First and foremost, to those still keeping tabs on the game, thank you so much for your patience. You have absolutely no idea how much I appreciate it. To those seeing this game for the first time, welcome! It's going to be a wild ride, I assure you.

As of right now, sign-up's to get free access into playtesting for the game are now available. However here are a few details to keep in mind before signing up. I want to make sure everyone's as informed as possible as to what's going on here.

Music and Sound FX
Music and sound fx licenses are expensive, so bare in mind that as of now, there's a limited amount of music in-game. This WILL be expanded on, so don't fret if you're afraid the same exact song playing on repeat is getting annoying. As far as sound goes, there's a strong likelihood that throughout this playtest, almost all the sounds will (eventually) be replaced. That's not to say the current sounds are bad, per say... but they're a random assortment of placeholders fetched from... well, around and the arduous task of trying to track down each individual artist for proper credit is one I'd pay not to have to do. Literally.

Workshop Functionality
Because of the nature of the way Steam handle's playtesting, it's very likely the Workshop functionality might be a bit... funky at first. I promise to iron these issues out before too long though. Just something to keep in mind. Also the workshop for this version of the game might not be properly set-up, so we'll play that one by ear. ːsenpaiː

The vast majority of the game is actually finished, with a few exceptions.
| First, leaderboard functionality is still in a state of flux as there's a lot of work under the hood that will need to be evaluated and decisions made on how to handle this in the final release. Mainly because once the game is released, the hope is that I'll never need to do anything that would risk a leaderboard reset. So getting this down properly is very important.
| Second, as of the time of writing this post, there are 10 sections (5 levels each) for a total of 50 levels. The final amount will ideally hit 100+ levels but we're keeping expectations reasonable here. The last thing I want to do is create repetitious levels with mechanics that overstay their welcome. I'd rather have a slightly shorter game with more unique and fun levels than an excessively long game with too much filler.
| Third, there will almost certainly be bugs. Especially with sounds. As development progressed over such a long period of time, I've discovered better and more efficient ways of handling sound effects but alas, there's still a lot of legacy code operating a lot of sounds effects. These issues will solve themselves as everything is transitioned over to the new standard.
| Finally, controller support is not ready for prime-time, but you're welcome to experiment. When originally developing the game, there was a major focus on the Steam Controller API and unfortunately that functionality was a tad too ambitious to try and pull off full-stop. I'm willing to revisit it at a later time, probably after release, but as of now, there's a weird hybrid of stuff that will and will not work properly with controller because a lot of the Steam Controller API hooks were removed and replaced with more traditional DirectInput methods.

Expectations. Let's set some straight.
Unlike the original internal closed testing which was made available a while back via the original developer blog, signing up for the playtest via Steam will not grant a free copy of the game and you may not have full access to the game at all times. I'll be sure to communicate what's going on though.

While playtesting the game, I'll try to keep in-touch as much as possible with the best place to post suggestions, feedback, and issues being the Community Hub.

Initial Test Focus
The primary focus in the first batch of testing, in addition to bug reports and general feedback, will be in the level progression. As it stands, there's a very limited amount of internal feedback on the level difficulty curve. If things get too hard too quickly, this isn't intentional. It's a byproduct of internal testers getting too good at the game to have an unbiased opinion on just how tricky levels are. That's where you come in!

Naturally I'll be more than happy to answer any questions about in-game mechanics and whether or not behavior is a bug or working as intended. This is going to be a tricky process with most feedback directed towards whether or not certain mechanics are introduced properly. There is not nor will there ever be any sort of formal tutorial or text describing how things work, primarily because I've never once played a game where that part of the game was ever fun. So most mechanics are designed to be simple, consistent, and easy to pick up on. The core challenge isn't so much learning how things work but learning how various mechanics play off each other to solve puzzles.

Leaderboard Functionality
Leaderboards may be periodically wiped throughout playtesting but I'll be sure to post announcements for when these will occur. As for why a wipe might be necessary, there are two main reasons. First, none of the levels are set in stone and could change. Naturally if a level is substantially changed, leaderboard scores may become impossible to beat. Second, as mentioned earlier, under the hood, leaderboards are still being polished and refined, so any changes that could break current functionality could result in an unintentional wipe. Mainly because level identity could change and access to previous leaderboards might be lost.

Settings
As of right now, the only graphical settings available are a change in resolution. A lot of under the hood hooks towards various graphics are being built based around both feedback and internal tests to gauge which graphical effects are most demanding and what can be done to offer options for disabling them. The vast majority of graphical settings will not necessarily be for taste but performance, so baring exceptional backlash towards certain visuals, graphic settings will be for performance only.

Music and sound effect settings are available both separately and a main volume slider to control both.

Input settings are not available in any fashion because of original intentions to have the Steam Controller API handle all of that. These will be added as time goes on, however.

Closing Statement
It's been a very long, at times quite painful journey to get this game in a state where I'm ready to start letting it loose to the wild. We've still got a long way to go, this game and I, but I'm optimistic that with the help of those willing to stand by me, we can truly make this the best game it can possibly be.

Thanks for being awesome! <3
- Brandon Cassata (SilverAura) ːorbitalː