Finally I have found ’my flow’ and I am now pumping out content like crazy. A large part of that is a feasible goal, my release plan.
Another thing in this blog is the new Find the Gome gameplay video. Its shows a few interesting new things.
So, buckle up and enjoy the ride!
Video
There is a lot of new stuff in here. The 3rd level, the smooth gameplay (everything is coming together), the collectibles concept, the new UI concept and the new map concept (on the end).
My release plan
Its finished when its finished. That should be the foundation under every (game) project. However, I seem to work a lot better under pressure.
I don’t know how this happened to me, but I got myself together. I seems to be able now to pump out stuff at a good quality level and good speed at the same time.
A few things that I did lately
- I did set myself a target to go for -> The delayed Steam Deck release date.
- Upgraded my structure to support a good mix of quality and speed -> ’official’ sprints of 3 weeks + 2 predefined epics each sprint + epics that match ’the grand plan’ + my ’old’ system of structuring work during the sprint by having types of tickets/issues to work on with predefined points to check off / think about.
- Surrounded myself by very good and inspiring artists -> I bring in 50%, they bring in the other 50%.
- Accept good things cost money -> Paying others to do things I am not good at.
- Keep control -> I make the decisions and set goals.
- Keep progressing -> Accept that ’good enough is good enough’, with my own work or work provided by my payed artists.
- Confidence boost -> On my ’main job’ I got a major acknowledgement for my performance lately.
My main thing I take away from this is that its very important to clarify things. I previously refrained from control but that made things very unclear. With getting things clear I mainly try to keep it human and focus on people, while at the same time the technical side must be clear at all times. This mix comes very natural to me and I really enjoy working with other people now.
And another recurring theme is: offloading work. Mental or delegating. My work structure helps with keeping mental load low. A plan to know where to head to so I don’t have to thing about that anymore. And other people to get to work on stuff I am not good at or don’t have time for. The ‘not good at’ or ‘dont have time for’ is something I am very aware of if I am doing it myself. So delegating that type of work is a double win for me.
So… you might think by now… ‘ok, but… you said you had a plan… what is your release plan?’
Week 6 or 7 in 2022 I expect something to be on Steam:
I also have concluded that I can’t release this game as a replacement for ‘Find the Gnome’. It will be a separate game (and store page). People that did buy ‘Find the Gnome’ in the expectation it will once be replaced by something better can claim a free code for the new version by reaching out to me.
I have a few reasons to release it on a new page. But mainly its because its confusing, both for me (things don’t align in the Store back-end anymore this way) and for existing and new customers (game is totally different from the previous one, only hidden object and gnomes are similarities). And yeah I think its a better homage to the amount of work put in by my artists (and me) to give this game a nice new and cozy place to land.
And the Steam deck support: I aim on getting my game officially certified. A big part of this is having support for a good controller/touch control scheme. It might be too hard to pull this off before the said deadline.
So… that’s it for this week!
Leave a reaction on this blog, on the youtube video, or get over to the GameFeeling discord.
GameFeelings 