What do you mean it's already been over a week?
I've been working nonstop since launch to juggle my attention between fixing bugs, supporting players, adjusting the controls, and just reading everyone's responses of the game. I loved every second of it, and it somehow had already been so long.
Anyway, the title promised my plans for the future of this game, right?
Fix more bugs
My immediate plan is to fix any bugs left that severely hurt the play experience. There are still some people out there who get softlocked in certain parts of the game, and I want to make sure they get the chance to finish it like everyone else.
That said, the nature of this game makes stabilizing it really difficult. The reason is that everyone has their own different configurations for their Windows OS, and some of these configurations break things in a way I can't predict.
For example:
Some people had a bug where the sonar mini-game didn't work for them. This didn't replicate for me or for any of the game testers, so it was really difficult to find out what was causing it. Thanks to the cooporation from some players I was able to find what was causing the problem: The title of the the folder.
Apparently, some PCs are configured in to show the full address of a folder in the title instead of just the folder's name. This broke the sonar because it was trying to find those folder windows using the folder name...
This is just one example of the many edge-case bugs I had fixed, and likely more which I will fix in the future. If you get such a game-breaking bug, please contact me so I can try fixing it for you
Major update #1: Desktop pet
Outcore takes inspiration from the early 2000s desktop pets, so it makes sense Lumi would act like one. I want Lumi to be more alive when she's on your desktop while you don't progress with the story.
I'd like her to walk around, play with K-Lev, let you play at least 1 other optional mini-game with her, and just talk about stuff with you over time.
Major update #2: Cut content
I didn't ship Outcore with all the content I wanted. There was actually supposed to be an optional sidequest. That sidequest was supposed to unlock the Mastermind's 4th route and shed some light on the unexplained mysteries of the school memory.
I want major update #2 to include the missing sidequest.
When will these be ready?
Releasing these major updates might take me some time. I'm just one guy working on the game, and I will probably have to start looking for a job soon. Turns out releasing a game for free doesn't do great when it comes to paying bills, so I'll have less time during the day to work on these updates.
After Outcore's development is done
IDK. I do have very early plans for a game that would continue Outcore's story, but it's too big for one person to make and I'll probably have to get a publisher to fund the development. Most likely I'll work on something smaller, like releasing the Idle game as a standalone game (with more content!).
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you for playing Outcore! I do hope this game managed to give you an experience you won't forget, and that you'll get to enjoy Outcore's future updates.