Item demonstration: "Not the eye of truth"
As I mentioned before blog, I am unable to work on this full time, but I will still finish this game, no matter what! Hopefully my economy will improve soon, so I can go back to working on this full time.
This time I am showing a new item. This item will pretty much let you reach places that were not there... what does that mean? Watch the video to find out.
Explanations, and impending price change
As some have pointed out, the game feels like it suffered from a premature release (not enough content, bugs, missing features like a simple options menu, etc.), and I have to completely agree, and now I am going to explain what happened.
Unfortunately, I am in a position where I can't talk much about it for various reasons, but I can talk about this in greater detail in the near future: on one hand, due to the way this portion of the game, currently available in Early Access, was funded and developed (keeping in minds those funds were maybe enough for a mobile game, but definitely not enough to make something as big as The Nightmare from Beyond), I found myself in a position where I was forced to release the game in the state it was in mid-2017. TBH, my plan was always to release the game in early access because I wanted to use players' input to get the horror+platforming aspects right, since most horror games are about walking and hiding in first person. However, my plan was to release it when it was more refined, completed, and bug-free, which was not the case.
On the other hand, if you've been reading these posts, then you have seen I've said how this is a one-person project, and that I always talk in "me, me, me" terms, and that it's never "we are doing this" or "we are changing that." Again, "due to the way this part of the game was funded and developed", at that time there was a team, but in April last year they all left the project as soon as funds were over.
(Hopefully you now understand how complex the situation is and why I can't talk freely about it)
So for the last year the game has been alive because I've continued development on my own, because I really love this game and I believe it can become something really cool when it's finished.
When, in previous blog posts, I've said that "I can't afford to work on this game full time anymore" it's because, it's because I've been living off my savings and money I make from my other game's sales (Enola), but late last year I reached a point where that's no longer sustainable. Now I spend a big chunk of my time working on other things, so I can make enough money to continue working on The Nightmare.
Why do I even tell you all of this? Simply because I think it's better to provide an actual explanation as to why the game was so incomplete when it was released, and why the development is going so slow.
So, here's the thing. After thinking about this since early-December, after getting input from players, (meaning, it's something I've been thinking about for a LONG time), I decided to decrease the price of the game while it's on Early Access. When I released the game, my idea was to simply keep the full price during the entire EA phase, but after listening to that input, I realized that was not the correct choice, and that's why I am doing this. Also, I decided to tell you about this change in advance because I didn't like the idea to simply make an "abrupt" price change.
This is the plan:
During the Early Access phase until the game hits beta, the new price will be $13.99
When the game hits beta (game can be played from start to finish but may still have bugs), I'll raise it to $16.99
When the game leaves early access, it will sell again at $19.99
What now? well, if you want to support the game with its current price, that's cool and you should get it now. However, if you want to wait until the price change, that's also cool. The price change will take place in companion of the next "big" update in late February or early March ("big" update meaning an update with a chunk of new content, so posting a small update with nothing but an options menu does not count as "big" update).
Thanks a lot for the support, and sorry for any inconveniences.