Hello quacklings! 2026 comes with what will be the last update for the demo, but not without a blast!
Ice Puzzle patches.
More cards!
One more font for the UI.
Swimming Sprite patches.
Polished Difficulty Settings.
Achievements (yes, demos now can have them too!).
New tree and bushes 3D models.
No more Demo Versions?
During the last year, whenever things changed too much internally on the game, we quietly updated the demo to fix things, and to not deal with problems that don’t exist on the more recent game.
If we feel the need we need to fix something, or that it is easier to have the demo closer to what we’re working for, we’ll update it.
Close to release, there will probably be a 0.0.5, or 0.0.6 version, maybe with one or two levels or spells, maybe not, or just a polished graphics and a more detailed version of what the Ice Cave is right now.
But those choices will be based on showcasing the game for the full version, so don’t hold your breath on this.
Known Issues
Apparently the native Steam Deck out of the blue starts flickering sprites. It is not something people comment on, so it is very hard to find people to replicate.
We fixed it a dozen times, but there is still a chance that dying while not saving triggers a fade away loop. The last few build didn’t have that, but if you found it, please *report it immediately* what you did to cause this. Preferably with video.
What now?
Originally in this project, the goal was to add a few features on the demo, see what worked for players, and try focusing on that a little bit more until we got the chance to do some kind of crowdfunding for music and maybe some marketing.
When we take the game to conventions, we got a few hundred people playing at the time, we learn where they get stuck the most, we learn a lot more people enjoy taking their time playing this game, and we kept adding stuff with that in mind, a lot of which was not on the demo.
There were people we didn’t expect to like the game, there were people that didn’t care for the gameplay but loved the characters, and of course, people that like this kind of game love this game. We really have something special here, that is not bragging or hype building, we see the same joy in people’s eyes we saw when we played games with our friends.
But while we apparently are fairly good at building a game, we suck at marketing. Having people find our game online is difficult, crowdfunding seems riskier and riskier and it felt that if we fell short on budget this would pressure us to make a rushed game because we were on a dead end.
Ever since we renumbered the versioning of releases, our goal has been Early Access. Sell the game for cheap, be very clear with what would look like a beta testing experience and what is done until we hit some kind of milestone. Rise the price when we feel the content justifies the money for new players.
What can I do to play more until then?
Our Discord is the best place to keep updated on the pre-steam changes. We know Steam has now temporary Playtest builds and we may or not go towards this route to promote our game going forward, but content-wise, we will stick to “preview” builds where you enter a code on the Steam settings.
Usually the code is `WeReallyLikeDucks`, and is used to test one or two things in machines that we don’t have. We may go for more specific builds there with other codes, keep your eye on your Discord notifications!
Thank you so much
This demo is consistent with finishing in 15 minutes if you're used to this kind of game, 40 if you are a completionist or a more casual gamer. Somehow 3 minutes if you're an ungodly speedrunner. It is short, yet we got people coming back for it.
There is a very undescribable feeling about people replaying your game not out of any obligation, just because it is fun for them. We didn't want to leave the likely to be the last version of our work without a little gift for those people that helped us immensely.
Hopefully you have fun with the achievements.
Quick Tip: Ever since this was released, no one noticed a very silly interaction that gives you a lot of minnows.