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Steam News20 January 20265mo ago

January devlog

Hi! And welcome to this new devlog! Current goal This month, I’m continuing to work on the demo!

Full notes

Full What Surrounds Us update

Read the full published notes in a cleaner layout. The original post stays linked below.

What changed

0 fixes2 additions3 changes0 removals
  • Gameplay
  • UI and audio
  • Maps
addedHi! And welcome to this new devlog!
changedCurrent goalThis month, I’m continuing to work on the demo! I clearly underestimated the amount of work required to go from a “game in development” to a “game that’s presentable on Steam, even with the ‘in development’ label”: a robust save system, UI, options (language and accessibility), “real”, etc. All those small things that improve the game’s quality of life and give it a finished feel, but that I hadn’t worked on at all until now.
changedGame updatesUI : we’re moving from placeholders that have been there since the very first prototypes to a real interface: splash screen, main menu, credits, pause menu, options menu, and in-game popups! I had to find an art direction that is consistent with the rest of the game. I still have a few doubts and some ideas for how to evolve it further, but that will come in a second phase.
addedGame updatesOptions : in addition to the interface, some options have now been implemented. I started with the ones that seem most important to me: accessibility and language. Audio and video options will come later, but they are of course planned. The currently available languages are English and French, and I plan to add more soon. What Surrounds Us contains very little text, and most of the translation work is actually on the Steam page. As for accessibility options, it is now possible to adjust the colors to make the game accessible to people with color blindness. This option felt like a priority, since What Surrounds Us can sometimes look like an Ishihara test.
changedSocial media updatesYouTube / Instagram / TikTok: Biome 2 teaser: “Desolation” 2025 recap in 13 seconds December video devlog Game preview

Hi! And welcome to this new devlog!

Current goal

This month, I’m continuing to work on the demo! I clearly underestimated the amount of work required to go from a “game in development” to a “game that’s presentable on Steam, even with the ‘in development’ label”: a robust save system, UI, options (language and accessibility), “real”, etc. All those small things that improve the game’s quality of life and give it a finished feel, but that I hadn’t worked on at all until now.

Game updates

  • Save system: already started last month, I’m now extending it to cover all of the game’s features.

  • UI: we’re moving from placeholders that have been there since the very first prototypes to a real interface: splash screen, main menu, credits, pause menu, options menu, and in-game popups! I had to find an art direction that is consistent with the rest of the game. I still have a few doubts and some ideas for how to evolve it further, but that will come in a second phase.

  • Options: in addition to the interface, some options have now been implemented. I started with the ones that seem most important to me: accessibility and language. Audio and video options will come later, but they are of course planned.

    The currently available languages are English and French, and I plan to add more soon. What Surrounds Us contains very little text, and most of the translation work is actually on the Steam page.

    As for accessibility options, it is now possible to adjust the colors to make the game accessible to people with color blindness. This option felt like a priority, since What Surrounds Us can sometimes look like an Ishihara test.

  • “Real”: camera movements in cinematics, animations, musical intent, etc. This is where most of the work before the demo lies, and I’m only just getting started.

Social media updates

If you’d like to support the development of What Surrounds Us, please consider wishlisting the game on Steam, nothing is more important for small developers!

What Surrounds Us See you soon for the demo!

Source

Steam News / 20 January 2026

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