"Dad, why is there an animal INSIDE the ship?!"

Some releases start with a plan. This one started with a camera.

I had just built a little recording tool into the game — it flies the camera through space, lands on a planet, and records short clips without a HUD, with sound. Finally proper trailers instead of shaky screen captures! So I sat down with Justus to get some nice footage.

And of course: the moment you point a camera at your own game, it shows off every bug it has. Justus spotted them immediately.

"Dad, why is there an animal INSIDE the ship?!" — The ship had landed right on top of a wild animal and trapped it in the cabin, where it wandered helplessly against the walls. Not quite the cozy home base we wanted to film. Today the ship gently clears out all wild creatures on landing — only tamed companions are allowed on board, naturally.

"The robot is still shooting at me — but I'm inside!" — Anyone who fled into the ship was long since safe; only the visuals claimed otherwise: drones kept firing their lasers, robots scratched at the hull. Dramatic — but poison for trust. Now all attack effects stop the moment you step aboard. Safe has to look safe, too.

"Why is the compass still on in space?" — Fair point. Two surface indicators were also stuck in the corner during spaceflight, where they mean nothing. Gone.

One hour of filming found more rough edges than a week of normal play. Since then, this is a package deal for us: if you really want to test your game, point a camera at it — and sit a kid next to it.