POSTMORTEM STORYTIME

[p]If you're not familiar with the concept of a postmortem, it's what game developers do when a game has launched and some time has passed. They review the development process with the goal of preparing the team for future projects. I'm going to use this as a vehicle to discuss my perspective on this solo project, the things that happened IRL, and where I hope to go from here.[/p][p]In 2016, I started developing my first project using RPG Maker MV. I was in school at the time for Game Design and fully intended to focus on inventory, currency, and battle mechanics. On the whole, this was supposed to be a portfolio fluff piece. After over 2000 hours of solo development, the 1.0 version of Cross of Auria was ready for launch. It went live in the evening of December 31st, 2017. This version of the game started in the Veil with the "you do not belong here" and ended with returning to Auria after defeating the Flame Titan. The Rabbit's Foot existed in its first iteration - the one before Professor Dixon arrives, and no other hunter lodges existed at all. Rabbit's Foot was completely discoverable and led the party to Agartha for the Mend removal scenario into the Den An'ura Rift. The Pit, a repeatable series of battles, was available in the west building of Agartha where the Hall of Challengers now stands. Finally, a minigame where Ruby could hire recruits to travel the snowy north was starting to take shape. This version of the game released with intent to be live service for a few months to finish the minigame, then move on to chapter 2. Cross of Auria - the Awakening was always meant to be up until returning to Auria after the Flame Titan battle.[/p][p]When I graduated in late 2018 and started trying to enter the workforce with the training I had with Unreal and Unity, it became abundantly clear that my degree was useless. I would have been better served making a Unity game during my college time instead of participating in classes at all. But it was too late - I had my first daughter who was getting older and I couldn't invest an unlimited amount of time in a project that might not even be completable by myself. At this point, Cross of Auria hadn't sold too many copies and the Founder's Packs (later becoming the Gift Pack DLCs) hadn't done well. I did virtually no marketing whatsoever and I wasn't an artist by any means. I decided to continue the project in hopes to sell DLCs and keep buzz around the game going. This is where I started extending the story through Frost Forest, removing the Pit and Battlefront, and adding more to the Rabbit's Foot. [/p][p]Come 2020, I had my second child. Free time was all but gone, but I was still chugging away. Zones started getting revamped from being multi-map zones to single huge zones instead with more deliberate terrain and overall more things for players to do. I set CoA as free to download in the hopes of onboarding new players who may be interested in DLC content later, and since then over 60,000 people have claimed a license to the game. [/p][p]Skipping ahead a bit, 2025 is here and I'm still looking back at Cross of Auria - the game I finished, added to, then didn't finish. Sitting there in limbo with no blatant end point, unhappy with where it was. So, in the latter half of 2025, I paused my other projects to put 100% effort into finishing the game. But this wasn't to sell DLCs or create buzz, it was for me. I wanted to be happy with what I had put out there, even if it had come years too late. I created the most scripted events in the game's history, new craftable gear and discoverable events, finalized things that sat dormant for years and made them public. I did almost everything I wanted to do, but it was also time to stop. I could spend another 5000 hours on the engine to make it 'perfect', and still not make another penny off of it. And now there were two kids. There have been two kids for a while. I can't spend 5000 hours on a passion project for free anymore. And I shouldn't have. Not in 2020, and not since. But here we are.[/p][p]I have learned an incredible deal about what I want to make for a non-rpg maker game. I've learned a lot about what kinds of systems I'd make if I were a dev at a big studio. I've learned about the pipeline, bug squashing, and thought about the direction of this story I started nearly 20 years ago. I could make a part 2 on this engine. It wouldn't take nearly as long... but it would still only be played by a handful of people ever. At the end of the day, I want to create something that doesn't just support my family - but that people talk about as a cultural statement of development. And I know I can't do that with the tools I'm working with today. [/p][p]So, what would I do different moving forward? If I were to make a successor to Cross of Auria on the RMMV engine, it would use the already established framework from CoA stripped down to the bones and rebuilt using the best of what I had. More of a 1.5 than a 2 in the series. It would release complete with no DLC for at least 4.99. If there was still more story to tell, then there would be a numbered successor even after that. But I definitely would not do DLC or live service again. [/p][p]If I were to continue the saga in a different engine, I think I would include all the events from CoA and then expand forward and outward toward the true conclusion of the story. Like a real game, if you will. This idea seems insurmountable to me right now because I know what it takes to create the things I want to make and I don't have the skillset to do it alone or the funds to put together a team. But I'm always going to think... what if?[/p][p]If you have any questions for me, please feel free to drop them here. Consider me open book about all things that happened both in CoA itself and during the alpha/beta/gold development stages. Questions about the story as it would be after the events of CoA I can't answer, as I'd love to keep the idea that maybe one day there will be a #2.[/p][p]Thanks for reading! See you out there someday. [/p][p]//hardytier aka bryan moran, just a dude from NJ who has always loved games.[/p][p]PS: There are currently some unused but reserved DLC appIDs for CoA. I may have to use them in one way or another if I do decide to make a new game eventually. If I do, they'll likely be free Gift Pack style content just for the sake of using the ID. They were originally reserved as future Battle Series', which were meant to be successors to Zodiac Overwatch.[/p]