Conclusions, Relief, and New Beginnings

After over 5 years of development, longing, and self-loathing, my 3rd indie game “True King (prototype) – Heir To The Resurrection” has released on May 3, 2021. It’s not complete, but released.

I’ve also re-released “Drew and the Floating Labyrinth” and “Unfinished – An Artist’s Lament” on Itch.io, now hosting all 3 projects. I’ve also just finished updating the websites for the 3 games, plus this main blog site, to convey the new links and information. On Itch, the game pages are collectively getting over 100 views on each of the two first days so far… even if it doesn’t correlate to sales, and even if the release of “True King” is false, it feels good to see this. I feel like “I’m back in the game,” if only temporarily.

The past couple of weeks also saw the conclusion of multiple long-term projects in my real full-time job. Later this week, I’ll get the 2nd vaccine, and will join a community that slowly comes together again. In a few months, I plan to upgrade my 8-years-old development PC, and begin work on new projects and ideas. And I’m cautiously hopeful that the Canada border will reopen any month now, as I slowly make future plans for this time next year.

“True King” still has work to do. I’ll do my best for a couple months longer. Or I might not. But for now, I rest. A rest I’ve long looked forward to, entering into a season of many restorations for my soul, hopefully recharging me for new ambitions by the Fall. Those ambitions will have to wait… for now, I rest…

 

“True King” 2021 Release FAQ

This is a FAQ (“Frequently Asked Questions”… even though no one has actually asked these questions yet) for the release of “True King (prototype) – Heir To The Resurrection” on May 3, 2021. It explains the state of the game, where it is releasing, and decisions about the release strategy.

The game can be downloaded from itch.io at the following link: https://dust-scratch-games.itch.io/

New Title and Logo

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The Importance of Story in Finishing Your Game

Over the past few weeks, I’ve come to appreciate the value of story in games from a different perspective.

I’m not writing this blog post to argue what aspect of a game is more important. Of course, gameplay is what makes a game a game, even though many game experiences don’t have gameplay at all, and even though the measurement of “fun” is still debated among critics. My games focus on visual design first, for that’s the first thing most people see in screenshots and video, and if a game doesn’t look good or unique, then really, what’s the point of making it for pubic release against a sea of millions of other games? Music is the most elemental way to create emotional ties and memories, and can make a game more accessible when designed the right way. And story gives the player context, and gives them reason to press forward, to play for just a few minutes longer.

But these are common observations from a player’s perspective. What about from a developer’s perspective?
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Talking About The Design Document of “True King”

Wow… almost 3 months without a blog post. That seems bad.

Actually, I’ve made some progress on my indie game development, and have been slowly showing parts of my progress at a local game dev meetup. And slowly, I’ll be posting that content here as well. I hope to have a lot more from “True King” in the near-coming months.

For now, let’s talk about the complex gameplay pitch. I haven’t really done that on this site all this time.

Making comics in my spare time provides a lot of memes to reference.

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