Watson's Watch Development Update
Watson's Watch Patch Notes — January 26, 2020
Aggregated from Steam, cross-tracked with Battle.net coverage on GamePatchNote.
I want to thank this community so much for sticking with us.If you are reading this, we are so grateful that you have stuck with Watson's Watch. Many people have said really encouraging things over the past years to us and we believe you need an update on what has happened.
Answers to some Questions
I would like to take a moment to cover some questions I have seen.
Q: What happened to the Development Team?
A: I will write an explanation further below in detail. The short answer is Life has taken us in different directions and game development is hard when you have no time to collabroate.
Q: I cannot purchase the game due to a pricing problem?
A: It was recently brought to my attention that many people have been posting about this issue and I have been unaware. We will make it a point to fix this for those of you who are having the issue.
Steam requires us to do a few additional steps that we will do our best to complete so that you can purchase Watson's Watch. Thank you for letting us know about this issue.
Q: Is Episode 2 a sequel or DLC?
A: No, when you bought Watson's Watch we promised to deliver all 3 episodes to you included in that purchase.
What happened?
I would now like to take a bit more time to discuss what has happened with development of the game and the team.
Watson's Watch Episode 1 was created while the team was without employment. Shortly after the release of Episode 1 we found ourselves with full time employment. I, myself, had moved 2 hours away from my home and even was sleeping on the couch of the co-author while I was trying to start my career. Since then, our lives have changed even more. We currently work opposite shifts, live an hour away from each other, and the constant contact we once had has shifted to being an occasional message back and forth. This is partly the fault that I have changed jobs again, moved locations, etc.
I know this isn't the full story, nor is it an excuse. You can even see most of this information in the last update post. I think this gives you a bit of insight about what has been going on that has put this project on hold for so long. While we cannot promise we won't be busy, we have decided we do want to pick up the project again.
So what about the game?
Recently talk has resumed about getting Episode 2 to you. However, literal years have passed since we have touched the project. The original content for Episode 2 is being scrapped and reworked. To be honest, the original script was probably too confusing a jump from the previous episode and dealt more with a metaphorical look at morality rather than an actual continuation of the story. The main focus was that we wanted Episode 2 to include a larger amount of player choice. A karma system was made but choices did not feel satisfying and often felt confusing. This long break has provided a new perspective not only about what you, the players, want but, also what makes the most sense for the project as a whole.
Episode 2's new direction
Now that we are picking up the project again we want to focus Episode 2 on the relationship of our Protagonist and Antagonist. Without spoiling Episode 1 we want to cover their past and how the events of Episode 1 came to happen. We also still want to provide the player with interaction and choice rather than just a constant point A to B runaround. Episode 2 will end with a choice that will have an impact on the finale which will be covered in Episode 3.
In closing - A thank you to everyone
Thank you so much for your questions, observations, reviews, concerns, complaints, and all the other support you have given. If you have read this far I would like to extend an offer to you. If you are willing to, please let us know what you want to see in Watson's Watch. In the end, Watson's Watch has always been about making a story that we all want to see. Your feedback has been uplifting for us to see that people still care about our project. We have always meant to come back to finish it but now are in a much better position to resume work on it. Thank you for being patient and supportive.