We’re still slowly working on Octopus City Blues. Since the beginning of the year, key team members were unavailable for extended periods of time. This made it very difficult to plan effectively. One of the reasons I struggled to write an update was because I wanted to have more clarity about their availability, something that didn’t happen until last month.
This project has been in development for over 12 years, and much has changed in everyone’s lives since then. I’m lucky to still be working with a supportive and passionate team of people. At the same time, each of us had to deal with a myriad of personal problems and unfortunate circumstances.
At the beginning of 2022, I managed to secure funding that allowed me to work full-time on OCB (doing most things that aren't art or music). I initially came up with a two-year budget plan that was eventually stretched over three years. You can read more about that in last year’s June update. By early 2025, the part of the budget set aside for me was used up, and I was also contributing less frequently because my work is dependent on the rest of the team.
One way to deal with that dependency is to get additional help, and indeed we recruited an additional artist last year. Unfortunately they were not available during the first half of 2025 and it was unclear if I needed to look for someone else. At the same time, I had to find a part-time job to pay the bills and secure additional funding. Job hunting took quite a lot of time and energy, but in the end I managed to find one that still allows me to work on Octopus City Blues.
Everyone on the team is currently available again, and we’ve finished quite a few areas and scenes since the last update. As I don’t have the time or budget to get additional people to help at the moment, I came up with a new plan that’s as realistic and unambitious as possible, with a release date in Q2 2026. This is meant to take into account the team's erratic availability, including the effect of my new job on my own productivity.
I’ve always had a hard time managing this project because the original scope was too naively broad and unrealistic. At the same time, I was never able to make the drastic cuts and simplifications needed to get it out in time. I keep going back and forth between cutting things, struggling to make up for their absence, and spending too much time getting everything just right.
On the other hand, we’ve made significant progress over the past three years in particular. I stopped stressing over deadlines and release dates for the most part, and I know that’s not what some of you want to hear. While I’ll continue to update my plans and do my best to keep everyone focused, I also feel like a passenger on this long and meandering journey.
But I remain optimistic, because I’ve seen all the beautiful things we'd like to keep as a surprise, including some of the world's most elaborately detailed tentacles. We all still love the concepts of Octopus City Blues, and everyone is doing their best to make it a reality.
Thank you so much for your support! It means the world to us. Thanks to those of you who wrote comments or requested an update too.