2020 (Patreon)

A new year!

I haven't actually set a specific roadmap for all of 2020, and the further out we get the fuzzier my plans are, but we do of course have a clear direction: onward to Cogmind 1.0 :P

I can't say that it'll definitely happen this year, mainly because the audio portion has yet to be decided and that can have a significant but unknown impact on the timeline, but if that does go smoothly then the chances of actually calling it 1.0 this year are fairly high.

Next up we have Beta 10, which is aimed at exploring the remaining audio portions of Cogmind. I'll be doing some research and experimentation regarding that over the next couple months.

Beta 10 will also include some other new mechanics, chief among them exoskeletons, which although I've envisioned as a potentially larger feature offering a wider selection, will probably only release as some sample cases to see how they fare. Exoskeletons would occupy one type of slot but give even more slots of a different kind (especially weapons).  I haven't actually implemented any of this so we'll see if/how it actually works! But anyway if they're named as such then this addition would also likely require renaming a couple of parts already in game, for consistency purposes.

In the near term we'll also be doing feature voting here for Beta 10, as we did for Beta 9, so stay tuned for that. (I haven't yet finished compiling the official list, though, and haven't been in a hurry to do so since there's been a lot of 9.X work in the meantime.)

The last* release before Beta 10 will likely be 9.4, which is just bug fixes and some tweaks to the RPGLIKE special mode.

*unless Beta 10 development extends beyond 4/1 (which is very likely), in which case I bet there will also be a special AFD release, because we have to, right? So many good ideas floating around out there, which one will it be...

Clearly if 1.0 is to be this year, then the Merchants Guild expansion won't happen until after that. That expansion alone could require up to a year of development, as it would add quite a few new features (all of which need to be balanced into the current content), although the precise amount is flexible. Although a long process, of course patrons will have access to partial builds throughout that process. In that case it does make more sense for it to be a post-1.0 thing anyway, since going that long without a public release in "Early Access" would run counter to expectations.

Haven't decided whether I'll be going to the Roguelike Celebration this year, which would slow down development a bit, but it will have once again been two years since I went so maybe I should. Last year I couldn't really go because I already took time off for a summer trip to the US not long before it was to be held, but this year no such trip is planned so at least the possibility is there.

Looking forward to another productive year which looks like it'll be mostly filled with...  (cue surprise) Cogmind!

Thanks to everyone for your support :D