I have stepped away from the project for sometime now. ~3 weeks 

 What was I doing? The usual family stuff. Ya know, earning money to pay bills and spending time raising the family. Stepping away from the project is an important part of its development though. It allows me to contemplate what to do with it next.

Up to this point, I've been calling Alien Life Lab a "shooter" or "FPS" but that's not what I think it should lean into anymore.

When I ask myself, "what kind of game am I looking for on itchio?" My answer is usually, "something that will lead me on a fun adventure."

So, Sci-Fi Adventure. That's what the main focus will be for this project.

It has already been shaping into something like that for a while now, but everyone was so caught up in the shooter mechanics of the game that I lost track of how the game wanted to leave 'inspectable', dialog steeped objects in the game.

This kind of clicked in my head while watching the YouTube channel 'Game Grumps' while they were playing a very retro style horror indie game called 'Lily's Well'.  Game Ref: https://pureiceblue.itch.io/lilys-well

Something clicked in my head while watching this. The game is primarily exploring, finding objects and reading text. There are no monsters to shoot the whole time. It's an adventure game. This got me thinking of how Alien Life Lab should be.

The game was recently bundled in the bundle for Ukraine: https://itch.io/b/1316/bundle-for-ukraine  I really hope that it helps those that have been affected by the ridiculous and unnecessary attacks. It really is awful and shameful for who is causing it. You know who I'm talking about. Shameful and wrong. 

I wish I could have joined in on other important charities. I only recently made the project into a paid early access version again.

I know I'm making a game about violent aliens, but I only wish for  happiness, love, resilience and peace to all of the good souls that deserve so much better than the treatment from these horrible, self-centered people and systems of "power".