I was just about to comment this exact same thing. Watching this video gave me severe deja vu.

I HAVE tooo! Honestly I wasn't necessarily stuck in the room or had a fear of being stuck in there in my dreams, but my dreams felt more like the fact that I was in some isolated pool room, it would normally be dark with just sunlight coming in, and the feeling of uncomfortable tranquility is how I'd describe mine, if you could somehow imagine that

​@@Bansheeflyr Yeah it wasn't a scary thing for me but often the opening to leave would be impossibly small for me to squeeze through or just not obvious where it was or it would just lead to another room. It was more surreal than anything.

​@@Bansheeflyruncomfortable tranquility is such an oxymoron lol

​@@user-wn9qu6nf8cBut it fits so well here!

You'd get bored and go insane real fast. Also starve.

@@boxtears Speak for yourself, I'm well aware I'd starve, still worth the experience 😍

I'm totally the same! I don't understand why there aren't places like this in real life and i wish there were more people like us! This is amazing!

I'M THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING!

Don't forget about the season pass and buying loot boxes for a random chance to get golden skin for your plasma rifle!

@@tensori-ltd (without sarcasm now) well done, i will definitely buy the game, looking forward to the experience!

@@jordanwaeles haha, thanks!! ❤

Loot crates to find the most unique skin for a pool noodle? I'm down

Portal gun *and* plasma rifle? So Half Life Doom?

No problem! Thanks! More GREAT liminal space games is a win for us fans for sure!

Thank you! Some people indeed feel this relaxing and comforting, while others feel intense horror. I'm glad you found enjoyment in our game and grateful for comment.

I feel a sensation of wanting to take a nap in a shallow pool 😌​@@tensori-ltd

We are planning on it! VR development takes some time, so we have saved it after launch, if the game is succesful. I believe this will happen.

@@tensori-ltd Great, can’t wait!

Any plans to release on console? I would 100% buy it!

​@@sevbaileyify Yes! Right now researching and developing for PS & Xbox (last two generations)! This is our first time doing this so might take many months, but we want to make it happen!

Awesome, best of luck with it!

Mold can't grow on chlorine

@@user-wn9qu6nf8c you never went to a high school pool, it's exactly that mix.

​@@user-wn9qu6nf8cnobody said it does.

​@@user-wn9qu6nf8cTell that to my Middle School's old pool.

​@@bigd33nsyour high school janitor was lazy

This is the game. There's nothing else but a few puzzles and mostly mazes

We are planning on it! Process of optimizing and porting it for switch can take some time, so we have saved it after launch if the game becomes successful and we can pay ourselves salary to do that. I believe this will happen.

​@tensori-ltd nice. Hopefully the player can be able to swim underwater too.

Cool, glad to hear! I hope the build turns out great!

that's right!! sliding, ladders and so on. If you see it you can use it!

@@tensori-ltd Also in the Demo? Noice.

@@xn0gaming there are no accessible slide entrances in the demo yet, but we are working on adding one! (the red slide at the end, we can make a room where player can access the entrance). I think this would make a better demo experience

@@tensori-ltd Alright then. Can't wait. This sounds very cool. :)

This video is the core gameplay I'm afraid. There isn't much traditional gameplay elements. No puzzles. No monsters. No guests. I sometimes tell people - it's more of a virtual art gallery than a game. Some people get intense feelings of relaxation or fear (depends on the person) from just exploring these halls and admiring the uncanny beauty of it all.

Oh, cool!! I'm excited to experience it, once it's ready! It looks like you've put a lot of work into making the exploration aspect really interesting. Best of luck as you finish up the project! 💪

Really ...THIS? Lol. Walking around some pools? Your dreams must be severely limited in scope.

​@@user-wn9qu6nf8c look man if you don't like it nobody's gonna force you to play it.

​​@@user-wn9qu6nf8c I meant it literally btw. Like I quite literally often have dreams where I'm exploring an endless pool dimension. I just think it'll be neat to do it in a video game. I'm sorry you can't fathom having fun in a game that isn't about combat. That's a skill issue.

We agree. We will do VR if the game launch is successful.

Yes, console releases are planned if the initial PC release goes well. Technically doing builds for xbox / PS is just a matter of days - but the actual publishing part we have no idea how it works - if there's a lot of paperwork involved etc. we have heard it can take a long time for indie studio - but we are definitely interested and we will push through it if we see it's worth the effort

@@tensori-ltd Good to know, thank you! Given the amount of weird shovelware and mobile ports I see littering the PlayStation store, I'm surprised to hear they make things so difficult for indie devs for publish there, but I fully understand that stuff taking time. Still glad to hear that you're open to trying if the game does well!

​@@candlecrisis7253 That's good to know. I want to clarify that this is only what we heard like once or twice. So not the truth by any means. We could also ease this workload by signing a deal with a publisher - but I'm not sure if we want to. I've heard some horror stories about publishers too. We will definitely try our hardest to self-publish on consoles if the Steam launch goes well. It's at top of our priority list of things to do after launch, with VR and map editor. We have already developed controller support and we use controllers all the time while developing. I'm just careful about not making empty promises / set expectations too high - but we definitely WANT to release POOLS on consoles, but we haven't done it before so it's a bit scary that's all. 😃

Correct, poolrooms usually has completely still water. Also less dark water. This is our unique trademark. But now that you mentioned it, we might experiment with different water in different rooms

btw, do you like this dark water with waves, even if it's not the traditional look? we can always change it and improve it!

@@tensori-ltd yes!, i do like it actually. its very eerie because it doesnt feel right. almost feels like something could be lurking in the water since it looks super dark and deep.

​@@tensori-ltdI love the dark water. I feel like wavey water implies recent use, where did everyone go? Still water would imply no one was in it recently...maybe no one was in it for a reason.

cake is a lie

as a tiny company we don't have computers to test it with, but I have older laptop and it still works if I lower resolution a bit. I recommend to just download the demo for free and see, it's only about 200mb download. store.steampowered.com/app/2663530/POOLS/ it would help us if you would try it and report back if it runs on your PC, and to say what your PC specs are. Currently these minimum specs we list on Steam are just guesses: Intel i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 from around 2016 or later NVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580 or newer 8 GB RAM

​@@tensori-ltd will do

@@tensori-ltdruns pretty smoothly, my processor is AMD Ryzen 5 7530U with Radeon Graphics

Thanks for the feedback, we 100% agree and care about this. We want to fix these before full game release. In fact, right now we are working on adding more water effects. In the latest update (today) there should be some waves when walking in water. We are also working on splashes and effect that will add water to the camera lens, a bit like window when it's raining. Simulating water in video games is quite difficult but we are working very hard to make these things reality 🙏

@@tensori-ltd Sounds like you have your things together, then! Wish you luck with a project. :)

@@TehFr4ntic thanks, we try our best, there's still a lot of work to do. please say if you notice anything else, now or in the future!

We have received some reports that it works great. Possibly needs to tune down some settings from the settings menu, like lighting settings. If you have time to test it, we would be grateful if you would report back how it went. We could then include this information in the Steam page for others to see

Unity game engine!

@@tensori-ltd Thank you so much for the information. By the way, gorgeous game and I read on your sight that there might be another game in the works involving a cops-and-robbers vibe? Looks pretty awesome!

Your concern is justified, please hear me out. The source idea is not original. I'm not 100% sure but I think the original concept is by artist named Jared Pike. I asked him and Jared is OK with us doing the game. Matt Studios was also hugely inspirational. I recommend you to watch this Matt Studios video from 2022 kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a6upZZZ61NuloIE.html Anyway these were popular long before Dreamcore or any game adaptation. Only Demo and Chapter 2 are more of the traditional Poolrooms look, but especially in Chapters 3 and 4 and beyond you can see our unique take on Poolrooms / Backrooms, featuring many concepts that are never before seen in the genre. Please give us a chance to prove this. If you have time, please play the BETA, featuring chapters 1-4, instructions in our discord: discord.com/invite/s3KMR2xZdY I can assure you POOLS is not like any other Backrooms / Poolrooms game out there. Our intention is not to copy anyone, we simply feel like this concept has a lot of unused potential.

yeah, maybe we'll need to edit those sounds a bit... 😅

Yes! we are currently researching and developing VR. it can take many months to complete, but we want to make it!

@@tensori-ltd I am beyond excited! 💥

@@tensori-ltd I’ll subscribe to stay up to date with developments 👌

Thanks, but in fact the lighting/reflections are done by older techniques, like with light and reflection maps/baking. rtx/ray tracing not used at the moment. Good thing is that this increases performance and the game can run on slightly older PC as well. I have done some early tests with ray tracing and we might do that at some point to make even better graphics for higher end PCs When we do ray tracing we will add it as option to the settings as well!

Thanks, in fact the lighting/reflections are done by older techniques, like with light and reflection maps/baking. Ray tracing not used at the moment. Good thing is that this increases performance and the game can run on slightly older PC as well. I have done some early tests with ray tracing and we might do that at some point to make even better graphics for higher end PCs When we do ray tracing we will add it as option to the settings as well! For your other comment. We definitely want to do Level editor. It's a bit challenging task but we have talked about it a lot and I think we can do it! (maybe not in the release tho, let's see) 😃

Thank you for drawing our attention to it again! That visual glitch will be removed in the next update to the demo.

I thought they were intentional​@@tensori-ltd

not yet, but perhaps some day!

Sure you can download the free demo on Steam store.steampowered.com/app/2663530/Pools/ or join us on Discord for Closed Betas etc. discord.com/invite/s3KMR2xZdY

thank you, I wanted to point out that I am "French" and that the comments I will make during the video will of course be in French ! 😂 Do you want me to let you know when the video comes out to see my reactions ? which would be funny! 😃😉

​@@lehorreurgame Sure, thanks! It's awesome that you are French, we love to get content for different languages. In fact, most of our fans do not speak english. French is very popular and beautiful language and we hope many new people will find the game through you! Merci!

​​@@tensori-ltd I hope too ! 😊 thank you for being nice to me, I still wanted to get your opinion... 😌👍 I already notice in your videos progress in realism that other games do not have, for example you added physics to the buoy... And you rounded the edges of the walls which makes everything VERY realistic! I will talk about that in my video because I find it very cool ! 🤤👋

@@lehorreurgame no problem! thank you, we also believe small details like this make all the difference, so we put a lot of effort into it and continue to do so!

Thanks. Planning on it!

@@tensori-ltd Ya. I would pay extra to see RT featured in this great game. I really hope it happens soon! Well done!

VR would be perfect and we want to do it. Right now the only limiting factor is money since we are doing this on our free time but I promise we are doing VR for sure post-launch if the game gets any kind of commercial success and we can continue development. I'm happy to say right now it looks like it! BR. Antti

not planned. Only way we would do them is to have them off by default and an option in the settings to enable them. In most backrooms games I feel like it takes away from the atmosphere. But that's just my personal opinion. Your opinion?

Yeah I would say that if people want to add entities to the game they can turn them on but who doesn’t want they can turn them off I also have an entity idea for the poolrooms

If you ever want to add one

​@@lumeapasarilor7898 Feel free to share, we can always take in ideas. But no guarantee they will ever end up in the game. If you want to share it privately you can do do so by sending us email at support@tensori.fi

If you want to share your idea, and if we end up using it, we can add your name to in-game credits😃

we are now starting to look into it. This is our first time publishing on xbox so it might take a long time!

@@tensori-ltd yess! Thank u 🙏🙏

Hi! it's not a typical game by any means - I often say it's like an art gallery / experiment. Many people get intense feelings of horror or/and relaxation exploring this eerie architecture. Some people think it's 💩and it's ok! We are all are different and that's cool. We want to be honest on what the game is. People can then make informed decision to buy / skip.

This might someday come to PS5 😉

That's right!

Thanks, unfortunately coop is not planned atm. maybe if game is a huge success and a lot of people request it

Many people feel intense feelings while playing the game. Feelings of fear or relaxation or both. For some, the game is just boring nonsense. My theory is that the game hits especially hard if you have certain fears of water, getting lost and loneliness. When you think about it, all fears are like that. Fear of spiders, fear of dark, fear of heights... These are all very intense feelings for some but for others nothing. We are all different and it's a good thing! Anyway, we want to be as transparent and honest on what the gameplay is like. This is it I'm afraid 😃

I think it's like all phobias, some people have it some don't. For example spiders, fear of heights, fear of dark etc. :D Anyway, we want to be very honest about what the game is. Worst possible case is that somebody buys the game without knowing what it is. Especially when it's such a niche game BR. Antti

We build all models by hand. In fact, we sell models in Unity asset store. assetstore.unity.com/publishers/25048

Yes please 🎮

It is true that it is not a game in traditional sense. I often say it's more like a virtual art gallery. For some people the whole game is just boring nonsense. However, other people feel intense feelings while playing the game. Feelings of horror or relaxation or both. When you think about it, all fears are like that. Fear of spiders, fear of dark, fear of heights... These can be very intense feelings for some and nothing for some We try to communicate this as clearly and transparently to everyone, so people can make informed decision on whether or not to buy the game.

Thank you for your feedback. Last update we added waves / ripples that react to player when moving on water. Did you mean this? We are also working on adding waterfalls / water pouring from waterslides and other things!

@@tensori-ltd Hold on, give me a minute while I put my foot in my mouth and wipe the egg off my face... Okay, that's better. Now I can accept the fact that I just made a complete ass of myself for all the world to see. I haven't even made a game since that 2D side scroller I made in VB6 about 20 years ago so just don't even bother listening to anything I have to say.

it doesn't yet have rtx/raytracing I'm afraid 😅 We use old techniques such as light / reflection baking to achieve the results and stay optimized for a bit older hardware. That being said, I also have rtx gpu and I want to try it out. In fact I already did some early tests. We can probably do raytracing support for even better graphics after the launch if we get any kind of commercial success. We could have an option in menu to toggle it on/off. BR. Antti

@@tensori-ltd AWESOME!!! Honestly tho for using older techniques it looks AMAZING!! No cap imma preorder this haha its on steam correct?

@@overkillgaming1424 thanks!! yeah on Steam store.steampowered.com/app/2663530/Pools/

Thanks for the feedback. You are correct there isn't traditional gameplay elements. No puzzles. No monsters. No guests. I sometimes tell people - it's more of a virtual art gallery than a game. Some people get intense feelings of relaxation or horror. Some feel it's boring. Depends on the person. Many have seen places like these in their dreams. On top of that some people have phobia of ocean, for example. People are different like that. Some people have intense fear of darkness, spiders or fear of heights. Others don't have these feelings. I think our responsibility is to show as accurately and honestly what the game is all about, so people can make informed decision on wether or not to buy & play the game. From your comment, I believe the gameplay trailer did its job perfectly. I hope you understand our POV - and if you don't that's OK too

@@tensori-ltd that's a very respectable response. Im sure you'll find your niche audience. Best of luck

​@@c.jarmstrong3111 Thank you for understanding! in future we will do other types of games too. we have plenty of ideas, most of them with more traditional gameplay.

Hi, developer of POOLS here. I understand your concern, both of these games are not very original I'm afraid. These games are inspired by a internet phenomenon "Backrooms Poolrooms", which was quite popular 2 years ago. I don't know for sure, but I believe the original concept came from an artist named Jared Pike (www.jaredpike.art/) Naturally out of respect I have told him about POOLS and he is okay with us doing the game. Out of respect we will also feature Jared Pike on our credits section, and link to his web page. There is also content creators like Matt Studios, Kane Parsons and many other authors who helped in popularizing / creating the internet phenomenon. I recommend to watch at least these videos from 2022, they are quite good in my opinion: - Poolrooms - Don't Get Lost (Exploration Footage #2) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a6upZZZ61NuloIE.html - Poolrooms - Murky Waters (Exploration Footage #3) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jdtim5igtZ6rZas.html There's also a game called "Anemoiapolis: Chapter 1" from early 2023, which features Poolrooms themes. In the end we are fans of this "Poolrooms" genre and just want to make a great poolrooms game. We hope many other games like POOLS will come out! We understand that if two games are too similar - like 1:1 copy - that's a problem. But I promise, that won't be the case! I also want to say that despite the inspiration not being original, we have explored our own creativity with POOLS. We have many original concepts, never before seen in a Poolrooms setting. I can assure you there will be many things that will show our own unique touch, creativity and ideas. BR. Antti

@@tensori-ltd ok, I believe you. Don’t just make maps like Montraluz in your game👌

@@tunamation5559 Thanks for understanding, I agree we want to make our game unique. This is very important to us. We don't like copying and if we want to use ideas we first ask the original author and if answer is yes we also give credit. Always.