continue from [Postmotem about One-man-dev steam releasing– The Tower of Worth] chapter.1
Chapter 2 Development progress
- Initial development situation
Problem started to occur after starting of game development.
I did programming and graphic drawing. And my co working friend couldn’t do anything at that time!
And the biggest role he's ever had since he was in college was to make great PPT and writing, and to make great presentations.
In other words, he was a very good man in promoting games.
But in initial development situation, There wasn't much that a friend could do at the moment I was just laying the foundation for the system and making images for testing.
At that time, he got a job offer from a marketing company,
Eventually, he gave up on game development and chose to get a job.
- One man dev
In fact, if I think about it now, it was inevitable. (If he hadn't been involved with me, he could have gone this way much faster. As such, he has a talent in marketing and is good at speaking. I'm starting to think that maybe I was forcing him to make games with me a little bit since I was in college.)
I also thought maybe it was going to be that way at the time. but when it become reality, (Even if there was no real blow to development)
I felt a huge pressure.
I know I shouldn't think about this, but I hated him a little bit at that time.
Anyway, I become One man dev and kept develop game.
- Burn-out
My first goal was complete game develop in one year. it was nonsense.
I've got a pile of work to do, and I've do this very slowly.
Making code, draw sprite, have a test and fix bugs. It was a continuation of this kind of life.
I met my friend who I used to be with on a regular basis, talked about the current situation, had a meeting with him about improvement points, and I was able to have a change of mood and a desire to work, but it felt like something was empty when I developed it by myself.
I couldn't work effectively and When I realized, I waste too many time.
Burn-out came to me.
I becam lazybone but there was no one can stop me.
If I go like this, I won't be able to make a game for the rest of my life.
I need some solution.
I can't remember what exactly did on that time, but I asure it never need to take 13 days.
Minor Balance fix don't need to take 13 days!
- Countermeasures for Burn-out
If I didn't do it, there was no one to make the game, and I was the only one to watch myself.
I decided to become more merciless to me.
Before that, I've been set on a big goal, and I've been working on a small list of things that I need to do, one by one.
But there was no time limit. I decided to do something that I didn't do because of excuse that I can’t know how long it will take.
After that, I set a goal for every quarter, month and week. And tried to achieve goal.
At first time, I fail to achieve goal by various reason like too tight goal or too loose goal.
But more I do that, I can expect my work speed and now I can set a goal for every day and (sometimes) every hour.
Even though, Burn-out never disappear. At some point, Burn-out came to me and I became lazybone again.
But since I created my schedule, I've been working things much faster than before.
- Another problem – changed game design
Originally, The Tower developed a system aimed at fighting 1:1.
previously, the tower planned to have just full of this kind of battle.
After fighting with other challengers for 3rd and 4th times, player fight with the boss, it was a original game design. But I started to think is it too short and boring if only fill with 1:1 battle?
And after thinking about it, I decided to add a stage to fight against ordinary enemies!
previously system aim to 1:1 fight. But suddenly I tried to make numerous enemies.
It was not a easy work to both system and game design.
Yes, I forgot about my goal of releasing game in one year, and I started to be greedy.
The more time I spent developing games, the more I became greedy and wanted to make them more interesting.
I started to plan things that I didn't even think about when I first started designing game.
I realized that the goal of launching in a year has already failed.
- Selection and compromise
The features that I want to add have sprung up. New forms of enemies, new systems, skills and stages. But I couldn't make all of this.
It is time to make selection and compromise.
First of all, I needed to set most important part. And fortunately, I didn’t forget that.
The Tower is ‘Ego Changing’ game.
Other various system must not hide this feature.
With this the major premise, I developed game with compromise.
And it's been about a year since I started developing it.
Finally, I created core system and up to 2 stage bosses.
I decide to release Demo version of The Tower.
(Continue to Chapter 3. To Game releasing…)
