Photographer here. I've followed this game for quite some time and also tried the demo a while ago. It's a well-thought-out photography simulator, but I can't quite recommend it due to the environments.

The game has a lot of bloom, which makes it a little hard to photograph certain subjects. I struggle to find good subjects that appear natural, which limits my freedom with camera settings. Whenever I try to find something to photograph, it can be difficult to make it look "nice" since the game already feels very filtered. I could overlook this if there were built-in photo editing, but as it stands, the photography mechanic feels like “manual, but actually auto.” I wish there were a setting in the game that allowed you to adjust the environment's hue. There's a filter option in the camera setting, but can only be viewed in the camera's viewfinder.

I didn’t get far into the game, but the Australia environment is a prime example of this. The sand feels too orange, the water too blue, and the shadows are too dark—lots of detail gets lost in the shadows and highlights. I often have to rely on heavy filtering, trying to "undo" a lot of the saturation that's already cemented into the environments. This is an example of the filter issue that I'm talking about. The body of water does not match the sky.

In addition to the color saturation, the earlier environments' skyboxes feel very plain. The skies all look like one solid color, with no clouds, and occasionally, there are birds. The lack of detail in the sky detracts from my ability to take scenic images of the environment. An ability to change the skybox, weather, or time of day, is locked behind god mode, and is a feature that must be unlocked.

Levels are locked from the start, encouraging exploration for hidden objects. While I understand this extends gameplay time, I often find myself focusing on a scavenger hunt for items rather than the primary focus of the game: photography. This is fine, but I wish a few more levels were available at the start. I do like that some locations have pre-photographed scenes that you have to find. It would be great if there were a journal or something similar so I could look back at the photos I’ve taken, rather than just going to a pic of these subjects from the camera roll in-game.

I left the Discord after seeing the developer get defensive over negative feedback. I understand how easy it is to focus on negative feedback over the positive, but saying things like "man you suck" and "don't tank my review score" doesn't come across as professional.

Edit: Spelling

Photographer here. I've followed this game for quite some time and also tried the demo a while ago. It's a well-thought-out photography simulator, but I can't quite recommend it due to the environments. The game has a lot of bloom, which makes it a little hard to photograph certain subjects. I struggle to find good subjects that appear natural, which limits my freedom with camera settings. Whenever I try to find something to photograph, it can be difficult to make it look "nice" since the game already feels very filtered. I could overlook this if there were built-in photo editing, but as it stands, the photography mechanic feels like “manual, but actually auto.” I wish there were a setting in the game that allowed you to adjust the environment's hue. There's a filter option in the camera setting, but can only be viewed in the camera's viewfinder. I didn’t get far into the game, but the Australia environment is a prime example of this. The sand feels too orange, the water too blue, and the shadows are too dark—lots of detail gets lost in the shadows and highlights. I often have to rely on heavy filtering, trying to "undo" a lot of the saturation that's already cemented into the environments. [url=https://youtu.be/GueMly5iVrc?t=1984]This is an example of the filter issue that I'm talking about.[/url] The body of water does not match the sky. In addition to the color saturation, the earlier environments' skyboxes feel very plain. The skies all look like one solid color, with no clouds, and occasionally, there are birds. The lack of detail in the sky detracts from my ability to take scenic images of the environment. An ability to change the skybox, weather, or time of day, is locked behind god mode, and is a feature that must be unlocked. Levels are locked from the start, encouraging exploration for hidden objects. While I understand this extends gameplay time, I often find myself focusing on a scavenger hunt for items rather than the primary focus of the game: photography. This is fine, but I wish a few more levels were available at the start. I do like that some locations have pre-photographed scenes that you have to find. It would be great if there were a journal or something similar so I could look back at the photos I’ve taken, rather than just going to a pic of these subjects from the camera roll in-game. I left the Discord after seeing the developer get defensive over negative feedback. I understand how easy it is to focus on negative feedback over the positive, but saying things like "man you suck" and "don't tank my review score" doesn't come across as professional. Edit: Spelling