Hey everyone and welcome back! 

It's finally time for an update - a major one at that. 

It is hard to overstate just how much has changed, been added, improved and overhauled since the demo for this game released in december. What used to be a limited, unstable demo version is now an actual game that you can play, right now. 

Maybe you have played the demo or you're just interested in knowing what has changed. It's not even everything, but here's the gist of it:

• Objects and interactivity: A ton of new objects have been added to the apartment, giving you ample more opportunity to interact with the world. Also most objects that had already been there before now give you even more to do with them, either through more stages of progression or through alternate means of interaction (for example you can sit in the chairs now).
• Unlocks and customization: In tandem with these objects, the player will now progressively unlock customization options like different mugs and clothes that they can try on and relax with during the game. 
  
• Graphical Overhaul: It is also hard to overstate just how much the graphics have improved - on all fronts. 
  • Animations: The game now features animations for different player actions, such as drinking from their cup, sitting down in one of the two chairs in the world or even doing both at the same time.
  • Sprites: to support all this new customization goodness, of course a whole bunch of sprites have had to be added to the game including mugs, cassettes and clothes (both as items and worn). Same goes for all the new and remaining, updated objects. 
    
  • UI:
    • Player and "Found" Dialog: Dialog boxes now have their own identity with a custom made, scaling sprite and a cute new font that fits the rest of the game's artstyle.
    • Tea Menu: The tea menu has been widely improved, with new sprites, animations, ingredient tags and a complete animated brewing sequence. 
    • Radio: You can now interact with the radio to choose which song to play. The radio features several buttons for you to play around with, like play, stop, next, prev, volume controls and even a playlist setting.
    • Clothing / Mug Menu: There are menus allowing you to cycle through your unlocked customization options. Kinda comes with the territory of implementing something like that, but hey, it's still worth the mention I think. 
  • World: The ghost's flat has been expanded and given a lot more life. Both inside the apartment and on the balcony a ton has changed and there is just SO much more to see now.  
• Name and identity: The game has a name now! Since the demo I had been unsure what to call this experience, but after quite some deliberation it is settled now. Hello and welcome to "Feeling Blue", the cozy, cutesy, somewhat melancholic game about a blue ghost and his desire for tranquility and rest.
• Progression overhaul: The progression system has been overhauled and relaxed. Where before it was more of a puzzle game, forcing the player to find the right combinations of tea to progress, now you are allowed to experiment with different recipes and be rewarded all the same. This turns the tea brewing from a stressful chore into a relaxing minigame.
  • Levelling: This change also implies a switch-up in structure. Now instead of being gatekept by your unlocked ingredients, you will now simply level up as you play through the game, unlocking more and more interaction quite organically. There is no way to softlock yourself anymore and progression just happens along the way instead of having to be forced.
• Tea and recipes: As mentioned, the tea and energy system have been overhauled, but there are also a bunch of new recipes now. Where before a lot of combinations would result in a "dummy name", now each recipe has its own identity, even if it is only a name.
  
• Saving and Loading: Yeah, you can save your progress now and return at any time.
  
• Story and dialog: The game's narrative has been expanded and refined so it results in a coherent and satisfying story. A whole lot of new, contextual dialog and simple dialog for interacting with the world has been added.
• Main Menu: The game now features a main menu with an options menu, allowing you to toggle fullscreen and change the game volume. It also features custom background art by the wildly talented Evelyn Zaglas. It's still a work in progress at the moment, but I hope it speaks for itself. 
• Music:  Can't really take credit for this one, but more music has been added too. Feeling Blue still features the amazing Petter "Peppsen" Sumelius and his music from the Rimworld mod P-Music. Right now, there's a whole 5 new songs and more are planned.
• Tutorialization: Some people had trouble understanding how the game worked on a foundational, interactive level. So now there's built-in tutorialization that should A) help you navigate through the game unhindered and at your pace and B) should still not break immersion as it's built into the game world. 
• Credits: there's an actual credit sequence now, maybe even with a little surprise.

Known Issues with this release

• Deleting your progress may crash the game.
• Not all clothing sprites have been implemented for sitting, so it defaults to the first unlocked piece of clothing.
• The tea menu is not intuitive enough yet. To brew, select three ingredients and click the large cup on the bottom left. 

Sounds like a lot? Well, it was. But more is already on the way. The next release will feature a whole bunch of quality of life changes based on your feedback, as well as even more content, and more art for the game. Cannot wait for the next step in this journey. 

Thanks for being here, see you soon!

Joseph
Maelstrom Games