Hello, how is everyone doing? Oh? ...Oh. Huh. I see, sorry to hear that. I guess I can only hope things get better for you from there. So anyway, where was I?... Oh yeah. So, I just wanted to write a quick follow-up to the previous public production update, because I have quickly found some things out for myself thats quite ridiculous enough for me that its impossible to ignore, so, here it goes:
Funny name for this section, right? So, remember how I mentioned Ive been having problems with the Linux version of the Unity Engine Editor? So, turns out all this time the constant crashes I faced happened because Unity is allergic to any Linux distro that isnt explicitly Ubuntu or any of its spins. I mean, I know that Ubuntu was listed as a requirement, but god damn, really dawg?! What if I dont like using Ubuntu? What repositories are you even using that Fedora, Pop!_OS and other distros are missing?!? LOL how do you fumble it up so hard i dont understand
Also, not even three weeks later after I posted the public update, I get this message from Unity in my email inbox.
lol lmao even
Right, so let me say what I make of this. Honestly, good on Unity for disposing of the thing that made a lot of game developers like myself leave their engine en masse, but I am still not gonna use it as my solely primary game engine, or at least while I dont find using it extremely necessary. I am still gonna toy around with Construct trying to make something while I am taking a break from Stramedia, all while also sorting out plans for its development, so I get a clearer concrete direction of what I want of it and how I am gonna handle it. I can definitely say that I will still use both Construct and Unity, though I am not gonna mark either as a primary engine of choice - it will depend on what kind of stuff I would like to make. Plus, variety is always nice. But what I cant exactly say if Stramedia will still be developed using Unity. I guess it will now depend on either of the several - hypothetical - factors: 1 I would do it if I would like to do things that arent possible within Constructs technical limits; 2 I wont be able to figure out a fix crucial to the games functionality; 3 I can figure out a proper configuration and workflow to playtest the game while ensuring the compiled builds dont stink, both technically and visually, AND the playtesting window isnt all stuttery; 4 Having to pull The Escapists when it will come to develop console versions of Stramedia, but it will depend if Ill be able to afford being able to pull something off like that. (to understand the reference: the original PC version of The Escapists was developed in Clickteam Fusion, meanwhile the console and mobile ports were co-developed using Unity.) 5&6 Mostly what Ill decide based on player feedback or actually feel like using Unity again, granted, which wont be very often. As a bonus to factors numbered 3-6, if I would want to develop console versions of the game and compile Windows builds translated to C++ while developing in Unity, and I have jumped over to Linux as my primary operating system, I would have to install Windows on a separate hard drive, because the tools necessary for C++ Windows builds are... well... locked within Windows. And I also would want to be able to easily remove said hard drive if I decide that I am done with Windows shenanigans. So, it will take some time before I make a big final decision. So, until then, heres a header image shaped hyperlink leading you to other places where you can be notified of smaller news. If you wish to continue watching this space, that's fine, too.
See ya' eventually!

Hey all, I am just gonna give you a heads up that this production update is gonna get more into the rant type territory, and it might get somewhat heavy for some readers, as this entry will discuss a bit briefly of whats been going on in my personal life. And while I usually dont like getting SUPER PERSONAL, even if Im doing it quickly and frantically reader discretion is advised. But first, let me begin with what I have been wanting to say for a while.
Stating this right away: I am not scrapping Stramedia: Injury Plateau. I am not some dude whod get the game page up on Steam only to cancel it a whopping year later. ...Its been much longer than that. LMAO. Okay, but lets be serious though. I am not gonna over-exaggerate the technical situation Im facing, but I am still gonna say it just the way it really is. So, long story short, starting this September, I will be migrating back to Construct 3. Ive had more luck with it throughout the games development, it has gotten a bit more features I can see myself utilizing in the game, and not to mention, if I were to give any more money, its to a small group of British fellas who know what theyre doing and providing something thats actually stable than paying off whatever runtime fee Unity is still having for versions 2023.X, Unity 6 and from these points onwards. And I am yet to reference certain unnecessary bloat feats Unity is focusing on instead of... you know, something more stable, as of late. Do note that this will revert the visual direction from 2.5D/semi-3D visuals back to full 2D, but at this point, Id rather focus on finishing the game by keeping it simple. I could have gone for Godot, but I am thinking of saving it for another game project. I do have the C3 project file of Stramedia from 2021-2022 I can redo its code into something cleaner and more useable, so the re-transition will be quicker. Plus, this will mean that Ill have no reason to attempt to dual boot back into Windows on my Linux-transitioning journey I have going on on the side, because... While Im sure everyone knows what Microsoft has been doing, so that aside, after all the multiple en mass layoffs at Unity, I honestly doubt there are any Linux programmers left to maintain the Linux versions of the Unity Editor, cos I keep facing crashes when 1)I try to change the game resolution on the Game window during Play mode, 2)I try to change it AFTER Play mode, 3)I open the specific file/object inspector menu for the variable I wanna change, 4)Sometimes it crashes when I finish opening the game project, 5)Even when the engine is only halfway through opening the game project. 6)Bonus: Its so not well maintained, that it even crashes on Wayland (with X11 backwards compatibility enabled) after the project is open. Ive done all I could do to try fix it all, I followed the installation guide too, and I even ran it on the GNOME Desktop Environment that was recommended [strike](even though I am more of a KDE Plasma freak, cos GNOME DE is not for me, but I am not yucking your yum here)[/strike], but sadly, at least on my end, I couldnt get Unity to work properly. Before you try suggesting anything for me to try, allow me to leave a note that I also did some of the following: [olist]

as well as considering reinstalling Windows on a different disk drive for dualbooting, which isnt ideal with all the considerable recent shenanigans Microsoft has been up to for a while; [/olist] Besides, after awhile, the project got locked up by some stupid artifact file. Deleting it would not let the loading process make any progress at all, and it just gets stuck there. So, currently, the Unity iteration of the game is in a SOL state. And I can only blame Unity Technologies for that, as well as Microsoft for so many reasons. [hr][/hr] Side-note: This whole section is just purely for me to talk about MY experience with that stuff, if not, then its for transparency sake, and again I am not gonna tell you to switch to something else if you find your current OS or program tolerable enough to use for what you normally use it for, or at least have some reasons to stick to it. If your current OS or program works for you, then thats great! More power and patience to you! Literally to each their own! :P Personally, I have honestly been having a good time using Linux, as outside of game development and gaming (for gaming, I have a Steam Deck for that, hurhurhur), I only really use my PC to surf the web, draw stuff - as well as risqu and questionable stuff, especially for my Patreon -, and it does a pretty good job at all of that stuff with a bonus courtesy of Microsoft staying out of my private space and me being able to continue doing my stuff while my system updates in the background (which is pretty cool that I dont have to stare at the updating screen for hours when I instead could have used those hours to watch Despicable Me 4 or something).
I also hire-for-purchased a laptop and installed Fedora Linux ontop of it for quicker day-job office work, as well as drafting up other stuff like this updates draft purely out of boredom, cos the office equipment here has slower specs, and to top it all off they run Windows 10 maximum, one of them has one of those optimizer bloatware programs running that ironically slows the system down even more as well as slowing down the boot up process. In short: nearly unusable office tech has driven me crazy enough to start paying bimonthly debts for the next six months from now on to own a more powerful laptop. And keep Linux on that. Speaking of my day-job...
I had a pretty good discussion about it with my boss, and we even took notes of some stuff that we will be resolving, so I am able to actually do something at work, all while having even more time to work on the game, as well as other stuff on the side. Because, I will be honest? While I am okay with how much it pays me, I have been feeling like I dont really deserve to have a salary of a category-VI crane rigger for often being on standby mode throughout my shifts, as my partner described it once. And I usually perform office related assignments, sometimes deliver documents from one building to another. I often get exhausted in anticipation for a task that ends up not being assigned to me for one reason or another, and at times it even makes my work schedule completely inconsistent. And the fact that I still have to go home by train then by foot from work is not helping in the slightest, cos by the time I would return home and I have been meaning to work on the game and other stuff? I often find myself deciding Id rather lie down on the couch, mindlessly browse YouTube until I decide to fall asleep at 7 PM and wake up at 2:30 AM. And that is not good in the slightest! Not just for the game, also not just for my day-job, but just in general. So, after discussing all that with my boss, him and I will be trying out a different workflow for me that will hopefully solve the scheduling problem, as well as helping me feel less like dead weight, and being able to work more on my stuff after doing actual important stuff that my boss usually would need to do, while its been taking him away from even more important stuff. So, really, were gonna be helping each other out. By the time this update is published, I may be already trying this out or finally have taken that workflow route, but either way, I feel like this is gonna be a step in the right direction.
[quote]This specific section mentions the following: near-death experiences, varying kinds of abuse, pet death, notes that may or may not be implying potential intentions of self-harm. If you wish to skip it due to aforementioned contents, I am giving you an opportunity to unroll it, because I understand.[/quote] [expand type=details expanded=true] Overall, Ive still been struggling to mentally recover after my sudden return back in February, and as if that wasnt bad enough already, my family and I faced some other problems that were equally mentally taxing. The past 12 months overall have been but a stressful shitstorm. Imagine this: you get a job, you also get the analysis results that youre eligible for mandatory [REDACTED] that puts you in a mental breakdown, you also need to retake a few tests cos some results somehow become outdated in less than a month, get food poisoned that you also vomit blood and you need to be immediately rushed into ER, and despite the poorer health condition you get conscripted into [REDACTED], all the medicine prescripted to you get confiscated from you on the spot for weeks, and you lose your personal space, endure verbal and mental abuse, threats of violence and sexual abuse (which is one of the last things youd want to go through, especially after recently, at the age of 21, finally cutting contact with someone that same year whos been grooming you for over five years since you were 13 years old), including death threats over not meeting some perfection standards, wind up in the infirmary from being forced into doing things during the bad weather that you know is hazardous to your health that there is a huge disregard of, try to survive your time in said (freezing) infirmary (with molding windows) in anticipation of being hospitalized due to suspected Adjustment Disorder, which turns out to be a confirmed diagnosis and youre immediately transferred back home with a lower health category, but youre still traumatized. You werent compensated for all the moral damage you received, either, but honestly, you would still tell them to shove their apology money up their filthy asses. But no, it doesnt stop there: you try to return to your job only to soon be surprised to learn that if you dont transfer to another workspace youll get laid off, cos you werent informed earlier that you were taking someone elses position this whole time while they were on maternal leave, which also makes you feel like an asshole for taking that spot in the first place! And after a rough transition with issues caused by people not giving proper directions for what to do and where to go next, your new employers sometimes have no idea what to do with you, because they werent expecting you, they had no available vacancies for you at the time either, but they had to accept you in anyway because the leadership from other departments told them to, just keeping you listed in a different place for the time being. Then your pet is put down, since his lymph cancer was discovered way too late - it potentially was progressing aggressively fast as well - and the cat was already in so much pain and there was nothing else anyone could do to help the poor animal at that point, and then one of your older family members in another city had a health scare... but right now theyre doing fine and the medics didnt find any signs of it being a heart infarction, and while two of the family members you live with are visiting them while one of them is given full vacation days, theyve been discussing setting up a surveillance system so if the older family member is to have another health scare, a more swift action could be taken... Thats how my past 12 months have been. I really wish I was fine, but I am not. Im not fine. I cant even work on the project to take my mind off of those events, because to be honest, I really need a fucking break, and I am still yet to earn my vacation days. I would honestly rather just lie down in bed and sleep through the rest of the year listening to Jack Staubers music on loop and do nothing else. But as much as I would want that, I still find myself doing some activities to ease my mind a little, even going outside when I have free time, exercising every once in a bit, so I dont end up doing something extremely drastic to myself. And maybe I should take my mind off from working on Stramedia for a long time, and maybe work on something more lighthearted on the side until I feel like I am back in the right state of mind. Perhaps I could also end up releasing something made in Construct 3 while I re-learn how to use it again before moving onto something else like Godot? Who knows, really? If I end up doing any of that, Ill be sure to update you all on that, assuming you are still watching this space. Because while I wish I was joking, these series of events have been seriously impairing this games development flow that much on a personal level, all the technical bullshit addressed earlier aside. And I really need to find a healthy way to cope and recover from... just about everything, really! [/expand] [quote]In brief summary: It's gonna take a very long time to recover from what I've endured, and more recent events certainly haven't been helping in the slightest. But I still find things to distract myself from specific thoughts.[/quote]
So, for now, I am just in the state of working and figuring things out, and probably will still continue doing so for the foreseeable future. And that also applies to the way I wanna make the game, cos I am still getting more ideas, realizing that some of the present ones, including certain key promises, to be something I really dont feel like fits the game anymore, that I might as well save them for another one. The games already been in development for so long, I really should sort all things out and finally get the game out, as well as flipping feature creep off, cos... thats a whole other can of worms to discuss, but if I were to start talking about that now, Id be stuck here for all eternity, keeping this update log in the drafts indefinitely. Now, because of me finally changing some things up, I can definitely see myself finally starting getting productive again with better tools on a newer OS environment (outside of drawing stuff that no one under the age of 18 should be seeing), so I can definitely have something more to share with all of you! Not just secret devlogs for those eager to chip in a few bucks per month, but I am also talking about finally having something PLAYABLE for those eager to be chipping a few bucks per month, because frankly, its about time I finally did something like this, and I dont know why it has been taking me that long to do that, but... soon enough that wont be a problem anymore! Maybe at some point Ill even have something good to share to the public! Who knows! (And I should also renovate my Patreon page in some areas and work on offering better tiers depending on where people are coming from and what specifically are they looking for, whenever its the simple stuff, higher quality pics of more risque contents that should not be viewed by the kiddos that should be STAYING IN SCHOOL INSTEAD, secret production updates, or a bit of... everything, I guess?) But yeah, when I do sort all that out, youll learn of that exactly right... here! Exactly where youre reading this production update!
So, yeah! Despite all the doom and gloom Ive been through, I feel like things are starting to look up much brighter now! As always, I want to give you my genuine thanks for following me along on this bizarre journey and especially bigger thanks to some good folks dropping by to support me on Patreon (at patreon.com/polyvishap ~ WARNING: FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE CAPABLE OF BEING FINANCIALLY RESPONSIBLE AND AGED 18+ ONLY due to mixed contents), And this train aint stopping any time soon, so, You will be hearing from me again! Take good care of yourselves! [hr][/hr]

Hi. My sincerest of apologies for constant radio silences - real life stuff have been taking a serious toll on me, that I don't really have the energy to be doing anything related to this game after returning home from my job. And I still feel like I've already been taking quite some time working on the project, I have learned three game engines throughout it's development, survived some extreme hazards and found a partner of my life. So... I am gonna be needing this kind of help for now: Answer the survey I've compiled, it will be open for some time - https://forms.gle/io5tUHnSMivrGr6a8 - so I would be able to set my priorities straight. Looking forward to your responses. If this post is deleted by yours truly, it means I am no longer taking any more answers. Take care now!

Hi. Am I starting to write these articles a bit too often now? It's been a month now since I dropped the previous update on how shit's going back on track after 3 months of a "hiatus". If so - I sincerely apologize for that. No, seriously, I really do. But still, I do gotta address some stuff that's been going on, so, let's begin with what's clearly sticking out right now. [hr][/hr]

It's more than just a "misadventure". Welcome to Injury Plateau.

• It didn't quite roll off the tongue anymore, or at least in my personal opinion. That besides the point of a question whenever an underscore character is supposed to be read or not.
• People browse with screen readers enabled, and the software might be struggling to read stylized texts, which is something that normally do not wanna encounter. (At some point, I curiously looked up my own game in one place, the title didn't really match how it's officially written out and after beefing with the mods on that place, I realized that the guideline set for game titles and their 'stylized' variant exists for that sole purpose, and I felt bad and stupid for it, and basically this is my formal apology to that game database place, so, yeah... that got kind of embarrassing, but it's an L on my side I'll proudly carry badged on my backpack for everyone to see.)

Kickstarter Demo in Production

Seriously? A Patreon & Boosty???

TL;DR Conclusion

A year of hiatus, huh? Well, that was quick. Scarily quick. Is there even a point to recap what was going on for the past 3 months? It's been hell. 16 weeks of literal hell. I am lucky to be even back out here, it does not feel real. But it is real. Why? Why does this not feel real? WHY DOES THIS NOT FEEL REAL? wait, this thing's recording? Oh- sorry. Hi! Sorry for my sudden arrival back! Didn't except to be back so soon myself, but I guess the stars have aligned, haven't they? ...It's a pretty long story that I personally do not want to talk about, cos whenever I do, I am actually starting to suffer from post-traumatic episodes. It's not good. But now that I am at some keyboard, I might as well lay out what I have got planned for 2024! [hr][/hr]
So, I have been traumatised, and I genuinely do not wanna discuss the shit I experienced, so let's start off with something lighthearted. I finally got the Steam Deck. I know, I am fashionably late. It kind of should not be too surprising, but come on. This can mean the following: [olist]

It is the final component that I need for this game's development to continue on, and also the final component I have got to initiate a certain escape plan I can finally elaborate on in this year's first entry! [/olist] Though, I gotta get accustomed to how I am gonna use the Steam Deck as an alternative work station for this project and other things in the future, but so far, I can tell that the Steam Deck is absolutely going to be an excellent way to play the game! And I will be putting lots of work to ensure it can be the best fit for the system (seriously, it doubles down as a regular Linux version testing thingamajig, so I definitely see that as a win-win)! And it's well timed too, cos I ended up getting into some tiny mishap with the legal documents behind the scenes that would allow me to... actually go back and do my things without any more serious interruptions, and I was originally going to be departing to another city where my main workstation is at, so - I definitely got plenty of time to toy around with this thing Valve made!
Previously on Indie DB and Steam, I've mentioned that I was going to make big changes as to how I am going to develop this project, and - while I have decided to stick to the original plans, but also making more and expanding upon them - I still can't quite share many details just yet (most of them, if not all, are pretty secrety stuff!~). But for the sake of transparency, I have been wanting to go about rearranging how Stramedia's architecture is set. I will admit: I really like the current state of the game from the technical standpoint - but the way I have all that set up is kindaaa gross? Or at least it's set up in such a way that it would be pretty inconvenient for me to develop certain cool features I wish to include in the game. So, a grand portion of it is gonna be reworked from scratch again, and I can estimate that whenever I start doing that, it shouldn't take insanely long: I already got plenty of cool stuff I can reuse, but it would be extra dandy if I just set up the way the game is structured, so I can develop and update it more efficiently with little to no nuisances. So, what that extra stuff could be, anyway, you might wonder? A nice game mode system? 2-player co-op? Modding support? It could be about some of it! Hell, if I do restructure the game, I might be able to allow for even more crazier stuff! But of course, there's going to be more stuff getting in the way...
...Yeah. Been a long time coming, hasn't it? I will be starting work on the game's Kickstarter campaign, and it will start as soon as I finish the demo and made sure it's polished enough for presentation! Can't exactly tell when, mainly due to the fact that I really don't wanna jinx myself by starting it at an incredibly terrible time, but whatever the case, I am gonna ask you to keep an eye out on Indie DB, Steam, Game Jolt, Twitter, Mastodon and BlueSky for updates on that. But yeah - I am personally looking forward to this myself, but the reasoning behind that is far from being pleasant. In all honesty, I would have been fine continuing developing this game without having to start a Kickstarter campaign: while it is a hobby project - but more or less, a passion project, too! - I got a job paying decently enough to keep doing what I am doing. But considering where I live right now, as previously addressed on Indie DB as well, it's becoming increasingly more dangerous for me to remain here any longer. So, the Kickstarter is more or less not gonna be just for a game. After all, a game cannot be finished, if it's creator is either detained or dead.

Hey, fellas. Sorry, it's been a while since I last wrote a development update on this game - I've been joggling with multiple stuff behind the scenes, like actually having a well paying job that can support this project's development, and seems like there's gonna be some more personal things I'll have to attend to before I can actually properly focus on making this silly video game of mine! So, long story short - without delving too deep into said personal things -, Stramedia's development will be put on a year-long hiatus until I get those things out of the way and have found a proper schedule that will allow me to work on this project with a fresher mind. ...Though, there is one personal thing I will tell, but it won't be pretty. [hr][/hr]
So, here's an amusing not-so-fun story that has put an end to my KFC addiction. After having one after work, I returned home to consume some of my momma's goods, then hours later I started feeling woozy and began vomiting excessively. Second time I barfed, there was BLOOD in my vomit from the esophagus burned by the 11 Secret Spices (but I didn't find out about that until after I've been let go out of the hospital with the "presumably gastritis" diagnosis), and my mom had to call an ambulance. These 24 hours were not fun, especially having an endoscopic camera tube forced down your throat to inspect the inner damages - all that while being conscious, too. And the funny thing is, I turned out to be the fourth person this month to be sent to the Emergency Room over KFC, one of the other people being the cook at one of the establishments, but good lord. If you really care about your health or don't wanna be forced to choke on a tube two times for ten agonizing minutes, don't rely on KFC as your go-to place. Or actually? Don't rely on fast food places in general. That shit can actually kill you. But right now? I am actually doing alright now, just taking my prescribed meds and finally going on a new diet, and should be even better in about 3-4 weeks now or so. [hr][/hr]

The game development side of things

So, will Stramedia: my_MISADVENTURE have to change engines after this whole Unity thing?

Switching Gears in terms of how this game's being developed

[Tap "Show More" for Alt Description] [expand type=showmore]

Half-Life 3 may not be happening, but what MIGHT happen is the 3rd complete rewrite of Stramedia: my_MISADVENTURE from scratch because of a tantrum of yet another fucking elderly white cishet dumbass.

Greetings, my darlings residing within the noisy city of Valve, Steam City! Sorry it's been a long time since I wrote here, so, I am gonna say that in spite to what's going out IRL, the game's development in Unity has been going surprisingly great! (and aside from that, I've successfully graduated college, now I'm a certified technician-programmer (but more leaning towards being a software engineer), so I am taking this stuff more and more seriously)! So, to those sticking around - that also includes you, the random bypassers <3 - I really want to thank you for still continuing following me on my rather crazy journey to develop this project. I feel like it's been... forever since the game started development, and since some of you have stuck around for so long, I'm thinking of offering you something special. Like, very, VERY VERY VERY special! EXTREMELY SPECIAL, [strike]IT WILL MAKE YOU SQUIRT[/strike]-it will make you push onto a ketchup bottle so hard, it explodes over a big radius inside of your kitchen. ... .........Okay... ... ...You ready? Cool. So, do you like free stuff? Do you like giveaways? Do you like Steam product keys? Boy, then I feel like you may or may not like what I've got in the bag. [hr][/hr]
In my possession are (about up to) 50 genuine steam keys for Stramedia: my_MISADVENTURE. What if I told you that you can get yourself one... ...by subscribing to me on Boosty???
That is exactly right, folks!!! Life has gotten so bad, I am holding 50 Steam keys hostage for ransom!!! Okay, I kid - maybe not entirely for ransom, but since I really would like to develop this game independently in a completely safer environment, I just felt like opening an open pool allowing for folks like you to freely donate or subscribe to me to support a project like Stramedia: my_MISADVENTURE and give a Steam key for it, so one can just wait until the game hits gold and play them right away. I could have absolutely chosen Patreon or Ko-Fi, but considering the given circumstances in my living space (hell, I even dedicated an entire section in one of the previous public lengthy news posts) my options were extremely limited, and neither of these were an option due to PayPal going completely kaput (and Stripe never being available in Russia from the very beginning). Besides, I miss writing bimonthly progress report devlogs, so how could I refuse starting my own personal 'development magazine' containing (even the most minor and even MAJOR) spoilers? Aside from a "one per user" Steam key, depending on a selected subscription tier level, you will also get:

• Your name listed in the game's credits!
• Early access to an occasional drawing I'll end up whipping up!
• Maybe I can make a drawing of you, also!
• Access to some WIP content - and yes, that also includes exclusive devlogs! (would that also include Boosty exclusive demo builds? Hmmm... that's definitely something I should consider.)
• You'll make development streams a possibility, regardless of whenever they're public or not!
• And some stuff I scrap in real time and don't intend to release to the public! (ooo, secrets, yummy yummy in my tummy!!!)
• You'll get to partake in occasional executive decisions via... polls.

Hey! We've almost made it to the end of the first half of 2023! Holy crap! Hi! If you're new here, you may call be Colbeala, or shortly, Cole. I am making this thing called "Stramedia: my_MISADVENTURE", and it's a game, and somehow I am still working on it! Still got it! Unbelievable. I am having a very hard time trying to think of a good sentence to start this blog post off. In fact, this year's been probably the nuttiest so far, in both good and worst ways imaginable. [spoiler]The balding P man is still breathing, sadly, but at least I know where he lives now.[/spoiler] First off, let me start off with something pretty exciting. Since Stramedia's been getting a huge 3D makeover this past year, I have finally overhauled the entire Steam store page of the game so it's finally up to date! And I probably will do it a few more times as the game continues to develop. So now, this game's store page has got: newer screenshots; newer thumbnail art; the cleaner 'About the Game' section, now with the obligatory [strike]distracting[/strike] animated headers that you can barely escape from nowadays with some of the more recent games! Also - also, I ended up whipping up a new teaser video you can watch that may or may not have accidentally originated from the latest "Development Video Chequ Grumbles" entry that shows off the stuff I've been doing over the course of the year! [previewyoutube=XKRErewLiSs;full][/previewyoutube] But now here's another thing I've been wanting to talk about. The alias change. "What the %&(# is a Polyvishap Productions??", I hear nobody asking, "What happened to Retroey Doofery Productions?!?!?!"-- that alias is dead. sorta. Well, I thought it was a necessary change, because - let's be honest for a moment. "Retroey Doofery" is a stupid alias to have. Especially when one may assume if retro-styled stuff is all what I really strictly do, when it really isn't the case in reality. Though I do enjoy mixing things up together and seeing what comes out as a result of said experiments. Plus, I code, draw, (somewhat) animate, make weird music too, I kinda fit the description of what people would refer to as a 'polymath', which explains the 'Poly' part is 'Polyvishap'. (Vishap is just literally Armenian for 'dragon', because I like dragons. and my fursona is a dragon. I know, I live a very exciting life being this "creative". But the person is still me - I didn't go anywhere. Yet. Though, I am in the process of finally graduating college and acquiring that Programmer's Degree! (just a step further away from the meat grinder and closer to doing many things I love! Drawing, babbling like a nerdy idiot, and mostly programming-programming-programming...I might have to find time to figure out a schedule for when I can focus on potential job work and devote the rest of it to my hobbies, including development of Stramedia...) Also, if you're not really picking up on any clues yet, allow me to ram the upcoming highlight home with my to-do list as of May 2023:
So yeah! I am actually sticking with Unity this time around!...if it wasn't clear the first time. (and considering just how much shit I've done and have to do next) What do I think of the engine itself? ...Eh, it's alright! John Riccitiello is still a twat though, but the engine itself? I sorta have gotten used to it. I honestly have found myself preferring C# over anything like C++, which is weird to say, cos before college, I've been more of an HTML, CSS and visual coding type of a person. Now look where I am right now! On my way to get the Programmer's degree! Been having fun figuring out stuff I've always wanted to program into the game, and it's been somewhat fun, now that I've got my brain wrapped around this sort of stuff! So! While I was absent from Steam...

• ...I got gamepad controls to be reconfigurable! They follow the same process as keyboard controls reconfigurations (they are processed through the same script, which already has been hell setting up for the player controller object script, so that takes care of that), and here's the real kicker: the reconfigured gamepad controls are saved separately from each other! Meaning that if you reconfigure controls with the DualShock 4 controller, the rebinds will only apply to the designated DualShock 4 controller action maps and are ignored by Xbox and Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers. However, there are action maps that are shared between any other gamepads that aren't Xbox, PS4/PS5, Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers and otherwise considered by the game's input system as a "Generic type", so do keep that in mind!
• I am not scrapping puzzles, mini-games or anything like that! Puzzle functions are finally in place, so I can... uh... wait, what can I do with these-- OH YEAH, MAKE PUZZLES AND MINI-GAMES. DUH! WHO WOULD HAVE FIGURED!?!? I basically got the main puzzle handler system ready! Though I do feel like I could also implement some kind of a hint system...? I think I will figure that out later. (Also - gameapd cursors for puzzles are in, too).
• Currently improving the combat system and exploring how to work melee weapons in aswell!

Yeah, I think it's been long enough since last time I've made a development related post, as lackluster, short and frantic it was, so I think it's about time I finally do a more proper one to get you folks up to speed as to how this game's development has been going. ...Unless if you're new here, then hi! You may call be Colbeala, or shortly, Cole. I am making this thing called "Stramedia: my_MISADVENTURE", and it's a game, and somehow I am still working on it despite everything that's been happening this year. And what has happened? Well... strap in. It's gonna be a doozy. [hr][/hr]
Before we actually start, I am just gonna put a fair content warning here (don't worry, I won't display anything graphic on here, but I actually would like you to hear me out): There will be certain topics brought up that some of you may consider to be "political", but considering how they've been affecting ALL of OUR lives this year, we can never ignore the elephant in the room. Considering that this post is more or less a more detailed recap of the previous development post, you may stop here, read that one (again) and confidently know that this game is still in active development, I am still alive and healthy (for now, at least) and that this game is still planned to release on Steam, should it hit gold in the ever-still distant future. Except this time I don't really have much time to produce a proper video to accompany this post (or at least for now, but I am not gonna jinx it), so only this part sucks. So yeah, all the topics are brought up in the most legal and respective way possible, and if you are interested in the contents of this section, you're free to click on "Show Details". The short summary of this part is here, in case if you don't feel great reading these. Which I can't blame you for. Shit sucks. It just genuinely sucks. [expand type=details] I think saying that "2022 has not been a good year" would be a MASSIVE understatement. Frankly, it sucked literally for everybody, in all sorts of ways that have been only unpleasant, and due to some certain ongoing things that is beyond any of our control, it's very likely to carry out to the following next year, and maybe even the year after that. Yes, the consequences of those things are that much dire. I know, some of you aren't too fond of political discussions in places like this one, no matter how toned-down they are with certain...laws and community guidelines considered, but considering how political figures tend to make our lives or pretty much break them (or attempt-to-make-us-much-less-alive-no-matter-the-ethnicity-nor-origin-then-make-it-everyone-else's-problem-around-the-globe), even (at times disruptively) impacting development of several stuff you've come to enjoy, such as games - especially since it's been more evident with the events that have occurred, escalated and even some still ongoing to this very day -, any such talks will not stop being brought up. Especially for the sake of transparency. Now, I am definitely sure that at least some of you have been hearing and monitoring what's been going on on the territories of Ukraine, LPR and DPR throughout this year. I've pretty much been doing the same, and honestly, when this whole thing started I was just as devastated and angry as you were - frankly, still am, also experiencing existential dread, even - though sadly there is not much I can do as of now (though I may have done something sneaky...before certain limits were set up~), or at least not yet. I really want to, but it seems difficult to find a proper time-frame for more sneaky stuff. The reason I am bringing this up is that considering I am living in Russia...yeahhhh, you can definitely tell that God has not been nice to me. And I certainly won't blame you for getting curious as to how this affected Stramedia's development in any way [strike](which is odd, personally considering there's other greater things to be curious or worrisome about, but okay, I appreciate the thought, though)[/strike], because it has taken a few hits: some that don't really have much significance to the project's development, except for one that I am really lucky to have gotten covered up, but not quite in a way you'd think (if this is the first thing you're ever reading from me lol). So, why not take a brief look at some of those things?

• Stramedia's soundtrack preview EPs have been partially delisted from several streaming platforms - and it's not really the picked distribution service to blame, they've been doing great work! It's kind of my fault I wasn't able to properly future-prove them in time, since currently russian Visa and MasterCard cards pretty much have a limited functionality for now. They're still up on my Bandcamp, but since their previous release on there, certain tracks have undergone some edits, at least one of them has been remixed and the other few gotten updated iterations, it's more likely you could consider them to be outdated (that's just how it normally is with things for games still going through development, so whatever). So I made a 2-in-1 compilation featuring those tracks for you to listen as a thank you for standing by for so long, and I have made sure to include at least one or a few of the newer ones! [previewyoutube=YIdxrHBLv14;full][/previewyoutube] It won't be available for download directly from Bandcamp, because since the album's name is long and...for some reason Bandcamp liking to apply EVERY SINGLE DETAIL INTO EACH TRACK FILE NAME, you probably wouldn't be able to play them on your device due to potential file pathname character limit issues (yes. that's a thing. the more you know.), so I've put the album in a zip file for you to download in the description of the video visualizer;
• For the same reason as the OST preview EP being delisted due to me being a forgetful dummy, it seems unlikely for me to continue renewing my Construct 3 subscription in the coming future (another great tool by great people! it's not their fault either, again), and because of that I am rebuilding the game in Unity (and at this point, the formerly planned 2022 release, if you were infact sticking around, is kind of a joke at this point (as if what's been going on wasn't evident of this enough LOL), so, now I definitely will not make any promises until I actually get near completion; plus, I really don't want to jinx anything). Still am as I am writing this, and it's going great so far, actually! More on that later;
• Some extra work may be required for the Steam release and maybe elsewhere (i.e. Google Play, I reckon), but I definitely know that it's not impossible. Might also look into a few other places for potential release for wider game availability, but it's too early for me to say - that's just dessert, and dinner is not over.

• The OST previews kind of stumbled off streaming platforms that aren't Bandcamp and suffered a serious concussion, so I dragged 'em over into a single DIY compilation album for you to personally listen;
• Stramedia restarted development AGAIN...but in Unity.
• At this point, I am not gonna promise any more launch windows until the game goes gold and I am CERTAIN I can actually get this thing released, if ever.

• The game's visual direction ended up changing, but there is a 2D perspective mode I am working on (it works, but it needs a bit more enhancements, in my personal opinion): Stramedia's visuals seem more like they'd appear in a sequel game of some sorts, but for once, I couldn't wait for that, so I am gonna make Stramedia like it's my last (but not really, I still have ideas for more, regardless of scale);
• There's a high possiblity that you would require a 64-bit computer to play the game, but I will be investigating and looking into a possibility to push out a 32-bit/x86 version out anyway;
• I might have to optimize the hell out of this game if I want it to run on a wider range of systems (and since the game is gonna be using the Universal Render Pipeline, it might as well be more easier than ever, but some more manual input wouldn't hurt aswell);
• Due to a few certain valid concerns (because of Johnny Ravioli being a complete "fucking idiot" himself), I will be making sure that no malware slips into the game. But for real, I am actually studying to work with this kind of shit, so you bet your ass I am gonna go as far as actually extracting potential malware shit out of the system myself!

Will You Snail? by Jonas Tyroller

Super Lone Survivor by Jasper Byrne

Gloomwood by Dillon Rogers + New Blood Interactive

• I've been cleaning some dust off of Tumblr, so you can follow Stramedia's official blog on there (or my more personal Tumblr, but beware of possible furry and nerd shit on there),
• I am on Mastodon too, like, twice as much - because I am an idiot and created an account on two instances (PeopleMaking.games and Mastodon's Game Dev Place),
• and I am trying to use Cohost aswell. So far, I am doing a shit job at it.

Hey, Steam gang! Sorry for leaving you folks hanging. Things got very busy. So busy, infact, that I really don't know where to begin writing this article. So, let's cut the crap right to the chase. Quite a lot of stuff has happened here and there, and some might - understandably and rightfully - claim that the recent times have been very difficult. And I couldn't agree more: it's been hard to even comprehend an asston of bewildering events that occurred (and still happening as we speak), it's not shocking anymore, but immensely depressing. I am even questioning how we continue to go all about with our lives like everything is all sunshines and rainbows. ...And honestly? I'm pretty much tired of constantly being sad. So I am gonna be twisting some things around. I'll be attempting to make funny-type-video devlogs that may even accompany text-posts like this one. And here is one right down below this paragraph. [previewyoutube=pQBzVRsmRD8;full]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQBzVRsmRD8[/previewyoutube] Now, for the TL;DR for the video and this post in general, click/tap on spoiler stuff to unveil the brief summary. [spoiler]Despite what you might think, Stramedia's development will still continue, although in a much different engine to attempt avoiding the crunch, meaning that I am back to Square One (the good news is that what is currently present in the Construct 3 project file of the game can be easily used as a cheat sheet). Although there will be significant presentation changes, like the game transitioning from 2D to... 2.5D but "prettier" (I am not sure if I am legally allowed to use the "HD 2D" term), though it comes with a free 2D Camera Perspective mode video setting. The plan to release the game on Steam is not off the table. Fuck John Riccitiello though. . God speed. To hell with the regime.[/spoiler] Alright, that will be all for now; that's all the time I've got. I will continue doing my thing. Stay safe now. Make love and videogames for the better tomorrow, not war and NFTs -Colbeala (Retroey Doofery)

Hey there! Wow, been a decent while since the last proper-ish long development log entry... and wow, sure a lot of garbage happened since. Hell, theres been yet another thing that went on booming all about which completely was the reason why I even went into full radio silence for a few good months as to not attract their attention. And we all know that no sane mind would ever want to shower in their attention. And their smell of weed. Of cream. The body fluid type of cream. You know, those shills no one shall speak of their names. Otherwise theyd be rushing down to peoples front doors aggressively promoting that useless Ponzi shite just like how some Christian missionaries would take it to the extreme (for example in two words: property damage), despite the same person making it abundantly clear that theyre an atheist or something. That stuff hasnt just been annoying, but very... discouraging from speaking about or sharing anything related to game development or artistic stuff in general. And very f****** dumb. So yeah, unless until all that completely dies down when that IRS thing slowly but surely starts kidnapping their shins, I dont think I will be making these lengthy posts as frequently as I would, despite being in college doing stuff and real life crap taking more and more tolls on me like a big tall truck. Like, recently my parents and I have tested positive for COVID-19 about two weeks ago, around that time almost everybody over here got sent back to do school/college/uni/work stuff remotely at home again anyway (which normally helps this games development due to obvious reasons, but... the Omicron variant just had to break into our houses in fuming rage and ruin the f*** out of everything (...and there goes my 2-years-COVID-free streak...) ...so thats been the worst distraction by far of this games development that isnt just GASPE, THE GREAT OFFENDER playing video games developed by other people instead of making my own??? God forbid people having lives and interests outside of game development?! (unless if we speak of another monster whose name should not especially be mentioned, like, at all - I think you would know who I may be referring to if youve been unfortunate enough to waste your life on the internet for long enough, considering the fact that the person may or may not have done stuff a lot worse than that)) now were sort of doing better, most of our tests came back negative and I guess we may slowly go back to our normal lives...? Kind of? Were still recovering from this mess of a disease, so the emphasis on getting our lives back on track slowly is pretty high, cos if we dont, then chances are that there will never be a good time to spend our time doing whatever. In short literally everything has been too overwhelming for the general past 67% of 2021 for me to ever write about anything related to this project, even the past few weeks arent exceptional - as unfortunate as it turned out to be -, but I have been working on it, even it was just more like from time-to-time or slowly but surely kind of stuff. But honestly, its better to have things go like this rather than having nothing happen at all nor crunching away just for the sake of getting something done and ending up with an extremely buggy and unpolished mess or something equivalent to it that feels very unfinished or gives off horrid red flag raising vibes that may even (but kind of unlikely...?) get players to question what in heavens was (or still is) going on behind the scenes. I too, in fact, have had some things going on behind the scenes (hell, some of them were also problems that required some fixing granted that more arise), and fortunately(?) most of them arent real life related garbage. Just technical stuff. Lets talk about all that right now this introduction has gone on for long enough and I am really sorry about that.
Yep. As this sections title suggests, I did, and I kid you not, get a new computer to develop Stramedia on. My previous old one has been struggling to run the programs I am using to make this game and some media material types for it with. Hell, the problems arose so far up the ass that two-three months prior to making a life-changing decision it nearly died on me completely. How do I know it nearly died on me? A Windows Recovery menu popped up after restarting the computer when it crashed, showing off the Blue Screen of Death. Normally it would have sent me to the Lock Screen after a minute or two. ...yeah, the boot up time has been abysmal too. Dont even get me started on the system randomly shutting down and turning the power back on its own on the occasion before all that. But yeah, those problems aside, I was no longer feeling comfortable working on a PC from around 2013 or so, so a tough decision must have been made. Cos if I did not and if I kept working with what I had, Stramedias development would have met a very unfortunate end. But now, check this! I kind of have the closest equivalent of an industry standard type of work station at home! How neat is that? This... may probably be the most boring news I would ever share, but considering some stuff my new PC has that the previous one did not and some other internal junk, theres quite a lot that can really come in handy when developing Stramedia. How so? I will elaborate on that more throughout this log. Theres a good amount of stuff to unpack here, whenever its literal or not.
If youve been peeping over the games store page on Steam from occasional time to more occasional times, you may have noticed something indicating about there being Linux + SteamOS compatibility. Honestly, it really isnt that much of a secret, given that in the previous entry from last year I did mention that it will be very much possible as of the engine change alongside the Windows and Android versions (with now the only upsetting considerably major difference being that the Xbox versions may have to be done only after the games initial release on PC, Linux and Android devices - unless if I figure out something if I want a simultaneous release to happen - because... lets just openly say that Microsoft are quite notorious for making the dumbest of decisions sometimes, and it does not only apply to their business shenanigans - far from it - they also tend to apply to several development tools, shall the devil feel like [REDACTED]). Although ever since Valve has officially revealed the Steam Deck to the public, this has become a MAJOR motivational boost for me to want to work on a native Linux/SteamOS version of Stramedia more, which could also be considered to be some kind of a compensation for not being able to work on a proper console version of the game for the long time period (also taking in the fact that I am the only person working on the majority of the game). I know, I really shouldnt be going that far up, considering that the Steam Deck is using Proton to run Windows software and games natively on Linux based systems which would normally save a lot of developers time, but considering that Valve had previous history of having Windows games running on their previous Linux based hardware, I personally think it wouldnt hurt to run several double-checks and put a little bit ofextra effortful work to ensure that Stramedia definitely works not only on the Steam Deck, but literally the rest of machines that run on Linux. There is still a chance that some Windows games may still not work well running on Proton, and to make Stramedia a good exception, some extra steps need to be taken. But hey, if that will help people possibly save a couple of clicks (or in the Steam Decks possible case: several D-Pad and Face Button presses) away from the Steam Settings and make them happy, I will be extra happy as well! Of course, I will not be stopping there. I will be sure to work on a few extra features and other boring stuff (i.e. settings, some extra code and such) that can help ensure Stramedias more proper optimization for the Steam Deck. It is a lovely thought about playing this game on a go or something similar to it being a near-console-equivalent experience, but sometimes (maybe cos of Steam Input or something IDFK) whenever Gyroscope and/or Trackpad would be recognized as mouse input, gamepad control icons suddenly changing to keyboard/mouse ones and even gamepad input potentially being disrupted is something that you really do not want ruining the experience on a handheld PC. With that being said, Linux/SteamOS development and Steam Deck optimization is absolutely on my to do list and is certainly going to remain one of my priorities before I ever release anything related to the game (whenever its a full on release, an early access build, a new demo build, whatever Ill make my mind up on). If something goes completely wrong, you will be hearing that from me. For now, I may focus on working on the core bits of the game, as well as new stuff for it and such while I wait to hear from Valve regarding getting a Steam Deck of my own. Cos I dont have one. I still cannot even order one. Regional stuff suck ass. I really need that Steam Deck. It would not be the same without the Steam Deck. (on the other hand, at least I can work on the game more on an actual computer like, seriously, why is the dock station sold separately? Just so I could plug in a stinky keyboard, mouse and a TV/monitor for this thingeth? Whose idea was this, Gabe Newell? I just want to talk to them! I really just want to talk!)
...Oh, I definitely should have started with that first instead of yapping about new computers and Steamed Ham Deck Docks and all of that stuff. Cos like I said, theres a good plenty of stuff Ive been (and still) working on to add into the game, and if I were to talk about it in a lot of details, youll probably be stuck here reading this log for a lot more longer than you probably should (I mean, looking through what you just read past, I dont seem to know when to shut up like ever), even if majority of all that stuff is more on the technical and functional levels, yknow, the more vital parts that get games going, but there have been some other things. These other things are just me giving things a new fresh coat of paint, redesigning characters, making newer cover artstuffor somethingjust the visual kind of stuff. Nothing very important. Just making the game look a little bit prettier and somewhat more stylized. Generally speaking, I think I am finally starting to get the game to function, look and feel (maybe feel just a little bit) as I first envisioned it before more proper development commenceda second time. The first one being whenever this games Steam page went live two years ago now and a second one when I changed engines to Construct 3, which I am very, very happy about, because it has let me do plenty of things I wanted to include from the very beginning, but couldnt do so because of the previous engines (pretty dumb and unfair) constraints. This of course also includes being able to make the game look prettier too.
Oh, and theres the little rush down on the very noteworthy vital rest of the stuff, featuring some gifs from a much later time (I mean, some of them are actually from around November, last year, I think, or much earlier): The camera system has become more dynamic now. And by that I mean that aside from the camera movement speed, screen shake (overall, environmental and user feedback) and viewport focusing can now be readjusted, it can also zoom in and out, pan around from one point to another whenever or something and all that, and I am extremely happy about.

Oh yeah, and since the beginning I wanted to have a telly as one of the parts of the main menu, so heres that too. (obviously some incomplete stuff, but whatever) The combat system has gotten somewhat more robust, now that its somewhat more animation based currently having implemented the functionality of four firearms, the stuff using ammo, aiming at 3-6 directions now and of course being able to walk around while holding and using a weapon. Because previously there was no way to move around with a weapon taken out nor to aim down as well as up andthe front. Because I was too lazy to figure out how to do that, aside from obviously animating that. That was my fault. I am sorry. I am not sorry about making the ammo very limited though.
Support for more screen aspect ratios is now sure to be there, even allowing for ultra-widescreen compatibility. Probably the most stupidly easiest thing implemented into the game by far.
Although this wouldnt have been time consuming if I didnt sooner realize to set a right mode for it, cos I am an idiot using a new engine and all that goodie good stuff is too new for me. But yeah, pretty easy stuff. Surprisingly pretty easy. Extremely refreshing not to make things very overcomplicated. Another screen related thing that isnt as easy though, is optimizing the game to run well not only on 60Hz refresh rate monitors. I am talking specifically of optimizing for monitors with refresh rates being unnecessarily much higher than that. You know, mostly so that certain things dont have an extreme trigger-happy-like functionality based on a higher/lower framerate, similarly to how that one LEGO Island game functions on modern hardware in some places. This ongoing work started when sometime after I got my new computer all set up, I decided to toy around with the refresh rate toggle options - something that my previous AIO (all-in-one) PC didnt have for whatever f****** reason - and yepsome things werent looking good as expected. Soooooo glad I got all that neat new stuff in time to catch all that, so I may get all that taken care of prior to anything, yeah? ...I suppose it is so. I really dont have to worry about this thing being patched up post-launch anymore, as I now have the right tech to work with and I am already doing that now alongside the rest of the game. Some things needed a little bit of reworking (programming-wise), some things have been tweaked, I believe I may have missed a few currently existing spots here and there I am still looking for them but I am confident enough to claim that its all going surprisingly well so far, things seem to be looking good even at 144 FPS (yes, not just 60 FPS, but also 120 FPS and even up to 144 FPS, granted that its running on a decent high-end PC), although I am still gonna be questioning whenever the game framerate should be unlocked (be unlimited) or notwhile keeping things locked at either the standard 60 or 120 FPS maximum for the time being, just to be safe. I dunno. ...I really dont know what else to say without being a complete nerd about it, well, maybe aside from the fact that I am not going to be done with this until I am sure that the stuff operate well enough. But just so you know: yeah, I am working on this.
(but look at them test enemies exploding into bloody bits though!) More honorable mentions. I am kind of running out of things to talk about in a little bit of more detail here, so Ill yap some more about other thingsbut in less detail:

• With the new inventory system, each party member is going to have their own inventory and key item storages I am still working on this thing;
• Keyboard controls will have secondary keys available for binding, cos there werent any previously, but now there are its pretty much complete;
• I am also working on a possibility to configure gamepad controls through what I call profiles: so far, the code creates, picks up and deletes the data that is imported into the input system the base stuff is in although I need to make an interface that allows for all that stuff to beyou knowmanually edited, so I guess I can officially say that this feature is half-complete;
• There has been more work into the accessibility settings, with the most noteworthy new addition being the option to turn on the Screen Reader: considering that Stramedia is gonna be one of those text-heavy games that arent well suited towards players with visual impairments and learning disabilities, there was no way and no excuse for me not to add it in, and with the last years engine change, this feature may also be available for use on Windows, Android and Linux based systems that have built-in screen reading support there will be options to change the screen readers volume and reading speed, and upon the first time youll launch the game youll be asked if you wish to keep the screen reader turned on or not;
• Other new additions to the accessibility options also include the UI scaling, more adjustable gamepad rumble, off-screen bullet hitmarks and probably some more features I probably forgot to mention;
• oh yeah, and on the subject of settings, theres also an option added to auto-rebind keyboard controls based on the preferred/selected keyboard layout: for the record, the options that will be available are the standard QWERTY layout, QWERTZ and AZERTY, I also tried adding in the option for the Dvorak layout, but that ended up being scrapped because of how switching to and out of Dvorak kept crashing the game, so thats a No-Go, unfortunately I am very sorry;

Hey folks, oh jeez. It's been a long while since I've last made an entry on here, and I sincerely apologize for that. I honestly didn't want to write this as to not alarm any one of you, but I just thought it would be best that I did. I'll start with the bad news (and there are some good ones though).

The Bad News

The project may be going on an indefinite hiatus

The Good News

Hello. 's been awhile. We all know where this one is going, so let's just skip right to the end. [hl][/hl] The game has fully restarted development (also dropping the development time count to zero), and my mental health has gradually improved, plus the game's production has vastly becoming more and more productive, aside from college stuff that have been distracting and draining... (again, this isn't a game I am working on full-time, but it is being made, at least...I think.) [previewyoutube=izwPPqDqQHk;full][/previewyoutube] Also, since I don't want to take all the credit to myself, "Nickolai Filipanov & Co." is now going by "Retroey Doofery Productions". And you may also call me Cole now. So yeah, more junk to follow, afterwards. Bye.

...Oh hey. Quick update. Stramedia's Steam Demo has been deactivated. I will be sure to reactivate it once again as soon as the game has enough reworked stuff in a new engine and running on both Windows and Linux/SteamOS. That demo is still available on Game Jolt, itch and Kartridge with the Android/Google Play build being one update behind, so please don't be surprised if some of the things you will find are very... fundamentally broken, in a literal way, so...please don't try to go all the way out to tell me what is broken and how many typos are out there, cuz I am already aware of all this (lol), but one day, hopefully sometime later this year, it will finally change. But if you did get a chance to try the original game demo out on Steam, I thank you very much for your time! And hopefully by the time the demo re-activates with the Construct 3 remade framework you will be very, very pleasantly surprised! (OH! And if you still like what I am doing, please be sure to wishlist the game on Steam and tell a friend that something interesting is still brewing and rebrewing!) And that's all for now! Merry Springmasfest! (oh, and uh... and the Xbox ports have been put on hold due to official export options being deprecated [definitive fate unknown] due to Visual Studio's Javascript UWP deprecated. It's a bummer, I know, but I will be on a lookout for actual help)

Hey folks, it's been a long while once again. In case if you haven't been staying up to date on Game Jolt, Steam, etc... Stramedia got delayed a few years back, so I could actually focus on the full game release development, primarily shortening up the game design scope by getting rid of some unnecessary concepts and (once again) rewrite it's plot/story/whatnot, so it could be even better than what it is. And honestly, I've been really happy about doing that - I don't have to stress over something for an actual good while now, so that's good, I guess! And so from this point forward, things are just gonna get better and better.

1. Switching to Construct 3 (and ranting as to why)

(no offense, Clickteam, I am sorry, please don't burn bridges--)

• It's actually LITERALLY OLD, LIKE HOLY S#%&, I- WHY AM I STILL USING IT? IT'S LIKE STILL USING WINDOWS 98, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME--!?;
• For something as big as Stramedia, CTF2.5 just doesn't have enough proper features and support for other runtime modules and focuses on DirectX for it's entirety, which is kind of a problem for developing the Android port of the game in that engine;
• I literally cannot create any new family groups. I am stuck with just with a limited amount of 'em. Help me.
• I lost money on stuff that either work partially or straight up silently discontinued some time later and/or what should have already come straight in the base package by the general programming software standards (or made available free in an update);
• Also forgot to mention the elephant in the room that is Gradle Build Tool. I don't even want to talk about it, actually, but apparently CTF2.5 still utilizes it to this day.
• Well, I think I am sure you get the idea now. Technical complications, ridiculous rules, dreadful technical limits, blah blah blah.

2. What could this all mean? What technical stuff will be changed?

Positive Changes and Additions

The only possible negative change...

3. Speaking of changes...

4. Expanding to some more platforms now!

Desktop and Mobile

• I can't really afford the latest (expensive as hell) macOS equipment to get the port development even further (which is the first roadblock it would cause);
• I am literally too stupid to understand how Virtual Machines work (another roadblock);
• Apple has been restricting programs that don't have the certificate from launching on the latest OS's and their latest builds;
• I'll have to annually pay $100 dollars to have and renew that certificate;
• And speaking of, the Mac OS version would be available only on the 64-bit/modern macOS computers (and it's currently the only exporting option), so...

One More Thing (for those who've missed out on the news!)

• From this point forward, Stramedia will be powered by Construct 3;
• Stramedia is getting a new and improved game design, aswell as some redesigns;
• The game is now in development for Windows, Linux, Android, Windows 10 Metro and Xbox Console Family;
• iOS, macOS and other console development is in consideration, but at the moment is unlikely to start.
• So really, this year is finally a start of something even greater! And while I can't tell when we will finally pull this through, I definitely know that we are actually going somewhere this time!

Hey folks, I am back once again, with the first actual devlog entry in quite a while now, and the first one for this year. I am sorry for the ridiculous radio silence in some places. 2020 has been surely both a productive and a frustrating year for everybody, myself included; we've had some successes, we've had some failures; we've had fun, we've had our woes; - we all did, I did. Allow me to share some of mine, starting from the woes. In case if you have missed some of the previous devlogs (or you're just new here [welcome to here, by the way!]), I've originally anticipated to have some of the features and bits of the game ready by last December of 2020 for it's Early Access launch...which I soon after have had cancelled it, because I've been pretty much getting stressed out by the idea of not actually making it in time, nor was I entirely satisfied with the state the game was in to even launch in Early Access. So, I then have decided that I'd rather delay it to 2022, so I can work on the game more and launch it in a more "definitive" state, and now I am kind of uncertain when exactly it should be done by. I am sure a lot of you have read that one albeit overused quote from an infamous game director, Shigeru Miyamoto: "A delayed game is good, but a rushed game is forever bad", but did you that this quote has actually been mistranslated/shortened down, because apparently we, stupid non-Japanese-speaking readers, don't like to read ridiculously long paragraphs of texts? The actual quote is actually this: "It's best to take time on fixing and adding some things to gradually make a game better, but a broken, rushed project will forever leave a bad first impression on gamers and remembered, even considered by them to be a big mess, no matter if it's later patched or not." So basically what this means is that even if a game gets delayed once [strike](*cough*Hello Neighbor*cough*)[/strike], or hell, even several times [strike](*cough* *cough* Cyberpunk 2077*cough**cough*)[/strike], it's development may still get rushed and despite all the trouble it will still get shipped out filled with game breaking bugs, glitches, broken features and/or just ends up not living up to everyone's expectations (basically - becoming a disappointment). And of course we all know about No Man's Sky too! Sure, the game's gotten tons of patches, got it's missing features and some of the new features overtime, gradually improving the game and it's overall quality of life, but let's take a good admit it - when it first came out, it was a mess, albeit a fascinating one, but still - a dinosaur sized pile of crap that received mixed reviews at start and tons of disapproval from lots of known critics, and we still remember this. So, with that being said, I will actually be taking my time reworking on the game until I feel like it's good enough to be shown off again, but who knows how long that will take, but I actually don't think it will take another 4-6 years to start from scratch...which I am actually doing right now, and things are going fairly faster with the knowledge I've gained from using Clickteam Fusion 2.5 during this game's development...uh...purgatory...? I wouldn't necessarily call it development hell, because now - I am actually starting to take things easy and I am beginning to take a bit more casual approaches towards some things without breaking any further fuses in my nerve system. So, you may ask what's going on with Stramedia right now? I have decided to rewrite the entire framework from scratch again to add in and support more features, I am actually starting to write a proper game design document for this thing that will help me out know what the eff I am even doing and writing a more fleshed out version of the game's plot/story script...while also recycling some of the assets that I still have around in my work SSD.
But of course, Stramedia is now not the only game I will be making, because I've felt like working on a short fun sideproject (coming to PC and Android devices [Steam, itch, Google Play and Game Jolt] for a literal dirt-cheap price of $1.99 USD [that's a price tag for one slightly oversized potato chips bag!]) for all of you to enjoy (kinda) that will help you not get bored while waiting for another development update article or, especially, another freeware demo/alpha test build that won't be dropping any time soon until I feel like I am satisfied with the work so far. So, there's plenty of neat stuff to look forward to this year and the foreseeable future! Now, it's time to wrap up this article. And for once, I actually don't know how I am even going to wrap it up. So, I guess I will once again plug in my friend CrookedBeaker's Legend of Zelda inspired game, Rune of Eternity, so... be sure to check that out aswell! That fun thing's coming out of Early Access next week! Bye now, and stay safe - and don't forget to wear your masks and wash your hands.

[previewyoutube=1iht8Bq5fwI;full][/previewyoutube] Hey fellas, Nickolai Filipanov is back here. Let me just keep this one short. So basically, if you've been around since god-knows-for-how-long, I lost track of time myself, you may have already know that I have been extremely exhausted from work, and now, I've been considering scrapping some of the stuff out from the game, since I started to realize that some of it is just too ambitious for something like Stramedia, which is basically literally my first "proper-ish" original title that has been in development for far too long that I personally think it should have. All of those ideas, so much other junk - I just think they'd fit better into a next game, if there is gonna be, and they've been one of the reasons why it's been taking me so long to get this game done and out. And starting from January 2021, (yes, already making a New Year's Resolution, even though it's not even technically 31st of December), I just need to start keeping things shorter and more simple. I wanted to do this for a while, but this year was a good chance for that, yet I somehow managed to blow it. And I would like to try this again and work harder on that simplification thing. I really hope that all of you kind of understand the situation I am in, and I hope you'll understand these choices I am making now. Thank you for still sticking by. I love you all. Happy Thanksgiving. P.S. I have been slowly writing up some concepts for a sideproject that may be also available on Steam, Game Jolt and whatnot, so, keep your eyes peeled.

Hey everyone. Nickolai Filipanov here. As some of you already know, I am the only young person working on the majority of the game while tackling so many IRL issues, including but not limited to attending college. As of late, I've been having weird days whenever I could make progress on the game, whenever I could, hell, I even had been having ideas pop up at the worst possible times when I just want to relax. And last night, I just had another mental breakdown from being overwhelmed by fatigue, stress and creativity starvation. It has gotten so bad that the game nearly got cancelled. But the thing is, Stramedia has come such a long way that I have started getting sick of working on it 24/7, though this game is not really worth cancelling. I just need to take longer breaks from it and prioritize my health. So, in conclusion, Stramedia: my_MISADVENTURE is no longer planned to launch in Early Access this December, nor by next April. I decided that I'd rather launch a full-ish title sometime in 2022. In the meantime, Stramedia: my_MISADVENTURE won't be the only game I'll ever develop, so stay tuned for other projects I may announce in the future as Stramedia develops. Storefront pages and media will be updated shortly. Thank you for understanding.

26.11.2020 Update: All of this stuff is outdated now. But you may feel free to take a look at my initial plans for this game. Hey folks! Nickolai Filipanov here. Some time ago, I've previously mentioned that I have set a decent sized development roadmap with an arseton of details you may wanna keep your eyes peeled for. While usually most roadmap points are set by months/years, I decided to instead stick to setting them up based on the future game build versions because, trust me, I am not quite the person to jump the gun with launch dates - you don't know what kind of crap might happen by the time something is done, which could ABSOLUTELY ruin plans... So... here it is!
If you've been around for a good while, most of you know that Stramedia is set to be available in Early Access on Steam, Kartridge, Game Jolt and itch with an initial $7.99 USD MSRP, with a plan to raise the price a little bit more based on for how long the game remains in Early Access and how much content has been added (and if some professional work will be involved). Of course, updates you will receive are gonna be free - Stramedia is not going to use the business model similar to how "Hello Neighbor" and "Bendy and the Ink Machine" were funded during their own development cycles (separately sold alpha/beta builds | chapters), if anything - additional generous fundings may be received from the special supporters' downloadable packages and soundtracks. For any further updates/news on the development, you can always follow and wishlist the game on Steam, follow the game itself on Twitter or join the Discord server. Until then, stay tuned! ______________ Oh, by the way - for the 0.4 build, I am still aiming to get it done by either this December or April 2021! And expect the Early Access launch to go through a promotional sale on a few selected platforms!

Well, this is just embarrassing, isn't it? As it turns out, KiNTecho would automatically slide to the left due to some mathematic equations messing up upon the Speed stat being increased. That stuff has been readjusted. Sorry about that.

Hey, didn't you know? We will be participating in this month's Steam Game Festival, and to celebrate it, we prepared a somewhat special update for the already-existing demo! ...And since I, Nickolai Filipanov, couldn't wait any longer... generously giving to YOU a day early! (do not worry, the update will later be available on other PC marketplaces sometime later after the Festival ends, with potential Android version optimization to follow.)

MAJOR CHANGES

• Nathan "MNP" Philips has gotten a minor sprite update, now featuring a scarf!
• The Main Menu background has also gotten a nice little makeover!
• Sector 1 Ending is fully accessible now!
• The First-Time Setup Screen has been re-added, although it's a bit rough. (PLEASE LET ME KNOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE IF NAVIGATION IS CONFUSING)
• Oh yeah, and the Steam demo has gotten a fix for the embarrassing framerate issue.

MINOR CHANGES

• The Crate Guy in the first sector should no longer appear on the left side of the Janitor's Save Room.
• Gamepad Cursor has a black outline now (since it was difficult seeing it on more whiter surfaces) and it has a "Click" feedback sprite aswell.
• The settings menu shouldn't be going nuts as it did last time in a few strange case scenarios
• Updated a missing Russian dialogue text string in one of Detin's lines.
• The Status Effects' functionality have been improved. You may not wanna get that splinter now, since there's now a slim chance to slowly bleed out.
• Most of the in-game menus now support gamepads' Direction Pad input... I don't know why I didn't include that in the first place.
• Speaking of menus, the Bag menu kind of can detect mouse input...?

ADDITIONS

• The Intro, the Bunker Zone are now available!
• The Staircase Door functions, and you can actually save your progress, finally. (Progress saved in the demo will carry over to the premium Windows builds!)
• There are now collectibles and some secrets in the Warehouse you may not wanna miss out on.
• Door Interaction Text and Audio Cues have been added now.
• Time Attack Game Mode is available for preview now! (only the Warehouse Area is available at the start.)
• For whatever reason, the Steam demo just now supports Steam Input configurations. These can be turned off in the "General" properties. Just set the "Steam Input Per-Game Setting" to "Forced Off" if you prefer using the game's built-in native input support for some gamepads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8CK7MHKya8 Ladies, gents, everyone else in between, I am excited (and as much as I am nervous) to announce that we are hitting Early Access either next year's spring or this December! Now, there is still a lot of stuff to be done at the moment of speaking, there will be also college to attend to, so, multitasking that and the game's further development will be somewhat a fun challenge. And do not worry, sometime later this Autumn the demo will be getting a special pre-Early Access update featuring some more content and aswell as a few neat previews. Pinky promise! See you soon, hopefully! <3

Hey. How's it going? It's-a me, that crooked jackass, Nickolai Filipanov. This game is still being worked on, surprisingly, and it's actually a miracle. Okay, bye, keep telling your friends that this game is going to be a thing, kind of. Oh, and look, I am coding a proper-ish combat mechanic with a weird killable enemy class of some kind. [previewyoutube=_eSMzKTsQpA;leftthumb][/previewyoutube] kbye, ttyl, xoxo Have you stopped panicking and thinking I got hit by a bus or something? No? Too bad, I am still alive. See ya'. Wahoo.

Hey, Steam! It's your new favorite douchebag game developer, Nickolai Filipanov writing again. I hope everyone is doing well, staying safe and wearing their masks while all this crazy stuff is going down. 2020 has been quite a challenge so far for almost literally everyone around the globe with all the personal stuff, protests, delays, changes and the pandemic still going on. I know how you all must feel, I had a fair amount of challenges for myself, and as much as I hope for everything and everyone to finally get a satisfying conclusion they deserve, I have only a few more personal stuff to deal with that may or may not slow down the further development of Stramedia. I will elaborate on that later after I share the development progress and some info on the Survival gamemode that is in the pre-production.

1. Done with writing and I am almost done with the new needed art assets!

2. Speaking of updates...

2.1. Expected fixes and minor additions

• Left Handed Gamepad Controls (where you'll get to control the characters, the cursor and hover UI stuff with the Right Stick and Face Buttons, Shoulder Button Prompts are swapped with D-Pad input and Inverted Shoulder Button Prompts... I hope I am making sense when I am saying this);
• UI Flashing Toggle;
• A map system (probably);
• Saving System;
• Properly Working Status Effects;
• Locked Door Interaction Prompts and Audio Cues;
• In-Game HUD not displaying properly;
• Some... audio fixes;
• Some updated sprites;
• A tiny little Russian localization string fix;
• And so on.

2.2. Survival Mode

• Students who have finished all two semesters of the 11th grade well enough, they are now considered to be graduated from highschool without having to attend selected areas to do the Unified State Exams;
• However, if some graduated students want to apply for a university, they will still have to do the required Unified State Exams;
• ...but they have been moved from late May/the beginning of June to the beginning of July.

Hey, Steam! May has been... something! So, in short:

• After five months of tiring work and game reprogramming from the ground up to further optimize it's development, the 0.3 demo has successfully launched on Game Jolt, itch.io, Kartridge and finally on Steam and Google Play aswell for Windows and Android!
• The Steam version is being co-published with a friend over at Good Friend Studios!
• Within the first hour after the demo launch on Steam, about 300+ units have been claimed and downloaded (currently at the moment of the article drafting staying at OVER EIGHT HUNDRED, WHAT? Oh, you guys!~ <3), and right now the game itself has hit 106 Steam wishlists, which... feels incredibly splendid! Seriously, you guys effin' rock, yo, thanks a lot!~
• Even though I did contact a certain cool dude and gave him permission to, RiskRim, a YouTuber who has been following the game's development for a while (but actually had no idea what's it gonna be about, and I don't really blame him for it) checked out the game and actually liked it! Seriously, be sure to check out his let's play here and his channel overall (I am a real fan)! And Yav, thank you once again for checking it out! Gonna be looking forward to seeing you play more through this strange project once it launches in early access! (PSSSST! If any other YouTubers are reading this, you can also feel free to play the current build for the video, as long as the links to the game's pages are present in the description! Though you may wanna directly ask for my permission if you want to monetize it though.)

Hellooooooo, Steam!

WOW!

Changes

MAJOR CHANGES:

• The game framework has been re-coded from scratch and optimized to fit the entire game into a single frame, freeing up the size of the game and utilizing some of the game engine's features to ease the game's development, even if it's just a tiny little bit. This may come in handy when it will come to porting the game to other platforms, like Android, for example, or even the Nintendo Switch and Xbox sometime later in the future (DISCLAIMER: I am not promising anything NOR confirm that these versions are in the works, but they're still on my bucket list. I know you might be peeved about that, but trust me, I am still kind of even more peeved that Nintendo had declined my game submission for the Switch development license and let an albeit poorly aged FNaF rip-off and a Unity ASSET FLIP OF ALL THINGS onto their platform.)
• The Warehouse is a lot more different now, and there have been other gameplay related changes aswell.
• Detin (literally) retired from being an enemy. I'll later elaborate in the additions section of the changelog.
• Native (via USB) Dualshock 4 controls have been reworked into the "Eastern" scheme to fit the initial philosophy of the original PlayStation controller and the overall retro aesthetic of Stramedia.
• The settings menu went through a major overhaul, splitting it into three categories: general, controls and the accessibility options. [at the moment on PC only] (Take a look at the additions section of the changelog)

MINOR CHANGES:

• The main menu is no longer foggy!... I guess!
• First time setup is temporarily removed.
• The gamepad no longer vibrates while keyboard and mouse is in use.

Additions

• Accessibility Settings are made available for public testing! (only a few may not function as intended either due to some bugs in the system or not being 100% complete). At the moment you can disable the gamepad input, try to change the default position of the dialogue box, it's text size and whenever you'd want to see the the character names colored.
• A few more settings have been added, like a possibility to disable stereo audio panning and toggle dialogue crawling audio!
• Having issues with some of the settings? I've added an F12 hotkey you can hold to hard reset them (and simultaneously restart the game)!
• Added the "How to Play" mini-manual!
• Detin was replaced by some crate headed kid. Try not to get close to him in the room he wants you to be in, just... walk away and wait.
• Added Discord Rich Presence support! (it's still in progress too!)

0.3.1 Minor Patch Notes

• The gamepad input is disabled upon moving the mouse
• Fixed a tiny little string issue
• Android Build now available on itch and Game Jolt! [currently being submitted for review on Google Play]

Now, speaking of the next build:

• This is when the game finally launches in Early Access on both PC and Android!
• You'll finally get to experience the other two sectors (the Prison and the Cafeteria);
• Unlockable characters (Clara, Sam and KiNTecho) will be available to play as;
• And there will be tasks you need to perform in order to unlock them;
• Some accessibility options that are not functioning will be made fully functional (I hope);
• And some bug fixes aswell