Next Fest Updates & FAQ

Hi everyone, I'm Alessandro Perelli. It's the first community post I make so I tought I would open with some presentations but this is a Standard Update post, not a Presentations post so let's talk about A Standard Deviation.

A Standard Deviation in Steam Next Fest: 2026 July edition!

I've been working on A Standard Deviation for more than two years and I'm now ready to bring its demo to more eyes!

Gameplay changes.

• Now rooms can be reset by pressing R! The previous way of resetting puzzles was by exiting and re-entering into its room, but that's not always so easy to do.

• Removed the Crossroads puzzle from the tutorial section: it was badly designed and without it the player can more quickly get to the exploration component of the game.

• Also in the tutorial, the spectrometer is now obtained earlier. It has the ability to filter the colors on screen, bring some clarity on certain puzzles. The band can be selected by pressing Q and E.

• Velocity fields are disabled when descending the tower: easier backtracking.

• AddedAdded mirrors to the cavesan old vfx, actually, that I completely forgot about, added in the Hall of mirrors.

• Various improvements to the UI.

Online Mode.

Do you want to know how much your playthrough deviated from those of other players? Well, I'm still working on it.

Now only a few stats are shown in the Online Mode menu. However the idea was to show those stats on tablets scattered around in the world, like how the results of the golf minigame are shown.

Some questions you may have about the game and the demo.

Isn't this a game jam game?

It's true that A Standard Deviation was born as a game jam submission for the Acerola Jam 0. But that version of the game, now renamed A Standard Deviation Jam version, is a very different (and unpolished) experience from that of A Standard Deviation.

If you aren’t convinced yet below is a non-exhaustive list of features present in the full game.

What will feature in the full game?

• A whole island to explore, full of puzzles and secrets.

• Variations and evolutions of the puzzles seen in the demo alongside new kinds.

• More dialogue and cut-scenes. Like a whole new area of dialogue.

• Optional activities like camping and bug-catching.

How much is the game bigger than the demo?

In a regular playthrough of the demo you may see roughly 33% of the final game. However you can push this percent to 50% if you are thorough in your exploration, and the complete game also has optional content, so I can’t answer this question with an absolute value.

Let’s just say that the length of the full game is at least twice of that of the demo, for your level of completeness.

Is it finished?

My perfectionist brain says no, but the game is actually finished. However I plan to release at least a free DLC next year and then, maybe, also a paid one.