Hearken to me, my subjects!

OOC

This post is going to look a lot like last year's plans since I missed almost all of my goals again. I apologize for that, but I really am making extensive efforts to achieve these goals, even if I never seem to hit any of them.

1. Publish a damn game. Yes this is the same game that I was talking about last year, and while I might still insist that it is "so close" to being done, that's what I was saying last year. So what happened? I changed a bunch of stuff. While I think these changes will be beneficial to the game, I lost a lot of progress in doing-so. And this isn't the first time that I've done this. Changing things has delayed the game before. I think that I need to be better at deciding finer elements of the game before the first line of code is written, and then sticking-to that plan. Live and Learn, I suppose. And yes - I have learned quite a bit about making games these past 2 years.

In other news, I did start preliminary moves on "the furry game", which I am planning to ship in 2021. I managed to secure a very desirable trademark - so it will have a cool name - and I'm working with several artists on species and character designs for the universe.

2. Continued Etheras art. I mentioned in a previous journal that the furry fandom is becoming less of a central theme in my life, but that I am not giving it up. I have plenty of Etheras art backlog to post, and I will continue to commission artists. One change, however, is that I found that I am commissioning more "tried and true" artists. The number of times that I've been burned by artists who accept commissions and then take years (literally) to finish them, has caused me to shy away from seeking new talent, and instead to reuse artists that I know will deliver in a timely manner. Call it professionalism, I suppose.

3. YouTube presence. I started a few more YouTube channels. I'm not sure what to do with them exactly. The one for the game company seems obvious, but I want to do several others - mostly gaming-related. Game news, Lets Plays, Tips and Tricks for indie gamedevs, etc. I'm so inundated with gaming culture at this point (because of the company) that it makes sense to start collating and sharing the things I find valuable. The question is - how do I present the data? It seems obvious that most viewers interested in Lets Plays are not interesting in programming advice. So how do I break it up in such a way that I can deliver the channels that people want, while simultaneously avoiding running afoul of YouTube's dreaded algorithm - which promotes channels that upload at least 1 10-minute episode per day. YouTube is supposed to be supplemental, but if I have 3 channels (not-including the official company channel) that's 30 minutes of recording per day. Once you include editing, it becomes a major commitment. I'm wondering if it will really be worth my time, or if I should be spending all that time actually making games rather than talking about them.

4. Buying a Home. Rent is my single largest expense, and while I love my apartment, I kinda hate city living. So it seems crazy to be throwing away thousands of dollars per month on a place I'm not that fond-of, which I won't even own (no equity). Even if a mortgage is the same price as my apartment, at least I'd own something at the end.

5. Continued Journals. I might shy away from journal-ing so much about IC stuff. To be honest, Etheras is a fairly simple character, and I keep running into roadblocks as I try to flesh out the universe. A big part of the problem is that Etheras has pretty-much gone as far as I think he can go. I can't make a game about him, he's too damaged by all the adult content for wider public appeal. I've mentioned in the past that I want to do more IC journals and then never-did. I'm going to go back on that, and state outright: journals from now on are likely to be more OOC.

These posts tend to be a little dry, so sorry about that... But yeah, thanks for reading! ^.^

Cheers,
~ Etheras