don’t need to build anything this time because is something like an idle mode ): the monocle.

We also did some polishing on some materials to improve graphics rendering and on the UI; and obviously we have tried to fix all the bugs we have found.

We were blown away by the players reaction around Chico and this encourages us to do the best we can: we are working to improve the camera system in order to have better angles in the screensaver and add a random events generator.

Thanks for all your support.

Stay tuned,

1Monkey2Brains.

Posted on

New Sketches And Onion Clock

Hi Chichi,

we want to talk you about the last changes we made before the early access release.

Workbench and storage, which can be already useful in game to build big structures and store resources, have some funny sketches now that you will be able to admire at screensaver time execution.

We also want to share with you the new onion clock we made in place of the old and unpolished digital watch.

The inventory now can also be opened by the little bag-shaped icon at the bottom of the screen ( or keep using the “i” key ).

And last but not least, thanks to Leonardo Ceralli, our musician, for composing that beautiful song you can listen while playing the game or watching the screensaver.

7 January Chico will be released in Early Access on Steam, which is a very point of pride for us; now we need your feedback in order to improve the experience and keep supporting Chico with periodic updates introducing ever-new contents.

That’s all for now,

1Monkey2Brains.

Posted on

The washbasin

Hi Cichi,

today we are here to talk about our last effort: the washbasin… yes, because our hero will spend a few minutes everyday to wash after a hard day’s work.

Everyone knows how hygiene is important in everyday life and even Chico can’t help washing his face or going in for a nose pick… in the hope he will be ready to go back to work anytime soon.

How it works:

  • the screensaver: Chico will try to save what’s left of his dignity by washing his face and doing more cleaning over ( and inside ) his body.

  • the game: over time Chico will grow a pair of moustaches and a thick beard; thanks to the washbasin you can still turn his face as smooth as a baby’s bottom.

We are still working to improve the game experience and add more and more sketches in order to enrich your screensaver, according to our plan to keep supporting the game over time with periodic updates and thus offering ever-changing new content.

If you have any fresh idea or suggestion please feel free to join the discussion in our Steam community hub.

The best ideas will be rewarded with some customized special content.

So, what else, if this game/screensaver concept arouses your interest then follow us and, most important, share your thoughts with us.

Meanwhile Chico and the 1Monkey2Brains team wish you a fantastic Happy New Year.

Posted on

Happy Holidays

Hi Cichi,

we are working hard on Chico in order to release in Early Access after the holidays.

Ok, I know, that’s not a big update 🙂

We just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The 1Monkey2Brains team.

FinalSnow
Posted on

Steam landing page

Hey cowboys,

last week we have worked hard on our landing page, which is now online on Steam, and we would like to have some feedback… and you might also add Chico to your wishlist doing so.

We are still working on the last features and fixing some little bugs in order to be ready for the early access as soon as possible ( we guess before the end of the year ); our intention is to keep the price very cheap for now, but it will probably grow up once the game exit from the early access to enter the release stage. The reason we want a cheap price is because the game has a very innovative concept that blends game and screensaver together giving more focus on the last one.

I realize now that we never said you where this idea come from: Chico is inspired by Johnny Castaway powered by Dynamix of Sierra Online in 1992 and it would like to be his evolution.

Thanks for your support.

1M2B.

Posted on

Inventory system

Hey cowboys,

today we want to show you the inventory system implemented in Chico in order to give him the opportunity to store resources and the ability to craft a lot of different things.

The inventory is pretty easy to use as you can see by the video floating somewhere down here. By pressing I on the keyboard the UI opens showing you two panels; the left panel is the inventory itself and is made by 20 slots, each one containing up to 15 resources or 1 single tool. The first 5 slots represent your belt ( a fast inventory ) which is useful to equip specific tools during the game ( such as the hammer or the axe to loot trees for example ); instead looking at the right panel you can see the crafting section: on the top there is the recipe list provided with some filters to help you in the research; selecting a recipe allows you to add the needed resources to the slots below and thus craft a lot of things.

You should have seen that there are no buildings in the inventory except for the workbench ( consider it as a very very small building ) which gives you access to much more recipes. Once you have built the workbench simply click on it with the hammer equipped and the inventory will open giving you a lot more recipes to choose from.

You may have noticed that the inventory has very few slots and therefore the storage will really come in handy, overall if you are one of those who love to loot around: you can move resources and tools from your inventory to the storage ( and vice-versa ) simply by dragging them.

That’s all for today folks.

We are also glad to announce that we are setting our Steam landing page…. hope you will be able to wishlist us soon.

Bye Cichi,

1M2B.

Posted on

Particle Systems – Take A Peek

Hey cowboys,

we are working hard on Chico these days to add some effects, so we would like to let you take a peek at some particle systems we just created.

We start with the dust surrounding our poor hero while is building some big stuffs, like the workbench… I know, it’s not so big after all.

The dust may appear too large perhaps… we really like exaggeration. Anyway the particle can be resized to fit the stuff you are going to create: we will take care of it during the polishing process.

The next one is about flames… every game has flames, ever. Look at the campfire and the workbench.

That little candle dangling from the workbench ( and from almost all the buildings ) gives our Chico some warm light on cold nights, in according to the day night cycle we developed.

The next particle system we added drops some leafs down when the tree pops to life.

This is the texture we used:

The last particle system we would like to share with you generates a dust storm: we added a script that randomly play it….  very rarely indeed.

That’s all for today, hope you enjoy this news.

Stay tuned,

1M2B.

Posted on

Looting And Crafting – Take A Peek

Hey cowboys,

in the last article we’ve spoken about looting and crafting, now it’s time to let you take a peek in.

You may find some animations still unpolished… they are wip and we are going to refine them soon. 

By holding down left mouse on a lootable object our unlucky hero will move through the peak and start doing some looting; a little icon, which pops up below the cursor, lets you know which object can be left or right clicked ( you may or may not be able to do some actions depending on the tool you are holding in your hand… you may say “but I’m holding the mouse in my right hand”… yes I know, but I meant our poor cowboy there ). Anyway, once you start looting, a thin green health bar will appear on the object you are trying to hit; let’s watch an example in the following clip.

At this point you should have noticed that it will take a lot less time when you loot with the right tool in your hand… and that we used Unity’s physics on all the things that you can see falling apart around you.

After a while the collapsed objects will pop in, ready to be looted again.

We’ve already set up the sound effects for everything is taken into account during the looting process as you can hear watching the following clips; together with every specific tool useful to obtain all the resources our big hero is in need of, in order to have some fun in his dry and so deserted peak.

That’s all folk.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Stay connected,

1M2B.