Hi folks,

No weird patch notes this time. Just a rather simple announcement.

After 6 years of development, 2 years of improvement, and countless hours of making sure the game doesn't fall over or inconvenience anyone to an embarrassing degree, Moonring is now on Nintendo Switch.

You there... you have a question?

Is it the same game as the current PC/Steamdeck build? Yes. But with the DLC available from the start.
Is it free on Switch? Not this time, I'm afraid.

My reasons for making Moonring free in 2023 have been made fairly public: everything sucked from 2020 on*, and I wanted to give something away that might brighten peoples' days.

This time, because the Switch port cost me a lot of extra time and money to make, it has a price tag. I hope it's not too high for those who were really looking forward to a light portable version.

The PC version is still here, just as free as ever, and that's never going to change. I made a promise.

So with that: thanks, as ever, for your support.

Yours,

Fluttermind









(*Yes, I know things still suck. Sorry. I didn't do it, I promise)

Hi! It's been a while... no, sit down, please. Come now. We don't have to be so formal. We've known each other for a while, and you know I don't really don't value that kind of stiff interaction. It's so very... false. Performative. Oh, I took the liberty of ordering your usual - I presume things haven't changed so much that you've changed... that? No. I thought not. Ha. That would be quite something, wouldn't it?

I'll get straight to the point. It's come to my att-

...
...

Jesus.

Hmm. You know, I came very close to being a cliche there for a moment. Who says 'it's come to my attention' in real life? I know this isn't real life: not the confining walls of bullshit and fakery that passes for the office workplace. But I wish it were. Real. A place where people laugh and cry, and snot comes out of their nose, and their makeup runs, and the chaos and ruin of life is commented upon, and manifest... and honest. And safe. I know you feel the same way. I think we share some attitudes, some... shall we say 'strong' views on certain subjects. Oh, here it comes!

("Thank you! Yes, over there is fine.")

Okay, he's gone. You can come back.
Anyway.

As I was saying: we share certain attitudes, even though we don't work on the same fl- Wait. Do you even have a designated floor? Hmm. I'd never considered that before. I suppose you aren't really confined by those things, are you? Lord, I envy you in that. You can kind of move where you wish. I don't suppose you even have a supervisor? No. That would be odd, wouldn't it?

Anyway. I found something I thought was rather interesting as I was moving my desk drawers (I loathe hot-desking, I must say). It's hehttps://www.mediafire.com/file/7j7foyv34qlr7sj/MR2-20251023-2325-23.4091827.mp4/filere. I don't really know all the implications, or how it affects anything, but... I don't know. I saw it and it fired up something inside me.

Look, I'll get to the point. I'm tired of things around here, and - if you watch the news for 5 seconds - it's not really getting much better. No. You see it too. Well, it strikes me that I've had enough of... out here. And you're... in there. And I wondered if you'd mind... um... This really is so awkward.

Look, I don't have anyone here... or even out of here. I'd like to come with you. Into the walls. I can pass pretty well, and can probably rustle up food on the regular, so you don't have to scrounge for scraps and worry about being caught or trapped or poisoned, or any of that other stuff that's probably quite terrifying for you. I know it's sudden, but I'm ready to go whenever... oh. Oh!

I see. Well... I can do right now! I've got my things... all that matters, anyway. I should at least leave a note, though. Give me just a moment and I'll be with you. And thank you. You won't regret this, I promise.
It's a new life. For the both of us! Ahaha. Okay, just a moment.

This version includes all the minor bug fixes that occurred during the Switch conversion.
It may change some behaviour with the Options menu.
And the Switch Version should go live on the 13th November.Okay. Done. Honestly, I don't think they'll even notice I've gone. Not for a few weeks, anyway.
Lead on! Into the dark. It'll be a squeeze, I know, but I'm a lot more flexible than I lo-

I have absolutely no idea what happened here.

None.

I mean, sometimes coding seems like a discrete, deterministic science, and other times it seems to follow entirely its own horrible logic. People suggest that Git is a solution, and that any record of the changes you've made to your code should yield a clear answer to any peculiar behaviour that results. Regrettably this is not so. It's a crock. Anyone who tells you differently hasn't been coding for long enough, or lacks even the tiniest amount of imagination. Of course, your milage may vary, but any claims to the contrary make me suspicious. Read this patch note carefully and you'll not only realise I'm perfectly correct, but, like me, you want things to work one-hundred percent of the time. Honestly, your time on earth is limited. To accept less is just wacky.

You know what to do.

There is no hope. It has gone, snuffed out with the most recent inconsequential disappointment, a blackened wick where a flame once flickered with brazen, defiant life. It didn't happen in one day, of course. It never does. When we are children, our hope is infinite, or at least closer to our naive ideas of infinity. But life shaves away at it with a subtle blade of disappointment, one transparent onion-skin at a time. In that murderous moment, we look and smile at the cut's lack of consequence, barely marking its passing. Until, one day, there is so very little onion left.

At some point we awaken in a cold, dark place where light and warmth and companionship once thrived. Or at least we imagine they did. But did they ever? Nihilism slips in to whisper, "No. They never did, and even were they to manifest, it would not matter."

Just when we are at our lowest point, lying on the cold tiles, bottle in hand, lights off because we neither wish for (nor believe we deserve) the dignity of light, something stirs in the darkness: a whisper of movement, a prickle tickle as delicate as the first snowflake, movement upon one outstretched finger.

Our phone is nearby, of course (what is nihilism without social media to reinforce it?), so we fumble the light on with the hand which did not receive the playful itch and pan the beam up to see what foolish thing has dared to stow away in our little black hole.

A moth has alighted upon one hand. Its wings are partly furled, a roil of iridescent cyan and magenta. Two fuzzy antennae rise from above its vast eyes, swaying to unknowable, alien rhythms. The creature has no idea that we have given up finding any meaning in this world. It does not know that when we smile it is one without humour, rueful and bitter. It cares not for our wellbeing, but nor does it hold any malice for us. For now, we are a convenient, safe perch, free of predators, free of threat. We are - whether we like it or not - useful.

There is something compelling about this beauteous creature's utter indifference to us. It exists despite the firm conviction that there is no hope, no light. And for a moment there is a spark of something within us; delight. This little visitor is so very unexpected, and in return expects nothing from us. It simply 'is'.

Then, it occurs to us that tomorrow could bring some other event filled with simple delight. In fact, perhaps many of the elements of our daily life could be considered surprising or even delightful.

'Could'. There is a gamble in this word. Surely, wagering against the chance of a pleasant event is the very definition of hope?

Sitting up in the phone's light, we watch the moth spiral up and away into the gloom of the bathroom's corners. Even when all is lost, a subtle event can shift perspective, and with that the entire world tilts.

Sometimes you get features in Moonring that you had given up on.

- Multiple joysticks are now supported, so playing on a Steam Deck plugged into a TV should work.