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To be honest my thoughts are currently uncertain but considering the subject matter my games cover even just from a More "Veiled" perspective I'm currently considering abandoning any pretense of censoring my work Beyond the absolute Darkest of the content in my earlier drafts and since itch clearly isn't a safe space anymore at least , I honestly don't know how I will actually spread word about my game , it honestly feels like almost 5 years of life life have just been executed like a sick puppy behind a barn, I just have to hope the fact that my game isn't all darkness and is more dichotomous allows me to use its light side to gain some level of traction, and worst case scenario I can just Censor the old fashioned way with black Cubes like I'm already doing for some of the Gore scenes (which is also simultaneously because of physical material in the characters eyes limiting their vision preventing them from seeing just how Gorey the scene before them is ( chapter 15 Lucius (one of the 4 protagonists) gets kidnapped(Drugged at an Event tied to the cult which he'd  Managed to secure an invitation To and was their to gather evidence of the cults activities and more Specifically Trying to Find someone Who went missing after being invited to one of the cults parties) by a cult that aims to Sacrifice his Organs to cleanse Him of his "Sins" Using the Rich Magic and Altered Laws of reality within phantasia Zones to Substitute the organs functions with the final step being the Cleansing of the brain(Brainwashing through torture symbolism) of course he's able to escape and with his magical talent reconstruct his Removed organs but that doesn't mean he wasn't the only one chained up having their organs removed in that Building (and it also doesn't make the experience any less traumatic))

That is literally my core design Philosophy put into words and even then id Toned down My Designs to try to make it "Acceptable" for Console release/the "general public",  because the impact I want my games to have was meant to be a look at where we are right now and to Stop ignoring the literal daily tragedies that are Happening and being ignored, and yet in the time its taken to get even chapter 1 of 36 developed (Im stuck in prototyping hell trying to get all the mechanical systems together) its gotten to the point that I'd Straight up rather live in what was meant to a Dystopian Parallel to the present/Recent past then reality because at least theirs actually Hope in my setting unlike reality, 

Several threats in my narrative are meant to straight up reflect real world issues, for example the Ice Demons from the North (Artic) of act 2 and 3 are meant to be a Representation of those who've allowed their Will and Compassion/Emotions to Be Completely subsumed by another becoming a near Mindless army for one of the Cults of personality (theirs also the multiple actual cults to really hit home the Cult of personality thing since everyone in these circles can only view things as on their side or against them) who's sole Drive is To Absorb the Heat energy of Others (to try and replace the heart/soul they've lost though only recognise its absence unconsciously) converting them into ice demons as WW3 simultaneously is starting the ice Demons quickly becoming the Threat to the world targets with the nukes Only For the Nuclear Fire To literally end up doing nothing as the ice demons just absorb all the heat energy contained their in, and that first nukes firing happens on Christmas Eve to show that No Day or Night is sacred anymore. 

And that's on the More grand end of the design on the lower end we have the abuse that's happening every day in plain sight or just out of sight even at the familial level that's being ignored (not so fun fact the global average for child abuse rates(just Reported cases not the even larger number that goes unreported) is around 1 in 4 (25%), yeah almost a quarter of all kids are Abused in some form, My art I Want to resonate with them to help them find hope and believe help exists, Because art is Supposed to Disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.

Sorry for the long rant whenever I begin talking about my big project I kinda just lose the ability to stop myself from talking about it till i reach an end of topic.

Unfortunately we didn't manage to get the actual opening level to work, and were stuck with just the test level(to test movement with not much else), as the deadline passed because of complications with one programmer being absent(known unavailability because of how time works when working with multiple people around the globe) and the other was struggling to get his head around the extension the first programmer did a lot of things in.

ultimately we had a plan for their be more Mechanics like hiding in the dark, which we had functional outside of the test level, but actually bringing it all together we didn't get everything done, and we had a functional build with at least the opening and ending of chapter one functional(a dialogue scene and the opening comic which has no dialogue and Is meant to set the situation) (even if the Actual substantial gameplay wasn't fully designed(the level was a general concept of structure rather then any set in stone platforming design (fallbacks of not having a level designer)  but were 9 minutes past the deadline (narrative Design/Concept Design)

In summation, whilst we had a concrete idea relatively early the actual implementation and progress on combining everything into a final product were hampered by multiple factors including the fact of that each member of the team are in completely different countries ranging from Australia, to Europe, to America ECT 

Whilst having a dedicated narrative person, audio person and artist for the team I'd say was good the team I'd also argue that it further complicated things since 3 out of the 5 team members lacked experience within the engine and 2 lacked in engine experience in general (I myself (narrative) have Decent enough knowledge of unreal, that I can at least get basic Mechanics functional in it but Godot was like being at the center of A Maze With the Map of Completely different maze to guide me mazes being engines in this metaphor).

I myself wish that I'd spent more time trying to things in engine as sure coming up with ideas is good and all but I personally value execution above that and with even simple things like the background not working even if we had aimed for 3 levels and then cut to 2 then 1 in the end we didn't even manage to get that single level implemented (though Unironically I have actually gone and concepted out a further 9 levels with the idea that each level takes around 20 minutes at most to beat ultimately I feel like if we had just another day we could of managed to get to at least a fully implemented  even if very rough level.

To sum up the concept in summation since how the theme was used wasn't in the submission we ultimately made,  the Light is Dangerous as it reveals all Secrets and Exposes you to enemies so you need to hide in the shadows for your safety (the plan was for 3 portions one to increase your speed and slow down enemies, one to create platforms (and create darkness) and one to destroy platforms(and open new pathways) ultimately as we submitted it I agree with the rating of 1(non-existent) for the theme I just wish we didn't have personal events come up across more then half the team members that really slowed progress but I am still happy with the work the artist of the team did along with the sound designer