Holiday/End of the Year Update

Hey all, hope you're doing well over the holidays!

Just wanted to write an update log regarding the state of game development, where I'd like to take things in the coming year and where I've been since the pandemic and quarantine started.

I understand updates and activity have not been as frequent, however I'd like to rectify that with posts (vibe checks) like this if I can help it.

Quarantine Development (2020 ~ 2021)

At the start of 2020, development was underway for the concept that became Halloween After Special, I was excited to begin pre-production on future horror/VCRPG projects and even introduce some characters I'd like to make a more traditional JRPG with.

Might recognize one of them if you dig thru my Deviantart lol

However things started to go downhill in 2020, and like everyone at the time, personal circumstances and priorities changed, and I had to shelve game development for a bit. 

While gamedev had always been considered a secondary, side-hustle, I had always been working on it alongside my other dayjobs, both part-time and full-time. But as the pandemic worsened, that quickly became harder to do.
And while having suffered some personal losses and financial struggles, I'm glad to say I was able to make it through those low times this and last year. Worse for wear, but still mostly good.

Starting gamedev back up, I was able to compile all my experiments & tech demos for future projects under Halloween After Special's framing device, which proved to be an interesting mix of both my horror CRPG writing from No Delivery and the comedic banter from my MLP fangames. It was a bit weird combining the 2 styles as I like to keep them separate, but given what I've seen from Lets Plays and reception, it looks alright. Looking forward to experimenting with more talking characters in the future.

Future Development (2022)

The feedback and reception for Halloween After Special was incredibly heartening, but I'm also aware of the disappointment among some players with the game's content being a short compilation of game shorts; and I completely understand, especially given my previous games (most of which are much longer with more content).
I do still plan on meeting and hopefully exceeding the quality standards set by my previous games and would like to continue with future releases in a timely manner.

Game development can be a continually changing and time-consuming process, but I'll be doing what I can going forward. 

Regarding future horror games & VCRPGs, I'd definitely like to expand on the tech demos made so far and would like to iterate on No Delivery's battle system, survival RPG, and horror mechanics with later titles.
I would also like to avoid feature creep with future installments, so I'd like to think of future VCRPGs as companions to what was introduced in No Delivery and Nobody's Home.
Pre-production for some VCRPG settings is underway.

Regarding Project: Mania/MLP fangames, I'd like to bring Project: Mania to beyond just SAGExpo and would like to fill out the last 2 preview options in the menu, these being:

• Fallout: Applejack (Loosely Fallout-inspired Darkest dungeon-like RPG)
• Shadow Spade Investigates (narrative-driven noir RPG)

However for these 2 concepts, given the scope of the other games in the collection, I'm thinking of reassigning these as short campaigns/sidequests to be found in the Day Dreaming Derpy Sequel, similar to the Mysterious Mare Do Well segments in the original game. This way, scopes for both concepts will become a lot more manageable.

Since each game will need some major changes to the code, it will have to be the case that the Platformers will be bundled as a separate game from the RPGs in the future.
This leaves Project: Mania, as it is now and after adding the 2 new previews soon, like Halloween After Special- a collection of short previews for future projects.

While the series has moved on, I still feel like there's still some relevant stories to tell with these characters and their world, and I hope I'll be able to soon.

tl;dr

Had some extremely difficult years which held up game development, but now doing what I can to pick up where we left off. More projects to come this coming year.

I appreciate you all for sticking with me and supporting my works, and wishing you well.
Happy Holidays!