April, May, and June
It's been a while, hasn't it?
I've honestly been a bit stuck between competing desires. Until recently, I had never missed a monthly update. Some were a bit late, but even through the pandemic years, I did not miss any monthly updates. On the other hand, I really don't like to post bad updates and even more so, as mentioned earlier, I don't want to use this space as a personal blog. In the end, in order to post something, I'm afraid it will have to be a less than good update and also a bit of a blog.
On the other hand, if you're interested in playing something else I've made, there might be something of interest here.
In late March, my stepfather passed away. He left in his wake a bit of a mess, both physical (because he was a hoarder) and financial (because he had a lot of debts, some of which were at > 28% interest). Further, my mother is not in particularly good health and needs significant assistance in even routine tasks. I've been working to fix those messes, while also having many new responsibilities. I have not taken to this new reality very easily, if I'm being honest.
I have faith in this project. That remains unchanged. Lately though, in light of my new circumstances, it has been hard to justify doing "unpaid labor." As such, very little work has been done on DGR in the last few months. Things will change. However, every time I think I've nearly rounded the corner, I find new things that sap my time and energy. This time I am not going to make any specific predictions, instead only saying that I do plan to return to as close to full time on DGR as is possible, as soon as is possible.
I have been working on this game for over six years. I have been starting to have doubts about my ability to finish. Quite by chance, I found a post recruiting participants for a Narrative Design Jam. It's hosted on another site that, in addition to hosting jams, sells video game online. Valve, understandably, filters links to such sites. I don't blame them; were I operating something like Steam, I would not allow my partners to link to competitors either. There will be no links here, but I'm sure you can find it via my other social media.
Anyway, my efforts in May went to finishing something. I stripped down the DGR engine and made a narrative-focused game, Dreams of Gold. It didn't win the jam, but it was one of the nominees. I'm quite pleased with that result. More than that, I finished a game for the first time in a few years. Some people played it; indeed, you, too, could play it today if you wanted! It is a very different game though, and I would not be upset if you didn't.
I got some tangible benefits out of it also. I worked out a process (and wrote code to automate most of it) of producing pre-compiled builds, which is a lot nicer than shipping full source for everything. This will work more or less unchanged for DGR. I also got a few bug reports for the underlying engine. I have already applied these fixes to DGR.
Less pleasantly, there just wasn't an audience for the game. It's a weird art game, so that's to be expected. I wasn't quite expecting it to sink so hard, so soon though.
This has really inspired me to finish DGR. As niche as it is, there are levels. I admit, I was hoping something might happen with DoG, and maybe I might make a few other small games with micro budgets that may earn a tiny profit, so I could keep the lights on for a while via games. But no.
Now that I have found some ways to be at least a bit productive, I am going to get more done on DGR. Hopefully I can apply the lessons on finishing here as well. Also, as it's already the 20th, I'm not planning a post in early July, but instead resuming the regular cadence on the first Saturday in August.
I've honestly been a bit stuck between competing desires. Until recently, I had never missed a monthly update. Some were a bit late, but even through the pandemic years, I did not miss any monthly updates. On the other hand, I really don't like to post bad updates and even more so, as mentioned earlier, I don't want to use this space as a personal blog. In the end, in order to post something, I'm afraid it will have to be a less than good update and also a bit of a blog.
On the other hand, if you're interested in playing something else I've made, there might be something of interest here.
Blog
In late March, my stepfather passed away. He left in his wake a bit of a mess, both physical (because he was a hoarder) and financial (because he had a lot of debts, some of which were at > 28% interest). Further, my mother is not in particularly good health and needs significant assistance in even routine tasks. I've been working to fix those messes, while also having many new responsibilities. I have not taken to this new reality very easily, if I'm being honest.
I have faith in this project. That remains unchanged. Lately though, in light of my new circumstances, it has been hard to justify doing "unpaid labor." As such, very little work has been done on DGR in the last few months. Things will change. However, every time I think I've nearly rounded the corner, I find new things that sap my time and energy. This time I am not going to make any specific predictions, instead only saying that I do plan to return to as close to full time on DGR as is possible, as soon as is possible.
Dreams of Gold
I have been working on this game for over six years. I have been starting to have doubts about my ability to finish. Quite by chance, I found a post recruiting participants for a Narrative Design Jam. It's hosted on another site that, in addition to hosting jams, sells video game online. Valve, understandably, filters links to such sites. I don't blame them; were I operating something like Steam, I would not allow my partners to link to competitors either. There will be no links here, but I'm sure you can find it via my other social media.
Anyway, my efforts in May went to finishing something. I stripped down the DGR engine and made a narrative-focused game, Dreams of Gold. It didn't win the jam, but it was one of the nominees. I'm quite pleased with that result. More than that, I finished a game for the first time in a few years. Some people played it; indeed, you, too, could play it today if you wanted! It is a very different game though, and I would not be upset if you didn't.
I got some tangible benefits out of it also. I worked out a process (and wrote code to automate most of it) of producing pre-compiled builds, which is a lot nicer than shipping full source for everything. This will work more or less unchanged for DGR. I also got a few bug reports for the underlying engine. I have already applied these fixes to DGR.
Less pleasantly, there just wasn't an audience for the game. It's a weird art game, so that's to be expected. I wasn't quite expecting it to sink so hard, so soon though.
This has really inspired me to finish DGR. As niche as it is, there are levels. I admit, I was hoping something might happen with DoG, and maybe I might make a few other small games with micro budgets that may earn a tiny profit, so I could keep the lights on for a while via games. But no.
What's next
Now that I have found some ways to be at least a bit productive, I am going to get more done on DGR. Hopefully I can apply the lessons on finishing here as well. Also, as it's already the 20th, I'm not planning a post in early July, but instead resuming the regular cadence on the first Saturday in August.