Fixed a bug that disabled the main menu if you pressed "Enter" too early.

Its been 6 months of figuring out how 3D works and facing the overwhelming dread that civilization might collapse before I finish this game, but its done. Making a retro survival horror was much more traumatizing than playing it, but here we are.

Fatal Frame with a Stand Pseudo-Haunting has been released.

This house is haunted, and so are you.

Its time. The game is done and tested, only minor improvements are left. I decided on Friday 5 for a release date so I can respond to bug reports or questions about puzzles during the weekend, if I released it during workdays I would only be available to answer those around 2 hours per day.

Its been a really weird journey. Despite all of the murder ghosts, odd puzzles and existential dread, you made it to the end. Pseudo-haunting is complete. Im not going to spoil the last chapters gameplay gimmick, so Ill just say it involves the only thing scarier than a good monster design: an invisible monster.


So, what now?

Testing, duh.

So far I managed to play the whole thing with minimal issues. I plan to see if I can gather a small amount of playtesters and release the full game this April.


Miscellaneous changes:

• Doors now have a slight glow effect so they are easier to see.
  
• Interactable buttons are now white instead of black so they are easier to see.
  

Obvious spoiler warning for the gameplay!

Personal space please
So for the last devlog we had a bunch of separate levels, each set messing with a separate mechanic. Now the logical route would be mixing them for this chapter.

Does this look like a logical game to you?

For chapter 3 I wanted to change up the gameplay since repetition can turn the scariest scenarios into a boring chore, so I decided to borrow yet another page from Fatal Frame. Specifically, the section in Crimson Butterfly in which you lose your combat mechanic and have to run away from an unbeatable chaser enemy.


Theres a catch, though: the normal enemies can still be encountered. How do you beat them? You have the chaser hit them for you.


Yes, its 6 Feet Behind 2.

Also, if you turn back after being told that you cant turn back, pick up an odd key and brace a section with the chaser and bullet hell hazards again, you can pick up and old friend.


A quiet place OH GOD THEYRE HERE
This section ended up being somewhat short so I added a more chilled-out walking sim level afterwards (chapter 3.5?), although you can still encounter random battles there and maybe something else.


Misc. changes

• Removed the mental notes mechanic as it ended up being useless.
  
• Added a new difficulty which disables the random fights, but retains the scripted ones and the boss encounters.
  

So its been a while. Turns out making a classic survival horror takes time even if the backgrounds are close to minimalistic. Gamedev is a prison, and I have Stockholm Syndrome.

Former laboratory
The main bulk of progress has been the laboratory area. This would be considered the second chapter in the game, although its a lot bigger than the remaining two chapters I have planned.


Remember that part in the demo where you could do 3 puzzles in any order? The laboratory is similar, except each door leads to a series of puzzles and fights centered around a new mechanic each. For instance, one of them involves a projectile type that can be blocked with your ghost body. Basically, its like 3 jam games experimenting with one mechanic, with occasional battles and inventory management. Also, each one has remixed versions of previous enemies and a boss fight at the end.


At the moment, both the chapter in the demo and the laboratory take almost 1 hour to complete if you know all of the puzzle solutions and skip the cutscenes and lore documents on the floor. Even though testing has been tiring as hell, I actually enjoyed playing through the game once all of the many, many, many bugs were found and fixed. Which is a good sign, since I spent practically two weeks replaying the same sections over and over.


Is it a cake? Is it a floppy disk? Its both!
This was already teased in the old screenshots, but the laboratory introduces the save token amalgams. Basically, they are items that can either be used to save the game or as one of the healing items. This allows Pseudo-Haunting to have that but I might need this later factor (the true horror in survival horror) while keeping the inventory management as simple as possible. When saving, you will be able to choose which item type you want to sacrifice in the name of keeping your progress.



Will I ever make a demo thats the final version of its chapter
The changes are not limited to the laboratory, theres also been several tweaks which will be present in the final game. The current demo might be deleted when the full game releases, as theres several aspects that dont match the full game.

• Touching an enemy with the ghost body now deals reduced physical damage instead of psychic damage.
  
• Added hidden collectables for getting the true/good/slightly-less-bad ending and a small cutscene introducing them.
  
• One of the puzzles in the demo area has been completely changed.
  
• The first boss has been fully overhauled.
  

• Fixed a bug that made some enemy bullets phase through the players real body even if they touched it.
  
• Reworked the pause menu.
  
• Added the option to disable the dither effect.
  

• Changed the graphics distortion effects to be higher when on real body and lighter when on ghost body.
  
• Modified the protagonists walking animations.
  
• Modified the protagonists walking speed to match the limp walk animation (Slower when taking a step, faster when dragging the limp leg, overall slightly faster).
  
• Minor adjustments to the games physics.
  
• Made interactable documents easier to see.
  
• Documents that can only be read when in real body are now colored red.
  
• Documents that can only be read when in ghost body are now colored blue.
  
• Changed the sounds for taking physical and psychic damage.
  
• Enemies have higher HP but lower spawn rates.
  
• Enemy bullets can now phase through walls.
  
• Random battles disabled in rooms with scripted battles until you beat said scripted battle.
  
• Psychic stability drain disabled during boss battles.
  
• Added the ability to switch to a top-down view when using the ghost body.
  
• Added a new room with a quick tutorial for the view switching mechanic.
  
• Parking lot room now has a new puzzle instead of a labyrinth.