- New Demo OUT NOW! - 28 May 2026
Hi all, Tom here! I have some fun news to share today! Not only is CRT7 taking part in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, but in honour of being selected I've also taken some time to update basically everything here on Steam! New Demo Released Today The biggest news is that we're releasing a big update to the demo today, for everyone to try. The previous one was not really representative of where the game was any more, so I'm excited to see people try this new one. All new features such as a hotspot system, and in-game note taking have been added! The graphics have been given a glow up! The puzzles and hints have been tweaked and adjusted to feel fairer! If you want to try it you can download the demo right now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2096780/CRT7/ New Trailer Released Since I've last updated the page I've been working on later parts of the game which are harder to share without…
- Demo Refresh Incoming! - 21 May 2026
Hi all, Tom here! Just a quick message today to let you know that the CRT7 demo has been temporarily removed from the Steam page... but I promise it's for a good reason! (Spoilers in the event title) Behind the scenes I've been working on later parts CRT7 when I've been able to, and this has led to me adding a bunch of cool things. Improved hotspot detection, in-game note taking, tweaked visuals, and improved early game flow to name just a few! To reflect this you might have noticed some updates to the Steam page recently, and there are a few more to come too. Unfortunately these updates also meant that the Steam demo was quite out of date... but that's something I can fix! As CRT7 will be in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase (May 28 - June 4) I thought it was about time to update the demo and release a refreshed version, specially for the occasion! Keep an eye out for more news about the im…
- Unity Security Update for the CRT7 Demo - 6 October 2025
Hi all, Tom here! Just a small one this week, related to the news about Unity this week. As you might have heard, a vulnerability was discovered in all versions of Unity (back to 2017!!) which has had... quite the impact for anyone using it! So, yeah, please be patient with all the game developers out there, this is going to be a rough couple of weeks for lots of people. Anyway, as you might know CRT7 is being developed in Unity, so I wanted to push the fix for this as soon as possible. While it seems quite rare and difficult to use, a vulnerability is a vulnerability and I'd rather patch it out if I can. Thankfully it was quite easy to do with the demo, so I've pushed a new version today which has the patch applied. Don't get too excited though, that's the only change... and all being well you shouldn't even notice it from your side! CRT7 development is continuing in the background, bu…
- August 2025 Development Update - 7 September 2025
Hi all, Tom here!I hope you've all had a good summer, and are looking forward to the upcoming spooky season. I'm always a big fan of Autumn, partly because it always seems the right time of year for escape rooms to me! Anyway, I've been pretty busy working on CRT7 the last couple of months, and we have quite a few things to go over today, so let's get started!Voices From StaticThe strange, haunting radio is now complete! All the puzzles are solvable, all the audio is in, and it all has subtitles! As you might know by now, accessibility is being included wherever I can in CRT7 because it is important to allow as many people as possible to play the games we make. The extra benefit of that approach, however, is that it also helps everyone playing. Subtitles can help anyone decypher what is being said, for example, and it links in really well with the next thing I'm going to talk about, too…
- June 2025 Development Update - 11 July 2025
Hi all, Tom here!If you've been following along for a little bit you might know this is the time of year when I get to spend more time digging into game development! Last update I also mentioned what I was going to get working on in June... and I'm happy to say I've made some good progress! Let's go through it together!Backwards and ForwardsFirst off the glowing phosphors paper puzzle sequence is now complete enough to move on. I'm sure I'll come back to it later and tweak some things when everything is in, but its fully solvable and feels good to play.Also, by popular demand I've reworked how the very first puzzle in the game works as people were finding it more difficult than intended. I've done a bunch of small and subtle updates here from slightly changing the flow of how you activate the mode, to changing when certain buttons appear and are active, but perhaps the most important is…
- CRT7 is in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase - 26 May 2025
Hi all, Tom here! I just wanted to let you know two main things today. First is that CRT7 (and SOLAS 128) will be in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase this year, happening from May 29th to June 5th! I'm always delighted and honoured to be invited to these events and for games I've worked on to appear alongside other incredible work going on in the puzzle community. CRT7 will have a demo live and ready to play in the showcase. If you've played it before don't expect anything new this time around, but if you didn't relaunch the demo after completing it, it might be worth returning as there is some post-demo stuff not very many people discovered! Perhaps even more excitingly (at least for me) is that after a hiatus forced by real life issues, I'm now back on CRT7 development! You might have seen I released a small game recently (*cough* Upfall *cough*) in order to get back into the routine. Tha…
- Upfall – A Free Game For The In Betweens - 12 May 2025
Hi all, Tom here! So... You might be wondering what is going on? This doesn't look like an escape room! Yeah, that's fair! Long story short: I was struggling while working on CRT7 and I needed a break. As you might have seen in my posts, last year wasn't great for me and I needed some time to sort myself out. However, after enjoying a local game jam event I decided I wanted to polish up what I'd made and release to maybe help me get my mojo back. Plus, let's be real: the world is pretty awful for a lot of people right now, and I thought it would be nice to give something back for free. No strings attached, no expectation of anything from you if you play it, just something out there for anyone who wants it. Don't worry, CRT7 is still coming, and I'll be back working on it again soon, hopefully with new found vigour! To that end Upfall will launch on Steam, totally utterly free, in just o…
- December Break Update - 19 December 2024
Hi all, Tom here! This is just a quick one today to say that there is no development update this month as it's time for the Amicable Animal Annual Shutdown! Or perhaps more accurately I should say I'm putting myself into sleep mode to hibernate for the rest of December? Whichever it is, the holiday season is upon me here, and after it has been such a long and difficult year, I'm turning off the CRT monitor for a little bit and taking some time away. I'm in a seasonal mood, however, so I wanted to share with you a cute little secret hidden within the mysterious monitor. Developers are human and get bored and distracted too, and so must have the main character of CRT7 when they made this: I hope you all have a great break if you're having one, and I'll see you again in 2025! (Wild!) Hopefully CRT7 will reboot refreshed and ready to explore more of the dark. Until then, take care of yourse…
- Autumnal 2024 Development Update - 25 November 2024
Hi all, Tom here! Sorry for being so quiet around here the last few months. As some of you know I (like many solo indie devs) have a day job in order to support making games like CRT7. Unfortunately, said day job has been rather hectic the last few months which has taken most of my development time. I'm hoping that in the new year I'll have significantly more time to work on pushing forwards into the depths of the dark and these posts will speed up again. The good news is, however, that it hasn't taken away all the time and there has been some progress! The Viridian Room The paper puzzle section I mentioned previously is now (mostly) finished for now! It's even been tested by some lovely paper puzzle experts and it is seemingly fun and interesting. There is just one puzzle left that needs redesigning to finish this stage up. Alongside that, there have been large changes to the visuals a…
- July/August 2024 Development Update - 2 September 2024
Hi all, Tom here! As they say: no good deed goes unpunished – and shortly after my previous development update I sadly ended up getting a couple of pretty nasty respiratory infections that knocked me out. Long story short, I was isolating most of July and early August, so work on CRT7 had to stop for a little while for me to rest up. The good news is I'm mostly better now, and starting to get my strength back... so you know what that means, I'm back to making puzzles! The Phosphors Are Still Glowing One small advantage of the pause was that it gave me a some time to think about puzzle design, in particular the puzzle I had to stop midway through making: the viridian glowing monitor that appears in one of the side rooms. I was struggling a little with the design because, while I loved the paper puzzle style inspiration, I wasn't quite sure how to make it link into the rest of the game in…
- June 2024 Development Update - 30 June 2024
Hi all, Tom here! So it finally happened - I finally got some actual proper time to work on the next section of CRT7 and I don't mind telling you it was flipping awesome to get back to it! Motivated by the huge increase of wishlists the game received during the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase, I got a lot done! Let's talk about it a little, shall we? Returning to the Basement The first important part is that the next Staff Door code sequence has been (mostly) completed! Players can find all the information they need around the room, solve a new type of puzzle, and open the impossible door again. There are two entirely new books (available in both printed and handwritten style) to pour through, and more devices to interact with. Which reminds me: The design of CRT7 is one where the room you are in slowly unlocks, with more devices, surprises, and interactions between everything becoming apparen…
- May 2024 Development Update - 3 June 2024
Hi all, Tom here! This has been a bit of an odd month, thanks to being in the Puzzle Showcase, so let's debrief... More Visibility of the Dark First off, a special hello to all the new wishlisters joining us! The Cerebral Puzzle Showcase was excellent for CRT7 this year, and there is over 1,200 new people here to explore the dark. If you didn't know, I'm Tom and I'm the solo (ish) developing the game in my spare time. You also might have seen that The Escape Roomer gave CRT7 a lovely little preview as well: “I really, really enjoyed playing CRT7 and cannot wait for it’s full release. It’s part escape room, part detective game, part procedural music game and part Y2K retro goodness.” As you might imagine, preparing for the showcase took up much of the month as I was polishing and fixing up the demo to get it ready! It did, however, act as a really good test of the the new systems, like t…
- New CRT7 Demo OUT NOW! - 23 May 2024
Hi all, Tom here! It is once again Cerebral Puzzle Showcase time, and the new CRT7 Demo is officially OUT NOW! If you see Demo 0.18c or greater on the entry door or credits menu, you've got the updated version! Be aware it will reset your demo save file, however. This demo update comes with a bunch of improvements from the initial launch, some entirely new: NEW: You can rebind the mouse clicks (and hotspot button)! NEW: You can show possible in game hotspots/places you can click with TAB NEW: The text message interface is massively improved NEW: Change the size of the cursor if you struggle to see it, or it is too big for you NEW: Extra/improved settings menus in the phone, including the ability to save whenever you want NEW: Improved intro and outro for the game! NEW: Improved subtitling system that remains in sync better when the game in out of focus NEW: Improved intro and outro beha…
- CRT7 in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase - New Demo Incoming! - 20 May 2024
Hi all, Tom here! A little extra post today to let you know that CRT7 (and SOLAS 128) will be back in the Cerebral Puzzle Showcase this year, happening from May 23rd to May 30th! CRT7 needs more development time before I can reveal all its secrets, but I've worked hard to make an updated demo for the event! It will launch at 9am BST on the 23rd! If you see Demo 0.18 on the entry door or credits menu, you've got the updated version. This update focuses on improving quality of life issues, accessibility, and the intro and outro of the demo so it's a great time to try if you haven't already. It premieres the all new hotspot highlighting system, improved in game menus and text message interface, input rebinding, cursor resizing and more! Be aware that it will reset your progress if you've played before, however. I really hope you enjoy it and consider dropping a wishlist so you can be notif…
- April 2024 Development Update - 29 April 2024
Hi all, Tom here! So, I managed to actually take some time off in April to recharge, relax, and play some games. It was very much needed, but that doesn't mean I wasn't able to get some fun things working for CRT7! Colourful Haunted Doors So last dev diary I told you I was working on a new section of the game, involving some very haunted doors. I'm glad to report that section is now playable from start to finish! Of course, because I can't help myself, it's become a little more complicated than I originally planned. It now has a couple of small, satisfying little puzzles to work out which will help tie this section better into the themes of CRT7, so I think it was worth it. Also, it's gotten a little bit more colourful: (I've also tweaked the round tables you occasionally see as it was upsetting me how pointy they were!) Anyway, once this section is completed you can continue with your…
- March 2024 Development Update - 1 April 2024
Hi all, Tom here! Life is still unfortunately happening me a lot more than I'd like, but I have gotten some time to work more on CRT7 this month. In particular, I'm working on what happens in the game after the segment in the demo! Haunted Doors Most of CRT7 will take place in the same room, but that doesn't mean things won't change in that dark basement... in fact, things aren't quite right with space and time down there, as you might have already seen in the demo. Rooms seem to come and go, and doors hold strange powers. It's this theme that I was playing with this month, as I got a new fun effect working: layering transparent videos into the scene. That allows me to do things like this... After all, you've heard that the walls have ears, it's only fair that the doors get in on the party too... Jokes aside, I've nearly finished mocking up a sequence that will link the end of the demo…
- February 2024 Development Update - 26 February 2024
Hi all, Tom here! First off, I'm sorry it's been a little quiet around here. I've mentioned before how real life has been busy and getting in the way. The joys of making a game as a solo part-time developer! I really appreciate you all for sticking around thought, so I've decided to be a little more regular with my updates. From today, I'm going to try and post (at least) a monthly development update to keep you all up to date on the progress of CRT7. So... what about February? Well, I've finally had a little time to get back to working on CRT7, and I've taken aim at a couple of things I've been wanting to work on for a while... Get yourself a cup of tea and settle in, these posts will be a little longer than my previous ones! Obviously beware of at least minor spoilers too... Reading Your Messages First, almost all players I've seen have attempted to read more text messages on the phon…
- A CRT7 Christmas Message - 19 December 2023
Hi all, Tom here! As mentioned in my previous news post my life has been pretty hectic over the last few months, so I've not had much time to work on CRT7. The good news is, however, that in the new year I'll actually have some time to get working on it again! I can't wait to show you what other puzzles any mysteries I've got up my sleeve to expand on the little world I'm creating here. Seriously, I'm really looking forward to seeing how you react to some of the surprises. To get me back in the groove, I thought I'd work on something small and festive before the holidays, and well... here it is: People of a certain age will probably realise this is inspired by old DOS applications which often had festive games or animations in them if you played them at a certain time of year. It felt very much like the sort of thing that would fit into CRT7! This won't be in the demo, but you can expec…
- What Next For CRT7? - 2 October 2023
Hi all, Tom here! I just wanted to give you a quick update about what is going on with CRT7 as I've been a little quiet after getting the demo out. Also some quite public stuff has happened with Unity (the engine I use) since then. First off, the TL;DR is that if you tried out the demo: thank you so much! I've loved seeing people playing it. Don't worry – I'm still making CRT7 it is just always bit slower at this time of year. If you want more details, read on... As some of you might know, CRT7 is being made by a core team of one (hi!), with occasional outsourcing/help from awesomely talented friends. Not only that, but I have a day job which varies in how busy it is across the year. What that means is twofold: I get to make more interesting/personal/weird games for you lot (which I love), but it means some times I have less time/energy to develop CRT7. But the important parts are: I'm…
- Minor Demo Update: Version 0.17f - 22 August 2023
Hi all, Tom here! Just a quick message to say I've pushed a new build of the Demo today - Demo Version 0.17f. You can check the version number in the credits section of your phone. This version contains a few small visual/information tweaks as requested by players. New: There is now a small, non-tile-based cursor when you are playing Potential and Kinematic mode on the computer. This is to help you know whether your cursor is near the edge of the tile, in case you move the mouse slightly as you click, and miss stamping the pentomino where you want it! Tweak: Updated how the stats screen shows scores - especially when you get into the millions. Instead of showing '1M' it will now show '1.23M' for example. Tweak: Updated the stats screen to have hover text for all the row/column titles, to make it a bit clearer what they all mean. Look in the bottom right of the screen to see it! Tweak: U…
