Hi everyone! Back with another update. This past week, I've been focusing on marketing the game. I spent the first couple of days highlighting the features and the most recent couple of days posting promotional art having to do with the lore and characters of the game. Feel free to check them out at my Twitter! I've been spending all my other time on playtesting the project and really refining everything. During my first release, because it was a sample and there was a deadline, I was extremely rushed. And while I did a brief scan of the script and playtested to make sure there were no bugs, I didn't do it as in-depth as I am right now. I think because this is my first official release, I'm being a lot more careful and meticulous about everything. I've been focusing on things like:
- Script Edits
- Visual Changes (i.e., small sprite expressions, movements, visual effects, etc.)
- Soundtrack Choices (making sure the soundtrack really fits with the mood of the moment and being sure I'm getting the desired ambience)
Because of this, I spent a lot of time this week going back and making small changes to the game and art to make sure I was really happy with it. I think this has made me a lot happier with the overall result. While I was proud of my first release, because it was so rushed, I was worried about the quality (even if I did receive positive feedback). With this release, I'm a lot more excited and satisfied with the result since I've really been taking the time to do the small changes and tweaks! I've also been taking the time to update some of the materials associated with the game page on itch.io and Twitter. Before, the art was a bit outdated and didn't reflect the sprite changes and stuff, so I decided to take the time to make those edits. Overall, I think the Crunchless Challenge has really been helping me make sure I take the time to make the small changes too and not just focus on the big changes :)
The official release date is tomorrow, and you'll be able to find the new build at the itch.io page! Here are some screenshots of how the game is looking, on top of the screenshots of the features from the earlier update!
I've been really excited and happy about the progress I've been making because of the challenge. I think it's really helped me be patient with game development instead of constantly focusing on churning big updates and stuff out - it's helped me focus on creating a product that I'm really happy with. After tomorrow, I want to still use next week to market things effectively. Before, I churned out an update and immediately went back to work; this time, I want to try to actually promote in a way that's effective instead of just dropping an update and ghosting until the next update. I'm still trying to think of the best strategies to do this, but I'm still coming up a bit short. Hopefully, I'm able to use the next couple of days to really come up with a game strategy, or if anyone has recommendations, I'd love to hear them!