Howdy!
In one of our late October staff meetings, the 2 Pence chief programmer reported how he figures the hardest part of Feudums’ creation is complete. “The heart of the game is finished, he said, “and I just finished up the brain.” I’d never heard of a program talked about like that before, and being close to Halloween, my brain immediately imagines him digging up bodies at the local cemetery looking for intact hearts and brains.
It’s funny, but even after all this time, I feel a little like Dr. Frankenstein must have felt as he made his “creation” … awed, apprehensive and a little scared. Awed in the sense that we’re almost to the final stages of the game, we’re actually doing it! Apprehensive because what happens if people don’t like it. Scared that the gamer community will consider our creation a “monster.”
As the marketing guy, I see bits and pieces of the product as the team keeps knocking things off their “to-do” lists. By all appearances, the only monster Feudums will be is a monster hit. The graphics are beautiful. Game play looks great. Game mechanics look fluid. So we just have to finish the darn thing. We are getting closer. I know, I know. I’ve been saying that since I came aboard in September. But as Imre said, the heart and brain are done. Those are the hard things. In addition, the map editor is essentially done. A few more days to fine tune it and it will be ready to use. Our Patreon backers will get first crack at it and maybe a special media outlet who wants an exclusive scoop (contact me!).
While the programmers have been working overtime, I’m overseeing the web site redesign. As a non-website-design person, my first simplistic version didn’t win any awards with the rest of the team so I’m on to version 2.0 and beyond. We want our players to spend lots of time with our game, and the website must be an extension of the quality and playable feeling of the game.
We also have some graphic artists working hard on different aspects of the game. One is developing some art for our introductory video, another is doing designs for the website, and still another is finishing up our winter tiles in game. “Winter is coming!” is a saying from a famous HBO series…and indeed, it is coming both in the real world and in Feudums. I’m hoping to share some wintery screenshots with all of you very soon.
Overall October was a month where we gained momentum and got a lot accomplished. The fruits of all that labor will be seen very shortly. The guys will keep hammering away at the programming, getting our monster’s legs and arms attached. Dr. Frankenstein would be pleased!
(By the way, the only monsters I’ve ever seen while working for 2 Pence are some zombies on my Skype screen a few times. Get some more sleep, guys!)
