[h1]Play With Gilbert is going Free-To-Play[/h1] It still feels like yesterday that PWG was released. So much has happened in that time with me personally and the world. The game had a somewhat rocky start. The character movement and camera itself weren't up to par and I tried my best to improve. After the improvements I noticed a shift in the reviews I got. I also never clearly stated this was a child's game for young children. I ended up being reviewed by a bunch of content creators / streamers who were not the intended audience, it was interesting to say the least. But I kept going. Kept improving and adding new levels and things to the game and I ended up with something I could look back at and smile. As you know I initially created this game for my daughter and I hold her in the same regards I do any child. Everything in this game was for her and the other kids. A while back I started on a successor on PWG (more on that later) but the gist is that I don't feel comfortable making money of the game anymore. I recently took part during the itch.io bundle for equality. A lot of people who are not even its target audience expressed their gratitude for the game simply being what it is and that's when I decided that I wanted PWG to go free to play. Coupled that with the pandemic that's still on-going it only feels right to try and give something back for those who are having a hard time right now. I'm always trying to be as open as possible with my community so I want to be clear as to my intentions. As most of you may well know the summer sale is close, so this will be the last time PWG is going to partake in the sale. Shortly after the sale it will be going free to play. If you want to support me while I work on its successor or just want to support an indie for whatever reason, it would be highly appreciated but if you don't want or can't, then please wait until it's free which brings me to the second topic of this news post. [h1]Gilbert's World Announcement.[/h1] [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/31069309/b4e5f7b336393f60a06d808d4dc9fb073b2057b1.jpg[/img] I started prototyping Gilbert's World since last year. As my own daughter has grown and with the limitations of PWG in terms of how it was built I felt that it was time to create a new game. The goal is to keep as much of the accessibility from the old game towards younger players while also increasing the skill ceiling a bit. Add some more depth to the game mechanics and try to find a balance. From what I learned children and even older people enjoyed the simplicity PWG offered. This is still there in the new game but I also added lots of new stuff to do. I am still looking into how to expand things in the new game but I feel it's shaping up to be a worthy successor. Gilbert's world is built from the ground up. I'm re-using a number of assets but there's also a ton of new stuff. The levels are much bigger now. I decided to go with Islands to create the levels in. This gives players so much more freedom and it reduces that trapped feeling of bumping into invisible walls or being teleported back. I also improved the customization options. There are now lots more hats and other wearables that are now unlocked when you find fishies. And there are a lot more of them to discover. I am planning to reveal more when PWG is going free to play and will be showing off some alpha footage as well in the next news post. Thank you all for your support so far and take care! Joure