It's been over a month since the last patch, so I wanted to make a quick post to keep everyone updated on what's happened and what's coming.
Very Positive on Steam
The game received its 50th review a few weeks ago, and currently sits at 55 reviews with 100% positive ratings. I'm very excited about this milestone because reviews are really the best way for the game to grow and reach more people. Thank you for the support! The next milestone is "Overwhelmingly Positive " at 500 reviews, so there's quite a bit of work to do...
Playable for Steam Deck
Several players have reported a smooth experience on Steam Deck, so I've been eagerly waiting for Valve's compatibility review. It finally happened, and now Gentoo Rescue sits at Playable. Valve highlighted that some text might be too small, so that's something I will be addressing in the next patch.
Thinky Games Article
Thinky Games published an article by well-known Steam puzzle curator Anokturnus. There are some spoilers, but overall I think it is a glowing recommendation that I'm proud to receive.
Gentoosday, or is it Gentuesday?
If you've been following me on BlueSky, then you would have noticed me posting about Gentoosday for the past several weeks. It just so happens that every Tuesday there have been simultaneous Twitch streams of Gentoo Rescue by sigma144 and fydaTECH. They're both very entertaining streamers and it has been a joy to watch content for Gentoo Rescue so regularly. Don't miss Gentoosday next week!
Are there any other streamers or content creators playing Gentoo Rescue? If so, please let me know because I'd love to watch!
Steam Workshop update is coming
There is a major update on the way, and it is very close! This update is mainly targeted at adding better custom level support, including integration of Steam Workshop. This has involved a lot of moving pieces, such as:
Reworking the save/loading system to work for any levelpack instead of just the one for the main game.
Integrating Steam APIs to upload and download from Steam Workshop.
Many performance improvements, particularly for loading. This was motivated by custom level support due to the structure of the new Custom menu, but it should improve the experience for the main game for those on low end devices.
Of course, the update will include lots of small changes as well. As for Steam Workshop support, I've been grateful to have many community members eager to test. There are actually several levelpacks already uploaded:
The Dragon by TNTDragon. A long and very meta levelpack.
Levels that shouldn't exit by Mountebank. A smaller pack containing some very cursed things, some of which are actually impossible to create with the in-game level editor alone!
Some standalone levels by Hakushō.
A cursed impossible level by me, which showcases an edge-case that I couldn't explore in the main game.
The levelpack from the demo.
So far I've merely taken a peek at the levels and tried to remain mostly unspoiled. Along with the release of this major update, I will schedule some Twitch streams on my channel, where I'll play through community levelpacks, starting with these above. If that sounds like fun, give it a follow! If you just cannot wait for this update, please join the Discord and reach out. Testing is the biggest piece of the puzzle remaining before I can push this out to everyone, so anyone willing to test is free to get it early.
Demo Retirement
The demo is already many patches behind the main game, and it's only going to get worse with the next update. I cannot afford the time to maintain it alongside the full game, and I fear that the current state of the demo could be giving a poor impression of the full game. The demo is also overly generous in how much it showcases, which could spoil some of the many big reveals in the game. I would like to go back and do a demo update sometime in the future, but until then, I'll be taking it offline alongside this major update. The demo will remain public on Itch, and I'll have the Steam Workshop upload for the demo levelpack for anyone wanting to revisit.