Hey Steam, after close consideration I have (unfortunately) decided to postpone the Imagine Lifetimes release date to 'Autumn 2020'. My apologies, I've taken the time to explain in more detail below. <3
First of all, I'm sorry for the hype these past few weeks. Please know that it was well meant. It just goes to show how much I believed I had this, I really thought I did. I know some of you have been waiting for months or even years to play the full version of the game. I want to thank you for sticking with me all this time, and I hope that you’ll be here for the last stretch of my journey as well.
Over the years of being a solo game developer one tip I’ve read a thousand times over is this: “Do not underestimate the last 10% of development.” Despite having read it over and over, I still failed to grasp its importance...
I get it now, but it seems I had to learn this one the hard way. I underestimated the final stretch, but also the time it takes to single-handedly release a game. I set the September release date at the start of this year as a goal, to motivate and force myself to work towards a launch day. This has been extremely good for me, as I’ve never been more focused on getting things done as much as I have this year. Unfortunately, as the actual date crept closer, I did not want to admit that it was going to be too tight of a squeeze.
I wish I had the knowledge and experience to make this call sooner. Believe me, this whole thing has been one big learning experience for me. It’s my first release, and without a doubt one of the hardest things I’ll ever do. This week has been the tipping point for me though.
Here’s the thing, I work 32 hours a week as a building engineer. This work takes place at my computer at home, due to COVID, at the same desk I do my game-development work. When I finish work on evenings or in the weekends, I never truly ‘leave’ this desk. Instead I spend more of my time sitting on that same chair, working on what I am passionate about. I have recently taken 5 weeks of holiday leave, not to rest, but to work on my game.
Do not get me wrong, I love it. I work hard because I believe in my project, it is the best thing that ever happened to me, creatively speaking. Unfortunately, no matter how passionate I am, there will always be boundaries to how much I can get done within a certain amount of time. Whether it’s for work or my personal stuff, whenever I’m trying to wrap my head around an impossible deadline, it tends to triggers my migraines.
I had a migraine this week, which is the equivalent of my body saying: NOPE.
Imagine Lifetimes development is about 97.5% there. I’m currently working on adding things like the main menu, achievements and the unlockable main story-line cutscenes. I need to add audio to a couple of endings, tie it all together, and the game is ‘done’. It does not sound like a lot, but it adds up. I was trying to squeeze all that into the next two weeks, I shouldn’t.
Not only would I not be able to give it the finishing touch it deserves, I would have jeopardized the quality of my big finale. Everything I’ve worked for these past four years leads up to this moment, it would be such a shame to rush all that just to make it to my self-imposed deadline. I want to keep the quality consistent, I want things to be stable, and most importantly I want to be alive when I finally release my game.
I hope you all agree. <3
In addition to the actual ‘game development’, know that I’ve got plenty of other tasks I do not want to rush or skip out on. This includes everything marketing related, from updating my press-kit, website and game-page to preparing promotional content for social media. There's a lot of 'hidden' work left to do!
The new date is not set in stone to avoid future disappointment, I do not want to make the same mistake twice. I have called it ‘Autumn 2020’, which I consider to be either October or November at the latest. Here's what I'll do:
- I’m going to finish the game.
- I’m going to polish it.
- I’m going to do proper testing to make for a smooth and stable release.
- I’m going to do all of the above in a healthy way.
Once I am 99.9% confident that I am ready for launch, I will announce the date.
Thank you all for being here, I hope you'll understand and please do stay tuned!
- Tim / Frycandle