Josh Powlison's BUTTON: Mildly Remastered Edition

Why you've wanted this all your life/Features...

• Click the button. Watch the number goes up. Witness the power of math in real-time.
  
• Listen to almost 2 hours of developer commentary (will be expanded with free Early Access updates).
  
• Change the color of the button (full color spectrum support).
  
• Save and load your progress (multiple save files in the future).
  
• Play with keyboard, mouse, touchscreen, and gamepad (not full gamepad support yet, but it will happen).
  
• Over 3 achievements (with plans to add many, many more).

Josh Powlison's BUTTON: Mildly Remastered Edition isn't just a game. It reflects a philosophy you have to believe to see.

Read on to comprehend the philosophy of BUTTON.

Euphoria.

That is the only word capable of encompassing the all-encompassing experience of pressing the button. Yes, the number goes up- but so do you. Euphoria.

Experience the original BUTTON, reborn on modern computers. It's like the original BUTTON and I had a baby. Except I'm both the mom and the dad. It's confusing, I know, but fortunately I'm here to guide you along with more developer commentary than ever before while you experience the euphoria of button pressing.

If you think you've pressed a button, you haven't pressed a button. If you think you haven't pressed a button, you haven't pressed a button. And if you're not sure, I'm here to prove you wrong.

The story of the original BUTTON.

February 8, 2020. On that day, I launched the original BUTTON: A game about pressing issues on Kickstarter. With no marketing, no advertising, and no plan, the people found us. Within 90 minutes, the game was fully funded, and by the time the Kickstarter had ended, BUTTON had been exactly 900% funded and we had hit 5 stretch goals.

We even had a sequel, ANALOG: A heartfelt metaphor about living with yourself, that launched on Kickstarter on May 21, 2021. It was fully funded in just 20 minutes, ended up being exactly 2,115% funded, and hit 9 stretch goals.

If I've learned anything from this, it's that I have a lot more to offer the world than I ever thought. And I need to stop being so humble.

Enter Josh Powlison's BUTTON: Mildly Remastered Edition.

What is BUTTON: Mildly Remastered Edition?

BUTTON: Mildly Remastered Edition is BUTTON but mildly remastered.

What does it mean for BUTTON to be mildly remastered?

"Remastered" is such an ostentatious term. It assumes any one of us has achieved true mastery. Why is it that "Remastered" games can get "Remastered" again? Clearly, the devs had gained more mastery!

This folly is why I refuse to ever claim I have fully "Remastered" BUTTON. When you experience a euphoric title like BUTTON, you quickly come to the realization that you can never remaster a true classic- that true classic remasters you. With this understanding and this new shared foundation, I'd like to propose that we appreciate how remastered a mild remaster might be, while understanding that we will never master the remaster enough to produce a fully remastered classic. Instead, we are the ones who will be mastered.

In short, I am updating the game while preserving the original heart and soul of the work. My goal is that it is at least vaguely reminiscent of the original BUTTON while encompassing modern features expected of modern games, like widescreen support.

I didn't think it was possible to improve BUTTON. But then I realized that that would mean it was impossible to improve myself, and after much soul-searching, I realized I was wrong. I know you might lose trust in me as a developer for admitting error, but I must be honest, or else I could not look myself in the mirror as a man.

Where are the achievements? Where is the mod support? Where are the forums?

BUTTON will always be greater than the sum of its parts, and I recognize that I am merely a part of BUTTON, just as BUTTON is a part of my soul. But still, the sum of its parts must become greater, and to do that, the parts of its sum must become greater. It's basic math.

Thus, BUTTON: Mildly Remastered Edition was conceived. And now I wish to publicly birth it before you, with your help.

Why Early Access?

I knew BUTTON: Mildly Remastered Edition would be a crazy ride. Little did I know how crazy. You see, I used to think that game development was easy and that anyone could do it. I've come to the realization that I was right. But I've also come to the realization that I was wrong.

You see, making games is easy, it just takes a long time. The hard part about making games is making an audience. I want to see if an audience can exist and grow perpetually for BUTTON. Like, forever.

I want to bring you along on the journey. Not just a journey, I'm talking about the journey of a lifetime. Because that may be how long it takes to even get BUTTON to a state where we could rightfully consider it just "mildly remastered". Because true, perfect mastery is above us all.

Our roadmap includes achievements, modding support, additional developer commentary, and more. And I want to make it happen. But I can't have this baby by myself. I need help.

Thus, Early Access.

About me.

But enough about the game. You need to know about me so that you know why you should come along on this journey. There's a reason my name is in the title of the game. If you can't trust me, who can you trust? My guru told me something like that.

I'm a game programmer who's worked on multiple games. You probably haven't heard of any of them, except BUTTON: Mildly Remastered Edition, because you're here right now. Welcome.

I teach people game programming, do game programming, and play video games. Sometimes I make tacos. If you were at my house, I'd first ask "what are you doing in my house?!" before offering you tacos. If I was out of taco shells, I'd ask you to run to Walmart for me. You'd do that for me, wouldn't you?

The future.

BUTTON is and always has been "a game about pressing issues". I promise wholeheartedly, with all of my heart, and from the bottom of my heart that this game will in no way deny, outcrowd, or overshadow the core of the game that made the experience so powerful for the uncountable people who adored the original BUTTON.

So let's make a better BUTTON. Let's mildly remaster this thing.

Let's have this baby together.