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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

The Tech Deck

Checking up on ‘The Kingfisher’

About a month and a half ago, I wrote a piece on a pair of indie games currently in development by the Spokesman's own Andrew Smith. Recently, Andy provided me with an updated version of one of the two games he's working on: his science-fiction horror title called The Kingfisher.

You can find a more complete description of what The Kingfisher is all about in my initial post; this update will focus on the changes made to the updated version of the Kingfisher demo. 

This newer version is nearly content-identical to the first demo. However, a few changes have been made to the room layout, and some noticeable aesthetic upgrades are also present.

The lighting effects are much-improved.

The most immediately noticeable change in the updated version is the inclusion of ambient music. My brief time spent on board the Kingfisher vessel was already tense when the only auditory element was my own footsteps, but the new music present during the entire experience hugely improves the atmosphere. The creepy melody had me more aware of my surroundings and more engaged with the demo as a whole.

Furthermore, a handful of noticeable visual upgrades have been added. Most plainly, the Unreal Tournament laser rifle has been removed (a mistake that was present in the first demo as a byproduct of the demo's development in Unreal Engine 3), and, in conjunction, players no longer have the comfort of a centered reticle to guide them. The first-person perspective is now much less cluttered. The lighting effects have also been improved to a great extent, resulting in added realism and improved atmosphere. 

Kingfisher's monster sports a new, gorier design.

The largest material change in the new demo is the updated appearance of the monster that provides the sole true "scare" moment at this early stage in development. The monster now appears more grotesque, and materializes directly in front of the player's camera, leading to a jump scare that's even more jarring than it was in The Kingfisher's first demo.

Though the handful of small changes made to The Kingfisher thus far are incremental, they add up to a significantly improved experience. Expect more updates as Andy fleshes out his Kingfisher demo and begins adding more content to round out the game.