Game Update
Added one final feature this week which is a tracker for the game economy in the stages. It helped me understand where all the money was going a lot better. I just recently did a spreadsheet scrub and will need to do at least one more before I release. When I may need to think about some of the troop costs that are being used.
The economy will need a couple of number tweaks as right now the player is having to play some stages over and over to make enough to pay for their troops. Maybe it’s not such a bad thing though. Stages in which players just sit for even one day are impossible to turn a profit on, but maybe that’s a good thing. There is a small loophole to this strategy anyway.
The best way to make money seems to be defeating enemy troops. Everything else seems somewhat incidental. More testing is needed. Also the experience that troops are gaining might need another look as well. There are times when troops will skip three levels, but the catch up of that hasn’t seemed to detrimental honestly. I like how troops seem to be growing at different rates throughout the game.
It might be interesting to include past mission towns in some sort of passive income for the troops. There’s no way I could have a feature like that built before release however so I will think about it some more. I have thought about having an army graphic that moves around the map and also charges for movement.
Speaking of add on graphics, I noticed a chance for an improvement in our class screen. We need to add some sort of small graphic accent to classes the troops are allowed to change into. There seem to be some issues where I am needlessly clicking around looking for available classes for a troop. Another option might be graying out, or hiding classes that cannot be swapped to.
I got back on twitter last weekend and this past weekend to promote my game. I started using the hashtag #screenshotsaturday. It’s made a lot of difference for engagement! I think this is the most interactions I’ve had on the platform since back when I used to stream and do other. When I post I typically use the technique of “give 99 take 1”, “freedom from outcomes.
I still need to create a trailer for when I eventually get back on steam. I got a letter from them today saying they still cannot find my EIN. I’ll call the controlling authority about it tomorrow to see if it has posted yet. Something tells me it’s still to new.
Personal Update
I sprinted all week to have the game done so that I could spend the weekend focusing on my girlfriend. Last year my Valentines Day was a complete disaster. A car accident I couldn’t look away from although I can’t say that I didn’t see the writing on the wall for. I’m happy to say I was able to put down my game development to focus, and the most I did was post a bit on twitter during down/waiting time.
We celebrated a lot this weekend. Valentines day, my birthday, and the game release. There’s a lot that’s happening all at once. I’m happy that I have that feminine support from her. I feel very blessed in my life right now. I feel so blessed that I noticed that I’m looking for where the next crisis is going to come from.
My boys have finally started to start to normalize. We made some big strides this past week to keep the house more clean, and for the kids to stop raising their voices so much. They haven’t had the time that they usually would have had with me but we still managed to get some TV time in watching old 90s sitcoms. I miss television with some actual focus for a message that’s good for our society. I don’t see much of that in shows produced now.
I’m still keeping up with my treadmill regimen which requires me to get on their once a day. It’s been very good for me. That said I packed so much into this weekend that I’m falling asleep with this blog entry. Looking forward to next week which will be the last one before the final release of the game.