Hello!
Here's a monthly development log for the game. You can also find more info on other news for unrelated projects at
this link here!Below is just info specific to Garenburg Penitence!
[h2]Remaining Progress[/h2]
I'll actually just be blunt and say the game is almost done, but still a bit away from releasing. What's left to add, you may wonder?
- The final level and a bonus level as a tribute to Irisu Syndrome
- Finishing writing the files you can read
- Level editor improvements
- Bug fixes, testing, and quality of life improvements
Yeah, that's pretty much it! We're really close to release now! The biggest focus is finishing up writing all the database files as that is what makes up the main plot, and that's just been a headache because it's a lot to write and I've had to do a few rewrites and revisions over the three years the game has been in development. I'm really happy that it's getting this far, so it shouldn't be much longer. I am hoping for an early 2024 release. But for now, I'll have some mention of the quality of life I'm trying to add.
[h2]Colorblind & Accessibility[/h2]
I think it's fair to say that a game focusing on matching colored spheres isn't going to be the most colorblind friendly, and I do also know that a lot of games of the genre don't have much in the way of options for this. So, I'd like to make sure that this is something that can be a little better here, though I realize it may still be tricky due to the nature of the game. It doesn't hurt to try and add support for things!
Currently, there is support for complete customization of sphere colors! You can change them to whatever you like unless they're all the same hue or pitch black (as pitch black spheres are used with the powerup in Wave Mode).
And boom! It's as simple as that! It's really helpful for myself too when I'm working at night since I use a blue light filter.
I intend to also add some default options for colorblind presets using high-contrast colors, and I also intend to add the option to have a less-detailed shooter that is easier to tell on its color, symbols on spheres for matching, a bar at the top letting you know what color is selected, and a few other things that may be useful. It shouldn't take too long to add these, and it's definitely worth it just to make it a little more accessible.
The biggest challenge is going to be just determining how to handle GREEN Mode levels (which are I imagine it would absolutely going to suck for people with colorblindness for green), so I'll likely have some way to have those levels be skipped or have an alternative challenge in place of them during the Story Mode.
I'll continue working at this and see how it goes!
