FLODT Sequel Update - May 31 2024

Hey there! Auden here. I hope you've been well!

Thank you so much for your continued support! It might not seem like much, but when game costs go into the thousands, every bit of support really goes a long way for me. I appreciate you all, truly!

The TLDR update is in the picture above, but I'll elaborate further down below if you're interested in the details.

V1 of Script & Scenes Complete

I'm not sure how I did it, but I managed to write, code, and develop the FLODT Sequel about 6 hours a day for the past 3 months, which adds up to about 540 hours! I've got a first pass ready that I can't wait to test & edit, but I'll need to wait for the art pipelines (BG, CG, Logo) to finish & make it all work together before I can confidently say the game is ready for release.

As I wrapped up the V1, I realized I need to figure out a better balance between managing my health, my life, and game development if I want to do this long-term. I don't think it's sustainable to keep hustling this hard especially with the regular contract work to keep the lights on. I haven't figured out an answer for this yet, but I'll be more mindful going forward to make sure I don't burn myself out or endanger myself.

Thank you to everybody recommending me this for a while now - I really appreciate it, and I'm taking your advice : )

Finalized Art Scope

By finishing the V1 of the game's script, I've also finalized the specifications for the art the game needs. The rest is just paying artists, waiting, and making sure the art matches what the game needs. I'm expecting this to take a while, as each art piece can take weeks. My rough estimate is that art will be complete in 4 - 6 months. In the meantime, I'll focus on other aspects of the game's development!

Final Release Testing

Even with the first version of the script and scenes done, there's a lot of work that has to be done to make sure the game's ready to release. I'll be continuing with this testing for what I can currently cover, but a lot of this will have to wait until more art is ready, so for now I'm investing time into other efforts.

Technical Investigation on Release Approach

Put simply, I'm debating release the game as a standalone vs a DLC. The former is a lot simpler and easier, but I suspect the latter is actually better for visibility on platforms like Steam - which could mean a lot in terms of helping fund more games. There's a lot of technical investigations I have to do to see if the latter is possible - hoping to start that investigation next month!

It's pretty exciting, but very technical lol - lmk if anyone's interested in the implementation details!

I'm also looking into if I can learn how to do my own ports to make future console releases less painful - I expect this to be pretty technical and difficult, but an exciting challenge!

Exploring New Skills while Art Completes

As I wrapped up the V1 of the game's script, I realized how much room I have to grow as a creator. I've aspirations for making bigger projects in the future with a team, but I feel I need to level up my skills more before that's realistic. I'm not sure what skills I want to focus on yet, but I'll take some time in the coming months to figure out what I can do.

Right now, I'm particularly curious about learning how to animate, becoming a better engineer, art, and audio production. I think I'll always keep writing near and dear to my heart, but I think I need to improve more in other respects to make the kind of games I've been dreaming about making!

I'll let you know what I end up discovering in this new exploration phase as I continue working on the sequel!

End of Update

It's been a pretty eventful May 2024! I'm feeling pretty optimistic about where we can go from there.

I hope you enjoyed taking a look into what I'm doing.

Thanks again, and let me know what you think in the comments!

Sincerely,

Auden Cho-Wong