- State of the Lab 3/5/2026 - 6 March 2026
So long story short, due to my lack of experience I have decided it would be best delay this game into late 2027 or early 2028, release a smaller scoped project to gain some crucial experience, and finish The Reflex Lab and move on the next story with the Evil Alien because boy, do I have plans for that green guy. There it is, the short version. Now for the long version. I was very determined to release this game by October 20th, 2025. At that time the game was completely different than it was today. I was making it with the goal of just making the 100 dollars back so I can pay for my next game. Then about 3 or so weeks before the NextFest Event, I believe it started October 12th, I ended up having a medical issue which prevented me from being able to sit down and finish that version of my game and I ended up releasing what I could as a demo. Long story short I got about another 40-50 w…
- State of the Lab: 12/1/2025 - 2 December 2025
Hello there my fragile humans! Today I finally updated my steam page to included some of the new artwork I have been putting into the game. If this was how my game looked back in October during next fest I am sure I would have gained a few more whishlist. Jokes aside (It is very true the game was pretty ugly) I have been hard at work updating and fixing graphical assets throughout the game, the biggest of them all being the player sprite. The old ones were very blocky and basic, but I think they had character. I will definitely have to use these block heads somewhere in the future. While the new ones lack 3 skin tones, I feel as if vampire pale and slightly less vampire pale wasn't quite necessary. Though I am a major proponent of player freedom in video games so perhaps if I have the time I will expand the skin tone pallet back up for variations sake. Now for some more disappointing ne…
- The New and Improved Evil Alien! (and his cousin) - 29 November 2025
I have been hard at work on my new 'Evil Alien' sprites the past couple of days. I am very happy with the new result and not only is he wayyyy more detailed then before but now he has legs! I am going to take this moment to share with you the history and the evolution of the Evil Alien:This is version 1.0 of my little buddy. He was just a quick doodle I made when I bored, though he alone turn 'The Reflex Lab" into what it is today. Now at 2,0, we evolved from some random doodle to a proper looking alien, though he still lacked any legs and only floated around in his space shipNow we have what is more than likely the final version of our favorite evil alien. He now features some shading (which I suck at), actual legs, clothes, 2, yes you heard that right, 2 sprites for static and walking and a blue suit uniform that he stole. I am very excited to showcase the new state of the lab later t…
- State of the Lab: 11/18/2025 - 18 November 2025
With November 20th quickly approaching it would appear that I will not have the next version of the demo finished in time. The game went under a massive overhaul post next fest and there is still a lot to do to get it playable and enjoyable again. With that being said, as it stands now, a full release delay is currently not out of the question, but it would still release early next year no matter what. Working a full time job and just general adulting has made things a bit unpredictable. On the bright side, I have nearly 1000 lines of unique dialogue, some new hidden levels such as helping the Evil Alien evade his galactic taxes and finding the secrets of what the Evil Alien has hiding in his basement...
- Road to Release 11/3/2026: The New Dialogue system - 3 November 2025
I am 17 days away from the next version of my demo, and to be honest the new dialogue system has been quite difficult for me to implement. I am going from a linear dialogue system where you press a button and boom there's is the next line to now you have options and free will, similar to an RPG. And just getting the technical side of it up and running has been a pain but I am pretty sure I will have the hub dialogue with the evil alien completed by the time the next demo version is set to release. Here is a sneak peak of the new interface for it, See you November 20th!
- Evolution - 26 October 2025
First lets examine how the game looked during its next fest demo:Bland, just a viewport, not much going on. Just an annoying alien. Over the past week or so I have been very hard at work turning the game completely into more of an actual video game. Loads of new assets, some new lore, a map and so much more. So now lets examine how the game looks now: With 25 days until November 20th, get ready for a very different looking game and experience
- The Road to Release: 10/8/2025 - 9 October 2025
After working a full time job and having trying to maintain my home life, social, life, and sanity of I have pieced together a meager demo for my 2025 next fest. After plans to release the game were blown up by a small health issue that sidelined me for 2 weeks, I decided to delay the launch by multiple months and make it a game I am more comfortable creating. So instead of a linear, complete task A, get a score, and move on story game, it will now be more of an adventure game. There will now be a map, free roam, player dialogue options, more expansive lore, hidden levels and so much more. I have big plans and 3 months to do it by golly am I going to make it happen. This is the prologue to planned trilogy, and this trilogy will be finished so long as my body draws breathe. I am very excited to see it all to the conclusion and to those who buy this game, follow me to the end, or even loo…
- BEHOLD! A Demo (sort of) - 1 October 2025
Ah, so I have a demo that works. BUT! If you get win the first challenge the demo is about 5 minutes total and there is no way to go back to the start of the level so unfortunately not only would you need to make a whole new character and go through the intro to unlock each path you don't even get to see the character you created which quite frankly may be a common theme in the demo but don't worry you'll see plenty of your loser in the the final release (the character creator may be sort of new don't yell at me) . . but I am hoping to have 3+ challenges and at least a solid 15-20 minutes of demo ready for the by the 13th for when next fest actually starts. So unless if something horrible happens between now and the 13th I will see you then.
- Delays and a Super Official Release Date - 29 September 2025
I had originally planned to release my game at the conclusion of Steam Next Fest on October 20th, which also happens to be my birthday. So as a hobby developer that makes games after work and having more of a vertical slice completed versus a finished product when I originally signed up for next fest I then put myself in a large amount of self induced crunch. My days turned into wake up, work my day job, work on my game, sleep, repeat. It was actually kind of fun. I made myself a crunch time playlist and I would work on it for 6+ hours a day on the days I worked and 10+ hours on my off days. Then of course life always has to give you sour lemons. To make a long story short, I was unable to work on The Reflex Lab for over 2 weeks and any chance of having a birthday launch was out the window. I was definitely pretty disappointed. Though after looking at the big picture, I told myself now…
