Frequently Asked Questions

Thanks for following along, wishlisting the game and sharing my announcement! With your help, the game has managed to hit nearly 1000 (988) wishlists in the first two weeks.

On top of this, I've felt the support from fellow developers and the Thinky Games community:

• Alexander Bruce quote re-tweeted my game

• Jonathan Blow streamed the game on his Twitch channel

• Thinky Games covered and added the game to their database

Shout-out to Davor Hunski (The Talos Principle), Albert Shih (Superliminal), Elyot Grant (Islands of Insight), Patrick Traynor (Patrick's Parabox), Le Slo (Alephant), Matthew VanDevander (Taiji), Alan Hazelden (Draknek), Nozomu (Robot Detour), Thomas Mackinnon (THE CORRIDOR), Tad Cordle (Sensorium) and many more for play-testing early builds of the game.

This is my first devlog after over a year of development. As a developer, I'm a bit torn on what I should or shouldn't share in terms of game design/mechanics. The game is all about rule discovery and mastering mechanics over time, I don't want to spoil or ruin that experience for you.

Anything that might be considered a spoiler, like this

spoiler example

, will be marked as a spoiler. If you want to go in blind,

don't hover over these

!

I'll be posting a devlog every month or so, depending on my schedule. I'd love to share interesting bits and pieces of my process along the way. What would you prefer to see (or not see) in a devlog for a puzzle game that's in active development?

Let's start simple by giving you an overview of where I'm at:

• Late 2022: I joined a game-jam that triggered the idea to hyperfocus on the button mechanic

• February 2023: I developed a rough prototype next to my work as an architectural engineer

• AdjustedMarch 2023I reduced my engineering hours to a minimum to make time for game development

• May 2023: I applied for the Astra Fellowship grant but didn't make it through final selections

• July 2023: I continued to improve my early demo and asked for advice from fellow developers

• October 2023: I became increasingly unhappy in my engineering job and quit (not recommended)

• Late 2023: I continued to self-fund pre-production and prepared pitches to find funding

• April 2024: I sent in my pitch to the Dutch equivalent of Indie Fund (a dev friendly initiative)

• May 2024: I succesfully received funding from Midgame Fund to fund my project full-time

• June 2024: I quietly showcased a build of the game at the INDIGO showcase in Utrecht (NL)

• August 2024: I focused on improving the game's visuals, trailer and store-page materials

• November 2024: I announced the game and published the Steam store-page

My next milestone? – Work towards a playable Steam demo!

I'm also focusing on production: I've got new mechanics to explore, puzzles to design and levels to tie together. Significant amounts of my time go into iteration – which I believe is worth it in the long run. I prefer quality over quantity, only the most interesting designs should make it into the final game.

More on that later. Let me know what you'd like to see?

For now, let's wrap up this somewhat lengthy devlog with a short FAQ:

(Q) How long will the game be? (A) 3~4 hours is the current estimated playtime

(Q) What are the target platforms? (A) Windows (PC) only at first, potentially Steam Deck and Linux/MacOS after

(Q) How do you design puzzles using nothing but buttons? (A)Each of the various button types has its own hidden ruleset

(Q) What will it cost? (A) It depends on the content, but likely somewhere between $9,99 ~ $19,99

(Q) Is the music inspired by Westworld? (A) Not intentionally, I sent my composer Beth's Story (The Queen's Gambit) as a reference

That's all for now. If you're curious about specific aspects of the game, feel free to ask me anything!

Thanks for reading, -Tim (Frycandle)