ShelfLife: Art School Detective
PLAYTEST INFO
Thank you participating in the 2026 ShelfLife: Art School Detective PLAYTEST!
This is a small demo (roughly 30 mins) showing off a tiny section of the game, so expect bugs and incomplete features!
If you DO encounter any bugs… please let us know! You can do this using the feedback form (linked below) or by telling us know your thoughts via email: info@fnifegames.com or our Discord community.
ONCE YOU’VE PLAYED THE DEMO, FILL OUT OUR SHORT FEEDBACK FORM:
GENERAL CONTROLS:
| ACTION: |
KEYBOARD: |
MOUSE: |
XBOX CONTROLLER: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move / Navigate Menu |
[WASD] or [Arrow Keys] |
[Left Click] target location / object |
[Left Stick] or [D-Pad] |
| Confirm / Interact |
[Spacebar] |
[Left Click] |
[A Button] or [B Button] |
| Suspects Menu |
[Tab] |
[Left Click] the [Bag Icon] |
[Y Button] or [X Button] |
| Pause Menu |
[Esc] |
[Left Click] the [Cog Icon] |
[≡ Menu Button] or [▶ Start Button] |
| Walk Faster |
[Shift] |
N/A |
[Left Trigger] |
INSPECTION CONTROLS:
| ACTION: |
KEYBOARD: |
MOUSE: |
XBOX CONTROLLER: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rotate Model |
[WASD] |
[Left Click] and drag |
[Left Stick] or [D-Pad] |
| Move Magnifying Glass |
[Arrow Keys] will always move the Magnifying Glass Alternative: [Shift] toggles [WASD] between magnifying and rotation modes |
The Magnifying Glass follows mouse movement [Left Click] to pick up and [Right Click] to put down |
[Right Stick] will always move the Magnifying Glass Alternative: [Left Trigger] to toggles [Left Stick] between magnifying and rotation modes |
FAQ:
CAN I STREAM THE PLAYTEST?
Nope. We would appreciate it if you didn’t stream ShelfLife publicly while it’s in this early stage. The intention of this playtesting event is to gather feedback to aid us in development.
However, feel free to stream yourself playing the game to a small group of friends privately (e.g. screen sharing on a Discord call) if you want to!
WILL THE PLAYTEST DEMO WORK ON MY PC?
You can check out the minimum system requirements on our Steam Page. This playtest build is not super optimised, and may have some slowdown on older systems, however the game is not very demanding. This playtest build requires around 5 GB of free space on your PC.
Since the game designed and tested on Windows 10 / 11 PCs: we anticipate there’ll be some weirdness and bugs when played on Steam Decks, Apple / Mac or Linux machines. Please let us know about any problems you encounter so we can work on those for future builds.
WHAT IF I DON’T HAVE AN XBOX CONTROLLER?
The game should work with whatever controller you do have, but the game currently only has the symbols / glyphs showing the Xbox specific control scheme. So that means if you’re told to press the “A” button then you’d use the equivalent button on whatever controller you do have, e.g. for PlayStation that would be the “X” button.
Please let us know if a specific controller doesn’t function at all for the game.
WHAT INFO ARE YOU COLLECTING?
Great question! We’re looking for more information about what YOU, our potential players, want!
We’ve got some ANALYTICS set up within the build, so we will be able to get a small amount of anonymous information about some of the choices players make in-game (which NPCs players talk to, what they look at, etc). Ultimately what we’re really hoping for is written feedback in our survey form, and any additional thoughts you have as a player!
HOW CAN I GET IN TOUCH WITH THE DEVS?
If you have any other questions, or run into anything that you think needs our immediate attention, please either contact us via email: info@fnifegames.com or join our Discord community.
KNOWN ISSUES / BUGS:
Clipping: We know that there are some areas of the map where the Johana (Player Character) can clip parts of their bodies through. Feel free to include this in your feedback, but it may already be on our to-do list.
Long load times: We know that some PCs struggle to load into the Security Office and Art World. We have attempted a fix, but this might not work on all computers. If this is still happening or you notice any other areas that have long load times please let us know!
Widescreen Weirdness: As the game was designed around 1080p monitors we’re aware that the game may perform strangely in ultra wide screen or smaller monitors. Any feedback about how the game performs on these screen resolutions is very appreciated as this is hard to test internally.
Accessibility features: As this is an early build we don’t currently have all the intended accessibility features we want to include (e.g. option to turn of text animations and effects). Please let us know if you have any specific features that you think would be good additions / options!