For the past *looks at calendar* 3 years, I have been developing Layerformer and still, somehow, the game has not released to the public fully. Now, I know it's not out of the ordinary for games to release a long time after their development started, especially for indie. But looking back on it, I only originally gave myself 1 year to fully complete Layerformer back when I first started "planning" the project.

I feel like it's time to fix that by... *drum roll*.... Killing Layerformer. Wait, what?

Yep, Layerformer is dead.

...or should I say the original version of Layerformer is dead. I am now working on a development reset of Layerformer. This new version is designed to be a smaller project. Note that all images are taken from a build that is only a few days old and does not resemble what the final game will look like.

I plan for this game to be smaller (both in window size, game size, and in gameplay), but i feel like this will make the game more fun, compact, and easy to play.

Why I am doing this

One reason why I am doing this is bloat. The game has a bunch of useless things in it that I added because they would be "cool" and not because they contributed to the game at all. One example of this is minigames that do not fit the game at all and don't even use the swap mechanic at all.

Second reason is that I didn't like the direction the game was going. I didn't want the game to be known as another game with a plot twist and eerie vibes, I wanted it to be known for it's level designs and gameplay mechanics. This new version of Layerformer will allow me to focus more on the gameplay and level designs instead of "lore".

Third reason is that the code base used in Layerformer is really out of date. Most of the code in the game is code that I wrote in 2020 back when I knew nothing about GameMaker. Since then, GameMaker has added and changed a lot. To take full advantage of that, feel like A reset will help pilot the game towards being more modern. Also, this reset made me make the game run at 60 fps instead of 40.

What will happen to the original Layerformer?

No plans at the moment. I will be keeping the original version of the demos up for now. As for beta testers, I will try to have something out either late December or early January.

When can we see a full release / demo release?

Not anytime soon :p. Hopefully by the end of 2024 I will have at least something to show.

Spilling the beans on the original version of Layerformer

It's time to spill the beans on what the original version of Layerformer was going to be like. Spoilers ahead for a dead version of a game that will never be finished.

After falling in Level 20, you would fall in a darker, abandoned room

After walking out of that room, you would go into a room with a radio that will tell you to take an upper path. After walking out of that room, you come to this room.

(normally, the bottom path would be open, but since this is my test save it's closed)
It didn't really matter what path you picked because it still took you to the same path eventually.
After a few more rooms, you would meet someone...

but who is it????

oh, this guy. again...

After some talking, you agree to let merchant come with you to help find the exit. Though, this might have been a mistake, since he can be a jerk sometimes.

You and the merchant later find an elevator that might take you to an exit! yay!!!!

oh, nevermind.

From there, the rest of the game was mostly undecided. I wanted to do a thing where you faced another boss, probably a rhythm game type thing, but after that I had no idea how I would wrap things up.

So yeah, that's it. The original version of Layerformer is dead. The new Layerformer is here to stay.

TL;DR:

Layerformer got a development reset due to bloat and general dislike for how the game was going.