That looks good, but no idea how to do that. I don't manually shade with grey. It's just automatically done for shadows in the lighting system. I could probably change the color of the light source, which would change the color of the shadows. But it'd be global.

Haha, yes there is no changing this. Penguins and walruses are just baba and keke; abstract characters for puzzles. They actually used to just be shapes (below). However the change in theming did inspire a lot of interesting ideas, particularly with launching.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXrL...

Very true! Revenue is a priority so I can (dreaming here) "retire" and do this full time. But making something that I like is an even bigger priority, and for better or worse, that's puzzle games

This is interesting. Could you ELI5 (explain like I'm 5) for me?

Having said all of this, man I really wish I could just focus on puzzle design. All of this work is so daunting!

5) Things like more/better music and better sound effects are on the list, but their importance pales in comparison to the visuals.

4) Better 3D models and textures, particularly for the animals. Not sure what "better" means here. Also, this would only be subtle (but noticeable) changes because I do not want a full redesign after launch.

3) The trailer(s) need improvement. I really don't know how to show what the game is *really* about because spoilers (and it would be hard to convey). And if I just show what the game is about on-the-surface, then it poorly misrepresents the game. So probably not gonna touch it unless I get ideas.

2) The Steam capsule isn't great. I spent basically all of my budget commissioning this, so it feels bad to change. But I wonder if it could show off the nested world system, perhaps inspired by the Patrick Parabox capsule.

1) The screens are too static. I'm wondering if I could add some things like:
- moving fog in the background (over the water)
- slowly drifting cloud reflections
- slowly drifting shadows based on slight light source movements
- snow, or other biome specific particles

"I use Kelvin though!"

Hmm, Vault and the first room you get portals are very far apart in progression, so I'll just wait until you can confirm the level names before saying anything. Best of luck! 🐧

I'm curious: which ones? The game doesn't shy away from putting hard optional puzzles in the early game

Happy birthday!