Developer's Journal 4:46
Added 2025-01-12 02:18:56 +0000 UTCHey everybody.
Well, let's see: I am still sick, my elderly father is more sick, and Los Angeles is burning. Regular job is predictably demanding and getting help with the writing turned out to be a bust. Great start to the new year!
Nevertheless, I having been working on the game everyday. Progress is slow but assured. One of my big struggles was one particular scene (a very important, culminating scene) that I knew had a problem with the dialogue. It was a subtle problem that probably 95% of players wouldn't even notice, but it was a real and meaningful problem for anyone who's paying close attention to the MC's character progression. I was very stressed about working on the scene because I just couldn't figure out how to fix it. Finally, after realizing I was getting no writing help, I sat down, played through what I had, and changed one line. One line was all it took, and suddenly I loved the scene. Suddenly I didn't feel lost when posing the scene's renders. But it had taken me weeks to come up with this one small fix.
I know I'm not the fastest developer. Sometimes I'm actually really slow, but I am accomplishing something through my deliberation. I acknowledge being self-conscious when I compare myself to other developers who are much faster than I am. Or frankly, at this point, to being slower than myself when I am fast. But the fact is that sometimes I just have to sit with a scene and give it time to simmer. I try to write scenes that are complex and a part of larger plot and character arcs, as well as reflective of the game's themes, but that takes its own form of work, and sometimes it takes time. It just gets that much harder when I'm dealing with a lot of other things in my life, including bad health.
I am getting closer to the end. It will get here. Thank you for your patience and support.
--Monk
Comments
Thank you Skellige, and I appreciate your support!
Impious Monk
2025-01-12 21:03:36 +0000 UTCThanks for the nice comments, Merlin!
Impious Monk
2025-01-12 21:03:22 +0000 UTCYou’re doing great Monk, glad you are mostly safe from those fires but I’ll be throwing good vibes and hoping the gods protect you and your loved ones regardless. I’ve stopped donating to a lot of projects because it felt boring or they just seemed to go through the motions until release but I’m going to continue contributing to you for as long as you do this work. I’ve been so impressed by you. Keep it up you’re doing it.
SkelligeDane
2025-01-12 20:25:04 +0000 UTCFor the people who do not know already, near where you are could easily be compared to a war zone. Even though your area will probably not actually burn, you still have to deal with the horrendous smoke at a time when both you and your father are not back to full health. Now for something completely different. In the last year I helped five developers with writing. Partly because of poor translation and partly due to the fact that they were just not good writers. This is NOT the case with you. Frankly, you are just too good. Not many people would be good enough to improve anything you write. Having another set of eyes looking at something would surely help, but that creates a dilemma. For the person helping, it becomes a Mega spoiler and yet they would not be of much help if they are not invested in the story to begin with. Fortunately you found that taking a bit of time to revisit the story as a whole, allows your brain to see things with a new perspective.
Merlin
2025-01-12 16:05:40 +0000 UTCThanks 6pak!
Impious Monk
2025-01-12 03:55:44 +0000 UTCGreat Dev log, Monk. I'm glad you were successful with the scene. Sometimes, you have to sleep on it and work on things with a new perspective. Hang in there, you've got this.
6pak2go
2025-01-12 03:47:28 +0000 UTC
