The judging is in and the results are..... better than I expected!

The judges response was roughly in line with the feedback with what everyone else was saying, so there were no real surprises there at least.  Not much to say other than this was a fun experience and I'm happy with the results.

As for what comes next:

We've been working on the next version. This first update isn't going to get any map or layout changes, and instead we're focusing on incorporating feedback, polishing a few of the base mechanics, and generally cleaning up what currently exists.

So far, stuff that's definitely in the next version:

• New camera system. Three different modes you can cycle between: Zoomed in and following the player, Zoomed out and following the player, and a "room focused" view that's similar to the current camera. That last one needs a bit more time in the oven. It will be in the next version, but will still need some polishing and possible reworking.
• Added outlines to things when they're interactable. Now it should be more obvious what exactly you're interacting with.
• Doors that require vials to open now are color coded to what color vial they need.
• You can now take screenshots with the F12 key!

A lot more will be added, but that's just the stuff we have finished so far. There's also code refactoring happening in the background as well to clean up how the systems work.

The current approximate roadmap:

1. Finish polish/refactor pass on the game.
2. Rework the tutorial.
3. Start expanding the game.

Broadly speaking, the plan is to keep the "Demo" version of the game on itch.io. It will consist of the entire (new) tutorial + any improvements that get added to the full game. Unless something prevents it, we're going to keep the itch.io demo in WebGL so that it's playable in the browser. Once the game starts looking more like a game rather than just a 5-10 minute demo, we'll make a Steam page for the game. No clue if we'll do an early access for the game yet.

Will keep everyone updated on the progress!