Friday Rambles 2024-03-29

It's the final Friday Rambles for March 2024. I'm pretty jet lagged, but I'll try to work through the fog to get this week's rambles out to you, loyal patron of the arts.

I'm now a 13 hour flight away from the ol' gamedev office, at the family homestead, in a far away land. I brought my computer, so at least I'll be able to do some work (like writing this Friday Rambles), when I'm not busy doing family stuff.

Next week I'll be in Place, Japan, making excited faces at things that exist in Japan.

The 1 year anniversary of Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines will be in a month or so, so I want to spend some time doing a little event to celebrate it (and I'm hoping I'll be able to make it in a Endless Monday Monthly zine format, with articles and comics and all the rest of the stuff). Hopefully I'll have enough time to do it in between my Japan trip and the family things. And of course, this comes with a sale event wherein I discount the game more than it has ever been before! Wow! Fire Sale!

I want to take the time to thank anyone who's liked my game, and has given me a positive review on Steam, and let you know you really helped a lot. I really do appreciate all of you, as I depend on every purchase to be able to pay for making the next game, and positive reviews help with visibility and convincing people to buy the game on Steam. I did get a few negative reviews by now which I expected, one of which was a joke (or something) which is annoying, but such is the nature of the video game world. I'll just have to make more video games so I'm not so hung up on Dreams and Deadlines. I kinda want to go for 1000 reviews now, being the numbers-obsessed Twitter artist that I am.

I've really screwed myself by saying I'll be making a free content update for the game, because I'm spending too much time on it (not making money) and not Game 2 (which would make money). I'm making good progress, finally, but I really really want to move on. I want to do something completely different. I want to make a fantasy world with fantasy rules. I'm so tired of AI this, corporate layoffs that, and the fatigue is being reflected in my writing, which has become increasingly grumpy. All the more reason to finish it quickly. That being said, I do think it'll still be interesting and fun for the people who care.

I am jealous of people who can just openly speak their mind freely without worrying about whether it'll affect their sales or whatever. I feel like I was able to do this with my zines, and that's the reason people liked the works in the first place, but now I feel trapped and boring, wanting to sell more copies of my game or whatever. But I think having something to say instead of trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator will serve me better anyway. I want to make games for fans (who are mature and cool people), not haters outside my target audience. The question is whether I have anything to say at all. Well, in my brain-fogged state, I'm just laying it all out now, for you, loyal patron of the arts. Man, I need coffee.

I want to do a lil travelogue comic for my trip. I need to keep a diary so I can record interesting observations. Have we, in our addiction to our digital worlds, forgotten how to observe the real spaces we inhabit? Wow! Everyone's looking at their phones instead of interacting? And what's the deal with airline food? Anyone else hate Mondays? Hmm. Maybe I got sick from the plane ride.

While I'm here I'm getting a nice new bluetooth mechanical keyboard to do work on my nice new laptop. Click Clack Click Clack. I'll brag about it once my grubby mitts are on the thing.

Lots of wanting here, not a lot of doing. Not a lot of "content", as they say. But whatever, it's 2pm and I feel like I'm gonna pass out, so I'm gonna call it a week for the ol' Rambles. Thanks for your support, as always. See you next week, probably!