September Update

[p][/p][p]I swear months are getting shorter and shorter![/p][p][/p][h3]SUMMERFALL game jam[/h3][p][/p][p][/p][p]Before diving into this month’s Paper Sky update, I wanted to share a small game I made over the weekend. It’s about collecting rocks on your last summer day. SUMMERFALL, Made in 72 hours, fueled by coffee and sleepless nights, it’s free if you want to try:[/p][p][/p][p]https://anstabo.itch.io/summerfall[/p][p][/p][h3]Beta Feedback[/h3][p]A few weeks ago I sent beta keys to all Kickstarter pledgers and created the Steam Beta branch. And the result so far, from Steam, Discord, Kickstarter, and internal testing, all the new shaders and post-processing for the full game work perfectly. Optimization holds up on Steam Deck and likely on Nintendo Switch. The floating origin system works as intended, letting the game run from start to finish without loading screens (except for fast travel). I haven’t fully tested the new shadow baking system yet, but early tests look promising.[/p][p]Phase 2, which will add all Paper Sky mechanics and new content, will likely happen with the timeline rework for the full release in early December (see last point at the bottom).[/p][p][/p][h3]Fauna mechanic[/h3][p][/p][p]I finished implementing the fauna mechanic, letting players earn animal words while populating the world. Every animal can be interacted with this way, including birds, which are trickier since you need to catch up and fly alongside them.[/p][p][/p][h3]Gravity help and transformation threshold[/h3][p][/p][p]The game is now in its final gamefeel stage. Flying controls feel solid, so I made rolling and transforming more challenging and gamey. You now need to fill a velocity threshold to transform.[/p][p]The jump mechanic has also been updated to emphasize momentum over vertical platforming. Press jump to enter gravity/dash mode for faster downhill rolls, and release to jump, propelling yourself upward to transform into a paper plane.[/p][p]These metrics can be tweaked with the new message/power-up system making transformations easier at the cost of top speed.[/p][p][/p][h3]Release plan[/h3][p][/p][p]Looking at the last roadmap, we were about two months behind. Beta gameplay and control issues slowed progress, and some content wasn’t ready. End of November isn’t realistic for release since content is still missing and marketing momentum is low. I’ll provide a clearer update on timing and remaining tasks in the November update; likely aiming for early December. My current focus is completing all gameplay and gamefeel tasks, then moving to visuals and level design.[/p][p]Puppy is now independent enough to manage on her own, giving me more time to work:[/p][p][/p]