Dev Journal: Looking Back on the First Year of Development (Patreon)

    One year ago, I made the decision to sit down and begin seriously developing Vessel Tactics with the intention of fully releasing it one day. Since we're coming up on the anniversary of that fateful day, I thought it would be fun to look back on the last year and go over the origins of VT here. This is probably going to be a long post, so apologies in advance lol.

    One late night, in January of 2022, I was browsing Twitter when I came upon an artist called TeeradonSs. They were creating art in a genre I'd never come across, mixing vore together with gacha games and all that logically follows. Seeing that, something just clicked in my brain, and I was instantly flooded with ideas for a game inspired by that mixture. I more or less entered a fugue state and started writing the game's design doc right then and there, unable to even sleep because more and more ideas kept entering my head. In the end, I had almost a full game planned out with most of the mechanics that would eventually be in VT.

    The original version in that design doc was quite a bit different from VT, though. Most notably, the (male only) commander was going to be a playable unit, who could halt allies digestion by being feeding himself to them and who would recover his predator's EN by a small amount each turn. If he shared a stomach with any other units, they would begin having sex with him and recover EN in the predator's stead. "Male" monster girls would be present in the game, too, and they would also be able to 'steal' the commander's energy or have their own energy stolen by other units they were sharing a stomach with.

    That may sound like a great feature, and it's one I'm still thinking about, but most of them are definitely better off on the cutting room floor. Some of them are... pretty bizarre, too. For example, more monstrous enemies, such as slugs or lizardmen, would serve as normal mobs while monster girls would only serve as elite enemies or boss fights. The finger food vessels were originally going to be small, robotic 'bulin' types that were completely incapable of vore instead of the Brunch Squad. Vessels didn't share memories whatsoever, so when they were digested they were absolutely gone, just like a normal human would be. Perhaps oddest of all, vessels were originally going to gestate to full size inside of special "mother" vessels, and would need to develop for a period of a few hours real-time every time you pulled them.

    As the next year passed, I continued to refine my ideas for VT while also working on other concepts, such as the beat 'em up game I posted about earlier. That continued all the way up until December. At that point, I had quit my job and was getting ready to transfer to a four-year college to get my BS. I really, really did not want to do that, and yet I felt that my only other option was to go back to working retail. And so, I picked the third and possibly dumbest option: using my savings from dropping out of college to develop my own horny porno game part-time instead.

    I spent the next month building up a prototype, and contacted the artist that had inspired me in the first place, TeeradonSs, at the start of the new year. The fact that Don actually agreed to work with me after seeing the scuffed mock-up I sent him is something I'm beyond grateful for, there's no way this game would have gotten off the ground without his help. He's contributed a lot more than art, too, he's the one that pushed for weight gain to be added when I thought it would be too much work and the chibis the game has right now were entirely his idea, among many other things. As always, thank you so much, Don!

    The game continued to take shape over the next few months, and, finally, I felt like it had reached a point where I was comfortable with showing to more people and released the demo. To be honest, I think that time period may have been the most anxious I've felt in my entire life. I don't think I would have believed starting out just how nerve-wracking showing off something you'd put so much work into for the first time could be. Fortunately, once I worked up the courage to actually see what people were saying, I was overjoyed by how positive the reception was and that really served to bolster my faith in the game.

    I started this Patreon a little bit after that, and, motivated by the feedback I was getting, got straight to work on development. Along the way, VT also got a new artist in Planepbull. I'm incredibly thankful for him volunteering to help with the game and contributing Chateau's design, as well as how nice he's been to work with. I think everyone reading this can agree that the weight gain he draws is seriously on another level, too. Thank you so much for all of your help, Plane, I'm looking forward to working together with you more in the future!

    It's been about 7 1/2 months since the demo was released, and the game's come a good way since then. To be honest, I was hoping to be a bit further along at this point, but I guess that's just how game development goes. While I've made a few small projects before, this is my first time making an actual video game and there's so much that I've learned since I started, and so much that I still need to learn. My biggest surprise, though, has been just how fun this is. Not just fulfilling, but FUN. Getting to make your own game like this is an experience I don't think I'd trade for the world, and if it's something you're interested in yourself I would absolutely recommend biting the bullet and giving it a shot, too.

    It hasn't all been fun, though. My biggest struggle with VT has been to find a way to take pride in my work when it's, well... a vore game. A game based around a niche fetish so bizarre that it's more often than not treated like the punchline to a joke. A labor of love that I can't even mention to my friends or family because of how embarrassing it is. I've honestly lost my passion for VT more than once because I let my intrusive thoughts convince me that I was doing something to be ashamed of. That all that time and energy would be better spent on a game that could reach a wider audience, and one which wouldn't turn me into a social outcast in the process.

    That's not what I'm here for, though. As much as I'm not supposed to, I love this weird shit. I know from own personal experience how rough it can be to be a vore fan sometimes, but fuck it, we're in for the long haul. This is the kind of stuff that makes me happy, and I want to make something that can really affect other people's lives in this community for the better, even if it is just a silly vore game. Maybe that's a bit sappy, but it's true, and it's something I let myself forget far too often.

    Anyway, I think this post has gone on long enough now, thank you for reading this far! It's taken a lot longer than I intended, but the full release of v0.04 with all the bug fixes, new skills, and new map should hopefully be coming out sometime next week! After that, I'll be moving onto v0.1 which will introduce save mechanics and gacha, as well as other lobby functions like the shop. Thank you all so much for all of your support and patience, I couldn't do this without you!