Friday Rambles 2023-07-14

It's the Friday Rambles, yet again. Time flies when you're not working, eh?

I want to work, though. I'm tired of not working. I've been busy not working for 2 months. Let me work! Work is Not da poop, when I need to work to make game and make money! 

Well, at least I have time to write a paywalled weekly diary entry.

A few days ago, a friend gifted me a game you may have heard of called Dave the Diver. I've been playing it on my Steam Deck in 20 minute chunks in between real life obligations. I must say that the game appears to have taken a lot of inspiration from the hit indie game Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines. (...lol) 

In any case, I was surprised by how much I liked it. It's actually really fun and has the kind of surprises I love in my games peppered throughout the progression, and I really like how all out it goes when it comes to cutscenes and storylines and all the random and weird genre changes. But one thing that kinda bugs me is how it's characterized as an "indie" game when it's developed by Nexon of all companies, a ginormous game shop that's pretty much as non-indie as you can get. I suppose the word is just about the presentation nowadays...

Give me the staff and backing of a 17 billion dollar company and I'll make you the indiest of all indie games, okay? 

Speaking of indie games, BitSummit, an indie game developer convention in Japan, is happening, right now, as we speak! I want to go to there...

I did not know about it till recently, but now that I'm "Plugged In" to the "Indie Game Scene" it has become something I really want to visit... as an attendee, or better yet, as an exhibitor. 

I'll definitely try to submit something for next year's show (probably my next game if it's ready, or EM:DnD if not), and regardless of whether it gets accepted, I'll try to go and make a business trip out of it. It'll be my first overseas business trip as an official "Game Developer"! And I'll have to play more games till then so I'm not some kind of weird poser and actually have something to talk about while "networking".

Well, I don't know if anything will really happen, but it's nice to think (and dream) about in advance, I guess.

The Steam Summer Sale has ended, and it was a very motivational 2 weeks. The after-sale hangover is real, though, and looking at today's "units sold" number makes me feel bad. Apparently that's the norm with Steam, though. Still got a couple more seasonal sales left this year!

I'm still brainstorming ideas for what's next for Endless Monday. I really wish I had the time to do the planned Halloween update for my game but it's looking more and more like it's not going to happen (at least not by October), because real life keeps getting in the way. I need a lot more time to make something and then localize it and everything. I mean... since this is my job now, isn't this real life too? Well, real life doesn't work that way, kid.

As far as the next game goes, it's difficult to follow up something I poured basically my entire life into because now I don't have any material, at least from a "work is da poop" angle. I'll probably have to go even more fantastical, like more weird scifi or adventure stuff, and stuff that has less to do with the office setting. I've been away from the corporate world for over a year so my feelings about it are less raw and less interesting now. 

So what raw feelings do I have now that I can exploit to make video games? Well, it's probably closest to Skye's story now, quitting my job to do something really stupid and hoping I can make a living off of it. Or maybe something about Game Dev. Or maybe something else in my life experience.

Some rough ideas for Endless Monday Second Game:

Game Dev Management Sim:

• Game Dev Story inspired game about running your own game studio, except featuring cute anime ladies that you're already familiar with. And maybe less of a  err, "direct homage," like certain other popular "Game Dev" management sim games.
• Instead of reality-parodying consoles like "Nontrondlo Funtertainment Sorstem", do something more Endless Monday Universe based.
• Add stuff that's completely unrelated, so that what you think is a Game Dev Story clone becomes something different and story based. Add RPG elements. And roguelike elements. Add deckbuilder roguelike elements. Add procedural generation.
• Hire 300 people to make it because I am Nexon and I have 17 billion dollars.

Air Fryer Cooking Show Management Sim:

• Meet Skye, who just quit her job at a big corporation to follow her dream of launching her online air fryer cooking show career.
• Research air fryer recipes. Buy ingredients. Level up by cooking.
• Watch your bank account dwindle. It is a resource management game.
• Gain subscribers by making air fryer cooking videos, and make it big in the online air fryer cooking show world. Make money from ads and sponsors.
• Oh no! A rogue robot made a new cooking show based on yours! And now it's more popular than you! 
• The game is now a beat-em-up about fighting robots with a baseball bat.
• Win the game by fighting your way up the evil Robot Corporate Headquarters and defeating the Robot Queen.
• After defeating the Robot Queen, sit in the Robot Throne, and become the new Robot Queen. 
• There must always be a Robot Queen.

Internet Artist Management Sim:

• Fulfill your dreams of being an Internet Artist. Start from zero followers and use hashtags and Portfolio Days to claw your way into "Big Artist" status.
• Post relatable artist memes to go viral, because the more numbers, the more better. None of the followers you gain from this will commission you because they just liked your meme that one time, and don't really care about your art.
• Practice(?) drawing(?) to get good(?)
• Oh no! You just got suspended for drawing nsfw -75% debuff to "Social Media Engagement" Stat.
• Oh no! Your social media platform of choice got bought out by Nexon. -50% debuff to your "Confidence about my career's future" stat.
• Oh no! Three new social media platforms just launched. You need to make new accounts on there or risk losing points from your "Art Community Relevance" stat.
• Oh no! Your art has been stolen to make stickers or NFTs or an AI model. Lose points from "Will To Go On" Stat.
• This game will be very fun.

Roguelike Deckbuilder Typing Game RPG

• Typing game RPG with roguelike deckbuilder elements.

As you can see, the future of the Endless Monday Franchise is wide open and bright. Look at all these fun game ideas. 

But anyway. At some point I'll be able to actually work on a new thing. I hope my second game can be at least as well-received(?) as my first. Or more? By this point I've put enough stuff out onto the internet that I know that as long as I do my best work with it and make something I'm proud of, I can generally be confident that at least some other people will like it too. The challenge is making something I'm proud of. lol

Wow! That was a long-ass ramble. All words, no substance, as they say. Sorry. Like I said, I'm gonna be low on substance for a while longer. If you want some real substance, go to my bluesky account.

Thanks for your support, as always! See you next week!