I've really been poluting this blog space with low effort posts of late. I just wanted to make a quick post and organize ourselves a bit.

The cart's been put before the horse and I find myself getting knee deep in creating new systems and losing sight of the forest for the trees. You get tunnel vision and you become submerged in the new systems you're adding, you think only of that system and start adding new bells and whistles and after many days of work, sometimes we emerge from the rabbit hole truimphant! "I GOT ALL THE FEATURES MADE!" But do they make the game more fun?

There's the rub.

I can't believe i'm saying this. But I think i'm going to focus on just making the game fun, like actually start playing it like it's a game and wondering "how would I change this to be a better game I would like?" One can spend so much time building out everything thinking that that's what the user wants, that they never actually try their own product. I've spent so much time developing the game trying to chase what the user wants i've always ignored what I would have wanted to make the game fun. I think it's a defense mechanism, it helps us think we're making a good game. "I'm bored of this project, but i'm sure OTHER people will like this, I'm adding this because it will be what other people like."

We need to bite the bullet, we need to face down the nagging feeling in our gut that WE OURSELVES do not think our game is fun.

It's time to face that demon, it's time to directly fight to make this a game that I would enjoy playing. It's not going to be easy, but it's time to make all this investment worth it, it's time to hunker down, thrust our claws into the pulsing, festering husk of all these malformed systems, and force these disgusting innards into a healthy arrangement.

You'd think this game was shit by what I just said. It's not, it's actually starting to kick ass, but the way I've created the content is not inducive of this game achieving the level of fun that is necessary.

I'm rambling and losing focus.

PLAN MOVING FORWARD: FIND THE FUN

We have spawn systems, we have enemies, we have items, we have all the core building blocks, it's time to forget all the conventions of how we thought this game was going to be fun, and to just start throwing things in and see what works.

I need to let go, I need to let go of the preconceived notions of what was going to be fun, I need to let go of the urge that all these systems need to be utilized.

Let's start small, let's just create these random elements, and see what sinks or swims. We're going to pursue what's fun put effort into what works, and try to think forward towards what works, not chase after half finished systems that we HOPE will be fun.

You know, life isn't always great, or fair... or whatever. But here's the positives: The hard work IS paying off, it's harder and taking longer than ever imagined, but so be it. Our health has actually been pretty stable lately, so we have that going for us. And this industry is shaking up, maybe through the fissure lines, we find ourselves a lifeline.

I started this project with the mindset that no matter how bullshit this world was, we were going to try to make a game so darned fun, that it would find some modicum of success one way or another. Well... we're a long way from being good, but we're getting closer, one inch at a time.

Lots of blathering to say the same thing time and again. We put our head down, we get to work, and we tune out the noise with some jams. It's all we've got, and that's fine.

TO DEV!