0.9.4 - August 18, 2024

This update is largely a push from me to get ready for the game's inclusion in the Seattle Indies Expo: https://six.seattleindies.org/

The game is slowly getting closer and closer to the finish line, as games do. 

This version is a polish and bugfix update for the most part, so I'll just go ahead and give some random game design reflections that I've been having:

• Not all parts of a game "cost" the same. This is something I've been thinking about after reading Playful Production Process by Richard Lemarchand. For example, in a James Bond movie, you need an expensive action scene. That might cost as much as the rest of the movie combined, but it just isn't a James Bond movie without it. Games are the same. Sometimes, something that takes a ton of time but will only be in your game for a few minutes is still worth it.
• Making games in my spare time can be hard, but I find that I gain a lot from having more "calendar time". I think about this talk sometimes: Elyot Grant - 30 Puzzle Design Lessons. He talks about the concept of "Eureka moments" in puzzle design. The process I take in making games in my spare time allows me to have a lot of eureka moments about their design. That can be kind of bad when it comes to scope creep, but it can also be good. Some of my favorite eureka moments about the design of this game have been times when I've realized I don't have to do something 😅 I like to think that my utter joy in cutting things is a result of gaining more experience making games hehe.
• I feel like I've gained a lot of trust in the process of doing a little bit over time. Sometimes I feel like I barely get anything done in a session, but it's great how it all adds up. My first game Robot Island was a lot more chaotic and it was basically finished when I felt totally exasperated and just needed to be done. Hopefully this one will come in for a much more gentle landing.

There are still a lot of steps to get this out as a game to sell. I have a personal goal of localizing the game into at least simplified and traditional Chinese. I'd say the setup for that is about 50% done. I want to do this because I think it will help it reach a wider audience, but it's also just something I want to go through on one of my own games, having done it for other games I've worked on before. It's kind of a personal business/publishing goal I guess.

I also have a few other tasks like that such as allowing for cloud saves and Steam achievements. I'd really like it so that the demo save carries over if you buy the full game. Release is rife with random technical stuff like this. 

Anyway, even though I'm talking about release, I probably don't expect to release the game until at least mid next year because ~redacted~

Hope you enjoy : )

Mickey