Thank you to mofu_asb for the amazing artwork! Happy 5 year anniversary to Clea! This is a celebration post for the game, and also for you, as your support has helped power so many dreams. Grab your favorite drink/snack and enjoy this read ! Pre-Clea: Before Cleas development, my visual novels had been on a downturn as I lost money with every project. Anxious to recoup, I rushed out a 2D action game named Motherland. Well, rushed out might be inaccurate, because the game was never released. Blinded by desperation, I failed to recognize how mediocre the game was until it was ready to come out. I finished my final playtest session and realized, Wow, the game is terrible. Players deserve better than this. And so I pulled the cord. Thousands of dollars blown. Efforts wasted due to my poor insight. Yes, the game was technically incompetent, but most important was the underlying issue. My heart fell in the wrong place as I focused on trying to prove something. When I made demands, the gaming universe punished me by taking everything away. I took a step back and opted to walk the long road. There would be no more shortcuts taken. Clea: Clea was created as an opportunity for me to develop a custom engine on top of Unity. I would then use this to build the project of my dreams.
Since my previous projects had been financial failures, I kept my expectations for Clea low. My priority was on serving rather than taking. Ill pour all of my love for games into this project. Whatever happens after that, Ill have no regrets. Within a month of launch, Clea outperformed every game I ever made combined. Clea became the first title where many people drew fanart and made cosplays. The game was even featured in an episode of a Japanese TV show called Say You to Yo Asobi. Clea also let me achieve my dream of releasing games on consoles. Really though, the one I should thank is you. Cleas journey surprised me, and once again I feel the reason transcends the technical. When I traded ego for gratitude, the gaming space offered without me asking for a thing. Post-Clea: In the years since Clea, my personal journey has also ventured into new frontiers. I work a day job while making progress on games everyday. Regularly on weekends, my game dev sessions are 12 hours long. Its pretty much 2 full time jobs. Still, Im not too busy to respect other creators works. I love playing games as much as I enjoy building them. I make an effort to experience every arcade game I encounter. I reserve time to play and honor other indie games. On Thursday nights, I visit my hometown library to read gaming magazines. Through them, I can admire the histories of those who struggled before me. I draw strength from their stories. When I return to places where I had memorable gaming sessions, I can still sense that energy from decades past. Yes, our next game has reached new levels when it comes to the technical aspects. More importantly, its crafted with a spirit Id never understood until now. When you serve instead of demand, when you pick passion over attention, the gaming forces will look after you. Thats the theory I hope to test with this project. Please enjoy these early behind the scenes looks!


But of course, we still have concrete plans lined up over the next few years. A new and polished vertical slice is on the horizon! If interested, please join our Discord and/or newsletter: Discord: https://discord.gg/Z2yP6fkqCr Newsletter: https://www.invertmouse.com/ The vertical slice will likely be available privately in the above spaces. Outro: I created my first game as a kid in 1996 using a program called Klik & Play (thank you Dad for buying the software). By the time our next game releases, Ill be over 40, and I will have developed games for more than 30 years. My heart is at ease because my dues are paid. Ive made peace with the fact Ill not be able to create games of this scope forever, and so I hope to savor every moment. Thanks for reading!

Hi friends! It's been a while since I lasted posted here. Hope you've all been doing awesome florinehappy! Those who are in our discord and newsletter already know this, but we've been doing daily on our new game for the past few years now (we started while working through those Clea 2 post launch updates). Our team just released a vertical slice last week in fact, just in time for Halloween season. Details can be found here: https://twitter.com/InvertMouse/status/1713308548749496390
Project X (placeholder name) will be the spiritual conclusion to the Clea series. There's still a multi-year development journey ahead, but I hope you'll support and enjoy what we've put together when that release day comes!
I also want to thank everyone here for making this possible. From opening day, one of the goals behind developing Clea was to put together a collection of custom scripts/libraries so that, after Clea's release, we can build upon it into something bigger. With Project X, that plan is clicking into place. To achieve this, we also need funding. Project X is our most expensive game to date, and it's thanks to the sales from Clea we're able to support this endeavour. You could say this is sort of our game. It's the community's game bibiyoyo.
Project X's vertical slice dropped last week, and throughout the past 6-7 days, I've been working through everyone's feedback to improve the game. A version 2 of the vertical slice just got published a few hours ago actually. Here are the patch notes:
To finish up, a reminder if you'd like to join our discord or newsletter communities, the link to both can be found on our website: https://invertmouse.com/ Thank you and Happy Halloween! It's back to work for me, but I'll also make sure to enjoy this October with lots of horror content cleachaos.

"In one thousand years I will return," vowed the last vessel. And now, Evil has escaped. The vertical slice of our next game is now in development. Please look forward to more as the months go by! If you join either of the below: 1) Our newsletter (https://invertmouse.com) 2) Our discord community (https://discord.gg/Z2yP6fkqCr) You will be treated as VIP, meaning you will receive exclusive/early previews of details to come. We would love to have you join us! We have also dropped a recruitment post to form the "Project X team" (Project X is of course a placeholder title): https://twitter.com/InvertMouse/status/1535371120089567232 If you could help spread the word, that would be amazing. The stronger the team, the better the game will become! Thank you and take care cleahappy.

Hi there! Hope you have been doing good whappy. War Maiden Mode is now available on all platforms for Clea and Clea 2! Clea has always been a skill focused title, and War Maiden Mode is the final test of mechanics as well as knowledge. I am so happy and proud to see players developing their skills, then not only conquering, but at times dominating every last available trial. It has been too long since we last ran a fun community challenge, so let's have one with War Maiden Mode as the focus! Here is how it works: 1) Hop on our community discord: https://discord.gg/Z2yP6fkqCr 2) Check out the pinned message in the #challenges channel. 3) Read the instructions, then drop a reaction if/when you have completed the challenge. Please leave only one reaction per person excelia. 4) Once we hit our target, the community challenge is a success, and the reward will be dropped. What is this reward? During Clea 2's development, we had a few gameplay related enemy sound files that ended up being unused. Though they never made it into the final product, there are some gems in here that deserve to be heard. Once the community challenge is complete, I will share these in a zip file on the same channel. Thank you and have fun bibi!

Hey bud cleahappy! Hope you're doing good. The year is heading towards an end! Time sure flies when you're working daily. Please note Clea 1 and 2 are now available in Italian (with Switch update incoming)! I hope through this, Clea and Florine's stories can reach more players, and we can continue to build our awesome community. Speaking of which, I hope to drop monthly updates for our next project in our newsletter, and on our discord. It'll be quite a while until there's anything concrete or visual, so until then, these updates will be for the hardcore who needs to know every inch of progress. That way, when all's said and done, we have a full history to reflect upon and enjoy. You can join our newsletter here: https://invertmouse.com/ And here's the discord invite: https://discord.gg/Z2yP6fkqCr Many thanks cleasunnies!

(Please note the above contains costumes from both Clea 1 and 2.) Hey buddy! Hope you are doing good cleasunnies. As promised, the final, ultimate test of skills has arrived. War Maiden Mode is now available in both Clea 1 and 2. Please note I will be testing the console versions after this, so thank you for your patience, and you can expect the same patch to drop on those platforms soon. In Clea 1, War Maiden Mode can be unlocked by completing the campaign with the best ending. In Clea 2, War Maiden Mode becomes available once you have conquered Clea's Quest with a silver or higher rank. Survive War Maiden Mode, and the War Gear will be yours. Let it be a proof of your dominance and mastery. The dress contain a cute little ability, which I will leave as a surprise excelia. Alongside War Maiden Mode, I have applied a series of tweaks/improvements: - When you are in an area afflicted with the noise curse, the background ambience will be replaced by chants (for clarity). - The peek blocking corruption no longer denies you from looking through doors. This felt too unfair. - Chaos Spiders will now flee, or at least fail to kill you, if they attack right as you are entering a door or closet. - On Chaos+ difficulty, players will be able to sneak closely behind enemies without being unfairly killed. - Chaos+ exclusive foes now have slightly different sounding footsteps so you can tell when there are multiple hunters in play. - Revised the spawn times of some Chaos+ exclusive enemies to improve fairness. - Minor graphical fixes to some costumes (the candle flames were too solid in a few). - Fixed bug where on rare occasions, the player character flickers for a frame when a chapter is completed. - Audio balancing for a lot of sound effects, many of which were too loud. There were also sound effects that would play twice in succession when they were not meant to. Remember, the Gaia dress has also been added to Clea 1. Complete the campaign with one save or less, and the costume shall be yours. With this third update, there is no better time to re-visit both titles whappy. What comes after this? There may well be more Clea related news. We always got work going on, and speaking of which, I should get back to it. Thank you and have fun bibi! P.S. The Clea 1 and 2 artbooks have been updated with the new costumes, along with artworks tied to the One Year Mission. Hope you like them!

Hey bud! Hope you are doing good yoyo. As mentioned last time, War Maiden Mode is about to drop. The new costumes had been ready for a while now, and War Maidens curses had also been programmed earlier for Cleas Quest. This should have been the easiest update, yet it turned out to be a lot of work. Why is that? You see, I had to test War Maiden Mode on every difficulty to ensure things did not go out of hand. At first? Things went completely off the rails. Dare I say the mode on Chaos+ was nigh unbeatable. I mean, not even chapter one. A load of balancing took place, and at last, the mode is ready. Please let me be clear, though. This is still the final, ultimate test. It is by far the toughest challenge Clea players will face. I borderline advise against tackling this on Chaos+ difficulty. There will be deaths, and you will feel frustrated. But, if you are one of the rare few who do survive, I acknowledge you as a true Clea master. To aid you on your journey, I have compiled some tips in this article. Good luck and have fun. While the mode has been balanced to ensure luck is not needed, it certainly would not hurt. Now, on with the guide (please note all the screenshots are from Clea 1). Candle usage:
I have seen many players in streams hoarding candles. The sentiment is understandable. After all, I too can be a hoarder when I game. Alas, this is not the time to be saving up. When you feel pressured, it may be time to light that candle. You will be hunted endlessly, so get used to it. Originally, some candles were set to be hidden on Chaos+. I have opted to re-enable them in the next patch, because you will need every last one. This is the tier of madness we speak off. At the highest skill level, candles can be used to manipulate enemy positions. Each time an enemy flees, they will run to a different area. Lets say you use a candle, and your hunter runs to the left room, but you would rather he headed right. Well, remember how a candle stays on until you leave the area? You can always run around on the spot, lure the enemy back in, then see if they go right this time. Remember to be patient, and also, please note some foes are coded to roam within specific areas. If you cannot seem to persuade an enemy to run into a certain room, that could be why. As you may know, unless you are on Light difficulty, or you have ticked infinite saves, each save is going to cost you a candle. It is not in my place to tell you how to play, but in War Maiden Mode on Chaos+, lets just say there is no shame in playing with infinite saves. On the off chance you actually clear the campaign on Chaos+ with limited saves, you are officially more skilled than the games creator. Chaos management:
War Maiden has a curse that will cause your chaos level to rise, as indicated by the scars on your character. Normally, it would be best to use a potion to heal up right away. In War Maiden Mode, you may wish to hold off. After all, if you have to venture back into the same room, you receive the curse again. Or, perhaps the next room you visit will have that curse instead. Still, no sense in holding out forever, so spend wisely. What do the scars actually do? In Clea 1, Cleas chaotic face will at times appear. In Clea 2, War Maiden may appear to stalk (but never kill) you. The effect is the same in both cases. When the curse triggers, enemies within the area will be alerted. Not exactly ideal when you are knee deep in War Maiden Mode. Still, remember the curse timer resets each time you enter a room. This has two implications: 1. You can exit an area, then go back in, to reset the timer. 2. If you have already been in an area for a while, and you dread a curse may be coming, you may prefer to hide in a closet and wait for it to pass first. Enemy control:
In War Maiden Mode, it is not enough to only know a foe has entered the adjacent area. Through audio cues, players must develop a telepathic sense of each enemys precise location. This guy is on the bottom floor, and that one is in the middle room. Okay, that means I have 10 seconds to go in here, grab this, and run out. This is the skill level we have now reached. Also remember, there is no need to wait for an enemy to go a certain way. If they disobey, make them head where you want. Run to produce noise and attract your hunters. Use those sound makers (like the bathrooms). Employ balanced aggression. Map knowledge:
Before you think about tackling War Maiden Mode, you may be wise to learn those maps back to front. In Clea 1, know the Whitlock Mansion like your own house. In Clea 2, every realm must become your second home. Each time you travel to another area, there is a chance a new curse will be afflicted. So, think twice before you enter a room. Maybe this area has items you can do without, or nothing at all. Tread with care. Speaking of map control and movement, no sense in hiding the trick now. Yes, I am talking about the door swap move (the Logsync Swap) where you switch rooms at the same time as your hunter to evade them. For the sake of immersion, I advise against using this trick (unless you are speed running). Even War Maiden Mode has been designed to be beatable without this exploit. That said, War Maiden Mode on Chaos+? If you resort to this trick a time or two, no one will judge. Final words:
To finish up, please let me reiterate. Yes, I have tested War Maiden Mode on Chaos+ to ensure it is beatable. Still, think twice before going in, because it will be hell and beyond. You know about the Master Levels in Doom Eternal? Recently, I had to train for about a month, running the map Taras Nabad over and over, before I was able to beat it on Ultra Nightmare. This is the level of dedication required to keep War Maiden at bay. Hm? War Maiden Mode on Chaos+ with invisible foes? Okay, lets not get too crazy. See you soon, pal. War Maiden Mode is coming whappy.

(The above screenshot is taken from Clea 1.) Hello friend! You doing good sasa? The third and final update of our One Year Mission is just about ready for release, so today, I want to drop a little preview. The final update will consist of a new challenge named War Maiden Mode. Guess what? The mode will be available in both Clea 1 and 2! How is it obtained? In Clea 1, War Maiden Mode unlocks after you earn the best ending in the campaign. In Clea 2, complete Cleas Quest with a platinum score, then War Maiden Mode will become available. In War Maiden Mode, players are tasked with surviving the campaign, but with a twist. Each time you enter a new room, there is a chance that somewhere in the area, War Maiden has inflicted a new curse. These afflictions work in the same way as the ones in Cleas Quest. The longer you loiter, the deadlier the space around you becomes. In an act of mercy, the curses do reset each time you complete a chapter. By the way, outside of Chaos+, every enemy will receive a speed boost cleachaos. I have been testing this mode a ton over the past weeks, and I can say this will be the greatest trial of all. Much harder than Chaos+, even with invisible foes. Outside of breaking the game, this is the final test. If you wish to prove once and for all you are a Clea master, your chance will soon come. Of course, players will be rewarded for their efforts. By surviving War Maiden Mode, you will receive a mighty costume known as War Gear. Here it is for Clea 1:
And Clea 2:
The dress does have a cute little ability, which I will leave as a surprise. Since Clea 1 will receive the same update, I took this opportunity to also add the Gaia costume:
Just like with Clea 2, players can earn this dress by completing the campaign with one save or less. Now, when is this third update going to land? It should arrive on Steam on September 13th-14th. Straight after, I will run some final tests on the console versions (and also give it around a week for the update to be tested by PC players). I will then submit the patches, and soon enough, players on all platforms will be able to experience this ultimate test of skills. Thanks and take care yoyo!

Heyo! Hope you are well bibi. A few weeks ago, I saw some lore discussions on our discord while I was on my exercise bike. Since I was stuck in one spot, we held an on the fly lore Q&A, and we had a great time. I got healthier, too, since I lost track of time and rode my bike for longer than usual clealol. Clea and Clea 2 provide a glimpse into the history of mana, the conflict between arcane and chaos etc. These two games let us peek inside the world, yet there is a universe waiting to be unleashed. Whatever questions players may have, lets get them answered! Discord link: https://discord.gg/Z2yP6fkqCr Time: May 7th 5pm (ET) Guide: Please drop questions into the lore-q-and-a-2-questions channel. Multiples are okay, but ideally one at a time, plus nice and snappy. Questions can be posted on the day, or any time before that. I imagine most will be questions related to Clea's world, but feel free to ask about our other titles, too. Hope you can be there live! On the day, lets hang out on the lore-q-and-a-2 channel. I will answer questions live there. Lets huddle up and have a fun time! Meanwhile, Clea 2: One Year Mission has been progressing daily. I want to get way more done before I drop promo articles, so please stay tuned. There are other game dev related happenings, too. A busy life, and I would not have it any other way. Thanks bud vintysmile!

Hey buddy. Hope you are doing good cleasunnies! I am always happy to find fanart of Clea on Instagram and the like. Found a few that I got the okay to share, so enjoy!
Artist: suelendeziderio Instagram: suelendeziderio YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/suelendeziderio
Artist: mad_artist_mario Instagram: mad_artist_mario
Artist: ASKL246 Interesting parody clealol. Ah, also, we are about to announce what post launch plans we got for Clea 2. Please keep an eye out, because it will be an exciting few months ahead: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1257860/view/3086629758332834244 Many thanks!

Hi buddy cleasunnies. Hope you are doing well! Guys, I learned so much during Clea 2's development. When I look back at Clea 1, I go come on now, there is work to do here. So, work I did. Around two years after Clea's release, here is yet another big patch. Your love for Clea inspire me to keep the game healthy and at its best. New costumes: First, this is probably the biggest news of all. Three new costumes have been added to the game, unlocked by default! Two of them were previously costume mods. These are now handpicked to serve as official dresses, available on all platforms (once patches go up): Halloween:
I have made the lantern smaller compared to how it looked in the costume mod, because I noticed the pumpkin would poke through side walls. The smaller pumpkin is quite cute, actually! Rain:
Only the best costume mods deserve to become official. Let's face it. When I look back, some mods were simply texture filters, while others had visual glitches that would be hard to repair. This rain dress warrants an official spot by my books. Enjoy! 16-bit:
Last up, here is our discord community dress! We held an event where 16 chaos/chaos+ completionists were asked to let their presence be known. Our mighty 16 rocked up, so as promised, the 16-bit dress is now unlocked. By the way, we have a friendly community that has just passed 100 members, and we hope to schedule more fun events/hangouts in the future. I would love to have you can join us: https://discord.gg/Z2yP6fkqCr Now for the full list of updates. There is so much here I had to split these into categories. Enjoy, and seriously, please grab this update, then give the game a run. I hope you will like what you see! Major updates: - Lighting fixes across the campaign. Many light sources were far too bright in retrospect, now that I have the experience built from Clea 2's development. - Fixed an extremely rare bug where, after you peek left/right, your character could be stuck walking in place. For console players, until the patch is up, if you do stumble into this issue, please open and close the inventory, and you will be able to move again. - The UI used to look slightly wonky on higher resolutions (as you approach 4K). Some buttons would be too big, or the text would be too small, etc. This is no longer be the case. Enemy updates: - Enemies' hearing and sight ranges (when in close proximity) will now vary based on difficulty. - Subtle AI tweaks to grant players more breathing space on lower difficulties. - The final enemy now seeks the player out more reliably, in exchange for a reduced vision range (as per design). - Some enemies are no longer invisible on invisible mode, but they are still harder to see (removed light source). - Fixed a bug where, if you returned from the cells and headed right, you could find an enemy who failed to activate (and be frozen in place). Gameplay balances: - Clea's base speed increased by 0.5. When you return to Clea 1 after Clea 2 (featuring Florine), Clea's movement speed can feel like a slog. - Difficulty balanced in chapter two. Visual fixes: - Fixed some areas where your lantern can pop slightly through the side walls. - Fixed minor visual glitch on top of the lantern with the Invisibility Cloak. - Fixed minor visual glitch on the x-shaped key piece. - An assortment of other minor fixes. For instance, a cake floating a single pixel above a table in chapter 4. Bug fixes: - Removed an exploit where, if you cancel out of the upgrades pop up then immediately pick an option, you can re-use the same crystal ball to obtain all available upgrades. - Removed a bug where, if you spammed confirm while saving (with infinite saves off), the save could cost you multiple candles. Not replicable on PC versions. Price changes: I also wish to use this chance to be transparent about price changes for Clea 1 and 2. Once approved by Valve, both games will be 13.99 USD on Steam. Here are the key reasons behind the change: - Clea 1 was originally priced at only around 8 dollars. Both publishers I have spoken to, and even several players, mentioned this was far too low. I am thankful players would say that, and I learned a lot in terms of what price range is acceptable. To be honest, I highly doubt any game I release from now on will be priced that low, or I will not be able to sustain myself on these titles (unless I create mini-games). - After Clea 1's launch, chaos+, arcade mode, invisible mode, along with additional unlockable costumes, had been added. I hope these additions have increased the game's replay value, and therefore also worthy of the new price. - Clea 2, meanwhile, will have its cost reduced by a dollar to match Clea 1's. I want to do this, because now that Clea 1 has received the aforementioned updates, it has a similar amount of content as its sequel. It is only right for them to be priced the same in this case. Please note, this will happen in around 30 days. - The console versions are slightly higher in price, because they have bonus dresses to make up for the fact PC supports costumes mods. As usual, thank you for hearing me out. Any thoughts, I am here to listen and discuss. Everyone in the community has always been reasonable, which makes me comfortable with sharing my exact thoughts. To sum up, I feel like I have made a mistake with the pricing, so thank you for letting me make these corrections. I have the next four days off because it is Easter break here. Please, give the patched version a run, and let me know if you spot any issues. I am keen to resolve things right away. This is the best version of Clea yet, and I wish to keep her sparkling clean. Over the next few days, I will run regression tests on the console versions. Once they pass my tests, I will push patches out, and soon enough, Clea will be at her best on all platforms. Happy days. Thank you cleahappy!

New costumes: - Added three new costumes, 16-bit, Halloween and Rain, all unlocked by default. Major updates: - Lighting fixes across the campaign. Many light sources were far too bright in retrospect, now that I have the experience built from Clea 2's development. - Fixed an extremely rare bug where, after you peek left/right, your character could be stuck walking in place. For console players, until the patch is up, if you do stumble into this issue, please open and close the inventory, and you will be able to move again. Enemy updates: - Enemies' hearing and sight ranges (when in close proximity) will now vary based on difficulty. - Subtle AI tweaks to grant players more breathing space on lower difficulties. - The final enemy now seeks the player out more reliably, in exchange for a reduced vision range (as per design). - Some enemies are no longer invisible on invisible mode, but they are still harder to see (removed light source). - Fixed a bug where, if you returned from the cells and headed right, you could find an enemy who failed to activate (and be frozen in place). Gameplay balances: - Clea's base speed increased by 0.5. When you return to Clea 1 after Clea 2 (featuring Florine), Clea's movement speed can feel like a slog. - Difficulty balanced in chapter two. Visual fixes: - Fixed some areas where your lantern can pop slightly through the side walls. - Fixed minor visual glitch on top of the lantern with the Invisibility Cloak. - Fixed minor visual glitch on the x-shaped key piece. - An assortment of other minor fixes. For instance, a cake floating a single pixel above a table in chapter 4. Bug fixes: - Removed an exploit where, if you cancel out of the upgrades pop up then immediately pick an option, you can re-use the same crystal ball to obtain all available upgrades. - Removed a bug where, if you spammed confirm while saving (with infinite saves off), the save could cost you multiple candles. Not replicable on PC versions.

(Thank you vanduobones for the artwork!) Hello bud! So happy to announce Clea 2 has just arrived fresh on Steam. Please guide Florine as she braves the Fifth Dimensions to save her loved one: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Good luck have fun cleasunnies! Meanwhile, here in Clea, we have dropped a couple of new costume mods for you to enjoy. First, here is Yomiku, the energetic VTuber/artist:
Yomiku: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2435577012&searchtext=yomiku Check out Yomiku's stream of Clea: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/961299189 Next, we have the 8-bit dress, which is part of a set unlocked by our discord community. With 16 chaos/chaos+ completionists, the 8-bit and 16-bit dresses have been unlocked. More info, including where to expect the 16-bit dress, can be found in the link below.
8-bit dress: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2435559679 How to install mods: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2245125421 Thank you for supporting Clea, and I hope you will enjoy Clea 2 cleahappy!

You know what makes me happy cleahappy? When I check out what screenshots players have been posting, and I see yet another person who has conquered the campaign on Chaos+ mode. With your victory comes the Chaos+ Dress. When this dress is worn, enemies flee at the sight of you. You are now the hunter. I am so proud of you, in fact, that I wish to offer more than those in-game rewards. This is why I have put together this Conquest Pack: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ba1k4XSIQfI5MTBPyXRGeS9kduCW35I1/view?usp=sharing Lets play a game of trust. Inside this pack is a set of wallpapers. However, they are only allowed to be used by those who have dominated the game on Chaos and/or Chaos+ mode (the files are labelled). Each time you see that desktop, you remember yes, I have conquered. Mousey, you thought you got me, but I laughed hard in your face cleachaos.
There are also custom Steam library backgrounds. Yes, did you know those can be customized? Pick your game of choice in your Steam library, then right-click the header image and choose Set Custom Background. The Conquest Pack contains custom logos for you to use, too. I recommend aligning the logo to the bottom left for the best look.
Thank you for wishlisting Clea 2, and for telling your friends: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Also, please remember tomorrow is the discord launch party! https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/981020/view/3032584660750529763 Many thanks cleasunnies!

Hello there cleasunnies. Just a few days until Clea 2's release! From paper planning to final crunch, at last, the time is upon us. To celebrate, I would like to invite you to our discord's Clea 2 launch party!
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/Z2yP6fkqCr Date: March 23rd 2:30pm - 4:30pm (EST) Which, in my Sydney time, would be: March 24th 5:30am - 7:30am Two time zones to confirm your region against. Hope I got it right! Activities (based on EST): Chill chat + Q&A (2:30pm - 3pm): Chill out with the friendly folks on our discord! I like to think we are a wholesome bunch. In the meantime, please ask me any questions about Clea 1, 2, and any of my games in general. I will be there to answer what I can. Chaos+ run (3pm - 4pm): I will stream a play through of Clea 1 on chaos+ mode. Hope I am not too rusty! Let's have a blast, and perhaps you might pick up some tricks along the way? To ensure I complete the game in time, I should play with infinite saves on. It will be a run without the secret chapters, and the cutscenes skipped. Signings (4pm - 4:30pm): For the final 30 minutes, I would like to digitally sign thank you cards for those interested. When the time comes, please tag me up, and I will get to work. In the meantime, feel free to have fun on the server! After 30 minutes, in true indie spirit, I must immediately sign off to prepare for my day job. Thank you for your understanding. Hope to see you there and then! I would love to have you join us cleahappy!

Hey pal! Hope you are doing good cleasunnies. Yo, I have a confession. Did you know you can assign custom Steam backgrounds for the games in your library? Oh, you did? Cool, haha, I kind of just found out the other week. When there is a game I love, you know when I like doing? Lets get some wallpapers up. Phone backgrounds. Steam library images. Get a few and set them on rotation. Let me go all in. Worry not, because I got right onto it. Inside the below link are two custom Steam background packs. One for Clea, the other for Clea 2: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12At6dKnO83mMSMoDp5kdLVRMc2Qr3Tkw?usp=sharing Please note some of these contain minor image spoilers. That said, with Clea 1, you may have seen most if not all of the artworks already. Also, Clea is primarily a test of skills. I doubt a single image will ruin your experience. Still, you can hold off on downloading these if preferred. For the logos, I recommend aligning them to the bottom left for the best look:

Thank you for wishlisting Clea 2, and for sharing with your friends: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Much appreciated cleahappy!

Hey bud! Hope you are doing good cleahappy. First, I am happy to announce we now have an InvertMouse discord server! A friendly place for us to hang out, with cute emotes packed for your enjoyment. Hope to see you inside: https://discord.gg/Z2yP6fkqCr I also plan to run cool events on the server, and in fact, there is one happening right now. See these dresses?
Once you are on the server, you will find the details in the events channel. To sum up, lets gather 16 players who declare to have conquered Clea on Chaos or Chaos+ difficulty. After that, I will put up the dresses as PC mods for everyone to download. As you can imagine, this is all trust based. If you have yet to beat Clea on Chaos/Chaos+, why not give it a shot? With Clea 2 around the corner, this would be a great time to brush up those skills. Then, when Florine kicks off her adventure, you too will be ready. Good luck have fun cleasunnies!

Clea 2 will be released on March 25th! As we approach launch day, this feels like a good time to reflect on the original Clea. For the first time, I will dive deep into each chapter and share my design thoughts, things I would change next time etc. If you have not completed Clea, I recommend reading these after a playthrough to avoid spoilers. Okay, to finish up this series, let's dive deep into the three secret chapters cleachaos. The bonus chapters are made with business constraints in mind. A portion of players will never experience these chapters, so the levels will never be designed from the ground up like our core campaign. Meanwhile, existing levels are reused to get the most "buck" out of those assets. The secret chapters were designed to be short. If they were dragged out, we would venture into padding territory. First, we have Florine's story. The maids make their exclusive appearance here (minus the dead ones cleasmug). Something new as a reward for players. Meanwhile, you get to control Florine for a short time. While her controls are the same, it is nonetheless something fresh.
Edmond's chapter goes for something similar. On top of controlling a new character, your own protagonist is now the foe. Not only that, but she is one of the faster characters in the game. A shift in roles is always fun to experience.
Last up, we have Mom's story. As you are hunted throughout the mansion, you most likely wish you could make those Chaos Servants pay. I felt this way as I played Resident Evil 7. Yes, I would pay 50 bucks for a DLC where I can visit Jack again as the Doom Slayer. Mom's chapter offers this stress relief as a reward.
Side chapters provide opportunities to change things up. Play as someone different. Face a unique foe. A change in gameplay. In future titles, I hope to explore other shifts in tone, too. A humorous side quest in an otherwise serious narrative, for instance. Bonus chapters serve to flesh out a game, to exceed promises, and most important, to maximize satisfaction. If you enjoyed your time with Clea 1, please consider wishlisting the sequel: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Your support will give Clea 2 a boost, and if you can tell your friends, that would also be super cool. That concludes my deep dive into Clea. Thank you for reading, and for your support. See you in Clea 2 cleasunnies!

Clea 2 will be released on March 25th! As we approach launch day, this feels like a good time to reflect on the original Clea. For the first time, I will dive deep into each chapter and share my design thoughts, things I would change next time etc. If you have not completed Clea, I recommend reading these after a playthrough to avoid spoilers. Okay, let's dive deep into the final two chapters cleasunnies. The cells start off with you crammed inside only two rooms with a speedy servant. This Dark Servant is one of the fastest in the game, but now that players have conquered the Invisible Edmond "stop test", I am confident they will overcome.
In fact, as the chapter expands, more rooms become unlocked, which also means the Dark Servant must travel farther to reach you. While the puzzles ramp up in complexity, in a sense, your hunter becomes less of a threat. The Watchers pop up on occasions to keep you honest, but by this stage, you are most likely using this all to prove your prowess. I am more than okay with this, as it is something you have earned. If it motivates you to replay on Chaos or Chaos+ Mode, even better.
If you have challenged Clea on Chaos+, you would know about those Yellow Servants who appear on the final floors of most chapters. As I type up this article, I wonder if I should spawn the Yellow Servant on all difficulty settings, inside these cells exclusively. There are plenty of players who struggle from start to finish (which is fine), so this could be too much of a risk.
After surviving the cells, you have reached Clea's final chapter. The focus here is no longer on a challenge, but rather emotions. A piano track plays as a teary eyed Clea navigates back to the mansion's double doors. Edmond is gone. Dad has perished. Even Mom has turned. You are alone with your chaotic thoughts. Players make their way through past locations as they reflect on the puzzles they have solved, the foes they have conquered. The curtains close for both Clea and the player. Clea's mom can outrun and catch you with ease. She has extremely sensitive hearing, too. One noise from you, and she will bolt directly to your location. She is no pushover, but still, she is designed to not be too much of a hurdle. One, again, this is a time for players to ponder. Two, a game should know when to bow out. Once your ideas have been expressed, exit with grace rather than pad out the content. Take some time to regroup, gather feedback from players, then brainstorm again for that sequel, or a new game.
If you enjoyed your time with Clea 1, please consider wishlisting the sequel: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Your support will give Clea 2 a boost, and if you can tell your friends, that would also be super cool. Thank you for reading cleahappy!

Clea 2 will be released on March 25th! As we approach launch day, this feels like a good time to reflect on the original Clea. For the first time, I will dive deep into each chapter and share my design thoughts, things I would change next time etc. If you have not completed Clea, I recommend reading these after a playthrough to avoid spoilers. Okay, let's dive deep into chapter four, the rooms cleasunnies. It is fine, or even ideal, for games to have "stop tests". The designer wishes to check whether you have truly grasped a certain concept. Not out of conceit, but from the belief that, once mastered, this mechanic will boost your enjoyment of the game. So, please prove your understanding. If you cannot, I am afraid you may not progress. I am on a design study run of Doom Eternal, and in the first big fight, a stop test already occurs. The ammo count has been lowered since the previous game. This is to encourage, or even force, the use of your chainsaw to replenish ammo. The first arena is filled with low-tier demons. They only take a shot or two to drop, but there are a bit too many to kill without refilling your shells. Without using that chainsaw, it may be a struggle. However, there are also shells lying around to show there are multiple solutions to this ammo problem. The Chameleon Servant, or Invisible Edmond, is the ultimate stop test of Clea. You may even consider him to be a final boss. So far, players can get by via audio cues produced by the servants. They can hide in closets, then sneak and run as required to outsmart their foes. The Chameleon Servant, however, is invisible. Your existing bag of tricks may not suffice. You can sneak past Invisible Edmond, but what you truly want is for him to be completely out of the picture. You prefer him to be in a distant room, or even another floor. In other words, you wish to manipulate his positioning, to deceive him. At this stage, I have seen many players begin to flush the toilets, or run around on the spot, to trick this invisible servant. It brings me great joy to see players solving the stop test. Once they have, I am more than okay with them dominating the rest of the campaign. It is, after all, something that has been earned, not stumbled upon through sheer luck. Despite conventions dictating otherwise, it is not compulsory for games to have a steady difficulty curve.
Clea's mom randomly appearing through this chapter? That was inspired by the grandma from Resident Evil 7. She often scared me more than Jack did. On a first playthrough, I hope players will feel anxious each time Clea's mom appears. After all, she can decide to lunge at any time. It might have been even more effective if, each time she appeared, she would look more and more out of control. Yet, to have her suddenly strike could be deemed unfair. It is a balance of dread without being cheap.
By the way, the secret room should (hopefully) be the only area in the game with no "get out of jail free closet". If you are chased by a servant into an unfamiliar room, only to run into a dead end, that can feel unfair. This is why closets are usually placed, especially at the end of long corridors, to provide an escape. Also, this is why Chaos Servants cannot react even if you hide in front of their faces. Originally, they would open the closets to end your run. Many players have teased the servants for their inability to do so, but believe me, you would not want the original behavior reverted cleasmug. As for this secret room, since it is a tiny space, I am okay with it demanding a small risk.
This chapter contains the remaining two secret doors. On top of that, one of the keys is partially hidden in the same space. This is here for players who missed the Flower Key for Florine's story. It shows them hey, secret chapters exist. Perhaps there are others you may have missed? When you give players an easy first taste, you can inspire them to hunt down your other nuggets.
If you enjoyed your time with Clea 1, please consider wishlisting the sequel: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Your support will give Clea 2 a boost, and if you can tell your friends, that would also be super cool. Thank you for reading cleahappy!

Clea 2 will be released on March 25th! As we approach launch day, this feels like a good time to reflect on the original Clea. For the first time, I will dive deep into each chapter and share my design thoughts, things I would change next time etc. If you have not completed Clea, I recommend reading these after a playthrough to avoid spoilers. Okay, let's dive deep into chapter three, the maze cleasunnies. In chapter one, players are facing a Chaos Servant for the first time. Meanwhile, collecting two pieces to form a key is relatively simple. The challenge is primarily in the threat. Let's say 80% threat, 20% puzzle. In chapter two, players have to deal with more difficult foes (multiple, plus Chaos Spiders). While doing so, they must maintain enough composure to remember which three paintings to press those buttons on (or just write them down cleasmug). The two have become more balanced. Let's call it 70% threat, 30% puzzle. As we hit chapter three, the balance has shifted. Chaos Clea, who stalks your every move, is fairly easy to keep at bay. However, while you do so, your mind can become distracted, and soon, you find yourself lost in the maze. The challenge, therefore, is primarily in the maze puzzle. 30% threat, 70% puzzle. This is all to maintain an unpredictable rhythm. Chaos Clea was designed to be relatively simple to evade. If she roamed the maze dynamically, players would have to expend too much brainpower on the threat, making it easy to become lost. Instead, with Chaos Clea stalking you, this is a chapter more about navigation while maintaining your composure. As a lucky coincidence, giving Chaos Clea a unique behavior also keeps things fresh.
Compared to chapters one and two, players must focus on the environment to maintain their bearings. First, they are tasked to reach the three colored doors in a safe environment, as Chaos Clea emerges later. Within this time, I hope players will recognize the threat of becoming lost. However, this is not the case, as I have seen quite a few players become far too lost for my comfort. They would reload from a save, then focus and triumph on their second attempts. Not the end of the world, but still. As I type this out, an idea just occurred to me. In future, I could simply include a lore book at the start, where a gardener complains about being lost yet again. That would give players enough of a hint.
Being a puzzle based chapter, the maze ramps up in difficulty as players progress. First, a key inside a colored door. Then, two colored doors, and players must remember their locations while hunting keys for both. The colored candles inform players which area they are in. If I were to remake Clea, I might add colored crystals on each door for further clarity.
If you enjoyed your time with Clea 1, please consider wishlisting the sequel: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Your support will give Clea 2 a boost, and if you can tell your friends, that would also be super cool. Thank you for reading cleahappy!

Hey bud cleasunnies. Happy Lunar New Year! If you celebrate it, I hope your 2021 will be filled with growth and awesomeness. If not, at least know this. Remember that Clea Lunar Dress mod? Like with the other recent mods, I would now like to make it permanently available:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g3SRMXhHSc8PWy7vNE4hBANAr7rro2XG/view?usp=sharing Enjoy!

Clea 2 will be released on March 25th! As we approach launch day, this feels like a good time to reflect on the original Clea. For the first time, I will dive deep into each chapter and share my design thoughts, things I would change next time etc. If you have not completed Clea, I recommend reading these after a playthrough to avoid spoilers. Okay, let's dive deep into chapter two, the mansion cleasunnies. At first, I had considered adding a mini-game between each chapter. It would involve Clea and Edmond fleeing from a Chaos Servant, but perhaps from a top down view, or a third person perspective with the siblings running towards the camera. Maybe a round of Tic-Tac-Toe or Simon Says. Even before I coded a single line, prototypes in my mind made me conclude this was me trying to pad out the game. Chores you had to endure between each chapter. No thanks. Admittedly, I had played Nier Automata around that period. Yoko Taro likes to blend genres with his games. Regular action, then suddenly, a top down segment, or a sidescroller. That influenced me. However, I also recall Shigeru Miyamoto mentioning it can be dangerous to jam too many elements into a title, causing all of them to be mediocre. Especially for indie developers, it would be best to trim mercilessly, then fine-tune whatever survived. All right, the mansion, one of the longest chapters in Clea. Notice how chapters one and three are short by comparison. This was done to produce a wave like pace. Fast, an endurance run, then snappy again. A song like rhythm to keep players engaged.
The Chaos Spiders are not difficult to overcome. Now, I recognize there are many Clea masters out there. However, please note to many players, a single Chaos Servant, especially so early in the game, can already be quite a test. The Chaos Spiders serve as a "one more thing than you can handle". These "one more thing"s should always be relatively simple, or players may feel overwhelmed. Yet, without them, they may not be entertained enough.
As for the Spider Servant, with more time/budget, I would have loved to give him a unique set of behaviors. I had considered allowing him to use webs to instantly reach the player's floor upon being alerted. Yet, again, since this is only chapter two, that may have been too much to overcome. Instead, in terms of lore, the Chaos Spiders are sent by this servant to hunt the player down. A happy coincidence where design and budget happened to meet.
As mentioned, chapter two was intended to be a long segment. That said, if I were to remake it, I might remove one or two floors from the gallery. The Zodiac concept locked me to 12 paintings. On repeated playthroughs, this can become a chore, while for new players, having to outsmart the Spider Servant across so many floors can be daunting. The fact you can optionally run through these galleries twice for that Flower Key magnifies this. In Clea 2, I have segments similar to this, and I have trimmed the excess down far more aggressively.
Next, we have the backyard, which is our first outdoors area. A visual change to show players they are making progress. My subtle congratulations. You know that key piece in the middle of the yard? That used to be tied to a cat. When you approach the cat, it would run away, so you had to run to grab the key before she fled. Once she left, you had to revisit the area to try again. Several issues with this. One, gamers would know to leave and come back to retry, but logically, it made no sense. Many players would think that key was gone forever, or they might wander the mansion to search for that cat. Two, running would alert the Chaos Servants. Considering there is a second servant behind that door, this would be too much of a trap. All right, confession time. Here is the real reason I removed the cat. She had worked fine the entire time. Then, the weekend before release, her model bugged out and refused to re-appear. In a moment of rage, I went fine, then begone. In retrospect, I dare say if I had left the cat in there, Clea would have frustrated far more players, and I would have ditched her anyway. I admit, however, that my removal of her from day one was from sheer luck.
And now for that second Chaos Servant. Clea was always planned to be a series of one on one challenges. It feels great to outwit a foe. Players rely on sound to predict an enemy's location, and to fake them out. Two enemies would dilute those audio cues, while three and beyond would break the experience. Even on Chaos+ Mode, those "Yellow Servants" only roam the final floors of each chapter. Those audio cues almost become unmanageable, but only for a moment, as you race for the finish. This second Chaos Servant in chapter two is a trick. "Multiple servants per chapter now? Is it going to be 3 next? I'm screwed!" That dread kicks in. Fear of not being able to beat the game. And yet, this multi-servant set up never occurs again. I learned this from The Evil Within. That game had invisible enemies that freaked me out. They showed up early, too. "Damn, if these are regulars from now on, I don't know if I can do this!" Yet, if I recall correctly, they never showed up again after one scene.
To finish up, this time, the blue key requires pieces that are scattered. One piece is even from the first chapter. In your mind, you know if you were careless, you would have been lost for ages. This grants you a sense of relief, plus a touch of pride. Again, I had experienced these feelings repeatedly throughout my Hexen playthrough, and I wish to carry that design legacy forward. If you enjoyed your time with Clea 1, please consider wishlisting the sequel: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Your support will give Clea 2 a boost, and if you can tell your friends, that would also be super cool. Thank you for reading cleahappy!

Clea 2 will be released on March 25th cleasunnies! As we approach launch day, this feels like a good time to reflect on the original Clea. For the first time, I will dive deep into each chapter and share my design thoughts, things I would change next time etc. If you have not completed Clea, I recommend reading these after a playthrough to avoid spoilers. Okay, let's dive deep into chapter one, the clock tower. Did you know that originally, there was no tutorial room planned? The controls are shown before your game begins, which I figured was sufficient. Thankfully, I showed Clea at several conventions and saw my mistake firsthand. Almost no one knew to peek through doors. Some did not recognize running would alert your foes, either. I recall showcasing Clea on day one of a convention (Smash!). That night, I rushed home and added a tutorial area, just in time for day two.
Admittedly, I witnessed several players who did not understand what the peek through doors painting meant. Most figured it out soon afterwards, but with infinite resources, that is something I would have loved to perfect. I had feared a tutorial room would take players out of the experience. To an extent, it does. But first, Clea's primary goal is to provide a challenge. Second, avoiding confusion/frustration takes priority above all else. In Clea 2 (and no doubt beyond), when all else fails, I will not hesitate to show players directly what steps to take. When players think of Clea's inspirations, Clock Tower, Resident Evil etc come to mind. A title far less known is Hexen. I love Hexen's "hidden objects" style of puzzles. One tiny button hidden behind a statue. Miss that, and you are lost for the next two hours. Two bad. No guidance. Pay closer attention. Let's face it. A puzzle approach like that nowadays will lead to mixed reviews if you are lucky. Another issue I soon realized was, there are far less places to hide objects on a 2D perspective. In the end, I came to a compromise. Each chapter has two candles. One is in the open, while the other is more concealed. Those more hidden ones? I had once wanted to hide essential items there. The M piece, for example. Once again, demoing Clea at conventions showed I had best forfeit the idea.
Gamers know all too well the joy of spotting a locked door, memorizing its location, then returning to it later with that key in hand. Again, Hexen had plenty of this. The door to Florine's room shows Clea will test your short-term as well as long-term memories. Well, mid-term, perhaps. You never have to backtrack more than one chapter to access these bonus doors. One, excessive backtracking sucks. Two, if that key is a long way ahead, players truly would have forgotten where the door was.
That is more or less everything for chapter 1. A short level to show players the basics. The up/downstairs doors confused players at first, since you never see Clea walking up or down the stairs, so I added staircase and floor number labels. Cosmetic improvements of that sort. A small, yet vital improvement to finish up. For a long time, only the MT key would open that final door, not the TM key. This confused many players, yet somehow, I had neglected to fix this in a timely manner. For some reason, I had assumed it would be a difficult patch. After several more players flagged this as a bug (and I had to explain), I at last made the TM key work as well, and breaking news, it only took 20 minutes to resolve. In future, I must fix these pain points much faster.
If you enjoyed your time with Clea 1, please consider wishlisting the sequel: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ Your support will give Clea 2 a boost, and if you can tell your friends, that would also be super cool. Thank you for reading cleahappy!

Happy New Year! Hope your 2021 will be filled with happiness and achievements cleahappy. Boy, I sure stayed quiet over the break. Yes, I gamed a ton, but I also worked lots. Christmas Eve, work. Christmas Day, work. Boxing Day, work. NYE, work. Jan 1st, work. Clea 2 is scheduled for release on March 25th, and so it shall be. The delay gave me a chance to hone each chapter further. A long checklist has been ticked off over the break, with several more to go. Currently, I am on a Chaos+ run to ensure that, while difficult as hell, the mode is beatable. Many have asked about Clea 2's console release possibilities. We are working daily behind the scenes, and there should be news incoming. Please look forward to them yoyo! Aside from that, I plan to drop articles to hype up Clea 2's release. Please be sure to follow Clea 2's Steam page to stay in touch, and to show your support. Perhaps other Clea related news, too? It should be a nice year ahead. Please stay tuned whappy. Last up, the Clea series record the conflict between the Arcane and Chaos factions. I can already say, this war will continue. Whether it is the next game, we have yet to confirm, but there is a bigger universe to be shared, and someday, we must decide on the victor cleachaos. Beyond that, players have been asking why there is no InvertMouse server. It has been on my mind, too. The games take priority, but still, this is now higher on my todo list. When the server goes live, I want to make sure it is a fun and eventful place. Do it right, or do not do it at all. Please keep an eye out! Happy times ahead sasa. Many thanks cleasunnies!

Hey friends! Only a few days left until the Christmas break and holidays cleahappy. As mentioned earlier, I will now start to release the seasonal costumes permanently in the guides section. And so, here is Clea's Christmas dress, now available for everyone to enjoy:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2325879486 I also have a final update for the year with Clea 2 here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1257860/view/4045886420524555834 Be happy, stay safe, and see you in 2021 cleasunnies!

Hello there cleasunnies! Hope you have been doing well. A patch just went up for the Steam edition of Clea. Please note the same updates will be up first on Itch.io (should be in a matter of days), followed by consoles (could be in several weeks due to the approval processes involved). First, here are the smaller items: a) In chapter 2, there was a cake that was placed quite close to a painting, so players could select the unwanted item. I have moved the cake away more. b) In a secret chapter, there was a dialogue box that underlapped a side wall. This has been fixed. c) On the Switch version, if you bind B to another command, the cancel command will become unbound. This will be fixed when the patch goes up for consoles. Now, for some of the bigger things: 1) When players die, they can now skip the monster roar sound effect by pressing any button. Clea is a challenging game. No shame in growing through setbacks. Now the process will be that much smoother. 2) When you start a new game for the first time, a pop up will now appear and ask if you wish to activate infinite saves. I had designed Clea with limited saves in mind. In Resident Evil 1, for example, I had to run a route multiple times until I perfected it, then I would execute that run, and when I used that ink ribbon at the end, boy did it feel gratifying. But I will admit, once the modern options came, I took advantage. In Resident Evil 3, I nearly saved after every zombie kill! However players wish to play, I take pride in supporting it. The pop up does ask players to please consider playing without infinite saves, perhaps on a subsequent run, but it is ultimately your freedom.
3) Last, and the biggest one, is the new 1 Ups feature. This can be activated via the difficulty selection screen. Before we get too excited, this is a feature for those who find the game difficult. If you have already dominated the campaign, there is nothing to see here. Chaos+ (with invisibility set on even) is where the monster tier players belong.
With 1 Ups on, players will find green orbs scattered throughout the campaign. Each one will save players from death a single time. It has recently come to my attention that Clea is quite a challenging title. In fact, I have updated the Steam page's description to emphasize this. While Clea is a horror game, I would like it to primarily be a test of players' skills. To struggle, to grow from setbacks (learning patterns etc), then eventually dominating even the toughest modes. That to me is sheer joy. By the way, 1 Ups mode will not activate in Chaos, Chaos+ and Arcade Mode.
I may as well speak of this briefly here. You know about the Ancient Gods 1 DLC that recently came out for Doom Eternal? In the original game, many players/reviewers protested about the design of this monster named the Marauder. He was challenging to many, to a point where it ruined the experience for them. Some even wanted this demon removed altogether. Instead, in the DLC, the designers made us fight two at a time, and some other tricks I will not spoil. I want to ask you to imagine yourself as a game creator for a moment (perhaps you are). Consider the courage it takes to take this kind of stance. I had beaten Doom Eternal on Ultra Nightmare (max difficulty on one life), yet this DLC has been pushing me to develop new knowledge, to enhance my skills further. There is no greater joy than mastering a game you love. That said, again, I see it as a challenge to design a game just about anyone can enjoy. From the newest of the new to those gamer gods. Doom Eternal, of course, also has lower difficulty settings. As usual, if you spot any errors in this new patch, please notify me right away! I am going to jump onto that first thing. These updates have not been fully tested for Clea 2's demo yet. Once I manage that, I will push the same patch up. Thank you so much cleahappy!

Hi everyone. A Happy Halloween to you all cleachaos! In case you missed it, Clea's Halloween costume mod will now be permanently available:
https://invertmouse.com/clea/assets/downloads/costumes/CleaHappyHalloween.zip The perfect dress to rock as you venture into the Whitlock Mansion during Halloween! Once you have escaped the Whitlock Mansion, why not check out the demo for Clea 2, which is scheduled for release next year? https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ I also wish to say happy birthday, and happy 25th anniversary, to the 90s FPS, Hexen whappy:
When players guess what are the inspirations behind Clea, they say Resident Evil, Alien Isolation and the like. They would be correct. However, another source is in fact Hexen. I have always felt Hexen is unjustly regarded as a mere Doom clone, and, also unfairly, said to be an overly puzzling game that cannot be beaten without a guide. The first time I cleared Hexen, I needed a guide for only one spot, and even there, I acknowledge it was my lack of patience/intelligence. When we think puzzle games, we think brain teasers. Like Portal, for instance. Hexen, meanwhile, is more like a hidden objects title. Imagine you are inside a cave where you can easily get lost. Now, there is a single, tiny switch hidden behind a statue that will allow you to progress. If you miss it? Too bad. Have fun being stuck for the next 3 hours. The stake here is not dying, but rather being lost. Because of this, when you do find that hidden switch, it feels so gratifying sasalewd. Often, you may press a button, and the game informs you a door has opened elsewhere. It could be a door you had passed on another level well more than an hour ago. When I played it, I took note of all the locked doors I passed. It felt so good to eventually backtrack to each of those doors. Probably best not to listen to me, though. Hexen is an acquired taste. Ultimately, I lacked the courage to replicate Hexen's "no mercy" form of puzzles in Clea. Truth be told, it would be career suicide. The negative reviews would flood in, and also, even if I had wanted, there is only so much you can hide in a 2D space. Did you know? I aimed to have two candles per chapter. One out in the open, the second more hidden. That second one, as you may guess, is my final, desperate attempt at paying tribute to Hexen, while still fulfilling modern design requirements. If another creator wishes to take things all the way and develop a Hexen inspired title, let me know. Please, do not be upset with me if it sells poorly. At the very least, you will have my respect, not that you can buy food with it excelia. Worry not, Hexen. I love you, so happy 25th. Catch you next time cleasunnies!

Happy Halloween friends! Yo, perfect time for some spooky games over the Halloween weekend. If you have never played Clea before, this could be a cool time to enter the series. Overcome your fears, outsmart your foes and conquer the Whitlock Mansion! Oh, you are a veteran? Cool, Chaos+? Chaos+ and Invisible Mode? Yeah, I thought not (haha cleachaos). This could also be the perfect weekend to try out Clea 2's demo: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1257860/Clea_2/ There are so many surprises awaiting players in the sequel. If you could drop a wishlist and tell your friends, I would really appreciate it cleahappy! I spent much of last year offering limited time costumes. Just a fun thing to try out, but with Doom Eternal's month long series (that offer exclusive rewards), I got to observe players' responses from an outside perspective. Plenty of players are upset that they have purchased the game late, and because of that, there are rewards they will never be able to earn. Who knows if the series will recycle over time, but for now, this is the situation. Oh, in case you were curious, I earn my way through those series religiously cleasmug. Ehem! In Clea's case, I could revive the Halloween costume every year at this time, but hey, I manage most of these things alone. It would be way better to devote my time on creating new games. Best for everyone! So, as the seasons kick in, I may now bring back the costumes, this time on a permanent basis. I have a feeling no one will be against it. If not, happy to have a conversation as a community. With that said, here is the Halloween costume! https://invertmouse.com/clea/assets/downloads/costumes/CleaHappyHalloween.zip Enjoy your Halloween! I am going to clock some more hours into Clea 2, and maybe fire up Alien Isolation again. Bought some mission DLCs lately that I want to try out cleasunnies.

Hey buds cleasunnies. Hope you have been doing well! The community here is bigger than that of Clea 2 (since the game is in development), so I want to use this space to keep everyone updated. Still, I would love to invite you to join Clea 2's community! I have more updates planned for both the demo and the full game. Even some quick likes on the most recent posts would be cool. Something to let me know you have arrived, then over time, I will focus on Clea 1 here, and the sequel over in Clea 2's hub. In case you missed it, a downloadable costume is available to celebrate Clea 2's participation in the recent Steam Autumn Festival:
Usable, of course, in both the demo and full version (upon release). Perhaps this is the dress you will put on for that Halloween test drive? A patch is also up for the demo. Aside from bug fixes, the most exciting part is, a surprise has been added in the Chaos and Chaos+ difficulty modes cleasmug. Like with everything Clea, yes, we want to be spooky, but also very, very fun. I hope you will enjoy the challenge that lies in wait. Full update post: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/1257860/view/5462262805894462113 Let me also give a shoutout to Eski, a player who provided an in-depth analysis and prediction for Clea 2's trailer/demo, based on what is available so far (video is in Chinese): https://b23.tv/usy582 It is delightful to meet players who are so passionate about this series. Sometimes, I am on Pinterest and stumble upon fanart, or at a con, someone drops by to share their experience. To create a project from start to finish demands personal sacrifices, especally if you are determined to do so year after year. This community, however, makes it feel worthwhile. Many thanks cleahappy!

A new threat has emerged since the Whitlock Mansion tragedy. Guide Florine as she journeys across dimensions to save the one she cherishes most. Clea 2 is scheduled for release in early 2021: store.steampowered.com/app/1257860 If keen, please wishlist and try out the demo. Thank you for your support cleahappy!

vintydelusionalbibiwhappycleachaos!

Hey gang cleahappy! Hope you have all been doing well. You may have noticed a few Clea updates being pushed over the months. They are small fixes/improvements, but when I am a fan of a game, I want to know every drop of detail. So, I would like to provide the same for you. Here are the recent changes: - Fixed a bug where, if you attempted to bind a command to the right analogue stick on a controller, the game broke and forced you to restart. - Fixed a bug where, if you paused the game right as an enemy was about to move, they would glide across the screen with no animation played. Now for the second topic. I would like to raise Clea's price by 3 USD ahh. Once Valve approves my request, the change will be applied. Here are my thoughts behind this: 1) Since Clea's release, the biggest additions were: - Chaos+ and invisible modes - Camera feature - Arcade mode - New unlockable costumes that come with these new modes With these new features, I like to think the game has levelled up, so to speak. Clea deserves better vintywhy. 2) As you know, our console releases are on the way. In some cases, there are now more parties involved. Publisher, other platform partners etc. I need to ensure this is financially viable for everyone. At the previous price point, it was not. Please note, since the console variants have unique costumes (while the PC edition has seasonal ones), the Steam version will still be at a lower price point (by a few dollars). Still, I want to avoid a huge cost difference between platforms. Since it is only a few dollars, I imagine this is one of those cases where I am over-worrying. Still, with these things, I always want to be the one to speak on it first cleanorm. These are things I struggle with and learn from as my situation/career has been improving. I hope overall, players will be happy for the team and me. Thank you for your support cleasunnies!

Hey pals! Hope you have been staying safe and keeping positive cleahappy. Oh yeah, I pushed a patch recently. It fixed a rare issue where Chaos Servants will float (and not run) away from Clea when she uses an Arcane Candle. Small fix, so I neglected to mention it. Still, I hope you enjoy this consistent fine-tuning whappy. I always say subscribing to our newsletter, Vinty Times, is the ultimate sign of support. This Sunday, I would like to return that favor by revealing our next project trailer to newsletter subs first. I will ask everyone to keep it a secret. Let's see how this game of trust plays out! So, if you wish to join us and be among the first to know what is coming, I would love for you to join our newsletter family: https://invertmouse.com If you prefer to wait for the public announcement, all good too. It will happen soon. Truth is, I had planned for this all to happen much sooner. Sadly, the pandemic situation has affected us all. Truly, let's all get through this together sasa. Thank you yoyo!

Hi everyone cleahappy! Did you know? Clea was released one year ago on Steam. To celebrate how awesome this community has been, the Clea Anniversary Artbook is now available: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1314900/Clea__Anniversary_Artbook/
The artbook features illustrations from the super skilled Karousel, who I have had the pleasure to work with since the birth of Vinty. In fact, she helped design her! This artbook also contains sketches, map designs on paper and other materials. If you have yet to own the game, please consider scoring this bundle discount: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/14963/Clea_1_Collection/ As usual, when you pick up this book, you are allowing me to continue this game development journey. Console port updates soon, followed by new game, and behind the scenes, our project after that is being planned. I hope to improve with each game, and by doing so, bring you more joy and fulfilment with each project. Thank you everyone cleasunnies!

Hey pals cleasunnies! Hope you have all been safe. Sure wish this awful year will improve as we enter the second half. When I stress over it too much, I find myself going a bit mental. Let's all look after one another. We have tried our hardest to keep working through these tough times. There has been delays sadly. Nonetheless, we are near that finish line in several areas, so I would like to provide an update. First, Clea's Anniversary Artbook is scheduled for release next week! https://store.steampowered.com/app/1314900/Clea__Anniversary_Artbook
Character art, map assets, original sketches, illustrationsthis 69 page (cleasmug) artbook will soon be here for you to enjoy from the comfort of your homes, safe from the reaches of those pesky Chaos Servants. Now, how about those Switch and Xbox ports? Please keep in touch via the newsletter (https://invertmouse.com), social media etc, because we are extremely close to being able to announce solid dates. In fact, a demo may be dropping soon. More info to come asap. We want to run several more tests to ensure your experience will be as great as possible. Again, I cannot emphasise those newsletters and social media channels enough, because out of respect, I would like to keep this space mostly to PC related news. Thank you. I foresee a big month ahead for Clea, so let's keep in touch cleahappy!

Hi everyone cleahappy! Hope you are all having an awesome weekend. I have pushed a patch just now with a decent list of changes: Enemies: - Decreased reaction time for an enemy in chapter 4. This will only be noticeable on Light difficulty. - Enemy "alert" sounds are now softer when he/she is farther away. - Added more echo to enemy footsteps when they are in a different room. Now, even without the heartbeats, players can tell how much danger they are in. Fixes: - Minor sound effect adjustments (some being too loud). - Animation fixes (some limbs broke when you changed directions rapidly). Gameplay: - Added more cakes across the campaign. That said, the intended experience is for infinite saves to be off, and with no candles, cakes mean nothing cleasmug. - Increased pan speed when you stop panning left/right. UI: - Added default button to gamma screen. As usual, if you catch any issues, please let me know! It is, after all, why I choose to push patches on weekends. In the meantime, I am off to more Doom Eternal Ultra Nightmare training (up to Super Gore Nest), and I might try out some of that new Streets of Rage, too. Many thanks cleasunnies!

Hi friends cleahappy. Yo, please stay safe, first of all. That is more important than anything else right now. I have just pushed a June patch up for Clea. Technical changes only this time. Here they are: - Contrast slider was reversed, so the lower the value, the brighter the screen. This has been resolved. Because of this, if you are an existing player, next time you open the game, you will be prompted to adjust brightness/contrast again. Thanks for your understanding! - You can now adjust brightness/contrast via the menu even while you are in-game. - Brightness/contrast slider now shifts more slowly with keyboard buttons so you have more control. This feature was added for console ports. - If you care to know, the logo splash video's volume will now also change based on your chosen master volume. This is needed because on some TVs, the logo videos' volume is way too loud. Please make full use of these features! Now you can make the game darker for a spookier atmosphere, or brighten things a bit if you think/wish that will help you dominate the campaign. As for me, I tend to prefer sharper color contrasts, so I will make sure to tweak that to my liking. As usual, I picked Friday / the weekend to upload this patch. If anything is wrong, please let me know, and I can get onto it right away. Thank you and take care cleasunnies!

Hi buds cleahappy! Hope you are all happy and safe. Been working everyday on Cleas ports, along with that upcoming new project. I have pushed an update for Clea on Steam just now. Here is the biggest change:
You know those brightness/contrast adjustment screens that appear at the start of console games? Well, because Clea is on her way to consoles, I have added that feature. To maintain codebases more easily, I have pushed this same feature to the Steam build as well. See, when I tested one of Cleas ports, the game looked far too bright on my TV. Bad gamma can destroy a game, so this change is a must. I check the screenshots section of Clea regularly on Steam. All this time, I have seen one or two screenshots where the brightness was too high. This adjustment screen should resolve that issue for those players. Of course, every update comes with its risks (old or new bugs). Because of this, I would love to ask for a favor. Could you download this update (should be automatic), then see how things look? After the update, as soon as you open the game, it should detect you have not gone through the display adjustment and show that screen to you. Please tweak the bars as you see fit (probably not even needed in most cases), then check how the game looks/performs. If you spot any bugs, please let me know right away. I will revert the update, then make the necessary fixes. A few other small tweaks: - Some of the double doors in chapter 4 opened at odd angles. They have been fixed. - Updated some enemy footsteps that sounded too metallic. - Adjusted the volume of enemy footsteps, some of which were too loud/obnoxious. Again, to help maintain different versions of Clea (Steam, Switch, Xbox etc), I had to upgrade my engine, re-export fonts etc. Outside of the Chaos+, Invisible and Arcade Mode updates, this is probably the riskiest patch yet. So, for real, please let me know if you find any issues. I will be here all weekend. Take care cleasunnies!

Hi buds! Hope you have been happy and safe. Alongside work, I have been training for my Doom Eternal Ultra Nightmare (one life) run. Been on multiplayer a lot, too. Hit me up if you ever want to play cleasunnies. Clea was released on the 11th of July. That means only a few months until we hit the game's one year anniversary. As mentioned in other posts, before Clea, I was getting nowhere with my visual novels (even though I like to think my later ones are good). So, both the community and Clea kind of saved me in a way. I have given up a lot for a chance at this, so thank you for all of your support. To celebrate this one year occasion, I have started to put together an artbook DLC! Here are some sneak preview shots:
Again, more news on port, as well as that new project, are on the horizon. Please look forward to them! Thank you cleahappy.

Sup buds cleahappy. Hope you are all staying safe and positive despite these tough times. If you ever want to talk for fun, I often hang out on Twitter @InvertMouse. When these lockdowns first started, I had scares and worries like everyone else. A few days later, I picked up Doom Eternal on my birthday. For at least a moment, I forgot about the real world and was filled only with happiness. I would have loved the game anyway, but now, I will forever credit it with helping me deal with this situation. Reality should be confronted head on, yet an escape once in a while is also healthy. Games are awesome Pain_Elemental. Unfortunately, this virus has impacted our team somewhat. That said, things have picked up again, so I hope to make that new game announcement soon enough. As I work on it daily, I just think man, I really think you are going to enjoy this one whappy. The best way to keep up to date is via our newsletter: https://invertmouse.com In fact, when the announcement arrives, I hope to share it with our subscribers first. To be on that newsletter is a huge sign of trust, something that we should not take for granted. I also post updates on Facebook: https://fb.com/invertmouse Next, how about those Switch and XBox ports? Happy to say, I like to think they have progressed quite a bit lately. This is my first time being on consoles, so trip one will always be the toughest. Thank you again for helping me achieve this dream, by the way yoyo. I will share port updates on Steam, but you know, I think I should make the newsletter and social media my main platforms for that type of news. Valve has kindly given us all this platform to share/play games on, so I want to maintain that respect. Thank you! Talk to you pals again soon cleasunnies.

Hey buds cleahappy. Hope you are all staying safe and positive despite the tough times. You know, with the release of Doom Eternal, that was the first time in weeks I felt happy. Like, from the bottom of my heart delighted. I am grateful this game has brought some happiness back into my life. Yet another reminder games are awesome. A lot of us have been impacted by this virus, with some worse than others. This includes the team we have here with our next project. Because of this, I unfortunately think we will have to announce this new game later. The original plan was April or May. Maybe it will still happen, but June or July may be a safer bet. Thankfully, I am doing all right so far. I have been working every day, and seriously, I wish I could show you pals some screenshots right now. We need to do this right, though. It should be presented in a way that brings you as much joy as possible. In the meantime, I am wondering if we should add more badges to Clea? Originally, there was going to be a 1 life challenge, so no saves allowed during the campaign. In truth, it is hard to justify the investment when 1% or less of the players will put themselves through that. If it is a bragging rights badge, however, it may be viable. I have been meaning to revise the badges feature, anyway. It can be used not only for Clea, but also future titles. Currently, badges are unlocked, but players have no idea how, or why they became available. I would like to create a badges scroll (so we can fit more in), and also a description. If you are keen on this, and/or if you have other badge ideas, please let me know, too. Still, I need to be careful. Time is a finite resource, and I would love to dedicate every available work hour into upcoming projects, and also ones beyond. A delay now means less of a wait for future works, and/or an opportunity to improve upcoming ideas. There are always positives even if they may seem invisible. Thank you, and lets all take care cleahappy!

Hi friends! Before anything else, let's all stay safe as we all navigate our way through this virus crisis. A lot of events have been cancelled now. If this continues, I will opt not to attend PAX in Melbourne this year, assuming the con is held at all. Best wishes to you all. Okay, a patch just went up for Clea, so here are some notes: - Fixed bug where you can have the same input multiple times when you bind keys. For example, "A, A, A" for up. - Updated some core internal code to make the Switch and XBox port process smoother. - Fixed a couple of doors that opened slightly awkwardly. As thanks for being around, here are some unused/unseen materials from Clea. Perhaps they will be used in a future game:



Speaking of future titles, I am happy and thankful to those who have asked for a Clea 2. You know, a new title will be announced in a couple of months. I like to think you are going to love this one, so please stay tuned. All right, back to work for me. Mouse out cleahappy!

Sup friends cleahappy! As you know, Clea is scheduled for release on the Switch and Xbox this year. We have been grinding since Christmas to give ourselves the best chance possible.
The Switch port was announced first, so things have progressed further along there. During PAX last year, many gamers said they look forward to Clea on the Switch. I hope you feel the same way. Cleas aesthetics, designs, everything should be a sweet fit for the Switch. I would like to use this chance to celebrate Nintendo (been a fan since Mario All Stars) and publisher Sekai Games (hopefully some collabs). This will happen via bonus costumes on the Switch. These dresses will have to be exclusive to the console, so I want to flag it early rather than try to keep quiet. The launch week dress, Christmas garb, Halloween costume etc, those are regarded as the exclusives for the PC version. I hope this arrangement is all cool.
There is one more item I wish to address. In truth, I created arcade mode as a form of training. I hope to make bigger and better games that support larger communities, which may involve leaderboards, so these are the steps I have taken toward that goal. Honestly, based on the stats, most players have only completed chapter 1 on arcade mode to unlock that bonus dress. I had foreseen this, and I am good with it. With that in mind, to ensure Clea reaches Switch owners hands in a timely fashion, I would like that versions arcade mode to be exclusively local. Like itch.ios build, where you compete solely offline. Since I code everything solo, I would love to devote as much time as possible into the Xbox port as well, plus a new game, which I plan to announce in a few months. As usual, I will react based on player response, but this is another thing I want to raise early, so we can have that conversation if required. We roll as a family. Speaking of that new project, as you may have seen, a casting call went up on Twitter last night:
https://twitter.com/InvertMouse/status/1233297259749507075 That said, I would prefer you not look at the doc! It could ruin some surprises cleasmug. Thank you cleasunnies!

Hi pals cleasunnies. Hope you are all doing good. Here in Australia, first we had the bushfires, and now flood warnings (things have settled now though). As for the world, we have that coronavirus to be cautious about. Let's all be good to one another and ride through this wave. Once in a while, I would randomly stumble upon a new Clea fan art. I wish you awesome artists would link them my way, because these illustrations bring me such joy. Even though Clea is a horror game, I feel so proud when gamers describe it with words like fun or love. I am glad my creations can make you feel that way. Yesterday, YouTube recommended me a Clea speed paint. I never knew this was a thing! So, I would like to share them with you. They are all cute and awesome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTLLpSGLqCI Artist: Mr. Banana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phniL1Lh9xw Artist: Iris San
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSys0OjpTQg Artist: Gabi Gacha Gamer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xfmWUFFyNM Artist: Magy Bunny All right, let's be real. You may be thinking, "Mouse, this is cool and all, but how about some updates/news on the game, or your next project?" Well, you caught me. I am kind of buying for time cleasmug. At this pace, in a couple of months, my next project should be announced. I hope you will look forward to it. Thank you!

Are we up to 5? I have lost track pals, haha cleathink. Anyway, yes, this is a post, not Clea. See, this time around, we have some awesome fan art from our Russian community! I am delighted Clea has allowed me to connect with gamers from all over the globe. Someday, I hope I can travel to each of these countries and meet with you all. Damn, I love games so much. More than anything else in the world. Ehem, all right, here are the artworks:
Artist: stepano.diana Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stepano.diana/
Artist: _.m._.e._.l._ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_.m._.e._.l._/
Artist: l_avashik Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/l_avashik/
Artist: strange_human_and_memory Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strange_human_and_memory Bye for now cleasunnies!

Morning friends cleahappy. We made just under $500 in total for our donations, so I went ahead and rounded up to $500:
Thank you for your contributions! Even though I am the one making these games, I am still proud to be a part of this community whappy. With the Lunar New Year just several days away, we have this Chinese New Year themed costume on offer:
As usual, you can download this via the in-game menu. I created the Happy New Year! banner and everything a good few weeks ago. Unfortunately, as we know, the coronavirus is out and about, so I am aware this may not necessarily be a happy new year for many people. This is why we want to keep things low key this time. Above all else, lets all stay safe! At this stage, I believe we have created all the seasonal costumes possible. Switch and Xbox port news should come in the near future, then beyond that, a new game announcement. Please look forward to them! Thank you cleanorm.

Hiya friends vintysmile. As you may have seen, things have not been great here in Australia. Our bushfires have slaughtered millions of wildlife. Countless families have lost their homes, and some unfortunately did not make it at all. The air here has also been awful on many days, including in the cities where most of us work at our day jobs. We have been advised to put on masks when we are out and about. The smoke is at times so thick it feels like we are in Silent Hill. Well, time to take action. This week, all profits made from my portfolio (from Unhack to Clea) will be donated to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery: https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/disaster-relief-and-recovery-donate To mark the occasion, please hop onto Clea's main menu screen to download this "Wish for Rain" costume:
From early December to this day, we have seen only small amounts of rain. Instead, we have regular strong winds, which as you can imagine, is no help to say the least when it comes to fires. Fortunately, we have some heavy rains forecasted for next week. Everyone now wishes this will indeed come true. Of course, it is probably more direct to just donate, so please feel free to do that. To those who are interested in my portfolio, you can find it here: https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/2684/InvertMouse_Bundle/ Thank you cleanorm!

Heya pals cleahappy! Hope you are all off to an awesome 2020. As promised, lets announce the winners of the #cleasnap comp. Remember the winners are chosen at random, so no worries if your name is not on top. Be proud of your creation, enjoy what is showcased, and lets continue to have fun. Postcard winners (some hidden to avoid spoilers): 1. Crusader [spoiler]
[/spoiler] 2. Battler [spoiler]
[/spoiler] 3. happygiggi
Steam key winner: [spoiler]
[/spoiler] snakeybane Thank you for participating! If you see your name above, please send an email to contact(at)invertmouse(dot)com so we can arrange your gift. To the postcard winners, remember, if you would like to have one of the cards signed, please include your preferred name, and I can make that happen. Please also note there is always the slight chance the mail will be lost. If you do not receive anything by late Feb, feel free to email me and we can go for the Steam key option. To snakeybane you can each receive a key for any one game or DLC from my portfolio. Please email in, let me know which key you would like, and I can get that arranged. Thank you cleasunnies!

First of all, Happy New Year cleahappy! All of our lives from start to finish is barely a blink in the grand scheme of things. For us to share this period together, and to live in an era where games exist? Life is good cleasunnies. Clea truly saved me. Not my life, to be clear! Well, kind of. I mean my game dev life. Back in the Unhack days, to be honest, no matter what you created, once you made it onto Steam, you are guaranteed to sell at least moderately well. As the years ticked by, things took a downturn for a lot of us. Visual novels especially became less and less viable (for me at least).
I believe The Last Birdling is better than Cursed Sight. Also, I think Without Within 3 is the best in that trilogy. The sales numbers, however, do not reflect this. I in fact lost money for several years because of those titles. The Last Birdling won VN Nows game of the year, and some players who read it felt inspired to share with me some personal stories. I even received a physical gift (a painting) from a fan. These obviously brought me great joy. Unfortunately, they did not translate into money/survival. If I wished to make more visual novels, I would have to change the type of stories I told, switch genres, or do something else. I picked the last option. Clea did not arrive smoothly after that. If you follow our social media channels, you may have seen glimpses of a game named Gaia: Birth of the Motherland.
Gaia was produced from start to finish. I put in the hours, paid for the art, music and voice clips. Unfortunately, when all was said and done, I had to say no, this is not a good game. The gameplay is extremely stock. You go through the motions, and when my own game fails to make me respond emotionally in any way, I cannot possibly put it out there.
The fault was my own. My bad design choices. Everyone else on the team did a great job. Aside from the sunk costs, I also shouldered the guilt of everyones works never being shown to the world. First, we have the visual novel crash (or mine anyway), followed by a year of work, only to result in a mediocre, unreleased title. Things were looking dire. So, how did Clea come about? There is no dramatic backstory to it. I demanded myself to do a better job, and I just so happened to have played Alien Isolation and the Resident Evil 1 Remake during that period, so I felt inspired. Truly, I never associate any romantic notions with game development. There is no muse I am waiting on. When it is time to grind, we will grind. Fortunately, the codebase from Gaia did not fall to waste. Clea was in fact programmed on top of Gaias foundations. Some players are surprised Clea only took about a year to create, but as you can see, there is a story behind it.
For my sake, Clea thankfully turned out well. The presentation, gameplay, ambienceeverything is several steps above Gaia. This means I felt happy enough to ship it. Still, it had been a few years since I last released a traditional game (since Unhack and Bermuda). With the current market situation, will this result in another failure?
To my relief, Clea outperformed The Last Birdling and Without Within 3 combined within the first few weeks. Best of all, thanks to Clea, I have at last achieved my goal of publishing a title onto consoles. Clea, and all of you, have made my dreams come true. In return, I have offered plenty of free updates through the past few months. Clea now features a chaos+ mode, invisible challenge, a camera feature, and even an arcade mode where you can compete for high scores. On top of all that, Cleas dress is moddable, and I (along with other gamers) have piled a decent collection (not to mention the unlockable in-game costumes): https://steamcommunity.com/app/981020/guides/ Clea is a 2D survival horror without jump scares. The Whitlock Mansion is infested with Chaos Servants who dynamically roam the floors in search for their prey. As Clea, players must outwit these hunters and escape from this nightmare. Clea is available on Steam, with the Switch and Xbox One versions aimed for 2020. The game is on discount while the Winter Sale lasts: https://store.steampowered.com/app/981020/Clea/ Many thanks cleachaos!

Friends! I just finished watching the Doom Annihilation movie. My expectations were hell low, and still lets just move on yaall cleachaos. So, the Steam Winter sale is here! To cap off 2019, I would like to offer this limited time Christmas costume:
As usual, just open the menu screen and follow that link. You know the drill by now. The costume will be available until the end of this winter sale. A gift from me, and as thank you for your support over these past 6 months. If you have a friend with Clea on their wishlist, I am sure they will appreciate your gift? This is the time of giving, after all cleasmug. Trust me, I know. I have spent tons of money on my nieces and nephews over the past week clealol. Hope you all have a great holiday filled with happiness and games. I want to game as much as possible during my week break. With the Xbox and Switch releases of Clea scheduled for 2020, you also know I will have ton of hours to clock in. Aside from that, also a little something else I would like to share with you all next year. Office party this arvo, Star Wars movie tomorrow, then family fun on Sunday. Hope your few days ahead are awesome, too! Mouse out cleahappy.

Hey friends, big news cleachaos! Xbox and I will team up to bring Clea to the Xbox One in 2020. I cannot thank you all enough for your support. As we roll into the new decade, I hope Clea can reach more players, and we can continue to build this friendly community. Enjoy the holidays, and lets aim for an awesome 2020 cleahappy! (Cheers strovi_ for the artwork!)

Happy weekend folks cleasunnies! As hinted at earlier, I want to set up a fun photo shoot comp for everyone to enjoy as we head into the break. How to participate: Take the best shot you can via camera mode, then upload your piece to either the screenshots section on Steam, Twitter or Instagram. Please include a #cleasnap tag to make sure I catch it. Deadline: The comp runs from now until Jan 1st, 2020! How to win: This will be a random draw, so as long as you make your best effort, you are included. To be transparent, zero effort shots may be excluded, haha clealol. You are more than welcome to take multiple shots, but we will include one entry per player. Prizes: At the end of this period, I will pick 8 winners. 3 will score a pack of postcards, while 5 will receive one Steam key of their choice from my portfolio. If you are a postcard winner and would rather not share your address, we can also go with the Steam key option. Also, to the postcard winners, if you wish to have one of them signed, please include what name you would like it under cleachaos.
Disclaimer: The postcards will be sent out via regular mail. This means there is a chance they may be lost along the way. Even though this has never happened with my monthly giveaways (via my newsletter), I still wish to flag it. If the mail as not come through a month after your reply (if you win), please feel free to reach out again, and we can opt for the Steam key route instead. Thank you, and most important, have fun! Between you and me, I have never, ever won any lucky draws in my 30+ years of life. However, if we focus on the fun aspect of taking shots, everyone is a winner cleahappy.

Happy weekend everyone cleahappy! As you may have seen on the news, Australia is in a bushfire crisis right now. The sun is a raw red, there is smoke everywhere outside, and the sky is orange like on Mars (thank you to all the firefighters). Probably best not to be outside at a time like this, so here I am at home, putting together this newly released December patch. Here are the updates: - Previously, if you made a noise while an enemy spawned, he/she would not be alerted. This is no longer the case cleachaos. - Before, if you made a noise while an enemy is entering/leaving a door, he/she would not be alerted. This is also no longer the case cleachaos. - Fixed bug where the cutscene speech bubbles are misaligned if you have the pause menu open. - Minor door indicator UI tweak. Thank you to , and every other player in the community who has chimed in with these reports. As usual, if you spot any new issues as a result of this patch, please let me know, and I will jump onto it right away. If you are a fellow Aussie, take care!

Sup pals cleahappy. I see the Black Friday sale introduced quite a few new players to Clea. Welcome to the community! I am glad to see everyone is enjoying Clea, unlocking costumes, challenging Chaos(+) Mode etc. With that said Yaall gotta stahp! Some players mentioned they used Cleas camera mode to peek ahead and spot enemies early. As you can imagine, the camera features purpose is to set up and snap cool screenshots. I am joking, of course. You can enjoy Clea as you see fit. Still, I would love to recommend keeping that camera off, at least on your first play through.
Stahp it. Get some help cleachaos. Actually, you all inspired a new idea from me. As we approach the Christmas holidays, I would like to set up a camera event for players to have fun in. I might get some prizes organized, then get in touch again with another post. Please keep an eye out cleasunnies! P.S. Also got multiple Clea related news on the way. Just need to wait a while longer for that ideal timing. Thank you for your patience, and please look forward to the future.

Sup pals cleasunnies. The Black Friday/Autumn sales are here! What are you all getting? I should go and see what I have on my wishlist this weekend. As we have done in the past, I have put up a couple of costumes on offer for this sale. First, we have the dark themed Black Friday dress. Along with that comes the Autumn colored costume. See those textures on her dress? They are in fact filtered through real autumn leaves snapped by a camera. Hope you will enjoy playing Cleas campaign in these dresses! During this discount period, if you fire up Clea (full version) and open the menu screen, you will find your usual download link to these costumes. Please pick them up now to avoid missing out. With the recently released arcade mode, Chaos+ difficulty, invisible mode and camera feature, there is no better time to experience Clea. I look forward to welcoming you into our friendly community. Thank you! cleahappy P.S. It looks like the Steam Award nominations are open. Of course, please go ahead and vote for whichever games you feel deserve the recognition. For me, if Doom Eternal had came out this year, that most likely would have been my GOTY.

Hey pals cleahappy! Another batch of Clea (and other) postcards are about to be sent out, so I want to use this chance to remind everyone of how the draw works. Once a month, I pick one winner from these 3 categories: 1) A newsletter subscriber (subscribe via invertmouse.com) 2) A regular Facebook page support/commenter (fb.com/invertmouse) 3) A regular Twitter supporter (@InvertMouse) These are stocks I have left from previous conventions. Once they run out, I may give away free DLCs etc each month instead. If you are interested, I hope to catch you in one of our friendly communities. Thank you cleasunnies!

Sup all cleasunnies. Hope you will have an awesome weekend ahead. To the hoopers out there, I am off to watch Lamelo Ball play the Sydney Kings this Sunday! Hey, also just want to say, there will be some more sick news related to Clea over the coming months. Been grinding in work daily here in my bedrogrand studio, but I want to get much more done before I speak further. Please sit back and look forward to those news when they land. Today, I would like to thank a couple of gamers for expressing their love for Clea. You know, despite having made games for 5-6 years (far longer if we count titles not under the InvertMouse name), no one has ever cosplayed any of my characters. That changed recently when Alice Nespoli kindly put together this awesome and accurate Clea cosplay!
You can drop her a follow on the gram (is that what cool people call it?) to show your support: https://www.instagram.com/alicenespoli We also have i.make.edits.1037, who, as the name suggests, has been making some cool edits of Clea artworks:

More on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/i.make.edits.1037 Many thanks!

Happy weekend cleahappy! As you may know, sometimes, I like to use the Clea emotes to put together some cheeky pics on Twitter:
My Twitter is @InvertMouse, by the way. Next I figured, why not package up these emotes so everyone can play with them? And so, I did exactly that: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1908755023 Hope you will have fun with them! I also want to thank everyone who has picked up merch from Cleas Redbubble store. If you have bought something, and the item arrives, perhaps you can take a pic and share it? I would love to see them.
https://www.redbubble.com/people/invertmouse/collections/1135367-clea Thank you!

Sup pals cleasunnies! Hope you had a nice Halloween. First, let me pay my respects to those who have conquered Cleas campaign on Chaos+. This shoutout is for those who have cleared this mode without any special costume abilities, and with infinite saves unticked! That, after all, is the intended experience, and the ultimate challenge Clea has to offer. For the past 3 or 4 months, I have been working through Doom 4 on Ultra Nightmare (1 life). I am on the final level now. Throughout the process, I have died several times after being trapped in bad situations. For example, being surrounded by Hell Knights. My first question was, next time the Hell Knights cornered me, what should I do? Then, I thought about it some more, and my mindset changed to, No, why the hell should I let them surround me in the first place? As time went on, I played more and more aggressively. If I die, it will be due to my own mistakes, not because I allowed the demons to surround me while I cowered in a corner. I act, you respond on your heels. Next thing I knew, I adopted that attitude onto my street basketball sessions, which then stretched to other areas of my life. This is the magic of games, or any great challenge. When you are pushed to the edge, you grow not only with the context of that challenge, but as a person. So, if you have yet to beat Chaos+, I would like to invite, or even challenge you, to take it on. Are the Chaos Servants too fast and scary? What if you drew their attention on purpose, then snuck off and kept them at bay? They may be agents of horror, but you can still seize control. This is just one of the many ways players can approach Cleas campaign. I hope you can continue to express your style through Clea, and any games beyond. Thank you cleachaos!

Sup friends cleasunnies! Hope you have/had a happy Halloween. A colleague from my day job dressed up as a Harry Potter character, ready to attend a party last night, then at lunch, I saw a Sailor Moon cosplayer out and about. As for me, I look forward to the release of Bloom, a mod that fuses Doom with Blood. The devs promised a Halloween release, so I certainly hope so! Remember my portfolio costume pack from launch week? If you have the pack, but do not own the games that inspired those costumes, well, these titles are on discount for around one more day during this Halloween sale. Clea truly helped our community grow, and for that I am grateful. The more successful these games are, the more time I can dedicate myself to potential sequels and/or new series. I hope to have your support: https://store.steampowered.com/developer/InvertMouse/#browse InvertMouse pack: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1792024943 The sales period is about to end, but I will keep the Halloween dress up over the weekend. Please remember to download it via the in-game menu!
Back to work pals. Mouse out cleahappy.

Hey friends cleasunnies. Hope you have a happy Halloween up ahead! Clea is 10% off over the next few days to celebrate this occasion. On top of that, I have released a free costume mod, appropriately named the Happy Halloween costume.
This mod will be available to download over the Halloween period. As always, please fire up Clea, then click that link on the menu screen to download your costume. Why not put on the Happy Halloween dress, then take on some arcade mode high scores over the weekend? Thank you cleahappy!

Sup pals cleasunnies. Now that Cleas arcade mode has been released, I want to drop three tips that will hopefully make the scene more competitive, and most important, more fun! Tip 1 Chain your badges:
There are 3 badges to collect in each chapter, and if you have more than one active, your score multiplies. Yes, if you chain badges, that means you will run out of them sooner, but that multiplier more than makes up for it. If you ask me, I would say snatch the badges, collect your points, then get out of there. Tip 2 Stay near your foe(s):
Your score rises slowly while you have a badge(s) active. However, if you have an enemy (1 or more) nearby, you can rack up that score even faster. See the heart icon on top of the screen? That indicates how fast scores are being collected. Bronze means there is no enemy in your area. Silver means there is an enemy in the same area, but he is far away. Gold means the foe is somewhat near. Chaos (red) means the enemy is dangerously close. You guessed it; we want to stay in that gold/chaos range for as long as possible, and as frequently as possible. If you hide in a closet, your score rank will drop by one, so it truly is a test of risk versus reward. Tip 3 Get out:
Once you have used up your badges, your score will gradually drop back to zero. The higher your rank, the faster that score plummets. Ideally, we want to open that exit door the second our last badge expires. How will you plan out your route to achieve this? That comes down to your freedom as the player. Hope these help! I would love to see more participation in arcade mode. The new achievement and dress should hopefully help with that. If you have yet to try the mode out, perhaps this is a good time to fire up Clea again? Test yourself, challenge your friends, and lets see how far we can push that score as a community. By the way, you can view all the leaderboards here: https://steamcommunity.com/stats/981020/leaderboards/3764431 Thank you cleahappy!

Hey buds cleasunnies! I am back from an awesome 3 days at PAX Melbourne. It was great to be there not only for work, but as a lover of games. Perhaps I will write another post later to share my fun-filled journey. Now, as promised, I would like to invite you to the newly released arcade mode!
Thank you himey for the artwork! Like with other bonus features, players must complete the campaign once before arcade mode is unlocked. Beyond that, have fun! Great games, after all, should be explored rather than explained.
Now that we can compete online, to be fair to all players, costume abilities will be disabled in arcade mode. Even with the Chaos+ Dress or Invisibility Cloak on, only knowledge and prowess can save you.
By the way, I have also added a new achievement, which should hopefully serve as an introduction to arcade mode. Lets get chapter 1 cleared, then continue to take charge and prove you are a Clea master.
If you complete the campaign on arcade mode with a chaos rank, you will unlock the super cute retro dress! Yet another fine piece to add to your collection. Oh, and of course, a new badge has been added to the difficulty selection screen, too. I know many of you are Clea monsters at this point, running circles around the Chaos Servants, or even conquering Chaos+ Mode with ease. Still, I have been a street baller for 20+ years, and at some point, all hoopers must step out and see where we truly stand. That time is now for Clea, so lets see your game! In summary, more goods to collect, and more fun to be had. All of it in this free update, because you have been so supportive, and this is the best way for me to express gratitude. Glhf cleachaos! P.S. If you spot any issues, please notify me. I pushed the update at this time, because I will be available over the next couple of days. This update involves online leaderboards, so it is arguably the most challenging update yet. I hope everyone can give arcade mode a shot. The more data we have, the easier it will be to spot potential issues.

Morning friends cleasunnies. I am about to leave my hotel for the first day of PAX Melbourne. Before I head out, I have some big news I would like to drop. You see, publisher Sekai Games and I will team up to bring Clea to the Nintendo Switch!
Thank you Strovi for the artwork! We hope to publish Clea on the Switch in 2020, so please keep in touch for more updates. See you at PAX cleahappy!

Morning friends cleasunnies. Clea will be at PAX Melbourne this week! If you plan to rock up, I would love to meet you at booth 3 over in the PAX Rising section. To celebrate these fun 3 days ahead, I have put together a PAX color-schemed costume mod:
You can download this costume via a link on the menu screen. This mod is available until the end of PAX (Sunday), so please hop on quick! Before I go, please let me say this. I hope you can keep an eye out this Friday, because I will have some big news to drop then. Thank you cleahappy!

Sup pals cleasunnies. As usual, you know I deeply appreciate it when players share their Clea fan art. Thank you to the artists as always for letting me share their works here:
Artist: xcrycidex (https://www.instagram.com/xcrycidex/)
Artist: animator._.emok_fox (https://www.instagram.com/animator._.emok_fox/)
Artist: rseen_chan (https://www.instagram.com/rseen_chan/) Now for an update on arcade mode. I could in fact push the patch next week. However, because I will be at PAX Melbourne next weekend, I will not be available to fix any reported issues. To be safe, I would like to add arcade mode the week after. If you are up for the challenge, I hope you have your Clea skills honed to the max. Oh, and per usual, there will be a bonus costume for players to unlock:
How cute is this design by artist Arisa Chibara clealol? Mouse out cleachaos.

Good morning pals cleasunnies. Happy to announce Clea's new camera feature is now live! Please let Steam download that update, then you will find the camera function in the pause menu while you are in-game. I would love to see some nice shots up in the screenshots section. As always, if you spot any issues with the update, please let me know right away. This is why I always try to release these patches on weekends. See you again soon cleahappy!

Heya friends. Clea has been out for several months now, and I am happy to see players are still uploading new screenshots in our community. Best of all, some of the shots are pretty artistic. I see you lining up characters in the perfect spots for these snaps. Color me impressed cleasunnies. In response to this, alongside arcade mode, let me add a camera feature for you all to enjoy.
You know how in the trailer, there are shots taken from high/low angles, perspectives not available in the game? Well, this will no longer be the case. When the camera is active, your game will pause, then you can manipulate the frame as you see fit for that perfect shot. Exit this mode, and the game will resume as normal. In this upcoming update, all in-game characters will stay in their current animations when camera mode activates, which will allow players to take action shots.
At this pace, the camera feature will most likely be released before arcade mode. Please look forward to it cleahappy!

Hey friends cleahappy. A quick check-in today to let you know about a new patch that just went live. Here are the changes: 1) Item/door/shelter indicators:
Several players have expressed that sometimes, it can be hard to tell which item/door/shelter will be picked up/activated when you hit the interact key. As you can see above, these new indicators should resolve that. The icons are small, which hopefully means they are not much of a distraction. Of course, elements that are meant to be hidden will not have these icons, so players still need to keep their eyes out! 2) Increased peek range:
Players have mentioned the current peek skill is not helpful, because the range is so poor. A slight increase in this new version should hopefully resolve that. It is not a massive buff, because, as you may know, there is a peek skill upgrade available within the campaign. 3) Doubled number of save slots:
Self explanatory. Hope you like it! As always, if you spot any issues, please let me know, and I will get on it. You guys are putting me to work, haha cleachaos. Laters cleasunnies!

Heya pals cleasunnies. As promised last time, today, I would like to introduce Cleas upcoming new featurearcade mode. Arcade mode:
Like with other features, arcade mode is unlocked when you clear the campaign. In arcade mode, there are three badges to collect in each chapter (including side-stories). Gain points while these badges are active, and if you stay close to your enemies, you will score even faster. How you balance that risk and reward will depend entirely on your skills. You can read up on a bit more in this screenshot below:
These are the basics, but that road to mastery is completely open, if mastery even exists at all. By now, I imagine you speedrunners have enjoyed blitzing through Clea. Then we have the recent release of chaos+ and invisible modes, where players can test themselves in a solo environment (my cup of tea personally). Now, with arcade mode, I hope we can bring more of a social aspect to Clea. This is why arcade mode will come with leaderboards:
Heheh, its all me clealol. There is a leaderboard for each chapter, one for every difficulty, and also a set for the total score in your campaign runs. Tons of opportunities for some friendly competition, and of course, to establish your dominance as a Clea master.
A shot of arcade mode in action. Cool story Mouse. How much is it gonna cost? Just like with Chaos+ and Invisible Modes, this arcade feature will be come in a free update. Thank you for your support, and I hope you will continue to have a ton of fun with this Clea community cleahappy.
As always, there will be a new dress to unlock! Need some help: With that sorted, I would now like to ask for some help. You see, I need more Steam friends in order to test the friend leaderboards. If you are interested: 1) If we are already Steam friends, please message me and I can get you sorted. 2) If we are not friends on Steam yet, please email me via contact(at)invertmouse(dot)com, and we can get started that way. Of course, all participants must already own a copy of Clea on Steam. Thank you so much for your help! Mouse out cleachaos.

Happy weekend ahead everyone cleachaos. I have been clocking in work for the new Clea mode I mentioned earlier in the week. There should be an official post coming up soon, so please look forward to it! If you crave some friendly competition, I think you will like what is on the horizon cleasmug. In the meantime, I have gathered a few more Clea fanart that I would love to share with everyone. As usual, thank you to all the artists for giving me permission to post here.
Artist: _aleks_a__ (https://www.instagram.com/_aleks_a__/)
Artist: pomidorkachan (https://www.instagram.com/pomidorkachan/)
Artist: yuki_snow4 (https://www.instagram.com/yuki_snow4/) See you again soon clealol!

Morning friends cleasunnies. You know, I always feel relieved when players say Cleas atmosphere makes them tense. Clea has no jump scares, so from day one, the game had been more about skills than terror. Still, any game should live up to the genre it claims to be a part of. But what happens on a second play through? By the time I released Clea, I had beaten the campaign so many times (200+ hours of play time!). It would be a lie to claim I am still scared. I have similar feelings toward games like Resident Evil 2. Okay, I have cleared Leons campaign (Mr X terrified me). Now I will return as Claire, but this time, I want to dominate the run, abuse my knowledge, optimize my paths etc. In return, the game offers modes like the tofu run (where you play as a tofu) to better match my mood. No longer here to be scared, but instead here to be challenged, and of course have fun. The sooner we get over ourselves, the sooner we can create games that last well beyond that first run. If I develop a future game with heavy subject matters, I would still like to offer extra content that may not match those themes. These are games, after all, and everyone knows it. With that said, here is a sneak peek of something I have in the works:
Details to come after I clock in some more research! Mouse out cleachaos.

Hey pals cleasunnies. You know, your boy Mouse is not super savvy when it comes to social media. This whole time, I have used #clea for most of my project related posts, which in retrospect is too generic. So, imagine my surprise when I realized there are quite a few Clea fanart under #cleagame on Instagram (or the gram as cool people say cleasmug)! Thank you everyone for teaching me a thing or two. I too will stick with #cleagame from this point forward. With that cleared up, lets check out some of the art. Thank you to all the illustrators for their support, and also permission for me to post here.
Artist: sofdraw (https://www.instagram.com/sofdraw/)
Artist: ruthcarolina_gutierrez (https://www.instagram.com/ruthcarolina_gutierrez/)
Artist: yuki_snow4 (https://www.instagram.com/yuki_snow4/) Thank you everyone cleahappy!

Hey friends cleahappy. Happy to say Clea will be at Pax Melbourne next month! Those who have played Without Within 2 already know I am excited to be back in that space. Even without a booth, I always show up to this annual con if I can. I love games so much, and while I may have work to do this year, you bet I will sneak off to the enjoy the hell out of this event. There will be a limited set of postcards to give out during each of the 3 days. If you plan on rocking up, I would love to meet you! Oh, and by the way, I have some big Clea related news to announce on that weekend, too cleasunnies.

Morning pals! Super happy to say the biggest Clea patch yet is now live cleahappy. First, as you can see, Clea emotes are now available! Trading cards, badges, backgrounds, emoticonsthe full Steam suite is here. Good luck and have fun with all the unlocks!
Next, as mentioned in an earlier post, players can now collect badges through their campaign runs. They are here purely for players to show off their mastery, and you know, I love me some bragging rights in games cleasmug. Details: https://steamcommunity.com/games/981020/announcements/detail/2543891631376321363
Then, here comes the one I imagine most players have been excited forchallenge modes. Originally, you can unlock Chaos Mode by clearing the campaign. Now, players will also receive Chaos+ as well as Invisible Mode. Conquer these, and you will be rewarded with costumes that grant you unique powers. Details: https://steamcommunity.com/games/981020/announcements/detail/2543891631368878919 And to finish up, the Korean patch is now live! Thank you to those who have requested for it. In exchange, I hope you can tell your friends about Clea, and of course, enjoy the game yourselves. We have formed a friendly community here, and I want to welcome you into this awesome group. ! I have tested everything thoroughly before releasing this patch. That said, if you spot any issues, please let me know. I published the update today because I have the weekend free to help out as necessary. Thank you cleasunnies!

Hey there pals bibi. As promised, alongside the Challenge Modes update, trading cards will be added to Clea. In fact, they have just been submitted for approval! Here is a sneak preview:
There are more items than what is shown above, so I hope you will look forward to the surprise. I for one will make use of those emoticons. Here is the full list of what to expect: - Price will go up by $2 - Trading cards - Korean translations - Chaos+ Mode - Invisible Mode - New costumes (with abilities) for beating the 2 new modes - Badges Thank you for your support through all this time, and I hope you will continue to love Clea as much as I do whappy.

Thank you BADA for the artwork! Hey friends! Hope you are all doing good bibi. I am delighted to see some players have already said they accept the upcoming challenge modes. You know, many games do not support such extra features, yet fans are still able to create their own fun. Beat Final Fantasy I with 4 of the same class, Doom 4 on Ultra Nightmare with only the pistol (yikes). This is what makes our community so awesome. To participate in that spirit, and also to help players prep for Chaos+, I want to share some challenge ideas of mine: Easy: - No potions used. - No running. - No left/right peek. Medium: - Game over if you are seen. - No door peek. - No closets used. Hard: - Game over if you are heard (aside from puzzles). - Zero saves. - Never enter a room more than once (within reason). - S-rank Chaos Mode with the best ending. Feel free to combine these as you see fit (some may be impossible together). Above all else, of course, have fun! Since the medals update is also on the way, perhaps you may wish to obtain them while conquering my trials? Hopefully these challenges will prepare you for Chaos+, too. Then again, probably not sasalewd.

Revenge of Proto-Clea ahh! Hi there pals bibi. You know, when I find a game I love, I want to learn all I can about it. How did the project evolve throughout development? How did things look in the early days? History is awesome when you happen to be interested in the topic. With that in mind, today, I would like to contribute to this trend and share Cleas prototype build: https://invertmouse.com/clea/assets/downloads/clea_prototype_win.zip Please note, if you have never played Clea, please avoid this prototype! It would leave a poor impression. Outside of that, hope you will find the demo fascinating. Being a prototype, you may find plenty of bugs that have since been ironed out. Also, only a Windows version is available, unfortunately. Thank you for your understanding. Mouse out yoyo.

Hey, I dont recognize those icons! Good morning friends bibi. Indeed, as you can see, I have added yet another feature to the upcoming challenge modes update. These are badges players can unlock by completing the campaign. What do the badges do? Honestly, they exist purely for bragging rights a2. There are 4 badges available for each difficulty. 3 badges to represent the 3 endings, then the 4th one will showcase your highest rank under that mode. For example, in the above screenshot, I have achieved S-rank on Dark Mode. Of course, once the challenge modes update rolls in, the most boast-worthy icons will be the 4 linked to Chaos+. Please be warned, though. Best ending on Chaos+? That would mean you must backtrack between levels while surrounded by extremely aggressive foes, and you barely have any candles. In other words, Clea Masters only. Oh, and also, if you unlock any of these badges under Invisible Mode, you will be rewarded accordingly:
If you obtain all four Chaos+ icons along with those eyeballs? You are a monster. I have no words whappy. A few notes: - As several players have asked, yes, you can unlock the Invisible Cloak, then use that to cheese through Chaos+. This means, once you have the Invisible Cloak, you can unlock all the badges with ease. Please note, however, that even if you impress your friends, your heart shall never be at peace ahh! - Since these medals require new flags to trigger upon campaign completion, even if you have beaten Clea multiple times before, once the update kicks in, the game unfortunately will not know. Sorry about that vintywhy! This is the drawback of having new ideas post-release. If enough players desire it, I could create a secret menu where you can unlock these medals with the click of a mouse, and it will be on you to be honest when it comes to which icons you have earned. - Your highest rank for each difficulty will be chosen. This means, if you clear Chaos Mode with an S-rank, then switch on Invisible Mode but only achieve a B-rank, the eyeball icon will not appear. Mouse, youre so creative! If only I had your creative I stole the idea from Dooms Arcade Mode sasalewd.

Hey, this is not the chapter 1 I remember vintywhy! Indeed, today, I would like to introduce to you 2 upcoming new featuresChaos+ and Invisible Mode. Chaos+, as the name implies, is my response to everyone who has beaten, and sometimes straight up dominated Chaos Mode. On Chaos+, no mercy shall be shown. Enemies will be extremely aggressive, their placements will be varied, and oh, there may be a few less candles around. As Magneto once said, Welcome to die sasalewd! Then there is Invisible Mode. You guessed it. With this feature on, every enemy in the game will turn invisible, so audio will become even more of an ally than the default experience. This mode can be played alongside any difficulty setting, even Chaos+, if you are a glutton for punishment (highly ill-advised!).
As always, players will be rewarded for conquering these ultimate challenges. Beat the game with Invisible Mode on, and you will receive the Invisibility Cloak (as seen above). Really, do you see it? Cleas eyes are right there! With this suit on, none of the enemies will be able to see you. Talk about having the tables turned! Oh, and of course, the Chaos Servants somehow conveniently fail to see Ed a2. If you defeat Chaos+ Mode, you will be rewarded with the Chaos+ Dress. This costume proves you are a Clea Master, and with this dress on, enemies will flee at the mere sight of your mighty presence. Of course, the dress must be earned with skills. A lot of skills.
These new challenge modes will unlock alongside the standard Chaos Mode. If you have a save file where Chaos Mode is already unlocked, once the patch comes through, you will be able to access these new modes right away. Now, how much will these new modes cost? Originally, I had planned to include them as a $2 or $3 DLC. However, as time goes on, I would like Clea to be on as many platforms as possible. It would be best if every platform featured the same core experience. That, plus I can use this logic to reward those of you who have supported Clea throughout launch month. Here is what I would like to do. I hope to raise the base price of Clea by $2, then add these challenge modes to the base game. This means if you own Clea, the update will be available for free. A way of saying thanks, if you will yoyo. Oh, and of course, those trading card drops will also become enabled along with this update. Thank you so much for all of your support! I hope you are excited about these announcements, and now that the challenge modes are nearly wrapped up, there will be even more awesome news on the way.

. Happy weekend everyone airin! As you can see, the Korean version of Clea is more or less complete. My plan now is to launch it alongside the Challenge Modes addition, as well as trading cards.

I look forward to welcoming our Korean gamers into this awesome community. Hope you will enjoy your time with Clea! These updates are coming not only thanks to sales numbers, but because I am thankful to see players return to the campaign to achieve S-ranks, unlock medals, costumes etc. Some players have even replayed the campaign with self-imposed rules. Games are worthy of celebration, and I am happy to be a part of this art form. I grew up with the brick Gameboy, and to still be in love with this medium 30 years later? Life is good. Thank you yoyo.

Hello friends lulululu! Yes, three updates in one week. These ones are relatively minor, so here goes: 1) Arcane candles have been removed from the cake graphic (as seen above) to avoid confusion (in case players think enemies will run from the cake). Thanks Kyll for the suggestion! Please note in the opening scene, there is still an arcane candle on the cake, because Florine wanted to make Clea's birthday feel special sasa. "Dude, it's because you can't be bothered to update the store page screenshot." .................. NOW YOU LISTEN TO ME VERY CLOSELY sasalewd. 2) In chapter 2, the puzzle will now reset when you get one choice wrong, not two. Thanks Idunnnnn for the suggestion! Okay, and now the bigger news. Players have been asking for trading cards, and I am happy to say, Steam has approved them for Clea this week! Let me get to work right away, and I think we should release the trading cards along with the upcoming challenge modes update. That way, you can enjoy the new modes, and unlock these cards at the same time! Before I go, to all Korean gamers, the Korean translations have just come through, so I will get to work on those, too. Thank you for your support! Mouse out whappy.

Hey pals excelia. Two updates in one day? Yes, as you can see in the above screenshot, it appears to be true. There are now staircase symbols on doors that take you to different floors of the mansion. Clarity never hurts! Also, the Chaos Servants' behavior have been tweaked slightly. Before, when you were being chased, if you managed to break line of sight, there was a small timing window where you could run right by without being noticed. Players will no longer be able to get away with this, sorry sasalewd! There was also a case where if you made a huge amount of noise, the Chaos Servant might have trouble picking which clue to pursue. This only happened in chapter 2 under specific circumstances, and again, sorry, you will no longer be able to do this sasalewd! Why the Chaos Servant adjustments? They have to do with a new mode that I will introduce soon. A mode beyond Chaos, shall we say. Please look forward to it! Mouse out yoyo.

Good morning friends yoyo! I have put together a new build of Clea based on some recent player feedback: 1) Clea's walk footsteps are now always in sync with her animation. 2) Updated all cutscenes so there are no longer cases where the characters walk ahead, only to be back where they were when the action resumes. 3) Small change, but during a certain bonus chapter, if you head left, you may find a certain maid standing back exactly as she has been told bibi. Though I always put extreme care into these patches, they can still make me nervous! If you spot anything strange, please let me know and I will get on it right away. Thank you all! Details on 2 new modes should come in the near future, which I hope will bring more excitement for our community sasa.

Hi everyone yoyo! Clea will be a month old on Steam in a few days, and I cannot thank you all enough again for all the support. As a form of celebration, Clea's merch store is up! Hope you might find something you like inside. Oh, you know the Challenge Modes DLC I mentioned earlier? While details will come later, essentially, if you already own Clea, I have decided you should receive this update for free. Yes, this means more time spent in the Whitlock Mansion, and new costumes to unlock! Thank you everyone whappy.

Thank you for the guest art! Hi everyone bibi! An update of Clea just went up, with 3 new lore books scattered throughout the campaign. Let me hint at their locations below. Happy hunting!


"But Mouse, I have already cleared the campaign multiple times and unlocked everything!" Fair enough whappy. You know, now that these new lore books are out, I can focus on the Challenge Modes DLC. Perhaps you can return to take on those trials, plus check out the new books along the way? More info to come, but please let me say, these modes will test your Clea prowess to its absolute limit excelia. Before I go, a few players have asked for a Korean version of Clea. Well, here is my response:
Translations are happening now, so please stay tuned. Thank you yoyo!

Hi everyone! Thanks for all the well wishes when I was sick last week. It ruined my Quakecon and Fire Emblem Three Houses weekend, but happy to say I feel a lot better now sasa. With the lore books update, I am waiting for one more language translation to come through, so hopefully the new build can happen fairly soon. What is next for Clea after this? I would like to drop a preview today. First, I am delighted to see so many players with playtimes of 7, 11 and even 16 hours. Many have returned to the Whitlock Mansion to unlock those costumes and gallery rewards. You have taught me how powerful replayability is, and I plan to take the lesson forward to future projects. Now, I can also see many players have cleared the campaign on Chaos Mode. Some have utterly conquered it, even. As hinted at earlier, I have to respond to that, and this is where the first scheduled DLC comes in. I would like to introduce two new modes. Details will come later, but if you can complete the game on these new modes, there will be additional costumes (with unique powers) to unlock, which I hope will make the price of admission worthwhile. Beyond that, plenty of players have asked for story content DLC. You know, toward the end of development, I already had two story DLCs in mind. However, as mentioned in an earlier post, business had not been going well before Clea. I feared I might have to stop making games, so DLCs were out of the question. Now, thanks to all of your support, my dreams, as well as these new scenarios, have become a reality. In fact, when I consider the sizes of these new adventures, I think they deserve to be standalone releases. You know those spinoffs for Shovel Knight? I have a similiar idea in mind for Clea, which I hope is exciting news. Once the extra modes DLC is out, I will produce the first spinoff. If that one performs well, I will create the second. After that, regardless of outcome, I hope to have your support as I move onto the next project. Thank you so much yoyo! P.S. Many players have asked whether Clea will be released on consoles. I hope to provide some answers at Pax in Melbourne during October, so please stay tuned.

Good evening folks airin. A new build of Clea went up just now. Previously, when you switched rooms at the same time as a Chaos Servant, sometimes, the heartbeat sound effect would persist even though you are no longer in the same area. Thank you so much to everyone who submitted footage, steps etc to replicate this issue. Thanks to your help, I am happy to say this problem no longer exists. An extra thank you, because you have helped not only Clea, but future games that will reuse some of these code components. A lot of players will benefit from your feedback. Oh, you know those 2 new lore books I mentioned earlier? I ended up adding not 2, but 3 of them. They are not in this latest build, though, because the translations are still on their way. Hopefully the next update will come in fairly soon. Please look forward to it! Thank you everyone! I am quite sick at the moment, but I still want to do my best to enjoy this weekend's Quakecon lulululu.

A lot of players have posted their Chaos Mode completion certificates. Could it possibly be too easy vintywhy? Is max difficulty not enough vintywhyvintywhyvintywhy? I might have to respond soon a2.

Hiya folks yoyo. Just finished uploading a weekend patch, and I want to list the updates/fixes here: [spoiler]1) Resolved bug where in Mom's chapter, if you kill a Servant while he is moving to another area, the game blacks out (thank you Fozzy!). 2) Once Mom is around, if you retreat all the way to the first save point (next to the clock), then reload your save, you will find Mom frozen still (thanks again Fozzy!). 3) Fixed bug where in Mom's chapter, if you attempt to peek through the tutorial doors, the game breaks (thanks again Jam!).[/spoiler] Also, it turns out there are players who prefer to have those loud running footsteps! The majority are happy the feature is gone, though. What I have done is create a cheat code for players to toggle this functionality. Here is what you do. On the menu screen, type 0101. You will hear a chime to confirm the loud footsteps are back. The config is now saved, so when you restart the game, there is no need to type 0101 again. Whenever you re-type 0101 on the menu screen, the feature will turn back off. As you can imagine, I will not be able to create these one off features all the time! I truly am thankful for this awesome community, though (in less than a week, too), so I will do what I can while things are hot. And again, there will be more news to come. Bigger and bigger, dare I say, and it is because of your support, so thank you once again. Mouse out whappy!

Hi everyone whappy! As promised, I have pushed a new build that includes an optional tutorial room. It can be accessed via the first room in chapter 1. What inspired this update? Last weekend, I attended a con (Smash!) and got to watch a lot of people play the demo build in person. Here is what I have observed: 1) Just because you show the controls at the start does not mean players will read them. 2) Peek left/right was easy enough to figure out, but the peek through doors feature was missed by many players. They would get caught by a hunter upon switching rooms, then no doubt conclude the game is unfair. 3) Many players never checked what the arcane candles did, and so never took advantage of them, making the demo harder than it needed to be. So yes, big surprise, you learn a lot from watching people play in person! I have developed a design instinct from being a gamer for 30+ years, but clearly, I still have much to learn. Cons usually are not great profit wise (i.e. you will leave at a loss). However, they are good for networking, and also, as I have learned, receiving solid feedback even if players do not say a word. This is a lesson I will take on board for future projects. Thanks to Clea, and to all of you, I have once again evolved as a game creator. Also, we are all friends here, so I am cool with telling youaround 10% of total players have refunded Clea. This is a fairly poor percentage. Quite a few stated "too difficult" as the reason for their refunds. Again, I hope this tutorial room will help out some. I love learning through death (Resident Evil 1 style), but I am also open to adapting to what players want. Oh, and also! You know how Clea's running footsteps were super loud? Please let me explain. Previously, with each running step Clea made, a single heartbeat thud also played. I wanted to inform players that hey, when you run, you will alert the enemies and put yourself at risk. This, however, clearly did not communicate that message enough. The tutorial room is in now, anyway, so I have removed the heartbeat thud. Hopefully Clea's run feature will now be much more to your liking! And guess what? This is not even the last update. Several players have mentioned they wish the game explored some of characters/lore a bit more. They make a great point. I am still learning to produce that perfect blend of story and gameplay. In the meantime, I plan to release an update that will add 2 more lore books into the campaign. The translations will all have to come in first, so it may take a little time, but I will make sure this happens. Beyond that, even bigger news to come, but a bit early to talk about those for now. Thank you for your support, everyone sasa!

Hello there. Launch week has ended, and I want to thank every single one of you for supporting Clea. A heartfelt thanks, in fact, because things have not been great over the past 2-3 years. In the span of one week, Clea has shipped more copies than some of my previous visual novels combined. While I am of course thrilled, I also hope this gives a glimpse into my recent struggles. Behind the scenes, there has been all kinds of rejections, loss of money, all the negative stuff. Honestly, during the final months of development, I would often be consumed by frustration, unable to sleep in the dead middle of the night. As you can imagine, I played through Clea countless times during development. In the final weeks? Many, many more runs. By the time I hit publish, I had lost all sense of perspective. Honestly, even if Clea had bombed, I would have moved straight onto the next project. I cannot imagine myself ever not making games, but if this failure kept up, in a few years, I may not have much of a choice. Clouded by worry, I hit the publish button. Hopefully this gives a peek into how overwhelmed I felt by all of your support. From the pits back to a glimpse of hope over the span of this launch week. I cannot thank you enough. This may sound strange, but to every person who has cleared the campaign, I feel like I had a nice conversation with them. I often feel this way when I enjoy other creators' game, too. Though Clea can be unforgiving, I am thankful everyone has embraced this challenge. I am especially happy to find Steam users using Clea as their account avatars! Best of all, this is not the end of Clea. There will be another update on the way (hopefully this weekend), because you know what? Just because launch week went well does not mean the game cannot be improved. Let me see what I can do. After that, there will be more news to come. Let's all keep in touch! Thank you, InvertMouse P.S. Do I regret not moving to traditional games sooner? The thought of The Last Birdling not existing hurts my heart, so I despite my struggles financially, I cannot bring myself to accept that.

Hi everyone yoyo! A new version of the costume mod template is up. Clea's shoes, eyes, bow etc now have their outlines and colors split into separate layers. I hope this will make the modding process easier than ever. Here is the mods article again: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1789431541 Thank you to for encouraging me to improve the template! By the way, did you know on the game over screen, if you rapidly switch between panels, the game will lock up? What? You want to try it out? Well, too bad, because I uploaded a fix just now sasalewd. Thank you for finding this bug! Honestly, I may have never discovered it on my own. Best of all, this is not even the end. There will be more improvements coming up within the next few days. Hope you can look forward to them! Thanks everyone whappy.

Hi everyone bibi! I cannot thank you all enough for the support you have shown throughout launch week. Once the launch period ends, I will write up something a bit more formal. In the meantime, a new build just went up, and I would like to share with you what has been changed: 1) Fixed bug where on some systems, a certain enemy moves much faster than intended (thank you Jam!). 2) Added save points near side quest doors to alleviate frustration (thank you YandereDev!). 3) Fixed bug where the save menu can cause a game block under specific circumstances (thanks Lost Hypnotik and Ophys!). That is not all, either. I showcased Clea at a convention last week, and when I got to see tons of people try out the demo face to face, I learned so much from their reactions. Quite a few people skimmed past the controls screen, and as a result, did not know about some of the mechanics required to conquer the trial chapter. Later in the week, I plan to add a couple of extra doors in the first area that will take you to more of a friendly mechanics tutorial. Experienced players can simply ignore these doors and proceed right on ahead. On top of all that, I may have more exciting Clea related news planned in the near future! I hope you can join our community and keep an eye out on this space. Thank you everyone! Mouse out yoyo.

Hi everyone sasa. Clea has just been released on Steam! No pre-scripted scaresyour skills alone determine Clea's fate as she escapes from the Whitlock Mansion. https://store.steampowered.com/app/981020/Clea/ With multiple endings, secret chapters, as well as unlockable costumes and gallery images, I hope you will enjoy your time with Clea. Perhaps you might challenge and conquer Chaos Mode, which unlocks after your first run neonya?
Please remember to pick up that launch week costume via the in-game menu, by the way! Feel free to check out the demo version, which contains 1 of the 2 bonus dresses vintydelusional. Thank you so much for your support yoyo.

Hi everyone yoyo. We are only a few days away from Clea's release! In case you missed the smaller updates throughout this costume-themed week, I would love to give you an overview. First, it is possible to create costume mods for Clea to wear! You can find out how here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1789431541 By the way, see the above color alts? This "Princesses Pack" is available to everyone in our newsletter subs family. You can sign up here: https://invertmouse.com As thanks for your years of support, I have also put together an InvertMouse Pack, featuring characters from our past titles:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1792024943 Please keep an eye out on the guides section in general, because there may be more mods to come, whether from me or other players! Last up, Clea will be playable at the anime convention Smash! next weekend. To celebrate, here is a mod of Skadi, the mascot of this con:
This mod will be accessible via the in-game menu during launch week. Here is the con's website: https://smash.org.au By the way, check out this beautiful render of Skadi by artist Raeyxia!
Thank you so much for being here throughout this journey! Hope to have your support next week, and please tell all your friends etc. The usual good stuff whappy.

Happy weekend, everyone lulululu. Less than 2 weeks to go until Clea's release! Today, I would love to share with you the freshly released trailer: https://youtu.be/Ck-1GAEUpRk Some of you may remember that prototype from earlier in the year. Well, now the final, official demo is available! The Windows, Mac and Linux versions can all be downloaded from Clea's webpage: https://invertmouse.com/clea There are more steps involved in a demo release on Steam now, hence the delay. Sorry for the inconvenience vintywhy.
If you enjoyed the demo, I hope you can consider wishlisting Clea. This truly is the best way to help the project: https://store.steampowered.com/app/981020/Clea/ By the way, both the demo and full version contain a hidden feature, which I will dive into next week whappy.
To finish up, I would like to invite you to join our friendly newsletter community. I offer regular rewards there, in fact. Here is the sign up form: https://invertmouse.com See you soon yoyo!

Happy weekend everyone bibi! Clea will be out in a few weeks, and I want to thank you for following our journey thus far. Full voices are now in, and today, I would like to share with you Cleas opening scene! https://youtu.be/mOJZnx_cxjg Here is the cast list: Clea Xanthe Huynh Edmond Anairis Quinones Florine, Mum Aimee Smith Dad Miguel Moran Maids Angela Tran As usual, please consider wishlisting Clea on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/981020/Clea/ The final, official demo will drop next weekend! There will be smaller updates throughout the coming weeks. If you are interested, please join our community over on Facebook: https://facebook.com/invertmouse Or follow me on Twitter @InvertMouse. We do postcard giveaways monthly on those channels. There is also our newsletter, where we give out artbook and soundtrack previews as an introduction. You can sign up here: https://invertmouse.com Thank you, friends yoyo!

Hey there friends yoyo. Do you notice something different about Clea in the shot above? Yes, this is one of the unlockable dresses hinted at earlier! The above costume can be obtained after you have seen the game's best ending. To avoid spoilers, this is the only dress I will show today. Here are some more sketches, though:
I am also happy to say players can create their own costumes for use in the game. As we approach the release date, I will make sure to post some more info. As usual, it would be a huge help if you could spread the word, and also consider wishlisting the game. Thank you!

Hi everyone! Boy, the months seem to just fly on by. Hope you have all been doing well bibi. Last weekend, I added some placeholder test voice clips to Cleas opening scene. Just one listen and I knew okay, I have to do this. Voices will lift the game to another tier, giving you the best experience possible. How long has it been? Not since Unhack back in 2012. I look forward to offering you another fully voiced campaign!
However, to achieve this, I will unfortunately have to push the release day back. For transparency, this is not the only reason for the delay. I have some translation related concerns, which I am seeking help to address. Also, I am waiting for some final art/animation assets, and I need time to test them thoroughly. For now, I will extend the release date to July 9th. Since I have a con to attend right after launch, this would very much be to my benefit. That said, I have one more potentially exciting news, and that too may impact our release date. For now, I promise to give you my best. Thank you so much for your understanding! I will have more voice acting related announcements soon. This is going to be good vintydelusional.

Hello again everyone yoyo. I want to write a post today to introduce you to the ranks system in Clea. When you finish the campaign, you will receive a rank based on your completion time. Why did I add this feature? Pretty much the same reason as the medals system discussed earlier. I love Resident Evil, so if that series is willing to have game-like elements (and not be overly serious, though that too is a valid approach), I also should be humble enough to do the same. My only worry is, a system like this can damper your initial experience. It happens to me in many other games. I would finish a campaign, think I totally killed it, then see a rank C or D slapped at the end. Naturally, you would be slow on your first play through. Oh, well. I have faith gamers will understand. Oh, and just like with Chaos mode, if you achieve an S rank, you will receive a bonus costume for your efforts. Please enjoy the game your first time through, then aim for S rank and show off that new dress to all your friends! Thank you everyone. P.S. I will share my average chapter completion times within the game. Lets see how we measure up vintywhy!

Morning friends bibi! I would like to introduce something to you todayChaos mode.
Players must complete the campaign once before this mode is unlocked. How hard is it? Well, lets get more specific.

On Chaos mode, the Chaos Servants are fast. In addition, they barely ever pause to rest, plus their hearing is extremely sensitive. Make one noise, and these guys will beeline for you. Stand still for too long? Game over. Keep moving and you might just stand a ghost of a chance. By the way, on Chaos (and hard mode), each save will cost you a mana candle. No candle, no save. Better spend those resources wisely. Now, what do you get for tormenting yourself through this nightmare? While this is all subject to change, there are 3 potential rewards: 1. An achievement (of course) 2. A bonus costume to show the world you have conquered the darkest of all evils 3. A certificate (in the gallery section) with your completion date, and also a unique number (e.g. 3 if you are the third ever person to defeat Chaos mode) As always, I hope you can consider wishlisting Clea on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/981020/Clea/ Will you have what it takes to beat Chaos mode? Hope to see you on the other side yoyo!

Happy upcoming weekend everyone bibi! Today, I would like to give you a glimpse of Cleas gallery feature:

Just like how things were back in my visual novel days, except this time, players will have to earn these rewards. See, I used to think if your game has a serious setting, any game-like element will take players out of the experience. Achievements, bonuses etc. But then I played Resident Evil Revelations 2, and that game has extra challenges players can complete. If a series I admire can acknowledge it is "still a game", who am I to act like I am too cool to do the same? And so, the key chapters of Clea will contain optional objectives for players to take on. Succeed, and the rewards will be yours.
It will not be easy, though, because these medals are only available on hard mode or above. Will you have the skills and fortitude needed to 100% this game? Clea is counting on you. As usual, I would deeply appreciate it if you could consider wishlisting Clea on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/981020/Clea/ Thank you so much! Talk to you again real soon.

Ten years ago, I received a digital media degree from university. Truth be told, a lot of those lessons turned out to be irrelevant, but there is one concept I have remembered to this daymulti-layered audio. Since Clea, my latest project, is an audio-focused game, I can at last put this knowledge to good use. In Clea, players must listen to audio cues in order to evade the Chaos Servants. At the same time, enemies will listen out for sounds you make. If we blare on top, all of those clues will become diluted. This is why Clea instead focuses on ambience. Here is a breakdown of Cleas multi-layered tracks system. Each area in the game may feature one or more tracks. For instance, the top of the clock tower consists of:
While the floor below contains:
Then on that same floor, we have a bathroom:
When we change to another area, the game determines which tracks need to continue, cross fade, or fade out altogether:

Nowadays, when I am out and about, I almost always have music or podcast on. Now that I have implemented this audio system, I would like to pull off those headphones once in a while and learn to appreciate the sounds around me. Every new space is an opportunity to learn. Thank you yoyo!

Sydney friends bibi! I will showcase a teaser version of Clea (with updated graphics and animations) at Play Fare next Saturday:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2500963829915681/ Clea will be available between 4 - 7pm, but I will show up early to check out everyone's games.
Please let me know if you decide to attend! Thanks yoyo,

(This article contains minor Resident Evil 2 spoilers) Damn, how scary is Mr X in the Resident Evil 2 remake vintydread? Scary enough to make me quit a session early, I must confess. Nonetheless, after overcoming my fears, I started to take notes. Since I am working on Clea, the lessons will no doubt be relevant. Note: I will refrain from sharing screenshots of Mr X, since I may not have permission to do so. 1. Audio: Mr Xs footsteps truly put me on edge. Impressively, his footfalls sound different depending on whether he and you are in the same room. When he is in another area, his steps contain more of an echo. Great not only for realism, but also for gameplay. I have long struggled with this in Clea. If the footsteps sound too soft, players may mistakenly think the Chaos Servant (Cleas hunter) is a safe distance away. Make the footfalls too loud, and players may hide in closets, not daring to move even though the foe is nowhere near. Thank you, Mr X. I too will implement different footstep types into Clea.
Players can use sound to predict the Chaos Servant's location. 2. Clarity: In some rooms, Leons footsteps (or Claires I assume) sound similar to Mr Xs. Thanks to this, I would freeze at times because of my own footsteps. Adds to the terror, though strategy wise, it caused me some confusion. One YouTuber said the Chaos Servant has wet feet. Indeed, that decision was intentional. Clea has relatively normal footsteps, so there is no chance for any mix ups.
The Chaos Servant's footfalls are distinct, so there is no need for any stoppage in the action. 3. Doors: As far as I can tell, Mr X never reacts to doors opening/closing (could be wrong). Alien Isolation was the same way from memory. Somehow, as a gamer, this instinctively makes sense. If these villains reacted to every drop of noise, they would turn into irritants more than terrors. Initially, I had experimented with Chaos Servants who reacted to the creaks of doors. As expected, this resulted in too much stoppage in the action, and the idea was soon scrapped. I am happy to see Resident Evil, a series I admire, appears to agree.
Feel free to open/close doors even if the Chaos Servant is nearby (subject to change). 4. Fairness: There may be scripted bits when Mr X will pinpoint your location, but when he plays fair, it is such a thrill. One time, I entered the library, and based on his footsteps, I knew he was in the same room. I peeked through the bookshelves, and there Mr X was, climbing a ladder as he patrolled the mansion to hunt me down. At least for one moment, I felt like I had out smarted him. These emergent moments are worthy of praise.
The Chaos Servant always plays fair. 5. Breathers: In a game of hide and seek, moments of safety must be provided to players. Otherwise, they will never be able to make progress. Here is a quick tip for Clea. When the Chaos Servant is in the same room but fails to locate you, he will often venture farther away so you have time to explore. Treat it as a form of reward or bonus.
After a chase like this, give players a chance to breathe. One time, Mr X had spotted me and was on the hunt. I managed to lose his line of sight by hiding in a room. Once the tense music faded, I peeked out the door and watched as Mr X wandered nice and far away, affording me down time in the same way the Chaos Servant would. Just imagine the smile I had on my face. Then I made too much noise, and Mr X spun right back around to clobber me vintywhy. Seriously, though. Loving the hell out of Resident Evil 2, and I look forward to Claires route next. Clea has been progressing daily, too. Thank you for your support so far yoyo!

Hi everyone, Happy Lunar New Year tomorrow bibi! As you can see above, our artist, Karousel, has updated the character sprites featured in the prototype! In addition, Clea now has an idle animation:
Plus some more news: - Language support implemented. Hoping to feature several languages for the upcoming official demo. - Possible costume changes for Clea (to be confirmed). Thank you vintysmile!

Hi everyone bibi! As you may have noticed, some of the artworks on Clea's Steam page have changed. Yes, this means we have found an artist for this project, and guess what? She is Karousel-k, the illustrator from Without Within! This whole time, I had been on the search for someone new, since I had assumed Clea's art style differed too much from previous projects to be a good match. Turned out artists like Karo are extremely versatile. This is the lesson I have learned.
The art assets are now being replaced piece by piece. Our next release will be an official demo, hopefully with multiple languages supported. Alongside that, we will have new screenshots, as well as a trailer. Please look forward to them! Production wise, as mentioned in an earlier post, I have taken full advantage of the Christmas break. I am around 50% complete with the core game. After that, there will be bonus side stories, plus other unlockables will be announced as development continues. Thank you to those who have added Clea to their wishlists! If you have not done so yet, hopefully you will consider it. I truly appreciate your support yoyo. Thank you!

Happy new year everyone sasa! The Christmas break has ended, and development wise, I have taken full advantage. Please keep an eye out for upcoming news. To kick 2019 off, I am on the search for a character artist to join our development team. The tasks are: 1) Redraw current artworks. 2) Complete illustrations for the rest of the game. Style wise, something like this would be perfect. The artist is not available for work, but I have kindly been given permission to link to that piece as a reference. Please feel free to leave comments, and I will do my best to keep on top of things. If you are keen, please send an email (with your portfolio) to: contact(at)invertmouse(dot)com If you know anyone else who may be interested, I hope you can pass this along. Thank you so much! P.S. The special thanks campaign has ended. Thank you to everyone who submitted feedback bibi!

Hello everyone bibi. The holidays are almost here! I hope to put in tons of work on Clea during this period, and plenty of play as well, of course. Clea has been revised further since the first batch. Here is a list of changes:

• Alternate keyboard controls (arrow keys rather than WASD focused).
• Chaos Servant now spawns from the second area onward, so players now have time to study the controls.
• Color changes to some items for clarity.
• Added labels on some doors to avoid confusion.
• More UI revisions for different resolutions.
• Added special thanks section in credits.

Hi everyone. A week has passed since Clea's prototype release, and I have received a lot of helpful feedback! New versions of the game have been uploaded here: http://clea.invertmouse.com Here are the bugs I have fixed:

• It is possible for the Chaos Servant to get stuck on the first floor, and if you use an arcane candle on him.
• Text overflow issues on lower resolutions.
• Keys cannot be used to open doors if another item is in the way.
• No shadow on the Chaos Servant.
• Game over screen can be skipped by spamming confirm.

• Add fire escape areas so players can tell they are traversing between different floors.
• Perform animation tweaks.
• Adjust combinable item colors to avoid confusion.
• Give the player time to explore the controls before spawning a Chaos Servant.
• Add tips upon death to help players improve their next run.
• Offer different key types, or complete rebinds.

As promised, Cleas prototype is now live! http://clea.invertmouse.com Please remember for a limited time, players who submit feedback will have a chance to be credited under special thanks. Details can be found here: https://steamcommunity.com/games/981020/announcements/detail/1708449632692798961 A few YouTubers and streamers have asked whether they are allowed to record this prototype. Not only is the answer yes, I would very much appreciate it. In fact, please get in touch with me, because I want to know you better one on one. To Linux users, unfortunately, I have encountered some last second issues with my build for this platform, so I will need to address them. If you are affected by this, please let me know. Though the Linux userbase is admittedly small, I would like to do what I can. Thank you so much yoyo!

Hi everyone. So glad to have you in the community for this first post vintysmile. The prototype of Clea is almost ready! Please check out this page for some early info: http://clea.invertmouse.com The prototype will be released on December 1st, 2018. Until December 31st, 2018, if you submit feedback, you can have your name listed in the credits under special thanks. To become eligible, please read through the following: 1. Once you have played through the prototype, please submit your feedback to contact(at)invertmouse(dot)com. 2. Please submit a reasonable amount of feedback, rather than just "good game thanks for the shoutout". Suggestions, bug reportsall thoughts are welcome. 3. Include your preferred name (or alias) in the email subject. For instance, "Clea feedback (InvertMouse)". For your privacy, those who do not include a preferred name will not be listed. Several other points to be aware of: i. Trolls will be ignored, of course. ii. Unfortunately, there is always a chance your email may end up in spam, or simply be lost for one reason or another. I will keep a closer eye on my junk folder during this period, but I apologize to those who miss out due to this reason. iii. If there is a large number of submissions (let's say thousands upon thousands), I may also opt to cut off the special thanks period early. Otherwise, I will have no time to develop this game, which is a detriment to us all. I hope we can focus on Clea as the priority, while this special thanks offer serves as a bonus. With this mindset, hopefully there is no disappointment to be had. Last, please note it will be impossible to act on everyone's response. Still, your comment may trigger subtle ideas in a future title, so every word is precious. Thank you! Hope to hear from you real soon. P.S. Thank you to those who have already wishlisted this game and joined the community group! Please look forward to more news as I develop beyond this prototype yoyo.