Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 5m

I'll take it! The full game is... I don't think you'll be disappointed by the length :-)

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 11m

Glad you liked the demo! :-)

Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 12m

Glad you enjoyed it! :-)

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Reposted by Richard Cobbett

Sally Beaumont- Voice Actor & Game Writer @sallybeaumont.bsky.social · 25m

Every time I check what’s happening on Twitter:

Dan Marshall @danthat.bsky.social · 6h

EARTH
MUST
DIE.

store.steampowered.com/app/4057540/...

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 1h

And lots of very unusual words like mephitic.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 2h

Watching as many Nighthawks videos and streams as I can, mostly with relief that people seem to be liking it, but also to note glitches and pain points. Already pushed a few small updates to address a few glitches or confusing elements and making notes on any larger ones for the final build.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 2h

No probs! Looking forward to checking out the stream. I'm watching as many as I can and scribbling down notes on pain points and awkward things :-)

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

Anyway, hope you enjoy the rest of the demo! Just FYI, when you go into Nighthawks itself (the club), the demo ends when you leave it, in the name of finishing on a dramatic moment, so do everything else you want to be before heading over there.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

It's an RPG though, so if you want to be a murdering asshole who is a jerk to everyone, hey, that's fine too. You can even go walking around the city naked if you want!

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

But you're not wrong if you think of it as starting out in a typical V:TM chronicle kind of way, but one where instead of getting crushed by the system, you find yourself in a position to make the world a better place. A running theme throughout is 'the night is dark, but tomorrow can be better'.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

Act 1 is kinda where a lot of stuff gets grounded so that it can be built on later - like, the King of Cradlebridge is very deliberately introduced as a sort of First Baron You Would Meet In V:TM type way, so that the differences can be explored over time, and it can go in hopefully unexpected ways.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

Oh, gawd, no offence taken! Nighthawks originally began as a V:TM pitch that they turned down. But as part of making it into a unique thing, a big thing is inverting a lot of the themes of V:TM to create something else - no masquerade, no Camarilla type uber-conspiracies, etc.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

Nice! Amongst quite a few other things, I wrote Empire of Hands, Saviour's Rocks, The Merciless Modiste, The Haunted Doctor, Mr Sacks and the Snow Child, Nook, Gant Pole and the Pirate-Poet.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

(But if you want some of the more overtly VTM pastiche part of things, definitely go wandering without using the Scholar background or Lux/Saoirse, and see what encounter you have after a couple of location transitions... ahem. With Lux/Saoirse, the fun gets a bit truncated for character reasons.)

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

(I think you'll also increasingly find it less V:TM with the serial numbers filed off. It's very much an inversion of that in most ways, in particular focusing on warmth/optimism/found family- the name of the game/painting is very much 'a light in the darkness'. But be evil if you prefer!)

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

(Also, BTW, was amused by people in your stream going "Reminds me a bit of Fallen London". I wrote for that, as well as Sunless Sea/Sunless Skies, so... yeah, no offence taken!)

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

As soon as possible. We're pushing what should be the final beta to testers this month, and then it's just hammering it until it doesn't crash too often!

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

Some nice and definitely not corrupt praise from @botherer.bsky.social for the Nighthawks demo! And also some other games you might want to check out. Afterwards, obviously. buried-treasure.org/2025/10/some...

Some Utter Treasures From Next Fest October 2025 – Buried Treasure

buried-treasure.org

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

I may not be around to watch it live, but I'll check it out when I can. Just pushing a patch that fixes a couple of things you (and others) flagged, like explaining what the dialogue delay options do, and making the flow of Lux's intro a little smoother.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 3h

Yay! Glad you liked it - you may have the antidote :-P

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Reposted by Richard Cobbett

John Walker - Industry Analcyst @botherer.bsky.social · 4h

For Buried Treasure I've dug up more wonderful Next Fest demos: buried-treasure.org/2025/10/some...

@sparrowland.bsky.social @deathbychicken.bsky.social @ostsergey.bsky.social @ckgame.bsky.social @arumastudios.bsky.social @wadjeteyegames.bsky.social @richardcobbett.bsky.social @meredithgran.com

Some Utter Treasures From Next Fest October 2025 – Buried Treasure

buried-treasure.org

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 4h

For some of the other stuff you mentioned - you can see a rough idea of success on the dice icon next to choices which is coloured green/orange/red depending on your chance of success, and red/green flashes afterwards = success/fail.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 4h

Oh, and the demo is just the first night. But there's a fair amount of stuff to do in it - five intro characters, two encounters some optional stuff like the doctor at St Raphael's Hospital, etc.

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 4h

(Oh, and in terms of 'will the developers let you walk around naked' - if you get an option, the game may do a "Are you really sure?" but it's rare that it'll actually stop you!)

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Richard Cobbett @richardcobbett.bsky.social · 5h

Just watching the video of your stream. Just as an FYI, the person you meet at the start of the game is based on your Sire, so there are four others beyond Lux :-)

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