Hello folks,
It's time for an announcement regarding DeepStates.
tl;dr
Development for DeepStates is currently on hold. I'm working on a new app called Realms of Flow, which will be closer to my roots, combining pre-rendered cinematic VR with real-time guide visuals. Users who purchased DeepStates for the full price will be eligible for a free copy of Realms of Flow.
Long story:
After struggling with the continued development of DeepStates as well as some health issues, I thought a lot about what I actually can and want to create going forward, and in the end made the decision to put the development of DeepStates on hold for an indefinite period of time.
For one thing, after experimenting quite a bit with new environments, I was not satisfied at all with what I personally can achieve in terms of quality, detail and performance with real-time visuals in VR. A lot of aspects like water, clouds and trees are not possible for me to create in a way that I'd like to do - and I don't want to just create deserts until the end of time.
Another thing is the amount of pure bug fixing and taking care of technical aspects that ate most of the time and led to a lot of frustration on my side. Complex programming and creating interactable real-time environments is unfortunately not my strength - I tried hard, but same as with the performance aspect I kept bumping into walls I could not overcome.
Going forward I'd like to focus more on the content creation and artistic side of things.
Hence I created a concept for an app that I probably wanted to create all along but didn't see it. It will combine pre-rendered cinematic stereoscopic visuals (as in Conscious Existence) and interactive real-time guide mechanics as I was already building for DeepStates and which I will iterate and improve on. It still involves quite a bit of programming but on a somewhat simpler level of logic and math where I know what I'm doing. I did a lot of tests and experiments already and am pretty convinced that this is the thing I'd like to work on long-term. It will be available for PC-VR as well as mobile VR. Expect a free demo by Q2/23 and a release in Q4/23.
Some people who liked Conscious Existence more than DeepStates (I know there are some) will be happy with this decision, others who are more into the explorable, interactive environment side of things might probably not dig it so much. It is not sure if DeepStates will be continued at some point, maybe if there is a viable opportunity to work on it with a team in the future - yet I'm mostly a solo dev/artist for a reason, so I'm not sure about that possibility.
It is a decision I had to make in order to use my time as effectively as possible, as well as staying motivated and healthy. The time that I can spend in front of my workstation every day is limited and I want to bring as much beauty to the world as possible by utilizing what I can do best.
I hope for your understanding and that most of you will find value in what I will create.
Thank you for your support,
Marc