Non Bitch Breaker News: Future Plans

I've been getting a lot of messages asking me to expand the scope of Bitch Breaker in a lot of really creative ways. Some people have asked me to add additional characters, others have asked to explore more of the world, and a few you have persistently asked for content involving Max's landlady. You guys have no shortage of amazing ideas. And honestly, it's been really flattering how much a lot of you seem to dig what I've been doing. In case I've missed any of you, let me just say thank you to all of you. It means a lot to hear that you guys are enjoying it, and your feedback is always incredibly helpful.

So what's the deal with the American Dad stuff? I'll get to that, but first I'd like to take a moment to write about one of the most valuable lessons I've learned from Bitch Breaker: the importance of preproduction. What do I mean by "preproduction" and why is it so important? This may surprise you, but Bitch Breaker is the very first game I've ever made. It's also my first programing project, and my first big art project. My background is in writing. It's one of my great passions and I think I'm pretty okay at it. There are two different kinds of writers: Architects and Gardeners. An Architect meticulously plans everything before writing the first sentence. They account for every character and plan every scene. By the time they start writing, they have the entire project planned out to the last detail and all that's left is to actually write it. Then you've got the Gardeners. A Gardener starts with a seed, an idea. It can be complicated or it can be simple, but it's the core idea of a project. Now, while the Architect plans every detail, the Gardener really only plans the basics. They may write a few characters or very basic plot details, but they start writing much earlier in the process and let the story grow as they write. Tolkien was an Architect. GRRM is a Gardener. And as for me, I've never really had the patience for meticulous planning. I'm a Gardener through and through.

Which brings us back to preproduction. When I began work on Bitch Breaker, I really didn't know what I was doing, so I approached the project like I would any other writing project. I didn't do any real planning. I had a rough idea in my head, and I knew how to use google. Over the course of a week I created the first release of Bitch Breaker. It was very crude back then, and the code was painfully simple. I didn't know how to use layered images, I barely understood variables, and my art... well, it's been called "charming." My original idea for the game was something fairly short. I really only envisioned 4 Favors, with limited NPC interactions. As I worked on the project and my various skills developed, my ambitions grew significantly. But it was a painful process. I've written and rewritten hundreds of thousands of lines of code, and drawn and redrawn thousands of images. And while each time I've improved, gaining valuable knowledge and experience, it was incredibly inefficient. I've wasted so much time on mistakes. One of the reasons the gaps in releases have been so long is that I kept going back to rewrite and redraw scenes multiple times. I spent hundreds of hours drawing some truly shitty art, only to go back months later and replace it with something less terrible. And I spent hundreds of hours writing spaghetti code that I only half understood, only to eventually go back and replace it all after learning a little more. It's a vicious process that has utterly destroyed countless games from Duke Nukem Forever, to Anthem, to Cyberpunk 2077. I can't tell you how much I regret not doing any real preproduction work with Bitch Breaker.

So what is preproduction? Preproduction is being the Architect. It's planning the project out in its entirety before you actually start making the game. During preproduction you decide on the scope of the game, design characters, plots, gameplay, and plan out all the work the project will require. It's a lot of work and it's brutally boring, but it's the most important step in any game's development. Going through the process of preproduction keeps you from spinning your wheels mid-development because you don't know what to do next. You know how many characters you have to account for, what variables you'll need to track, what the gameplay loop looks like, what art assets you'll need, and you know approximately how much time you'll need for the project.

Now a bit of history. Due to the nature of the work, most Western H Games that came out in the early days skipped preproduction, which is why so many are caught in this cycle of constant growth and feature creep. I don't want that to happen to Bitch Breaker. It's tough to say precisely when I'll be finished with the project, but I do know that that day will come. I know, some of you will be bummed to hear that, but don't worry, Bitch Breaker won't be my last game. And thanks to modding, anyone who wants to can continue to expand the game long after it's "finished."

That said, let me be clear, Bitch Breaker is, and will continue to be, my primary focus until it's finished. But while I work on Bitch Breaker, I'm going to start preproduction on the next UnknownError game. During this process you'll have the opportunity to help determine what that game looks like. You'll get to weigh in on every aspect of preproduction from character design to gameplay. Which brings us back to the American Dad stuff.

One of my ideas for the next game is an American Dad parody. Enough people have been asking for landlady content that I thought I might lean into it. I've got some ideas for interesting mechanics that could bring something fresh to the genre, and I thought I'd gauge interest. I see it as a slave trainer like Bitch Breaker, rather than an open world harem game, but I'm open to feedback.