First Steps will be delisted on Steam but you can still play it
There are currently three versions of Eye of the Temple on Steam:
Eye of the Temple (paid)
Eye of the Temple Demo (free)
Eye of the Temple: First Steps (free)
The demo is virtually identical to the separate First Steps app - it even says First Steps in the title screen too. Only, you access it via the the Download Demo button on the store page of the full paid game, while the separate First Steps app has a separate store page on Steam. The demo doesn't have achievements though. That's the only difference. Other than that, the content is exactly the same.
From the beginning of 2022, the separate First Steps app will be retired. This means:
People who already got the separate First Steps app will keep it. They will still be able to play it, and even be able to re-download it from Steam.
New people can't download the separate First Steps app (but they can instead download the free demo, which is identical).
The separate First Steps app will be removed from store listings.
Since the free demo will still be available for everyone, people can still try out the game before they decide if they want to buy it.
Why retire the separate First Steps app? For one thing, it's an overhead for me to independently maintain both the demo and the separate First Steps app, which doesn't feel like effort well spent when they're identical anyway. For another, I'm concerned that having First Steps as a separate game and store page may be hurting the impression of Eye of the Temple overall.
When people search for Eye of the Temple, the separate First Steps app always also show up in the search results. And since it's free, people may go to that store page instead. Then, they'll see screenshots and trailer that only shows content from First Steps. If they don't proceed to visit the store page of the full game too, they'll never be shown all the extra variety and content the full game has to offer. This is just very unfortunate, because people may end up with a worse impression of the game than they otherwise would have gotten.
But that's my own motivations. I also wanted to hear what the community thought. So before I had made any final decision, I shared my thoughts about it with the people on the Eye of the Temple Discord server, and they were very supportive of the idea. I hope you all here will be as well.
If you already enjoyed First Steps, you'll keep it. And if you wanted to recommend First Steps to someone else, just point them to the free demo, which is the same thing.
If you have any questions or concerns, let me know!
From First Steps to Full Adventure: Eye of the Temple is OUT NOW
Last year I released Eye of the Temple: First Steps and so many of you loved that game, which I'm really grateful for. Now, the full game is finally here!
Eye of the Temple is around eight times as long as First Steps, with a lots of puzzles and a bunch of unique mechanics not present in the demo. I won't spoil too much, but check out the new launch trailer to get an idea of what to expect:
[previewyoutube="B5Bn9qdy3FY;full"] It's been a long journey to get to this point. When I started out, I never expected it would take five years to finish the game, but the scope and ambition of it grew along the way. After going full time indie last year, I've finally been able to complete it.
I really hope that all of you who have been following the game and enjoying First Steps come and join me in the next step of the adventure - I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks of the game! Your support and interest in Eye of the Temple has really helped get to where I am now, so hopefully you’ll have half as much fun playing it as I’ve had making it.
All the best, Rune
New on-screen menu so you can change options for your headset-wearing friend
Do you ever let other people play Eye of the Temple: First Steps with your VR headset?
Now you can change the options for them on the screen instead of having to guide them how to do it. Are they left handed? Do they need more comfort options turned on? Or do they think the music is too loud? You can change it all via the screen so they don't have to.
Just press ESC to open the on-screen menu.
Also remember that Eye of the Temple, the full game, comes out on Thursday, October 14th! That's next week! And of course it will have the same feature included.
