- The Candles are Burning ... Thanks for Playing the Demo! - 12 June 2026
Hi!On June 1st, I invited you to step into Mrs Glower's chambers and get a first glimpse of my Lovecraftian horror game Dark Lessons. Releasing the demo was at least as terrifying for me as playing it may have been for the more faint-hearted among you. It's been a huge milestone for me, and in my mind's eye, I was going through all the things that might go wrong ...I want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who played, streamed or has already sent me feedback on the demo! Please know that I read and consider every single piece of feedback and watch the streams of people playing Dark Lessons to see what I can improve.If you haven't yet found time to play, the demo will be waiting for you right here on Steam: And if you've played but haven't shared your thoughts, there is still time! Let me know what you liked and what was lacking via my feedback form: https://forms.gle/F6zyZeZD1cAQtQ8…
- Dark Lessons Demo is now LIVE! - 1 June 2026
Hi everyone,After countless late nights, I’ve just hit the button: The official demo for Dark Lessons, my Lovecraftian horror game where you need to escape your teacher’s house, is now live on Steam!Sharing this with you means a lot to me as a solo developer. I’m incredibly excited (and a little nervous!) to see so many people pick up the candle and step into my game for the first time.What’s Waiting for YouIn this roughly 30-minute slice of the game, you’ll get a first taste of the curriculum:The mystery of Mrs. Glower: What started as an innocent afterschool visit has turned into a nightmare. A sudden blackout has left you trapped, and the house feels ... different.A low-poly aesthetic that pays homage to the golden age of psychological horror.Puzzles and exploration: Use your wits and your inventory to unearth your teacher’s dark secrets and find a way out.Immersive sound: An adaptiv…
- Demo Coming June 1st! - 4 May 2026
Hi there,It's been ages since the last update, but today, I've got the next big milestone to share with you:The Dark Lessons demo will release on Steam on June 1st 2026 — just under a month away!Of course, I'll post an event as soon as the demo has launched. So, if you're already following Dark Lessons, you don’t need to do anything right now. You can just sit back and keep an eye out for my next update.However, if you would like to help or get involved, here's what you can do:I'll run a small playtest in two or three weeks just to make sure the demo launch goes as smoothly as possible. Let me know if you're interested in participating.If you haven't already, it helps enormously if you wishlist Dark Lessons right here on Steam, as this will directly impact the game's visibility leading up to the launch.You can follow me on Bluesky or join my Discord, both of which will become more activ…
- Beta Roundup - 30 November 2025
Hi,It's been over a month since I ran the Beta for my horror adventure game Dark Lessons, so I thought I'd give you a roundup of how it went.At the risk of repeating myself, let me start by giving my heartfelt thanks to everyone who participated in the Beta! Without exception, you've been gracious, encouraging and, when things didn't work as expected, patient and polite. I don't take this for granted. While there was a fair share of critical feedback, too, the only issue I've got with that is that I tend to agree with most of it — which means there's more work ahead. 😵💫The Numbers35 people played the Beta, and 18 of you sent me written feedback via my form. In addition, I got to watch 7 people play live while sitting next to them and taking notes like a mad scientist watching their victims subjects.First, the good news: Everyone who submitted feedback would recommend Dark Lessons to…
- Free Beta Starting in 2 Weeks - 18 September 2025
Hi, This is just a reminder that on 2nd October, two weeks from today (depending on your time zone), the free Beta playtest for my horror adventure Dark Lessons will start.If you'd like to participate, please sign up to my newsletter below.Sign up for the Beta
- Finding the Fear - 1 September 2025
Hi,As the date for Dark Lessons' Beta approaches, I've been trying to make sure you'll get as polished an experience as time allows. Development-wise, this means I've been turning all sorts of screws in the last couple of months.Most importantly, I've been inviting my closest friends to pizza playtests to gather and then implement their feedback. Compared to last year's early Alpha, which revolved around stability and first impressions, the current tests focus on the game's particular look and feel. What emotions do players experience, where do they get stuck, where do they lose motivation, where does immersion break?Image 1: Added interactable items drive the story forward and increase immersion.Observing my friends play and talking to them afterwards has led to a wide array of changes:Added voice acting for the player character by the talented Dela now helps guide the player.I've fina…
- Games Forged in Germany Steam Event - 24 July 2025
Hi, Just a quick one to let everyone know of this year's Games Forged in Germany event, which Dark Lessons is honored to be featured in. It's a great opportunity to see the amazing games crafted by fellow indie devs from my home country and perhaps snatch one or two at a good discount. To the Event!
- Save the Date! - 23 July 2025
Hi, I'm excited to announce that the public Beta for my psychological horror game Dark Lessons will run from 2nd to 9th October 2025!This abridged version of my game will include all the content of the demo that I plan to release after implementing your feedback. You’ll get a free Steam key that’ll allow you to safely download and install Dark Lessons. Note that I will be taking the Beta keys away after 9th October, but you'll have another chance to play the polished free demo later on.Save your spot by subscribing to my newsletter below, and you’ll be among the first to play Dark Lessons! As Beta nears, I’ll keep you up to date on my development progress. Expect to hear from me about once a month.Sign up for my newsletter!
- Devlog: A Match Made in Hell - 3 May 2025
Hi there, It's been a while since my last update on Dark Lessons, my psychological horror game where your teacher is up to no good. If you've been wondering whether work on Dark Lessons is still going on, first of all: Great, you thought about my game! Thank you! But also: Yes, I've been working on the game quite steadily, actually — it's just that much of my progress hasn't felt worthy of being shown around yet to me. As an example, I spent some time in January on the save game mechanism. Essential functionality, but also not much to write home about. In February and March, I added custom animations for my villain Agatha to replace the ready-made downloaded ones that I had originally used for my placeholder character model. I also upgraded the game to run on a newer version of the Godot game engine and did a lot of optimizations to reduce load times, going through all the file sizes an…
- Devlog: Smoke and Mirrors - 24 March 2025
Hi there! As I've been trudging through content hell (more on that in the next update), I noticed that I never posted my last newsletter here on Steam. So, here's part 1 of what I've been up to in the last couple months before I'll drop more current news in a few weeks. Having spent most of the time since summer creating 3D models and learning animation, it has felt really good returning to more gameplay-related activities recently. This included mostly busywork like bug fixing, but at least some changes are also nice to look at. One example is the addition of real classical paintings to the game world. Previously, I'd relied on placeholder art from an asset pack that I've wanted to replace ever since I've been using more detailed character models. It turns out that many museums offer public-domain access to thousands of classical art pieces online. Thus, with a little research, I was a…
- Devlog: FAQ and New Character Reveal - 9 December 2024
Hi horror fans, In my last update, I talked a lot about Agatha. She's the evil teacher whose house you need to escape from in my psychological horror game Dark Lessons. What I didn't tell you is that you won't be alone with her. Agatha used to have a husband, and he's in the house as well — or rather, whatever is left of him is. I won't reveal why he's there, why he's dead (... maybe?) or what he's up to just yet, but I at least wanted to share with you this amazing concept art of him that my 2D artist Hitsugitoshi has come up with. Him and Agatha, I think they make a lovely couple! By the way, there's even a fourth person in the house (you, the player, being the third), but that's a topic for another newsletter. As for myself, I spent most of the past month taking Blender animation courses so that I could properly bring my 3D models to life. Unfortunately, this means that I haven't got…
- Devlog: Meet the Woman that Took Months Off My Life Expectancy - 28 October 2024
THIS LADY HAS COST ME MONTHS Hi horror fans, It's been a while since the last newsletter for my horror game Dark Lessons, where you need to survive your murderous teacher. Let me start by doing what I bet no man has ever done before me: blame a woman (as an aside, I've been thinking a lot about misogyny in horror media since I started work on the game ... 🤔). I'm referring of course to Agatha, your favorite teacher and the game's villain! In an upcoming newsletter, you'll learn more about her back story, but today will be all about the makeover she's gone through in the last couple of months. How It Started vs How It's Going My original plan was to make a game as quickly as possible, just to prove to myself that I could finish it. I knew nothing about 3D modelling, so I used the bought asset that you see above on the left. Since then, my goals for Dark Lessons have shifted quite a bit,…
- Envelope Is Out Now! - 12 July 2024
I'm super excited to announce that my friends at Skaar Game Productions have released Envelope, their PS1-style, open-world horror game. Step into the shoes of an unfortunate soul who finds himself getting pushed to do something beyond anything he could possibly imagine. I've been following Envelope's development closely, and it slaps. Go check it out! https://store.steampowered.com/app/2717480/Envelope/
- New Trailer, Screenshots and Games Baked in Germany Event! - 21 June 2024
Hi! I’m beyond excited to share the newest gameplay trailer for my horror game Dark Lessons! It showcases the overhauled environment and improved graphics I've been working on for the last few months, and it also gives you a first impression of the new inventory system. You can follow this link to view the trailer on YouTube: In addition, I also updated the screenshots on Dark Lesson's Steam page to more accurately represent the current state of development. Everything looks so much more atmospheric than just a few months ago. Here are three examples: Interactible objects are now highlighted when you look at them. Light shafts and volumetric fog add to the atmosphere. The inventory still needs more design work, but I'm really proud that I've got a 3D inventory in my game after all. It takes a village to make a solo dev’s game With the functioning inventory and my first basic puzzle in p…
- Devlog: Extreme Makeover — Horror Home Edition - 20 April 2024
Hi! It's been a while since I got you up to date on Dark Lessons here on Steam. Last month, I described how I had spent February learning 3D modelling so that I could improve the look of the game. After another month, I'm finally done overhauling the area that you'll explore in the demo, so I thought I'd share some before-and-after screenshots with you. Note that the lighting will be appropriately darker in the actual game, but all images are in-engine. In many areas, I added detail while maintaining the overall layout of the room. I modified or added models and balanced the color palette, but another big improvement is the use of materials with normal maps for floor, walls and ceiling to create the illusion of depth and texture. If you look at the tiles and wallpaper in the image below, you'll see what a huge difference they make. Another example of similar changes is the teacher's stu…
- Devlog: I had to break a skill wall. - 6 March 2024
One month ago, I launched the Steam page for my horror game Dark Lessons, where you have to escape from your murderous teacher's home. After the marketing activities surrounding the launch, I was eager to continue working on the game. I thought that I was almost done with the ground floor of my evil teacher's house. Below, you can see a bird's-eye view of the prototype in Godot, the game's engine. Besides this floor, the house also features the attic and a secret area that you'll unlock in the third act. I was off to adding more content — and hit a brick wall. Until this point, I'd used premade assets straight in the game engine. This worked for prototyping, but it also caused issues: I had to hide spots where models didn't fit together or where textures got stretched or squashed. In the image above, you can see elements overflowing, because my options to customize them directly in the…
- Devlog: Into the Darkness - 29 January 2024
Hi horror fans! I’m Robert, the indie game designer behind Tall Tide Games. I’m so excited that Dark Lessons is finally live on Steam. I really hope you enjoy the announce trailer as well as the first screenshots. For Dark Lessons, this is just the beginning. I’m still in the early stages of development, so I’ll be posting frequent updates in the following months. You’ll see how the game’s look and feel improve, and I’ll also be sharing more details about the backstory and what you’ll be doing in Dark Lessons. Along the way, I’m always happy to receive your feedback and suggestions. If you haven’t watched the announce trailer yet, go check it out immediately, or your teacher will come and find you!
