The Next Steps (2022 Planning)

I've had a version of this in draft for the month, but it's been a month to be sure, so please forgive this just being text for the moment. I'll be going over things in the next Devlog (which is coming, my mistake was putting it off until I finished Just a Bite, which was always "just around the corner"). Just a Bite itself was a good way to force myself to touch a lot of systems I "understood", but was either out-of-practice with, or didn't have hands-on experience. At the start I was stopping for lengthy periods of time and just staring at Google results. By the end my workflow was much smoother and I could just put things into the game as I needed them. There's still a lot of fuzzy areas for me, but we're getting there.

During this, I also joined a group of like-themed game developers via AClub, and it's been a big help to keep me motivated, to hear tips about how to improve my promotion, the Patreon, and so on. I'll be incorporating those in the coming weeks.

By most accounts Cuddle Kobold: Just a Bite seems to have done fine. I've heard very little in the way of feedback post-launch, which was a change in the lead-up to the launch. I've speculatively tried to fix a few potential issues, but I haven't even heard much about bugs. Very few people paid the suggested amount, which is fine, it was Pay-What-You-Want for a reason. It's a prototype after all; building up a small scale version of some of the concepts. I wanted it to be a "taster", and I'm glad it resonated with some people.

And as it's a prototype, the next step... is to start over from the ground up. But wait, before you freak out, I'll obviously be building elements and concepts based on the work I've already done. I knew I'd likely be rebuilding the game a few times along the way as my knowledge improved. Even working on Just a Bite, by the end if I had to dive into the palette change code or other aspects, I'd find some of my earliest work and wince. That's always the treadmill with game development, and knowing when to leave things that work alone is the difference between a game releasing or not. But starting over now comes at pretty much the best time. Unity has finally pushed a release build of version 2022. Auto Hand went through a massive enhancement update. Many of the elements I'm using to build or supplement Cuddle Kobold have seen enhancements that I couldn't easily integrate due to the customization in place. I've even purchased a new work laptop (which was shutting down while I was working on the regular by the end of Just a Bite's development). Even the apartment I was using was something of an off-the-shelf kit I shuffled around and modified, and I'm a little tired of looking at it myself. I think a change of scenery is in order.

I have to do a little note sorting and pre-planning before I jump into this, so I at least have a closer framework to the final game this time. Settle on plans for Kobold Customization, Minigames and Activities, Content Limits, and so on. I have pages and pages of notes that need to be sorted and consolidated. Some of the earliest planning of Cuddle Kobold doesn't make sense with the changes in concept and presentation as the project has developed. But the game will be better for it. The reaction to the Nighttime Chase game was surprising, and it's things like that I'll keep in mind as I put this all together. I'll also try to give you a better way to track my progress than the Discord. You probably know what that'll be, I just need to make sure I can use it to start with.

That's one of the issues that's going to arise: When I realized I was pretty far into Just a Bite and it was incredibly tame, I made the decision to keep it squeaky clean, even down to avoiding "69" jokes in the settings you'd never see unless you hacked the game. That means there's a lot of features and tools I can utilize. But as I rebuild Cuddle Kobold! and I start to include those optional mature features I've promised, that's going to start limiting my ability to use certain platforms.  While I'll do my best to reasonably utilize those platforms as I can, this if why if I stream again it'll be on Picarto, not Twitch. Why I may not be hosting certain videos on YouTube. It unfortunately comes with the territory. Keep track of the Discord or my socials for updates if things change unexpectedly.

The eagle-eyed of you likely noticed I did not restrict early builds of Just a Bite to the $5 and up Tiers. And in Just a Bite I included mention of all of the "Front Row Seats" active since JaB was started, up to the latest version. I hope you don't feel betrayed by that if you signed up for a higher tier (you still got listed above them in larger font). When I had less than a dozen Patrons, it just made more sense to fudge the lines and to share everything with everyone, and I hope you've appreciated that. But since I do have more Patrons now who have signed up to the higher tiers, I'll have to start respecting those Tiers more. Or else why would you sign up for anything beyond the minimum, after all? But the good news is if you've stuck with the Patreon for a while, I am keeping track of how much you contributed, and even on the lower tiers that may earn you extra rewards you might not normally receive. This is how keys for the retail release are planned to be handled once we reach that point; you'll effectively "bank" a certain amount, and once you reach that threshold you'll get a key. (This will not be MSRP, because you're already receiving extra benefits on top, and the point of Patreon is to support the creator after all, not to use it as a payment plan.) $5 and up Tiers will still receive developmental builds and all that goodness, this just applies to receiving a final key. If this is confusing right now, you don't need to worry about it for right now. More details will come later on as storefronts and pricing are fully nailed down.

A couple of quick things left to touch on:

• Development Builds will come out more regularly. I made the mistake of pushing back release over and over with Just a Bite because I wanted to avoid leaving a bad impression, but the end result was not delivering playable builds often enough. These future builds may be rough around the edges, but they should be available to you with increased frequency.
• Now and then I'll be posting to ask for feedback or suggestions about something in / around the game. Don't feel pressured to interact with these, but they are the best way to get something into the game you like, or influence an outcome you'd prefer. Suggesting something is not a guarantee it will happen! But I will at least listen to your suggestion and see if there's a way to adapt it to the game's contents. Just as long as you avoid backseat developing and insist I not only could, but should do a thing if I've already refused. That won't benefit anybody involved. But please, otherwise offer your suggestions!
• Streaming development may make a return. These will be extremely casual streams if they do happen; irregularly scheduled, unsure of length, I might or might not be looking at chat depending on how focused I am. A "come along for the ride" experience.
• While you can name your Kobold in the game, I've pretty much settled on the "canon" name for them. You might even find it in this post!

That'll be it for now. Thank you for your support, and to all the people who've played Cuddle Kobold! so far!