Just a small update to mainly address the boss fight being too long/difficult/annoying.

To those who left a negative review mostly because of the boss fight, please consider giving it a shot again and see if it improves your opinion of the game overall.

• Valves in the boss room now descend/ascend more quickly
  
• The boss has now only one phase, once you hit it it's gone!
  
• Fixed a bug that resulted in some players getting stuck when interacting with the mirror in the blue room.

I'm still working on fixing achievements not properly unlocking, please bear with me.

The first chapter of the Lies We Tell Ourselves is Out!

That's all.

The first episode of The Lies We Tell Ourselves releases in just 5 days!

As cheesy as it may sound, this game isn’t just a product; it’s a piece of my soul... a collection of lessons, failures and dreams brought to life.

I really hope some of you will resonate with it and, to those who won't, thank you for giving a solo dev a chance, and my sincerest apologies.

I'm looking forward to watching the first completely new players adventure into my world, while also hoping nobody else will ever experience the struggles of having a cat as Project Manager...

Take care,
Poopsy

Hello, Poopsy here!

First off, thank you so much for sticking around! It’s been two challenging years since I started working on
The Lies We Tell Ourselves and I’ve finally reached a point in which I'm able to share some important news.

The past year and a half has been significantly difficult for me: starting from the aftermath of losing my father, to serious health concerns which forced me in the hospital for quite some time, to eventually two delicate surgeries... the development of the game suffered terribly.

As a solo developer, I had to weigh my options and choose what's the best for the game and for me.
I didn't want to delay it again, nor did I want to cut stuff out of it and ruin pace and narrative just to fit
a deadline.

So, after a lot of thought, I’ve decided to release the game in an episodic format.

Moving to an episodic release feels like the best way to bring this story to you sooner, while still ensuring
the whole experience gets the care and polish it deserves, even if it means taking things one step at a time.

The first episode will be available on January 15 2025 at $7.99, reflecting what I believe to be an honest and accessible price to begin the experience.

Each episode will deliver around 2 hours worth of narrative, puzzles, introspection, dread, plus a final boss fight, all building on the main story arc and giving you a chance to experience the world of The Lies We Tell Ourselves as it unfolds.


Thank you again for your understanding and for being here with me.

Hello, Poopsy here!

I collected a bunch of questions I get asked regularly and made a small article out if it.
I hope you find it interesting!

Q: Is The Lies We Tell Ourselves a horror game?
A: It's not properly a horror game, at least in terms of constantly startling the player.
The game is mostly a narrative-driven experience: the story isn't just a backdrop for random scares, it's the beating heart.
I like to think of it as a supernatural adventure that can be enjoyed by both horror and non-horror fans, provided they're kind enough to tune their relative expectations accordingly.

Q: It's not a horror game, but it's meant to be disturbing. Care to elaborate?
A: Mind you, there's nothing wrong with jumpscare-heavy games with little to no story, I enjoy them myself!
However, for my own I tried to evoke a slightly more profound emotional response, touching on themes that ideally will resonate at a deeper, soulful level.
For me it's not about scaring the player, it's about building the right atmosphere and sequences so that eventually a bunch of even scarier introspective questions will naturally make their way into the player's mind.

Q: Puzzles serving the story? Is this some sort of pretentious intellectual bullshit?
A: Sort of. Every puzzle is intricately woven into the fabric of the story. Even the most abstract ones have an actual meaning and purpose.
Solve them, and you're just progressing in the game.
Interpret their meaning in the context of the story, and you're actually unlocking a deeper layer of the story itself and what it's actually about.

Q: Choices, consequences, adult personality... Is this game preachy?
A: Hopefully not! At least I'm not actively trying to be preachy or patronizing.
Let's be clear – The Lies We Tell Ourselves is a fictional supernatural story. It doesn't claim to provide all the answers or even be accurate in exploring life's complexities.
The game has no specific moral message nor is it meant to: every player is free to and should come up with their own interpretations.
At best, it's a weird cautionary tale, meant to offer little moments of reflection for the more introspective players.
At worst, it's creepy and there's monsters and shit.

Q: Is this game going to be political? Is the game about [social issue I care about]?
A: Nope, not political nor a social commentary.
However, If you think it is and feel the urge to fight about it on social media, feel free to but hopefully I won't be part of it.

Q: How long is the game?
A: Difficult to say, I'm working on a 4hr experience. It might be more, very unlikely less.
Clearly, since the game relies heavily on puzzle solving, part of the perceived length will vary according to how quickly players will figure them out.
For context, I consider the demo to be about 35min long. However, the majority of players took way more than that.
What I'm trying to achieve is a dense interactive experience with no artificial lengthening.
Basically, no walking through a really long corridor for 15min where nothing happens, just to make the game longer.

That's all for now, if you have more questions, please feel free to comment below!

Take care,
Poopsy

Hello, Poopsy here!
As some of you might know, The Lies We Tell Ourselves was originally planned for a Q4 2023 release.

Unfortunately, the last 6 months have been pretty difficult, in terms of personal health and unexpected family loss.
As a result, I've been struggling to find the necessary peace of mind to focus on developing the game, on top of the usual struggle in trying to promote it.

Thankfully, things are getting progressively better and I'm steadly getting back on track with my development schedule.
However, I will have to make up for the time lost, which means I had to make the tough decision to delay the launch.

Additionally, I only get to release once and -as a solo dev- I'm simply too small and invisible to even attempt to compete against any of the amazing titles, big and small, that have been and will be released by the end of this year.

For the sake of clarity, I'm aiming for a Q2 or Q3 2024 release. I will share an actual date as I get closer to my deadline and assess the situation.

I deeply appreciate any support during this time. Whether it's leaving a cute comment, tagging your favorite content creator to play the demo or simply helping spread the word, your involvement and understanding mean more than words can express.

Take care!

Hello, Poopsy here!

The public Steam Next Fest demo of the Lies We Tell Ourselves is now available for anyone to play!

Please make sure to leave some feedback and help spread the word by tweeting content creators, making videos, articles or simply by talking about it to friends and foes!

Enjoy!

Hello, Poopsy here!

It's been a while, but I'm here mostly to assure you all that I'm alive and the game is still very much in production.

The truth is that I'm genuinely terrible at marketing and I prefer to focus my efforts on developing the game rather than promoting it.
Unfortunately, it also means that the general public awareness of The Lies We Tell Ourselves has been quite poor so far, which is a shame.
To partially address the issue, I've decided to participate in the upcoming June edition of the Steam Next Fest, which hopefully will provide the opportunity to showcase the game to a wider audience.

In preparation for the Next Fest, I've decided to take the current demo off the Steam page: I believe it has served its original purpose (collecting feedback) and by now it's not representative of the final game anymore. The good news is that I'll release an updated demo during the Next Fest, which will be slightly longer in terms of duration and will include the latest game features.
On the same note, I've finally got to update the Steam page with new screenshots, a better overall description section and the first gameplay trailer!

Speaking of updates, the game now features -among other things- full voice acting for the main character, gamepad support and full multilanguage support for UI and texts (including audio subtitles).

Finally, speaking of languages, the game has been been professionally translated from English to:

• French
  
• Italian
  
• German
  
• Spanish
  
• Portuguese (Brazilian)
  
• Turkish
  
• Japanese

However, all systems are in place to allow for further localizations, so if you're interested in having the game translated in your specific language and you have an excellent understanding of English, please get in touch with me and we might make it happen.

Besides, nothing beats not understanding an incomprehensible story than not understanding it in your OWN native language! ;)

Cheers,
Poopsy