This article has a talk page!This page details pre-release information and/or media for BROK the InvestiGator.
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Development Timeline#
BROK: the InvestiGator#
2016:
- May 31, 2016: Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure released, the police station showcases Brok's earliest design.
2017:
- 2017: The Hidden Levels Games Conference showcases the earliest footage of the game, when the game was called "Tough: Brok".
2018:
- December 2018: Development footage of the game was uploaded online by the developer, the game was called "Brok: The Brawler Detective" for most of these.
2020
- December 7, 2020: Prologue demo was released.
2021:
- January 5, 2021: Kickstarter page was launched.
- October 13, 2021: Release date was pushed back to 2022.
2022
- August 26, 2022: Game was released worldwide.
BROK: The Brawl Bar#
2024
- June 4, 2024: The DLC was announced.
2025
- August 13, 2025: The DLC was released.
Videos#
BROK The InvestiGator#
The Hidden Levels Games Conference 2017#
It's currently unknown when this was first uploaded, although this build is the earliest one that has footage. Watch on YouTube
- The game goes by a different name during this point in development "Tough: Brok".
- Art style is very different from the final game.
- Lia has a portrait, which the final game doesn't have.
- This build uses assets from Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure.
- Brok uses placeholder voice clips when he gets hurt.
GameDev Game Beginning#
Published: December 11, 2018. Watch on YouTube
- The game goes by an earlier name at this point of development: Brok The Brawler Detective.
- A lot of the backgrounds and portrait graphics are unfinished.
- Some portraits are also missing in this build, resulting in the "Sprite: Not Found" graphic to appear.
- Graff's neutral portrait uses a much earlier design.
- Kins has no portrait graphics in this build, instead using an earlier version of generic rat's portraits, those portraits are present within Prologue 1.07's files.
- Only 1 voice clip is present in this build, being a text to speech placeholder when Brok looks at the family photo in his apartment.
- Debug elements are turned on.
- Many elements of Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure (the action tutorial, uses a screenshot from it.) are used here, along with the clicker hand still being Bjorn's.
- Different music is used in this build.
- A majority of the game in this build uses a slower version of Bjorn's apartment theme from Demetrios.
- UI graphics are also different, many of them use different colors than the final game.
- Many of Brok's sprites are also unfinished, many use a different style, while others look closer to the final but with some missing colors (notably on Brok's tail), a sprite from this build is still present in the final game's files, unused.
- Additionally most of Brok's sprites along with other characters in fights use placeholder sprites of Donovan from Streets Of Rage 2
August 2019 PlayStation Vita Build#
Watch on YouTubeOriginally, the game was also meant to have a PlayStation Vita release during development. However, due to hardware limitations and newer versions of Gamemaker dropping support for it, the PS Vita version was canceled.
This build predates the final game by 3-4 years.
As a result, this build was left in a very earlier state, as such it has many differences.
- The game now goes by its final name at this point of development, although its title screen still goes by an earlier name.
- The textboxes were changed, now looking closer to the final, albeit not following with the text properly yet.
- Brok's portraits are notably incomplete, although his thinking portrait appears to the most complete one in this build albeit with different shading.
- No voice acting is present.
- A loading screen is present in this build.
- A controller prompt screen is present, showing an Xbox 360 controller, which the game was not released for.
- Because of hardware limitations, the game tends to crash quite often, most likely due to the game exceeding the console's memory.
- And even if it's possible to go in-game, the FPS drops to a very low-frame rate. Making the game unplayable.
Anniversary Trailer (2021)#
Published: December 2, 2021 Watch on YouTube
- The game appears to be pre-final with some minor differences.
- Ott's and Dr. Mink's designs were different
- The police Tribot still had it's earlier design.
BROK: The Brawl Bar#
BROK THE BRAWL BAR - DLC ANNOUNCEMENT#
Published: June 4, 2024 Watch on YouTube
- This trailer uses footage from two different builds as such many elements in the game switch between footage, these are the most notable.
- Some footage shows that the DLC is built on-top of the original game, as the UI elements still show the player character switch button for Graff.
- Brok's boxing gloves are colored differently.
- During the CO-OP segment at 0:35, when the second player joins in while in the Brawl Bar, Tenderjaw has a different look and doesn't have any animations.
- Ott still uses his old slap animation from the original game, before it was redrawn in Brawl Bar.
- Rok's grab animation is notably buggy, as when he grabs Brok in the footage, Brok is seen floating before Rok grabs him.
Images#
BROK the InvestiGator#
Artbook#
Found in the game's artbook are various things within the game's development.
Concept Art#
Brok
Brok had 2 early designs, the earliest of which can be seen in Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure at the police station, and the second one is seen in earlier builds of the game.
First Design |
Second Design |
Final Design |
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First Design |
Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure |
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Graff
Graff had an earlier design, in which he is taller, and had a logo on his hoodie.
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Early Design |
Final Design |
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Shay
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Early Design |
Final Design |
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Kins
Kins had over 6 early designs, the final game used the 6th design but with some changes.
Dart
Dart had an early design, the final game made some alterations.
Squealer Chief
Squealer Chief had 2 early designs, the first early design can be seen in earlier screenshots, the final game changed the design completely.
GlassesGator#
GlassesGator whose one of the artists for the game, shared some of his work he did from the game online.
Clint#
Before Clint was revealed within BROK: Natal Tale and BROK: The Brawl Bar, early doodles from 2020 show an unknown Warthog boxing Brok.
This unknown Warthog would later become Clint, Ott's father, who would receive 2 redesigns.
2020 Doodle |
Second Design (Game's Launch) |
Final Design (After Version 1.2.9) |
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Reference Images#
The game's art reference images, also feature early designs for certain characters.
Klay#
Klay's face was different.
Ott#
Ott had a different design altogether.
R.J#
R.J's design was similar to the final, notably the reference image has one pose that's not featured in the final game.
BROK Discord Server#
10/14/2019#
Posted on the announcements tab on the official Discord server is this image featuring 3 screenshots of a earlier build of the game on 10/14/2019.
Graff's portraits were completed during this point in development.
Various Screenshots#
Also found in the server are various early screenshots from different points of development.
The dates are unknown for these, although screenshots 3 and 6 are from when the game was called "Tough Brok"
Press-Kit Images#
Found on the official website are various content for the game, including some in-game screenshots, some of them are notably taken from earlier builds of the game.
Image 3#
The Tribot Cop is still using it's earlier design from Prologue 1.07, Brok's HUD icon is lower-quality, the "Player" tab was originally called "Stats", and a different objective is displayed.
This screenshot is dated 11/3/2020.
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Press-Kit |
Final |
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Image 17#
Ott's design is different who is shown to be more chubbier, Stubot is missing it's student cap, and Graff's tail is missing it's black tip.
Graff's portrait is also slightly different, as his head appears to be sightly bigger and lacks the fur texture on his chest.
Notably, Ott's early design actually matches up with his character portraits more than his newer design.
This screenshot is dated 11/22/2021
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Press-Kit |
Final |
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Image 18#
Dr. Mink's design is different, shown to be more hunchback and has a completely different face, and some objects lack shadows, and no black bars are present.
Notably Ott is not present in this screenshot.
This screenshot is dated 11/22/2021
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Press-Kit |
Final |
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BROK: The Brawl Bar#
Press-Kit Images#
Just like the original game, the Brawl Bar's official website also provides early screenshots.
Image 1
Only 33 challenges were completed during the time, this one is notably using debug functions as all the challenges were automatically completed.
This screenshot is dated May 27, 2024.
Image 5
Image 5 for Brawl Bar notably uses a very early build of the game, as leftover buttons from the main game were left intact, such as the player switch button and Brok's boxing attire sprite is slightly different from the final version.
This screenshot is dated April 30, 2024.
Miscellaneous#
During the game's Kickstarter around 2021, people that have pledged a certain amount of money would get certain rewards.
One of these rewards is a sticker pack, which notably has a very early Boxer Brok sprite in it, which looks very different from the final game, and predates the Brawl Bar DLC by over 4 years.
