In both February and March, I managed to complete the second Catalyst Wake story and sort of complete "PART I" of the Broken Minds final deduction, of which there are three parts. I say "sort of" because there are still a few things to implement having to do with choice branches, etc.
I'm also working on my SECRET PROJECT, a completely new property that, believe it or not, you've seen a little something of in Games Update 7.5, which, for the moment, I'm putting in the "slacking off" pile because even though I'm doing something, it's NOT what I want to be doing... which is working on Broken Minds.
If I want to be doing it, then why am I not doing it? Well, I think part of the reason is the way I'm making it. "Vertical development" is when you write, visualize, and score the game in sections, so that each "scene" is fully complete before you move on to the next one. It's less freeing than horizontal development — where you would complete all the writing first, then all the art, then all the music, and revise and polish it at the end, which is what I'm doing with Catalyst Wake. I like vertical development. It's what I'm comfortable with, mostly because I like seeing a polished game as soon as I can.
I also find horizontal development unappealing because it exists in an unfinished state for so long. So there's no easy solution. Maybe writing this blog post will get me in the mood to write Broken Minds. I sure hope so!
As I said in my recent Update, I want to have projects that release frequently, so that I can feel justified in starting a Patreon account.
There are many things that I'm planning with a Patreon. Rewards like access to unfinished builds of new games, (which is kind of lame but hey, you get to give me feedback), soundtrack previews, exclusive behind-the-scenes videos like drawing time-lapses, development vlogs, early access to completed games and animations, downloads of posters, high-rez character art, bonus comic pages that you would normally only be able to see if you got the printed comic, 3D models, short tutorials, signed printed comics, etc.
The problem is, I can't have that much content if I don't have enough properties. Right now, I can't expect people to be too interested in Pageturner or Generation Quest, (especially Generation Quest), because they are Scratch-based games, and, I'm just guessing, but I don't think my Scratch audience is going to want to pay to get access to anything I just mentioned. It doesn't help that, because of how few projects I release, that audience has kind of slipped through my fingers.
Therefore, the new project, the SECRET PROJECT. I'm excited about it, but I'm also keeping it largely in the dark, just in case this whole thing never works out, and I have to find an actual job where I'm paid money for doing these things.
Anyway, just the things I've been thinking about lately.
I'll keep posting updates to this blog, even if no progress is made. It's my New Years Resolution!
— LockedOn, 2017.