Greetings all.
Development of Paramelancholia has continued in a steady, fast pace for the past five or so months. In the current iteration there are six maps available with full functionality and (almost) the amount of detail originally envisioned. Most of the missing content or features are in textures and sounds, some of which still remain stock or otherwise low-quality. That said, the progress has been substantial, and much of the "early alpha jank" has been gotten rid of.
Overall interest for the game has been low, but that was to be expected as I'm well aware of the fact that the actual quality of the product matters not if there are zero marketing forces behind it - nevertheless, the aim never was to gain "high spread" but rather get the project as close as possible to the original vision. After all, the concept for this game has always been "an art gallery disguised as a game". The gaming aspects haven't been neglected though, since the play-experience is an integral part of the whole. Even if the art is the driving force, the beating heart, the observer must be immersed in the virtual world to get the intended experience. Hence, no part of the game is considered something to be neglected, but every corner must be polished into perfection. Nothing else suffices.
I have also recently created a patreon-page for those rare individuals who might be interested in this project. It is quite barebones for now, still, as I'm not expecting much. However, there's two tiers that do not give anything special, except for the good feeling of knowing that I have something to eat next month. Perhaps I will give it some more attention in the future, when I get a steam page running, but for now, simply its existence is enough.
So, there isn't much else to mention for now. In the coming weeks I will continue honing the details, and slowly get into mapping the seventh level. The priority is in the texture and sound detail in order to get the early-game experience as smooth as possible. Weapons and enemies will also improve incrementally, when I have time to get into sprite-work and develop better code for behaviour. Since there's no outside expectations for this game, no boss or audience to hang over the shoulder, I'm free to focus on things that matter the most, (even if simply subjectively), for me.
As always, feedback and bug-reports would be much appreciated.
Thank you.
