I'm back. With a little surprise in my hands...
I'm preparing the following content for u10.0:
- 5 new pockets!
- 5 new forbidden cards!
I really wanted to make an update with little content but meaningful, meaning that each new element adds many hours of gameplay or something new. In this case, I've opted to add more raw game hours with new pockets, and fill out the roster of forbidden cards, since until now there were only 3. And, you know: my goal is for all types of content to be complete. Previously I had already made updates for mods, stickers, chips. And even many new cards, but never specifically forbidden cards. So it was about time.
I have hundreds of ideas, and my plan is to release new content gradually. Try to make updates frequent again. Few new things in each update, but making it feel like I'm advancing fast. That's right. The only thing that stresses me out about development is when I make massive updates. I prefer to make short expansions, the progress is more noticeable.
Honestly, if I still had practice I could make this update in just 1 week without complications. But 2 months ago I lost my development rhythm. And I'm going to have to pick everything back up. It's not relearning, it's simply reviewing it and getting used to it again. Down at the bottom at the end of the post, I'll explain why this hiatus happened.
First I wanted to answer some frequently asked questions.
When is Early Access going to end?
Previously it was planned for the end of the year, but if I keep coming up with things and have a lot of work, I think it will be in the first half of 2027. I have several goals. In general, I'd like TEKO to keep gaining visibility through each update, and when I feel ready, EA will end, and I'll keep making expansions anyway. The idea is that the end of EA means the end of all structural changes, QoL, etc. Balance and content patches will never stop.
What does "u10.0" mean? Games usually reach "1.0" when they finish EA!
"U" stands for "Update". Each significant content patch is the advancement of a whole number, whereas QoL or balance patches are decimals. This way it's much better understood how the game has advanced. Almost all devs use the version number in a more generic way and it ends up not being understood, simply making "1.0" mean that the game has finished developing in EA. I count each big patch. Until now there have been 9 content updates since TEKO is at u9.0. This way we can gauge how much it has grown. In the future it will be more impressive.
And the discounts?
I consider TEKO's price to be fine. And besides, it has never increased. Therefore, I have decided (at least for now) not to offer large sales. I've only put -10% during festivals. In the future or on special occasions maybe I can offer bigger discounts, but I doubt that will happen soon. In general, my idea is to keep the price like this forever, even with regional prices, and not offer a discount for now. In a few years maybe this will change, but I want you to know that in the short term, my plan is this. I say this so you don't wait for discounts to buy the game.
What awaits us?
As soon as u10.0 appears, I'll resume the previous rhythm, but much faster. I hope to at least be able to release a big patch every month. If I'm lucky, I could even release a content update every 2 weeks. But first I need to get into inertia, and for that prior preparation is required. I don't know how long until the new patch launches, but as soon as it happens, take it as a sign that Daddy Talio is back in the game.
Now for real...
I have to talk about something serious.
I didn't want to draw attention, nor put it in the title of the post, nor make a circus around this, because clearly it's not the right thing to do, besides, actually if I wanted to I could not tell anyone, but I prefer to do it so you can get to know me a little better. Nor am I looking for victimization. I simply have to tell it so you can have another point of view on game development. Remember, every personal thing I tell about myself is related to TEKO. Anything that happens to me influences my games, since all these works are handicrafts made personally by me alone. That is to say, games are my life, therefore, they reflect a part of it.
I have autism and ADHD. After 2 intense months I have finished the diagnosis. I always knew I was like an alien among humans, but I had never suspected all this due to my ignorance. In fact, just a few months ago I discovered what these 2 conditions truly were, and by entering the rabbit hole I ended up at a professional getting tested. It was very stressful doing all this. Many things I thought were strange now have a logical explanation. In part I feel much better, and less guilty or weird. But the diagnosis process was very long and disconnected me from everything I like, since I tend to have inflexible routines, and going to a psychological center every week pulled me away from my perfectly scheduled daily activities. As soon as the process started, my whole life got disordered. Lately I've been suffering quite a bit of mental and physical pain, and it's because of the annoyance of doing something new. When I go through changes, I suffer. And I fell into a burnout. Nothing was the same anymore and I didn't feel like doing anything, not even at all. I was exhausted. Just a few days ago I finished the diagnosis and almost instantly I started resuming my activities that I liked so much and I have much more physical and mental energy. I still feel weird and I know a lot of work awaits me, in fact, this is just the beginning. I feel like I've been reborn. I'm another person. I don't regret going to a professional because from now on I can only improve. I want to keep working on my projects, especially on TEKO. Now more than ever I feel united to my favorite game. And, while I work, I'm going to have an important introspective process, to finally start therapy after. But first I have to sort out a lot of things inside my head! Because I'm confused. I feel in a moment of total discovery, and I don't plan to stop digging into my mind until I understand myself completely. Without a doubt, I've always been an analytical person, but now without ignorance I feel my limits have expanded. I need to reflect on this, talk to my family, start the process on my own, and then, with professional help, find objective solutions to everything. I love being the way I am, honestly, without my behavioral patterns it would have been impossible to do all this, since this is part of me, my arts, my creations, my stories, my desire to play video games, I love all this and I'll never stop loving it. But there are very bad things, like high stress, masking, anxiety, burnouts, extreme inflexibility, in conjunction with an ADHD that keeps getting in my way, it's hard for me to start activities, finish them, sometimes I want to change activity, I enter an extreme circle of thoughts. When I hyperfocus I'm an efficient machine, when I don't, I'm useless. Everything that happens to me can improve, and even indirectly improve the quality of my games. For example, what does what happens outside my house have to do with TEKO? Well, if I were a person capable of carrying out a bit of unmasking, I would probably return home with more energy, therefore, more capacity to work on TEKO. It's just an example, we can apply this to everything. That's why I say my games are a reflection of my reality.
I have a huge internal world that I've built since childhood. Pixi (TEKO's protagonist) is an alien bird that I created at age 6, in my first comic. I feel an enormous attachment to my games because everything you can see is the product of my mind's imagination. That's why things like art I take very seriously and they have that personal and distinctive aesthetic of mine. Next year when TEKO leaves EA, I'll start writing the novels of my world, which will be totally related to my game. I plan to invest a lot of time and money in all this. For me, all this that arises from my creativity is the most important thing in my life. These characters and what happens to them is much more serious than other things in real life. I have the need to show the world this entire universe housed in my brain. I'll keep doing it through all these artistic mediums. Never doubt it. Thanks for reading me!