Hi everyone
I hope you're all doing well. It has been a long time since I have given an update on things I am working on, but with the Steam Next Fest coming up soon I figured I would share what I have planned. But first some other news.
To cut directly to the chase: I’ve been having a pretty rough go at it health wise. I won’t go that much into detail, but one diagnosis found a link to another and unfortunately this led to the one you really don't want to hear - I have cancer.
The bright side of this is that it was caught early and is possibly the most survivable cancer there is. I am set for surgery relatively soon. Just to be clear what the outlook is: I will be ok. There is no reason to be alarmed.
That said, there is no such thing as “good cancer” and I simply wish I never had it. Cancer wasn’t the only thing found wrong with me either and it has been incredibly stressful dealing with what has seemed to be nonstop health issues progressively getting worse and worse for months, on top of now knowing I’ve been suffering from them unknowingly for years.
These issues did lead me down to what I am here to share with you today however. That would be my next game: The Appraiser. After what seemed like a nonstop gauntlet of bad news, it made me want to make something different. I was working on other projects but it soon became clear I would never have time or money to make them how I wanted. I was struggling a lot trying to think of what to do, but I decided making this experimental game was something that spoke to me and I hope will speak for some of you.
I do want to say that The Appraiser will probably not be for everyone. It is highly subjective and is purposely abstract in its storytelling. It is an overall short experience but has the goal for everyone to come out with a different opinion on what it all means.
The Appraiser tells the story of an art gallery and its curator. You, the art appraiser, have been tasked with selling pieces of art to new owners. However, the choice of which piece of art to sell is up to you. They come from different artists and have different prices and also different stories. You have the ability to capture a small peak of a painting’s artist's thoughts on their work. With it, it may change your perspective on each work of art and which to sell. Of course this power is limited and some judgments will be all on your own.
I am hoping to release The Appraiser sometime this summer. I really hope I am not announcing it too soon. However, a very short and unique demo is being planned for the upcoming Steam Next Fest in June. If you are interested in The Appraiser or highly experimental narrative games, I hope you will wish list the game below!
Thanks so much and I will see you in June!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1956350/The_Appraiser/