End of an Era and New Possibilities

Game Update

Mostly fixed the issue with the mass healing. It was interesting going through the code and realizing that we do healing in a much different way than other games. We give the troops temporary hit points during the combat which take damage first and then restore 20% of whatever is left over at the end of combat if they haven’t been expended. We still need to add the ability to use the particle effects with it though.

I did a little testing to see what all the new particle effects look like working together, and I found a new issue. It turns out that when troops are flanked or back attacked they are rotated on screen but they are likely still reporting their old positions in code. That means that a mage that should be doing a staff attack due to being in the front row due to a back attack is still firing off a fireball. That’s a major mechanics problem although it’s not game breaking I cannot release the game in this state.

Personal Update

For the last couple months I’ve been talking about moving my business licence from Texas to Florida which really means closing out my old business licence there and starting a new LLC here. As of this last week I finally completed step one of closing out my old LLC. This is kind of a big deal but it also means I need to figure out if I want to change the name of my LLC. I have a lot to consider but it’s likely I will be changing to Lancer Entertainment. By moving to this business name I can also use it when I DJ or do any other type of entertaining. I also have considered shortening it all the way down to just “Lancer”.

The next couple of weeks will go quick as I get ready for my boys to go away for the summer. I want to do my best to get the game out the door this summer. It needs to be all I think about. There have been times in my life when I really focused on something. Painting up an entirely new group of miniatures for a Warhammer Tournament, or writing out deck ideas for Magic the Gathering, or thinking about and dwelling on any number of other things. That’s what’s called meditation, not just reading something or doing it sometimes but dwelling in it and on it. I need to be that way or I won’t get this thing out the door.

I can’t wait to spend some time with my girlfriend as well. She’s shown a lot of interest in helping me out with the art for the game. I hope she can get as excited about the game as I am. I also had my musician tell me that he had some time to get a new track done for the boss stage. That said early access won’t have all of the stages. It’s hard to say what all I will be working on once it’s released as it could be a ton of bugs or it could be additional content.

Game Development Insight

Paying it forward to yourself is important. We do this by taking notes everywhere. I spoke earlier about dwelling and meditating on what you’re working on. I’d say that most people in the AAA industry would call that being passionate. It’s interesting because when you are truly passionate about something it can be hard to explain to other people.

In 2019 I found myself severely lacking in social skills that I had neglected for most of my life. After working on it I realized something. It’s really easy to go from zero to pretty good at a skill. Often you don’t have to do that much to get to a place that’s passable or pretty good. As you progress though it takes more and more to reach those higher platitudes. People in self development often say that your friends, and even your family might ask you things like, “Why are you working so hard?” etc... It’s possible they don’t understand or maybe they don’t want to be left behind.

At some point you have to realize that you aren’t the person that you used to be, but you are always the person you choose to be. It’s like I told my son, and my students so many times over. In life you make your choices. You can’t do everything. Count the cost, make your choices, don’t look back. This week felt a little more unfocused and existential than others. I suppose I’m asking myself what I have to show for my work, or some of the choices that I’ve made. Time marches on though, I keep pushing forward. It’s nice to have the luxury to ask questions like this, as I know so many other people are concerned with just getting by. Just remember to pay it forward to yourself.