Hey, everybody!
Kuba from My Next Games here. I’ve been a little nostalgic recently. I think what triggered it is the upcoming 10th anniversary of me quitting my job and becoming an indie game developer. It’s been an interesting journey. When I started I knew it would require a lot of work. What I didn’t know was how much talking would be involved :D.
The life of an indie game developer requires you to constantly introduce your projects to new people. After a while you can do it in just one sentence. For the game I’m currently working on Hank: Drowning on Dry Land the phrase I’ve been using goes like this:
“It’s a game about a time-traveling Batman-esque vigilante with an alcohol addiction problem.”
If the person you’re talking to is interested, what usually follows is:
“Ok, sounds cool… But how do I play it?”
The obvious answer is the genre. This is also where the problem with Hank begins. It might sound stupid… but… I don’t know the genre of the game I’m making :( When I started to work on it I wasn't thinking about some other game I wanted to emulate, I just had an idea for an interesting time traveling mechanic that I wanted to explore. How do I answer the “How do you play it?” question then? Well… What I usually do is just show the footage of the game.
Although this answer is satisfying, unfortunately it doesn't solve the problem. Modern gaming is built on the scaffolding of genres. Steam, Newgrounds, Itch.io, Striked wherever you go you use them to find games you might be interested in.
We’ve decided to do something about it. Today starts the Summer Steam Next Fest and Hank: Drowning on Dry Land will be included!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1937880/Hank_Drowning_On_Dry_Land/
The short demo we’ve prepared focuses mostly on showcasing the game’s mechanics. Yeah… There is some intrigue there (We couldn't help ourselves :P) but the story will be a much bigger part of the final game. Anyway you can play it right now and if you do - don't forget to let me know what genre you think our game is. If you'd like to also discuss it with us, drop by one of our Next Fest Steams. Here are the dates:
First Livestream Event Date: TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 9PM CEST
Second Livestream Event Date: FRIDAY, JUN 23, 9PM CEST
That would be all for now.
Cya Around,
Kuba
P.S
Also if you're interested there is a free prototype of Hank's dialogue system available on Strike. If you're interested you can give it a try here: https://striked.gg/app/product/39-hank_straightjacket