SEAR DevBlog, week of 1/5/26: Back in the saddle

Some of the new visual elements starting to come together.

First off, my apologies for missing the weekly update last week - my family was sick and most of the team was still off for the holidays so there wasn't a lot to report in any case. That is the first one I've missed since March and it probably wouldn't have said much of anything anyway, but it still kills me that I missed a week. In any case, I'll be back on schedule from here forward.

The holiday break was really, really good for me. Actually fully completed two games, something I haven't done in months - Metroid Prime 4 (NPCs annoying, environments and sound design drop dead gorgeous) and Legends of Amberland (super old school Might & Magic goodness). That gave me a lot of time to withdraw, think, make peace, and plan. And I made a big decision during that time, specifically to do a second round of self-funding to make sure SEAR hits the Kickstarter with its best foot forward.

The primary goal when I started this thing was to get the prototype done, and we hit that goal last year. Yes, I was hoping to hit Early Access last year too, but to be completely frank you can plan until you're blue in the face but with the amount of experience I didn't have with a project of this size yet, any schedule I aimed for was always going to be a wild guess. Hitting the prototype completion was a major milestone, but it did fully spend out the first year budget I had allotted.

I will level with you - I am not independently wealthy. I don't have money coming out of my ears. This money is essentially coming out of my retirement, so if this risk doesn't pay off, it hurts me and my family. It was not an easy decision to make and I'm still kind of angst-ridden about it.

But I've never been so fulfilled in my life and I absolutely love this work and this team. I feel like I owe it to myself and my team to make sure we maximize our chances of having the best Kickstarter possible, which means both funding the advertising and a/b testing as well as, of course, putting the absolute best product possible out there for consideration. And besides... you can't take it with you.

So what happened this week?

• Rachael started implementing the font changes into the project. The difference, in my opinion, is stark. We're also working on a new company logo and the UI aesthetic overhaul.

• I started looking for a UI technical developer and a marketing expert. Got some solid leads on both.

• Jesse made some big advancements in sfx audio - I particularly love the direction the turbo pickup sound is going and everything else is going through its review/revise/review/revise process.

• Chandler did some more work on the second tutorial level which is now practically unrecognizable, with a futuristic Manhattan-style cityscape all around it.

• I formulated a plan for the trailer we're going to make for the Kickstarter. Team seems to like the idea well enough, but more than one of them told me it is ambitious. : ) I think we can do it. The plan is for a trailer that shows off some of the stuff we're doing mechanically before transitioning seamlessly into live gameplay using the music that is already playing. The literal trailer you watch will be playable in the prototype. The music is good with lots of cool reswaves and environmental effects tied into the song, along with a phase transition that I think we will both be able to pull off and will really look cool. Making this trailer as quickly as possible is essentially the entire goal of the studio right now.

• Lukas cleaned up some lingering bugs from the new particle-based wave sensor system and got started on a bunch of awesome things for the trailer level.

• Maya got back late in the week but we dove right in with a two-hour meeting on art direction, the Groove redesign (absolutely critical, can't wait to show you the new face of SEAR), and the environmental design for the trailer level.

So there you have it. Welcome to 2026, Temerity Games. It's do or die. 3 2 1 Go.