Alpha0Art
patreon
Game Update & Stuff!
🕑 Added 2020-11-30 22:36:30 +0000 UTCHello! Here's the monthly update about the game project (and again, no charge this month because no fully playable demo is delivered).
First of all let's start with the bad: I really didn't like the tentative release I did last month (available on my discord channel). In order to deliver a full demo on time I crunched so hard all of September and October and ended up compromising so much of the original idea that the end result was a crushing disappointment. I spent the first 10 days of the month moping about it and being unable to find the will to keep working. After that moment I started fixing what was wrong, and readdressing my priorities:
-Push interactivity up. Remove as much automation as possible: allow the player to move between locations, decide to whom to talk, etc. I like how i structured the dialogues, but the demo was so self-driving it was in all but name a visual novel.
-Cut complexity down. Remove needless complication. In other words re-engineer the core game loop (which is a slay-the-spire like card game) so that it's super easy to play and self-explanatory.
-Never ever crunch again. Crunch made me blind about problems, and uninterested about the project. I focused on delivering goods, i didn't care about delivering anything good. This project requires a lot of engineering to reach the "minimum viable release" and there are no shortcuts about it.
So lets' talk about the real progress of the last 20 days:
- Map, minimap, and travelling has been implemented. 3 new locations have been painted, one location will be painted soon to allow complete free movement for the demo. The quality of this art is much higher than what I did before.
-The card game loop has been rewritten and re-engineered. The first 9 cards have been implemented and are currently being illustrated.
-The main character has been illustrated, and is going to be featured in most of the early card illustrations, he's the featured fox in this update (there is support for a customizable main character, but i'm going to focus on getting Kan, my fox dude, "right" first).
-A full map of the game has been painted, and an interactive version has been implemented.
I expect to have the new release ready before Christmas, it will be posted on my discord channel, and here too if i deem it finally worthy of the monthly charge.
Commissions & Patreon
I'm no longer in a situation where i can keep developing the game full time without making any money to cover basic expenses, for this reason I'm going to take few commissions per month.
Openings will be posted tomorrow here, and preorders will be available to all patrons regardless of their pledge tier (after all I haven't charged since forever). This is my personal thanks to all who have followed me during those months of crazy gamedev talk :)
Comments
Alpha0
Doing a mechanically complex game was bound to be a risk: it's the first time I do something so in depth, so I think it's fair I risk MY money on this, but not other people's. Not charging also gives me the freedom to work on it until I feel it's satisfactory, rather than push "whatever" just to give something back. And in the worst case that it just never feels "right"and the economic hole is too big, I can cancel the project and keep sleeping well at night: because nobody other than me lost a dime on it. I think Patreon is easy to abuse, so I'd rather err on the side of being too cautious and not charge unless I truly truly feel I've given enough.
Rodrigo
You may need to rethink how you post and charge per month. You went from charging for pinup art and a comic to next iteration charging for a certain number of pages per month. Your strong suit is the art portion. Designing and implementing a game is very, very difficult. You may wish to rethink and redo how you do this? I am willing to be charged for the months that you have paused. I will contact you via the usual method.
