Morning everyone!
There's been a lot of incredible feedback (and bugs!) noted by our play testers this weekend, and much of it lines up with changes we've already been thinking about, which is good for both of us to confirm.
Last week, we talked about how a lot of the levels are getting a new lighting pass overhaul, particularly to accommodate for players who choose to carry a light source with them... or refrain from bringing one, depending on the situation. We'll be playing around with that again this week, as well as cleaning up on some more performance milestones we aim to hit by the end of this month. A lot of work is going to be invested in making sure the world ties together, which is never easy for an immersive sim like this. Each part of the level needs an art pass to make sure it lines up with the narrative, and the narrative needs to enforce the "why" of your goals in the Abyss, etc.
It may feel inorganic when I describe it this way, but for those of you who have experience play testing immersive sims, you know that the life of the game normally doesn't come together until nearly the last minute. Each individual cog is worked on, tested against its neighbors, and then refined until suddenly the entire world is alive and working as intended. The game comes first. Also, still really excited to see some of the outside work we've had help us really refine the narrative choices available.
That's it for now, and as a reminder, we released our July Newsletter last week:
https://steamcommunity.com/games/692840/announcements/detail/1733208564586532850