Merry Christmas!
Whew! What a year! The many months of updates made to the upcoming launch release as well as the constant updates made to the demo.
The feedback from Steam Next Fest was really valuable, and I did all I could to deliver. Which is why I'm excited to share the good news.
The InBetween got quite the makeover and optimization buff!
More details:
Camera system got reworked. In the overworld, it is no longer snappy and smoothly transitions from a close-up to a wide-shot. It's still pretty fast since Pipit's technically fast AF! But it's no longer as jarring as it used to be. :D
Visual improvement. Turns out the filter applied over the game lowkey made it look slightly more unappealing than it should've.
Some lights couldn't pop, details got slightly ruined especially when zoomed out. Thus it's been completely removed from all parts of the game(other than the main menu, I just love it there :p)
Performance Buffs! For a while, the game would heavily drop in framerate when the camera zooms out, this was especially more noticeable on lower-end PCs(yes, mine included. My PC is on life support T-T).
After A LOT of back and forth, the solution presented itself and brace yourself I'm gonna be nerdy for a bit. It's my announcement, deal with it :p
So the tool used to export the game all this time was pretty outdated. Like a year old at this point, and The Game happens to be quite hefty for the engine it's being made on sometimes(no one's done something quite on this scale before ^-^). So outdated build tool plus hefty game by default equals??? You guessed it, performance hiccups like this one. Once it got updated and the code itself got optimized, it began to run like butter, even at a 30fps cap. The fps cap is currently set to 60fps for now, so let me know how it feels on any high-end PCs, okay? :D
Some visual Flair and Features Added. Some sprites for certain vfx got replaced with newer ones that felt better to look at, such as the vfx for the bullet's impact. There's an additional vfx that shows when Pipit gets infected or cursed. And a couple more stuff.
As for the new feature.... It's a secret. :p
Part of the game's appeal is figuring out new ways to play without it telling you. Mostly via trial and error. The only hint I will give(although anyone who follows me on Discord or twitter should know what it is by now ^-^) is it is related to parrying and it can be a skillful way to get out of a pinch. :D
And now an answer to some of the requests made over the months:
THE UI
One of the things I had hoped to do with the game was to keep the UI design as simple as possible without too much complication or visual flair other than what we see in-game in the moment to moment gameplay. And there's a lore-related reason for that. That's why it's gonna stay the way it is. There will be improvements made to certain areas such as the Control settings for the keyboard bindings, as well as some other stuff... however that will be present in the actual game release.
And as for that one shrine some people fear.... the Trigger Shrine. In terms of difficulty, it stays the same. It is tough for a reason, but I trust in the player's ability to pull through and overcome the challenge, for there are some much harder than this, yet more fun. So look forward to that. ^-^
Last but not least, a very important announcement:
A private playtest session for The InBetween will be live soon. This is gonna be a chance to get to play the upcoming game as well as be a part of the people that helps shape the game into the best version it could possibly be. :D
To stay up to date on that, feel free to join the Discord server right here: https://discord.gg/pCAYxq7m3y
Whew! That is all.
Thank you so much for reading, for your interest, and best of all.... for playing and offering me feedback.
Wouldn't have made it this far without it.
Happy Holidays, and see you next year!
-VCD <3