🚨 Official Release — Dream LOOP is Now Live!

After several intense days of development, Dream LOOP is now officially released for the GMTK Game Jam 2025. With just 3 hours remaining before the deadline, I’ve locked in the final build and am shifting focus entirely to sharing the project and gathering feedback.

🌀 Reworking the Loop Flow

One of the most critical adjustments today was reshuffling the level order to optimize player experience:

• 1st - Acrophobia (Fear of Heights): A technical, precise challenge where every jump matters. It introduces the loop mechanics immediately, without being overwhelming.
• 2nd - Thalassophobia (Fear of Deep Water): A more physical loop, where survival requires rhythmic key presses but doesn’t punish with instant failure. A tense but forgiving transition phase.
• 3rd - Claustrophobia (Fear of Tight Spaces): A long, patience-driven labyrinth that tests endurance and mental pressure, reserved for players who have fully committed to the loop.

This flow ensures that players progressively engage with the loop concept, without early frustration. I had initially planned additional environmental obstacles like falling debris, but time constraints pushed me to focus on polish rather than adding untested elements.

🎮 Gameplay Tweaks & Input Adaptation

• The air control during Acrophobia jumps has been adjusted for a tighter feel.
• The Thalassophobia level is now a complete loop, with the player's bedroom appearing at the surface to transition back into the cycle.
• I’ve also implemented dynamic keyboard layout detection (AZERTY/QWERTY) for all input prompts, so the controls feel intuitive regardless of the player's setup.

🐛 Bug Fixing & Playtests

Throughout the day, I ran multiple full playtests, which helped me squash various bugs — from camera reset issues, to blink disorientations, and loop transition glitches. The game is now stable and ready for submission.

🎨 Visual Identity Locked

• The game's executable now proudly features a new minimalist infinity loop icon, keeping the design clean and thematic.
• While no further updates were made to the itch.io page today (besides the devlog and media from yesterday), the project presentation feels solid for this release.

🚀 Submission Complete

With no further features or patches planned before the results, this version of Dream LOOP is now the official submission for GMTK 2025. All focus now shifts to feedback, visibility, and seeing how players engage with the loop experience.

Thanks for following this development journey. The loop is now in your hands.