Quick Sidetrack

Game Update

Worked on getting the menu screen to show two different backgrounds through a series of menus. In the future this will also include a window for stats that the player can look at. Kind of exciting to see the polish come together for the game.

Due to this I had to take a break from looking at my capsule art this week. Bringing it up and looking at it hasn’t been helping as I feel like it’s 80% there but not quite where I want it to be yet. We got thrown way off when we shrunk it down to see its size in the steam client. Going to check another local artist that I was recommended by a good friend.

Things I need to fix for release after getting the big hurdle that is the key art done are.

  • Re-balance spreadsheets

  • Check all the sound effects (most have been added already)

  • Swap the first and second levels to create a more cohesive first level experience for players

  • Create a trailer for the game

There are some other polish items that would be good to get done that are mostly visual and one or two bugs that won’t come up often but I think that those five things (key art included) are the main ones we need to go live. I guess it’s a lot less than I thought it was. I just reshuffled the priorities on my Trello board to properly reflect this too. Who knows maybe I can get an after Christmas early access release going.

Personal Update

I was able to teach again this week, and it’s been a real boon to my self esteem. Not teaching others really takes a lot of energy away from me these days. It’s kind of strange as that’s more of an extrovert thing, and I’m more naturally introverted. I feel that I made really good use of my time this week as I knocked out a lot of items that have been lingering for the past year.

I started working out again in the mornings, and it has been a great addition to my day! Running and lifting each morning before I go into work seems to work really well for me. Later in the day, or the day after I can feel the soreness which is great as I know my body is doing the work to rebuild the muscles I tore down while I worked out. I need to be careful not to push to hard, which feels bad as I was in a lot better condition last year. I suppose atrophy happens to everyone when they neglect something long enough. If you’re not getting 1% stronger every day then you’re probably losing at least that much, maybe even more. I can’t say that I’m happy about my run times right now, but I am happy that I was able to run for the entire time. It can only get better as I “get my reps” in just like it says in Atomic Habits.