Update 1: Thanks and apologies

Hello!

First of all, if you are reading this, thank you! I am blown away by how much support this little prototype has gotten. Within the first week it had already been downloaded more times than all of my SFW jam games together have ever been downloaded, and I had gained almost twice as many followers as my SFW game jam account. Even though it was not rated so well in the game jam (and I reflected on Twitter whether joining the jam was appropriate), I am glad so many people are excited about a virtual reality transformation game.

I originally intended to continue development after the game jam had ended. I had fixes to make, features to finish, and feedback to incorporate. However, the same day the game jam judging had concluded, I learned that I had been laid off from my day job. I took this as a call to dedicate my time to finding a new, more fulfilling job, putting this and other projects aside until I found one. Unfortunately, nearly one year later, that has not happened. I am still jobless, and I let my focus drift to other personal projects. I am sorry.

I do still have plans for the next update. It will be small. I have upgraded the project from Unity 2019 to Unity 2020, and that seems to have gone without issue. With that upgrade, I was able to start switching the VR back-end from OpenVR to OpenXR. The new back-end will hopefully bring better platform compatibility, including platforms other than Windows, and a unified desktop and VR executable. I plan to replace the bespoke interaction system that I developed during the jam with Unity's system, which will likely be more stable and intuitive, but replacing all of the code will take some effort. I also have ideas for how to improve the skin and refraction shaders. This first update has no expected release date.

Later feature ideas include: more transformations; better environment and ambience; a no-puzzle free-play mode; a time limit, bad endings, and other difficulty modes; and a menu to disable certain transformations. At some point I would like to hire an artist to make better-looking transformations, but that will have to wait until I have the resources to pay them.

I have updated the project to be able to accept donations, though you are still welcome to skip to the download without paying (the donation pop-up annoys me when I am judging game jam entries, but the judging period has long passed by now). I may still consider disabling donations again, or requiring payments once the game is more complete, or opening a recurring donation system (e.g., Patreon).

I am open to comments and some feedback, for example on the funding model, or which features or fixes to prioritize. At some point I will open up a discussion forum for suggestions and ideas, but not until I know I can dedicate time and effort to fulfilling them.

Thank you for understanding.