I lied, field report 5 wasn't the last devlog before release
Hello again, it's me again ^^ the sleep-deprived skeleton inside Seclusion’s development walls. I bring news. Some of it’s good. Some of it is... well. Let’s just get into it.
Story Mode Arrives April 13th. Explorer Mode... Doesn’t.
As much as I love pretending time isn’t real, the calendar disagrees: Seclusion is still releasing on April 13th as planned, in Early Access. That means Chapter 1 of the Story Mode
the emotional meat of this game, the thing I poured way too much trauma into is coming to haunt your computer soon ^^
However: the Explorer Mode (aka Multiplayer) will not be ready at launch. I know, I know. I wanted it too. But I also wanted to sleep and touch grass once this year, and we can't always get what we want.
Explorer Mode isn’t dead, just gestating in a corner, twitching occasionally and muttering things about replication bugs. It’ll come post-launch once it’s in a state that won’t make both of us cry. I’ll be updating the Steam page to reflect this painful but necessary reality. (make me sad but i swear it will come soon after release)
Story Mode Grew a Little Too Much
Chapter 1 is... big. Bigger than I originally planned. It grew legs, then arms, then started dragging itself down hallways whispering about guilt and identity. So if you’re expecting a short little intro, you might want to stretch first. There’s more to explore than I initially intended. Sorry. You're welcome. I don't know anymore.
Optimization? Working on it...
I’ve been violently optimizing the game, trimming polygons, strangling lighting issues, begging my GPU to stop hissing at me but at launch, it still won’t run like a perfectly polished AAA ghost simulator. If your toaster PC starts crying, please tell it I’m doing my best and optimization will be better and better with each updates over time.
Future Horrors: Lost Levels?
Thinking about adding a feature called Lost Levels in the future. Just an idea though but it would let you play some of the story mode levels that were scrapped during development.
These are probably haunted by now. We’ll see if I survive long enough to make it happen ^^
Final thoughts
Not releasing explorer mode at launch kinda breaks my heart but I really don't want to release a buggy, unoptimized mess, so it will have to wait.
Making Seclusion alone has been brutal. (Who would have thought!) But we’re almost there. I’m equal parts terrified and excited to finally share this weird, aching world with you.
Your support since the beginning of the project whether it is your messages in DM, feedback or whatever, have meant a lot. More than I’m comfortable admitting, frankly.
And i'm thinking of adding special discord roles for early supporters, aswell as a place in the hall of fame nobody reads (the credits of the game) For every one of you that followed the game before launch, tell me if you would like to be in the credits for nobody to see ^^
Anyway.
See you soon... In between the walls.
(No screenshots this time. Enjoy this existential void while you wait.)