A small update, primarily to fix a few things that were introduced in the previous version.
Patch Notes for Demo 0.8.1:
New Stuff & Tweaks
Gave the Options menu a small redesign to better accommodate controllers and general non-mouse input.
Made some tweaks to how the camera moves in Photo Mode, and expanded the panning range of the camera, allowing for a bit more freedom in framing your shot.
Bugfixes
Fixed some bugs relating to plugging/unplugging the controller while the game is running.
Fixed a bug where elephants would sometimes spawn in hovering a little bit above the ground.
Known Issues
There are still some problems with wildlife collision and pathfinding (particularly with the elephants), which should be addressed in the next update!
There's still a bug relating to plugging/unplugging different types of controllers during gameplay (eg. switching from an Xbox to a DualSense controller in the same play session). For now, this can be avoided by only using one type of controller for a given play session.
Demo 0.8.0 - Controller Support!
Controller support is finally here!
This is a fairly substantial update, and the inclusion of controller support has required some redesigning in how certain parts of the game work-- particularly navigating menus, interfaces, and certain parts of photo mode.
As a result, some of the default inputs have changed, although you can now manually rebind them to whatever you'd like!
Steam Deck support should also be greatly improved, and there are still a few things to improve the Deck experience even further that will roll out in future updates.
Patch Notes for Demo 0.8.0:
Big Changes
Full controller support
Input rebinding
UI & Menu overhauls
A number of visual & audio improvements.
Tweaks & Bugfixes
Itemizing every fix would be a bit excessive here, so let's just say that many things have been fixed and/or polished up!
Feedback Survey
We've also added an in-game link to a feedback survey (you can access it via the title screen, or the pause screen at any other point), It's pretty short and can be completed anonymously (it doesn't take your email)-- any and all feedback is super helpful!
What's Next?
In addition to occasional further updates for the demo and continuing progress on the full game, we'll also have a new trailer dropping in the not-too-distant future showcasing a number of things in the full release that we haven't shared yet.
Thanks for continuing to play and support our demo!
Demo Update -- 0.7.6
Another demo update!
Patch Notes for Demo 0.7.6:
New Stuff & Tweaks
Added anti-aliasing options.
Added options to increase or decrease the speed of time passage in the game.
Added a time display to the top-right time/weather HUD.
Removed the 'Level Info' menu option (from the bottom left menu) and consolidated that info into a newly redesigned 'Level Select' screen.
Wildlife can now sometimes already be present when you load into a level.
Small improvements to the wildlife's pathfinding.
Small tweaks to the Savannah level's environment.
Increased the camera's pan speed when very close to an animal.
The notification for completing a puzzle now shows how much XP you earned.
Adjusted the cat's interaction to be easier to click on during certain poses and animations.
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug where the cat could get permanently stuck in a loop of the same animation.
Fixed a handful of other small bugs.
...Thank you for continuing to play our demo! The current roadmap involves the next significant update bringing full controller support and input rebinding, hopefully within a week or so!
Demo Update -- 0.7.5
We have another reasonably sized demo update ready to go!
Patch Notes for Demo 0.7.5:
New Stuff & Tweaks
Can now cycle through targets while in photo mode (assuming other targets are present). The input for this is currently assigned to 'E'.
You can now also purchase camera upgrades directly from the photo mode's Processing menu.
Added a volume slider to the Options menu specifically for 'fire' sounds.
Tweaked the fire sound for the Savannah level's fire pit.
When hovering over an animal you've already photographed, their hover color is now green instead of blue.
Increased the overall focus range in photo mode.
Added an additional icon to the XP bar when you have 'level up' rewards ready to claim.
You can now click the XP button/bar while purchase menus are open (and use it to level up, if available).
Slightly increased the ambient brightness of the Lodge during afternoon hours.
When you open the Objectives menu while locked to a target in photo mode, it opens directly to the page for that species.
You can now click the photo storage icon while the Processing menu is open to pull up your photo gallery.
Improved the LODs for the Zebras.
Bugfixes
Fixed a bug where the Daily Tasks 'help' button wasn't always working.
Fixed an issue where the sun's color wasn't being properly captured in taken photos.
Fixed an issue where a Zebra would sometimes stay stuck looking 'at you' even after you left photo mode.
Fixed an issue where certain UI elements would sometimes stay visible while hiding the UI with a full-sized photo open.
Fixed a bug where you sometimes couldn't earn the currency reward for completing all of the Time objectives for a species.
Fixed a handful of other small bugs.
Demo Update -- 0.7.4
Update time!
Patch Notes for Demo 0.7.4:
New Stuff & Tweaks
Added an option to invert the X (horizontal) axis while using the photo camera.
There is now clear indication when a specific animal has (or hasn't) been photographed before.
Wildlife will now show indicators after they've spawned in, but are currently obscured or out of view, letting you know that they'll be in view shortly.
Right-clicking the photo camera now pulls up the 'camera help' window (in addition to the '?' icon in the upgrades menu).
You can now take the photo camera much lower to the ground, allowing for more dynamic angles.
Added additional indication that a 'Level Up' is ready (this continued to be a source of confusion for some players)
Reduced the default volume of the music & radio (of course, they can still be fully adjusted within the Options menu).
Bugfixes
The 'New' alerts on various objects and menus weren't properly persisting between levels.
Fixed a bug where the 'locked' icon on the XP bar wouldn't always show after reaching max level for the demo.
Demo Hotfix -- 0.7.3e
Tiny hotfix to take care of something I accidentally borked in the previous update!
Patch Notes for Demo 0.7.3e:
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue with the Photo Gallery being laggy when opening or deleting a photo.
Demo Update -- 0.7.3
Time for another update! This one's a little more substantial.
Patch Notes for Demo 0.7.3:
New Stuff & Tweaks
Added support for ultrawide resolutions-- note: anything wider than 32:9 isn't officially supported and will probably look weird, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Added 'Help' popups to various parts of the game, accessed via '?' buttons. The game is, by it's nature, somewhat vague in directing the player, so we thought that some of the mechanics could be more explicitly described in a (hopefully) unobtrusive way.
In the Savannah level, you can now click on the foreground trees to modify the scenery a bit.
The jigsaw puzzle now allows you to place pieces anywhere on the table without them snapping back to their previous positions (unless you place them in an 'out of bounds' area, like off of the table, or inside your tea... nobody likes soggy puzzle pieces).
The Level Up button now has more visual flair when a level up is pending. Some players were having trouble figuring out how to level up, so hopefully this makes it a bit more obvious.
Adjusted the 'right click' indicator icon to be a short animation that better shows that you can, in fact, right click on certain objects.
Removed right-click functionality from the laptop in the Lodge and set it's open/close function to left-click (this may end up changing for the full game).
Implemented additional SFX to various parts of the game.
Increased the camera's panning speed in Photo Mode.
Reduced the time the watering can will idle before returning to its original position.
Bugfixes
Fixed some issues with the camera being a little jumpy when close to an animal.
Fixed a bug where menus didn't properly transition when closing the 'demo complete' screen while doing a puzzle.
Smoothed out some small movement/animation issues with the wildlife.
The audio for the fire now properly tapers down as the fire slowly goes out over time.
Fixed an issue where Zebras would sometimes get stuck when trying to despawn.
Fixed an issue where stopping watering a plant right before it was full could make things bug out.
Demo Update -- 0.7.2
We've just pushed another small update for the demo with a handful of fixes and tweaks.
Patch Notes for Demo 0.7.2:
Changes
If you're launching the game for the first time, it will start in 'Fullscreen' mode by default. (This can be easily changed in the Options menu if you prefer Windowed mode.)
Added a new, more obvious 'Leave Puzzle' button, as the previous one could be slightly confusing.
'Task Complete' and 'Objective Complete' notifications now display how much XP you earned.
Slightly increased the speed of time passage.
After unlocking a new species, that species is guaranteed to show up the next time more wildlife spawns.
Zebras will check you out if you get too close with the camera.
Improved the anti-aliasing so things are a bit less smudgy in photo mode.
Bugfixes
Fixed an issue in photo mode where the camera could clip below the ground much too easily.
Fixed a bug where the main menu buttons wouldn't always transition in when a scene loads.
Fixed an issue where the grass could sometimes clip through UI menus.
Fixed a handful of other minor bugs that I forgot to write down.
Update & Patch Notes
We've just pushed a small update for the demo with a handful of fixes and tweaks.
Patch Notes for Demo 0.7.1:
Small environment optimizations.
Added a more prominent 'Close' button when any of the main menus are open.
ESC key now leaves any open menu.
Adjusted the timing of wildlife spawns so there's less time where no wildlife is present.
Adjusted pathfinding for the elephants, as they'd sometimes get a little confused.
Changed the direction that the first elephant spawns from, for better lighting conditions.
Increased XP earned for taking a photo.
Increased XP earned for watering plants.
Fixed hover effects for the lanterns.
Demo Release!
The demo is live!
It's been a long time coming, and while we're happy to finally have a demo out for you to play, there's still a lot we'd like to add! It's currently a very small slice of the game, and a great way to get a feel for the controls and camera mode. We're continuously working on music, sound design, game balance, and flow, so the demo may change as we continue to work on it over the coming weeks.
With that, we hope you enjoy the demo! If you have any feedback, don't hesitate to let us know in our discussion forum, and if you run into any bugs, we have a Bug Reports section as well. Your input is greatly appreciated!
