Hello. 

The past few weeks have been… a lot, so progress here was slower and more fragmented than usual. (Main work, life stuff, got sick...)
That said—things still moved, just in a slightly different (and honestly healthier) direction.

What I’ve Been Working On

Even with reduced energy, I managed to push the project forward in some important ways:

• Began structuring the castle. Directly into the level, so the game space finally represents what the full experience should contain.

• Adjusted the controller setup so the game is now properly testable (small step, big quality-of-life improvement).

• Rethought the main character’s identity:

  • The protagonist is now a young person, who recently moved in with their parents.

  • I decided for this, so first thing is a strong character setting i love, and can relate to, to really feel it, knowing i can deliver the experience. Then the intricate stroy. I knew i really wanted to do the hause and everything around, but were not sure what would be the best way to tell the story and mood. Now i know, not changing og idea but enforcing the experience

• Continued designing the main character and key parts of the house.

• Implemented parallax background functionality to support better visuals later. (placeholder visuals)

• Edited sizes of everything to get concrete set of performant textures and sorted all psds. Making it coherent. Did set camera and character size a bit differently, to fit desired more dynamic and enviro-interactive play style.

• Cleaned up my wiki structure, utilitizing big studio setups, but modified for myself - splitting it into:

  • Direction (what the game is)

  • Workflows (how it’s made)
    Keeping it simple and usable.

• Set up my laptop with my old Wacom tablet so I can work outside.
  (Wacom stopped supporting it, and third-party driver installation was… painful, but successful)

• Bought a pen for my Samsung tablet, which finally makes it possible to draw anytime, anywhere.

(Lost it months ago, so happy about this. Especially for christmas.)

A Necessary Slowdown (That Turned Into an Upgrade)

I’m treating these past ~two runs as a intentional tone-down in workload.

Not just to recover or do other life things including holidays—but to think about this as a complete project:

• What is its core?

• Who is the main character, really?

• What does the player feel like they’re doing?

Thoughts about main character helped a lot, and the story now has a stronger hook:
a kid exploring their home after everyone has gone to sleep. Even if not kid at the end, the child-like wonder and playfullness is definitelly what i want to embrace.

Stepping back was genuinely a good decision.
These were high-level changes, and I’m writing them down now to close this chapter properly.

Updated concept:

What’s Next

Now, christmass is at door, i will take some time with my family, and I’ll likely still draw casually on the tablet—no pressure, just vibes. Happy to have it working. Between holidais, i will do some work on setting levels. 

Then i will start another "official" sprint 5.1.2026. The focus then, will be on:

• Atmosphere and experience goal should be concrete, so actual art assets.

• At the same time, making the game playable and cohesive, implementing the core mechanics - "Time Loop", Interactions, Really Fun controller

That’s it for now.
This pause feels earned—and necessary.

Wishing you and yours Merry Christmass, and strong health, joy, peace, and happiness to New Year!

More soon.