Friday Rambles and Game Dev Update 2022-04-21 (Patreon)

Yeah, yeah, it's the Friday Rambles.

I've been incredibly busy this week, trying to get EMDND in a state where I can submit it to Steam for approval in time for me to not miss my drop dead date of 5/4 (which for those who missed last week's update, this date is not going to change no matter what). I was planning to submit today, but I think it needs a bit more work, so I'm going to crunch some more over the weekend, make it as complete as I possibly can, and submit it Sunday night or Monday morning.

The plan is to then flesh out some of the more anemic parts, do QA and add final polish while I wait for approval. With where I'm at now, I think I'm confident I'll be able to launch as planned on 5/4. The only real unknown is whether Steam will approve it by then (the estimated time is 3-5 days, assuming they don't reject it for whatever reason). I guess Steam rejecting my build and all subsequent resubmissions til 5/4 is the only case where I won't be launching on 5/4.

I'm taking a short break from doing game dev stuff to write out this rambles. My brain is still 100% in game dev mode. I dreamed about my game last night. I dreamed that it got bad reviews on Steam. So it goes.

I've finally replaced all the placeholder music that I'd had in the game since the start with new and original fresh tracks from the illustrious Chance Thrash. It all sounds pretty darn awesome if I say so myself. The game's now got a "distinct and cohesive aesthetic"! He's also been super patient with all my last minute requests and really coming through despite his busy schedule and my constant badgering lol I'm sorry Chance 

I can now (finally) play through from beginning to end without debug mode shenanigans with all transitions between acts and set pieces, objectives, endings (with unfinished dialogue and art), and achievements now in place. There was a lot of scripting and dialogue to glue everything together, but it's all done now!

I drew a lot of art this week. Mostly CGs, but also lots of BG and sprite variations as the story warranted. Not sharing them all here, because I do still want there to be some surprises left, after all.

I have a few endings I have to make unique art for, but those won't take too long. I hope. I'm going to also make a new trailer soon, now that we have way more interesting art and dialogue and set pieces and original music completed than when I first announced the game. Hopefully sooner than later.

The current word count stands at 36,000. I imagine it'll be well over 40,000 once I'm done. I typed so many words this week. Now are they good words? Well... I guess you'll just have to play it in a couple weeks and see for yourself. But all these screenshots I'm posting this week kind of set the tone... as far as I can set a tone without spoilers... I guess you'll just have to play it in a couple weeks and see for yourself.

Well, now it's after midnight. I had written this post all up a few hours ago but I got inspired to work again and now it's suddenly late. Oops. Sorry. On the other hand, I just replaced another terrible placeholder sound with a beautiful Chance Thrash crafted ditty (like seriously i asked for a short fanfare riff and he literally made the perfect one and sent it to me in like 10 seconds), and it feels great, so I'm not too torn up about it.

So, yeah, here's to another week of crunch time. But the end is in sight! Send me (and Chance) energy.

Okay, we're really in the home stretch now! Thanks for your support, as always!