So as you all know, Not Bear is supposed to be releasing on April 1st, in less then two weeks for now. Initially I thought that this time frame would be enough to finish up the game, but as this month went on, my mind changed, and I figured it's best to delay Not Bear's release date.
While I still think it's possible to finish Not Bear until april 1st, It's not worth it, and I think that giving it more time to cook will do the game justice. These are my reasons:
1) Real life stuff. Yup. Those exist. I got lots of things going on outside of this fun endeavor and I want to give them all the time they deserve.
2) Stress. I learned throughout my life the hard way the pain of overworking. I had plenty of projects I crunched myself working on, and it made me feel somewhat unsatisfied with some of my results. But most importantly, doing so takes a toll on one's mental health. I don't want this to be the case with Not Bear. The whole point of this project is that it's something I enjoy making, and fill it with love (as cliche as that is). Because this project's release date has the highest impact on myself, I want to change the release date so I can enjoy the process of finishing it and not tear myself down while at it.
3) Features. I don't want to accidentally half-butt something within the game due to lack of time. I definetely cut down some of the initial scope, but I want the game's core to feel true. There are already specific parts, that I can see becoming "that one bad level" due to lack of time and care, and I want them to be special to you, the players, as they are to me.
4) Probably the most important one - playtesting and bugfixing. By the end of the day, 10% of programming is writing bugs, and the other 90% is fixing them. Now, the game has been playtested. A lot. But it still definetely needs more testing. Things are getting implemented and reworked all the time, and the game's atmosphere is slowly starting to take shape.
Especially in a game like Not Bear, with a lot of moving parts that dot around your screen chaotically spreading mayhem, I want the gameplay to feel balanced, evenly paced and most importantly - fun! A lot of the main nights have already recieved their fair share of fine tuning and refinements, but there are some parts that have been only lightly touched up on by testers, and I want them to feel fair.
On top of that, I also want to see what the experience of a new player is like. Many of my testers have played the game since it's earlier days, and thus already know it's ins and outs. They aren't scared of it, and don't need explenations on it's mechanics. But does the game teach on it's own it's mechanics well enough when I'm not there? Is it scary or surprising? These are things I can't tell by myself nor can my older testers in an authentic and reliable way, so I need to give time to new testers to try their hand at it.
All of this playtesting and polishing requires plenty of time, because I also want to respect the time of those who help me with this, and I don't want to stress them last moment to finish asap what is a pretty tough game all things considered.

So what now?
First of all, I am still trying to figure out myself the new release date, and I hope to notify it in the coming weeks. I don't want the delay to be indefinate, because the existence of a deadline does motivate me. Very much. Currently I am thinking of somewhere between the end of April to somewhere in July. I don't want to drag this on for more then I should but I want to give myself just enough time to work on this game comfortably.
With that said! Don't think even for a moment I am leaving you all empty handed! I want to make around the game's original release date an art stream, where I make some drawings and promo art for the game for when it gets close to release, and talk a little to you all. Giving you the opportunity to be curious, ask questions, and meet the crazy little mind behind this game you all follow. This is a stream that I definetely wanted to do sooner, but due to being more focused on actually finishing the game didn't have the time for. But anyways, the stream's idea is still going for the date you all voted for. I also still hope to do a stream counting down to the actual game's release. Whenever that is.
look at me being all cool and promotional.
so anyways, fun stuff's ahead.

Is there a chance the game will be delayed a second time?
By the end of the day, who knows. I know that this game is incredibly important to me and that I want to finish it. I also know that I want to do it on my own terms, and not to stress myself out just to give out something as fast as possible. But I also don't want to over-delay it so the development process won't drag on for more then it needs to. But regardless, you can count on the fact that I am not leaving you all empty handed, and I use these delays to make the best of the situation and engage with the community. Gotta keep the hype while it's still going!
So no promises, but I'm not forgetting about my audience. Can't wait for what the future holds :)

So have a good one, and I will see you very soon.