Ctrl Alt Deal Demo – Live on Steam!
We're thrilled to announce our first public demo is now live on Steam! Last week, we appeared on the OTK Games Expo livestream, where the team showcased our trailer and hosted an interview with writer Amber Scott. They also revealed our exciting news—you can try Ctrl Alt Deal for free on Steam! Crafting and releasing
We’re On Our Way to GDC!
With Ctrl Alt Deal’s announcement behind us, we’re focusing on the next important event this year. GDC! The Game Developers Conference is one of the biggest conventions in the world. Last year, over 28,000 publishers, developers, and industry professionals attended. This year, Only By Midnight will be in attendence honing our skills, networking, and
Next Fest 2024 Recap
Steam’s spring Next Fest has come and gone, and we had an amazing time watching all the live streams and trying out demos. Next Fest is always the best time to fill out our wishlist (and maybe check out the competition at the same time). In a way, Next Fest also gives us a
AI And The Turing Test
Every video game needs a villain, and ours is both a person and a department. The Turing Office (named for the famous AI-detection model the Turing Test), is a division of Paperclip International whose purpose is to monitor for and shut down any sign of AI intelligence. Luckily for SCOUT, the department (like most departments
AGS 2023 Recap
One of the highlights of 2023 was the second annual AGS. In October, we were thrilled to participate in the Alberta Game Series, hosted by Digital Alberta. And, wow, what a great convention it was! The AGS was held in our home base of Edmonton, Alberta, and the guest speaker lineup this year was tremendous. (And
Twas The Night Before Paperclip
Last year, for our OBM holiday party, our Interactive Director had a special gift for the staff. Amber wrote this incredible parody of A Visit From St. Nicholas, but made it about Ctrl Alt Deal. Read on for a touching story of holiday cheer (and a few teasers about the game’s content!) Twas the night before Christmas, and
Creating Character Portraits
When we first conceived of Ctrl Alt Deal, we wanted to use procedural generation to develop lots of scenarios and characters to test the player’s skill. One of our ideas was roguelike portrait selection, where NPCs would be randomly generated, including their appearance. But that would require literally hundreds of custom pieces of art—both time-consuming
(Un)Welcome to Paperclip International
Once we came up with the story behind the game (if you missed it, read our blog on making a game about AI), we needed a setting. We knew it would be a corporate environment—SCOUT is a research project, and we wanted to use the theme of business negotiations as a game mechanic. How
Making A Game About AI
So. Why are we making a game about AI? When we started planning Ctrl Alt Deal, we didn’t expect the massive developments in artificial intelligence that we’ve seen over the last year. We were inspired by something much more prosaic than world-changing technological innovation: business conferences. Reboot Red, to be precise, one of our favourite cons.
GDX 2023 Recap
We just wrapped up our first convention appearance for Ctrl Alt Deal! To paraphrase another intelligent AI in video game history, it was a triumph (huge success). The week started off with our attendance at the GDX convention, where we participated in panels hosted by luminaries including Trent Oster of Beamdog, Cristina Amaya of Latinx in