Hi everyone! Welcome to the first monthly update of 2026. This past month has been heavily focused on preparing for the first public demo, currently targeting mid-February, with early testing planned on itch.io. With that in mind, let’s dive into what happened in January.
Feel & Polish
Overall game feel and polish have been improved in several areas:
Subtle debris has been added to bat colonies as a visual cue. Previously, these relied only on audio.
Lantern flicker has been added for low fuel and during intense moments such as earthquakes and focus events. This includes an accessibility option to disable the effect.
Player arms are now clamped to specific height ranges, allowing for greater rotation while feeling more natural during movement.
Journal Entries
As mentioned in the last update, the computer interface has been expanded to support a new mechanic: journal entries.
Previously, the secondary story elements were told through loose journal pages left behind in the world. These have now been converted into labeled floppy disks, which require the computer to read. This ties narrative discovery more closely into the existing save and camp systems.
Refactors & Balancing
Several systems were refactored and rebalanced this month:
Tracks in the default biome were refactored to support more balanced spawning of loose wooden boards.
Item balance has been adjusted across the board.
Stalactite placement has been visually rebalanced for better readability.
After last month’s level generation refactor, per-level uniqueness was temporarily removed. This has now been restored to improve overall variety.
Secondary status effects (burns, infection and poison) now affect player health once fully maxed out.
Additional
Added 3 new passages and 9 more rooms.
Added 2 new story elements.
Numerous bug fixes, including several hard-to-reproduce issues.
Thank you to everyone following this journey.
If you’d like to support the project, you can follow along on itch.io, Steam and X.
Sean
It’s My First Day Studios